Today is one of those days with nothing to do. Yet there is plenty to do in Diablo 2. Yes, the graphics are horribly dated, yet the game is ever so strong in popularity. Gameplay is still top-notch in my opinion. No game can surpass it’s level of customization. Actually, this game is actually massive, I’ve haven’t completed hell for a few days, and every thing works. Though some gamers think Diablo 2 is very un balanced. The Amazon is by far the most powerful character and easiest to control. Such as I’m starting to do things in Level 54 that some players can’t do until level 65. If I can wear 880 defense armor with 70% magic find at level 54 than in my opinion I’m well off. It could be a lot worst.
In most games, developers are still finding the Quake 3 engine rules and kicks ass. Plus you can use the standard Quake 3 editor that comes with Quake 3 to develop your games. I wonder if that’s because some game developers were creating Quake 3 mods before they were veterans in game design. It can be highly upgraded with better textures and ID software is making a ton of money leasing it out to smaller developers. Yet we get pretty war Games like BattleField 1942, Metal of Honor Allied Assault, Call of Duty, Star Trek: Elite Force II, Return to Castle Wolfenstine, American Mcgee’s Alice, Deus Ex 2 – Invisible War, and the latest game from Konami, Apocalyptica. I’ll get into detail about this game later in the entry.
Okay, I had a chance to try out Return to Castle Wolfenstine, Metal of Honor Allied Assault and Call of Duty. All three run on the award winning Quake 3 engine, so there isn’t that much difference in graphics. Something I thing everyone reading this should know is the big war game of 2002, Metal of Honor Allied Assault, was developed by former RtCW programmers from ID software who left to create a new game studio called 2015. 2015 first project was Metal of Honor Allied Assault. After MoH: AA was published by EA Games, some of the lead programmers / level designers left 2015 to create the game studio, Infantry Ward, which developed Call of Duty, which got 2003 First Person Shooter of the Year by PC Gamer, Gamespot, IGN.com, Videogames.com.
I’d just played Call of Duty for the first time ever, and I know what to expect. I played MoH AA. Both are fun…that’s all I have to say. You can drive tanks and armored trucks in the game. That feature wasn’t in MoH AA. War games have become so realistic pass few years, you can see believable facial expressions, that in itself is amazing. The explosions are eye catching too. I just love to blow Nazis up. If you ever watched Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, or Full Metal Jacket, you know that not all soldiers just die. In this game you actually hear horrifying noises of dieing soldiers just like in the movies. Soliders that are all cut up. Legs, arms, Torsos missing. Anything gruesome in war is in these games. It will definally capture your anger. So real, infact, that you'll think you were on the battlefield yourself fighting in substantial situations. Biggest achievements are the hand signals in MoH and Call of Duty because it makes war that much more real then in last few years! As well designed as these games are…I find myself coming back to play Diablo 2. I know exactly why. In war games you can’t play to perfection in hundreds of items and 40 skills to master with every character. You can’t do that in first person shooters! The objective is the same, kill or be killed. And most noticeable, it’s very playable over a modem unlike 3D War games.
The future of PC Gaming
The future is appond us. We will see more game developers leasing game engines than ever before. I don’t care who is leasing the game engine as long as the graphics are state-of-the-art and eye popping. id software, Valve Software, and Epic Games are the biggest candidates. id software is coming out with the Doom 3 Engine, next generation engine that surpasses Epic Game’s UT 2.5 engine. Valve Software is coming out with the new ‘source’ engine. All three lease their source code to other developers, every ones happy as a result. The gamer is happy because he gets the best graphics for his money. The developer is happy because they don’t have to start from scratch which might have bankrupted them. And the game engine’s creator is happy because it makes money on older technology to fund newer game engines. I know the first developer using the Doom 3 engine is making Vampire: The Masquerade 2. Interesting fact is America’s Army uses UT 0.8 engine and that game is a free download. I know one true similarity in all these games. They all have the best frame rates and can carry ungodly amount of polygons.
Games I have my eyes on….
The first game I have my eyes on is The Matrix Online. It will take place after Matrix Revolutions will be a world when the Matrix still exists. The people in the Matrix now know they are in a computerized world though it will not seem that way since in the Matrix everything is 20xx when in fact the year is closer to 2450. The computers are human. The guardians of the Matrix are the Smiths. Everyone in the game has a choice of either taking the “green pill” or “red pill”.
Another game I have my eye on is Lord of the Rings Online. This places Middle Earth in a game world. The graphics are suppose to be state-of-the-art. I know that it’ll be a MMORPG. That’s it.
Another game I’m interested in is Apocalptica. This game looks fantastic, very much like Unreal Tournament 2003 but it uses Quake 3 technology. What’s God being called Neo-Satan for? Those Brits who developed this game forget that American’s aren’t into this new-age hippy stuff. I’m sure not. I’m not exactly from hick-ville, not I’m not into cowboys either. I’m closer to a cowboy nurd, except I hate being called nurdy. Yeah, us Americas are different from other parts of the world (not the fringe against immigrants and their customs) but American’s are into Country and NFL! The people I meet greet people by saying Howdy (I say Howdy to people all the time, and I’m not from Texas) It’s a American custom. Oh yeah, we call friends ‘partners’. Such as, “My partner and I are going to high tall out of here and go to the movies!” We call people who are scared ‘yellow’ or ‘cowards’ in Wisconsin.
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