Have You Rooted Your Android Phone? Blizzard Knows

After firing up Starcraft II for the first time I realized I should take another look at Blizzard's authenticator app for Android.  It's a bit more convenient then keeping track of a little key fob.  Just as I was wondering if it was really such a good idea considering I would probably switch to a ROM without thinking and lose access to my account I saw this message.  I was shocked and a little impressed.  I was impressed that Blizzard could (and had the foresight to) detect this and that they cared to display a warning.

Then again, ROM users should probably steer clear for other reasons than possibly compromising security.  If you switch ROMs without removing the authenticator first you'll be locked out of your account until you can contact Blizzard and plead for help.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

Batman:Arkham Asylum is a special game and Rocksteady did an amazing job. The storyline was great and when it was combined with the combat combos, take-downs and the beautiful graphics it actually felt like I was watching a sequel to one of the new Batman movies. While I would have really loved to see a Joker of the same sort as Heath Ledger's portrayal in The Dark Knight, the characters all look great. I especially love Scarecrow's look in the game. The voice acting was also terrific. Rocksteady brought in Mark Hammil and Kevin Conroy who were the voices of The Joker and Batman in Batman:The Animated Series. Everything fit together very nicely.

I usually find myself struggling with combat games that focus on combo moves, but once you understand the flow of the combat system you can start to pull off some crazy attacks and they look so cool it feels very rewarding. Of course, you can avoid combat with some trickery and stealth as well. Don't want to fight right now? Why not lay some explosive gel as a land mine or throw a Sonic Batarang in a corner to lure some unsuspecting thug into an ambush? Batman:AA leaves a lot of the fighting up to you which has the fantastic side affect of making it so when you are required to fight it doesn't feel so tedious.

The entire time I played Batman I felt like I was playing a cross breed of Assassin's Creed and Metroid. I was leaping from guard towers, gliding, grappling, rolling, zip-lining, and running all over while constantly backtracking with new gadgets to find new secret pickups or solve riddles left by The Riddler. While this backtracking does not net you upgrades directly, every riddle, trophy, etc. you solve/find grants you experience points towards your next level. In my first play through I collected all of them because it was truly enjoyable to search the depths of the asylum and solve riddles. Now I'm playing Hard mode and backtracking is practically necessary as the quicker you get upgrades the less likely you are to get your teeth kicked in.

I'll touch on Hard mode quickly. It's actually an interesting way to play the game. Timers for time bombs disappear, you aren't visually notified of incoming attacks to know to hit Y (Counter), thugs can obliterate you... The game just hits a new level that rally pushes your skill. Somehow it's a lot of fun as a second play mode. I do not recommend it as your first game file.

I think the best thing I can say is that I am playing it a second time. I'm also enjoying the Challenge Rooms. I'm usually not drawn to these types of mechanics, but I find the Silent Predator rooms to be great fun. I don't think laying out my careful plans setting traps, watching thugs drop one-by-one, or watching their buddies begin to panic will ever get old. Even the combat rooms are growing on me as I get better at the combat as I play Hard mode.

Some of the boss fights seemed less than creative, but I ignored that since I couldn't think of a better idea for them myself besides just not having them as a battle (one in particular that I won't say to avoid spoiling anything). Sometimes the game can also feel cheap when you get hit by a brick thrown by a thug you didn't even see off screen destroying your x37 combo or when you're certain you hit Y but Batman didn't counter. The problem I had most often was Batman attacking in a different direction then I told him to after coming off of a finishing move. He'd attack thin air most of the time and ruin my combo. However, I can't be sure these events weren't my fault and off screen enemies is just part of the larger scale fights.

Batman:Arkham Asylum has set a new bar for my expectations from now on and I hope Rocksteady and other studios can put out this type of game more often.

Halo 3: ODST Review

It's a difficult task to review Halo 3:ODST. On one hand it's a very different game than the other Halo games, but it is considered an expansion on the Halo 3 story, so we can't avoid comparing Halo 3 and ODST. The key thing to remember, in my mind, is that ODST can stand alone and still be very enjoyable to play.

ODST's story is very easy to understand and the way you play through it via the hub world of New Mombasa is a lot of fun. You are the "Recruit", a new addition to an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper squad. Your squad is assigned to help a Naval Intelligence officer with a secret assignment in New Mombasa, the first Earth city under siege by the Covenant. When your squad drops into Earth's atmosphere you are all scattered across the city and cut off from one another. Your job, as the Recruit, is to search the nighttime landscape of the city for clues about what happened to your squad mates. You do this by finding beacons around the city that begin daytime levels that have you playing as one of your squad mates through their story.

Exploring the city at night is a lot of fun. The city acts as the hub world that you will constantly return to after each daytime level and it is also where you can find the 30 audiologs that tell "Sadie's Story". The audiologs actually tell a really great story about a young girl named Sadie and what happens to her during the siege of New Mombasa. I can honestly say searching for these logs is the most enjoyable collection side-quest I have done at the time of this writing. I really enjoyed searching the city, sneaking around and trying to find hidden paths, but what kept me going was my desire to hear what happens next in Sadie's Story.

The really neat thing about the logs is as you find audiologs you get the next segment of the story. The locations are not ordered, so you always get the next segment. This kept me wanting to explore instead of giving me pieces and forcing me to hunt for a certain log to link gaps. Every new discovery was a fun surprise, I think this was a smart move by Bungie.

Of course, the audiologs are a small portion of the game. The campaign was very different from previous Halo campaigns. One of the big selling points for ODST was the Recruit isn't a Spartan. You aren't playing as Master Chief here, so the early levels have a learning curve. If you've played games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare you'll be accustomed to systems like ODST's "Stamina" system for health. As you take damage your screen starts to get red around the edges until you can hear your breathing becoming ragged, the screen is flashing and you begin to take damage to your health. It works just like Modern Warfare's health system. If you hide and stop taking incoming fire your stamina replenishes and you can head back into the fight. The difference is ODSTs have health that must be replenished with health packs you can find all over the levels.

The campaign itself is a lot of fun. It felt a lot like I was playing a Sci-Fi version of Rainbow 6 or Modern Warfare with aliens. Bungie's "30 seconds of fun" model (30 seconds of fighting and fun repeated over and over) work well here. Playing as a new character each level is refreshing, but the levels were more interesting. I really enjoyed playing through New Mombasa's zoo/nature reserve.

The Recruit also has a new tool at his/her disposal - The VISR mode. It is basically night vision, but it is done in a very smart way. Instead of making the night scape of New Mombasa green-tinted and boring the VISR mode outlines enemies, vehicles, weapons, medpacks, buildings, and friendlies with colors. I actually enjoyed VISR, but found it silly that I could even turn it off because I kept it on for 90% of the game. I turned it off occasionally to check out the dark city, but most of the time it was only off during the daytime levels of the campaign or inside lit buildings.

The story plays like a detective movie and keeps the campaign moving along, but I did find the last 2 levels to be somewhat disappointing. I lay some blame on my decision to play through the campaign on Legendary with a friend and some bad checkpoints. This made the Highway level a real pain in the ass and it seemed to go on for way too long. Difficulty level aside, I still think the Highway was extended to add some superficial length to the campaign. [SPOILER Sort of]The conclusion of the story also felt lacking to me. I was left disappointed and the tacked on love story and its conclusion seemed forced, but the voice of Nathan Fillion made it feel like I had just watched an episode of Firefly, so I giggled anyway.[/SPOILER]

Above: Nathan Fillion and a replica UNSC Sniper Rifle

The Firefight multiplayer definitely has legs. I have really enjoyed even playing Firefight solo. I played one game for almost two hours. My Firefight games have been full of laughs and a lot of fun. I only wish I had more time and knew more people who owned ODST to play more. It really is an enjoyable game mode.

A small addition to Firefight mode is your character's commentary on your actions. I find myself playing as Veronica Dare most of the time because I find it hilarious to listen to her exclaim things like, "That's my kill!" and her girlish giggling when I get headshots. On a similar note, the UNSC Marines have funny conversations in some of the levels. In the New Mombasa nature reserve there is a wounded marine yelling at a medic about how they're now the zoo animals. It's part of why I enjoyed that level so much.

I have had a lot of fun during my time with ODST and I think it is an easy recommendation for anyone who has enjoyed the Halo universe or anyone else who just enjoys a fun FPS. ODST has some flaws and they aren't small (gameplay becomes very "Spartan-like" near the end and the story could have used some work), but if you have friends on Xbox Live who also have ODST there is a lot of multiplayer and coop fun to be had. On the single player front it is an enjoyable experience, but it may not be for you. I have had a few friends tell me they gave up on ODST simply because they couldn't stand the hub world and the pacing. So it is not for everyone, but that can be said for any game. I recommend Halo 3:ODST.

Scribblenauts Review

The concept behind Scribblenauts makes it sound like the greatest portable game, ever. Unfortunately, the game falls short due to its technical difficulties. While you can summon just about anything you might want into the world by writing or typing it out, many of the items can be unwieldy. This would be forgivable if not for simple things like rope being among the long list of items that are a huge pain to use, and you use rope and other "rope-like" objects frequently.

The problem with rope is it starts out as a long, horizontal object. The game does not recognize rope as an object that is flexible so it does not allow you to attach it to anything until it is clear of any obstacles. This means you have to twirl it around with the stylus until it fits into whatever spot you want it.

In the beginning of the game you're told that things like glue and rope are affected by gravity. Supposedly glue will not hold objects that are too heavy for it and rope will break under too much stress. Well, I guess this stuff is some sort of super, space-age tech adhesive because I've yet to see anything glue won't hold. That does not bother me, but what about rope? Rope isvery heavy according to the game's physics. I tried to set up an elaborate contraption and my whole plan fell apart right away when I attached rope to a boulder and watched as the rope dangled off a cliff and pulled the huge, heavy rock off the cliff! The game does not recognize weights of many of the objects.

Levers are another object in the game that become very tiresome and you see one in practically every level in the later worlds. There are ways to pull the lever without requiring Maxwell, but they're very boring. Typing in "Engineer" will summon a man in overalls who becomes very interested in levers and pulls them for you, but how boring is that? You can even move him all over the map to any lever you want if you wish. Scribblenauts failed me when I was playing an early map where I needed to pull my first lever. I wanted to be really creative, so I stuck glue to the lever, stuck a banana to the glue, and summoned a monkey. Knowing that monkey's have a great love for bananas I was overjoyed to see my newly created monkey did indeed love them and watched as he pulled the banana off to eat it. The lever moved from left to right, but the gate did not open. I tried it a couple of times and each time the monkey grabbed the banana, the lever would switch positions, and nothing would happen. It seems only some objects and Maxwell can actually interact with the game environment.

Finally, the controls are also troublesome. When playing Scribblenauts you're likely to have Maxwell killed over and over due to just missing the object you wanted to grab with your stylus and causing Maxwell to run over to where you clicked. Maxwell should have been controlled by the D-pad and buttons, not the stylus. This wouldn't be so horrible if it didn't cause you to have to restart the entire level over from scratch repeatedly.

This list of complaints could go on, but the point I want to make is that simple objects that you use quite often (like rope) are usually a pain in later, more cramped levels and levers can kill your creativity. The game seems to want to force you to use ham-fisted solutions. Wombat, a host of the Cheap Ass Gamer podcast, had a good point when he said any puzzle in Scribblenauts can be solved with a rope and a jet pack, and he's right. Not only is he right but the game seems to want you to do so.

Scribblenauts is a fun game, but it's not a game I'd choose to play on a long trip for extended periods of time. I had hoped it would suck up hours of my life, but instead I can only enjoy it for short periods of time. The botched control scheme and levels that require the same objects over and over become boring very quickly. I wanted to love Scribblenauts, but find that I only like it enough to keep it in my DS when I'm not playing fantastic games like Professor Layton.

Braid Review

After hearing about Braid on podcasts and websites I finally got around to purchasing a copy on Steam when it was offered in a crazy $30 package with 9 other various Indie games.

Braid instantly grabbed my attention by offering me a puzzle before I even started the game. As anyone who starts a new game of Braid will see instantly, you begin with Cloud World #2 and upon entering this second world you can stop to read a few books that tell you about Tim's (the main character) Princess and his quest to find her. The game sucked me in by offering me these 2 questions:

1. Why is Manhattan burning in the background of the starting screen?
2. Where is world #1?
3. Who is this Princess?

I was instantly amused by the tributes to Mario Bros. The common enemy is very similar to Mario's Goombas and every world has you trying to find the Princess. Only this time around you have only a very vague idea of who or what this Princess is and what she represents to Tim.

Braid is a very simple game mechanically. You are Tim traveling through these worlds collecting puzzle pieces to create pictures in order to unlock new worlds. To aid you and make puzzles more interesting you have the ability to rewind, freeze and fast forward time.

The "beginner" puzzles were clever and fun. They teach you how to play the game and then the game's creator ramps up the difficulty. I'm pleased to say I solved most of the game without aid from any walkthroughs, but I did need hints a few times when dealing with the new mechanics the game introduces. I definitely suggest taking your time to solve them on your own because hints made the puzzles feel less satisfying while the ones I solved on my own were a lot of fun.

Each new world offers some sort of new game mechanic that violently twists your perception of the game. For instance, there's an entire world where everything moves when you move flipping everything you've learned about controlling time and even simple movement through levels upside down. There are other more interesting worlds, but I wouldn't want to spoil them.

Incidentally my desire to not spoil the game makes it very difficult to discuss the story. The story is seems so straight forward until the later worlds. Each cloud world offers a few green books that tell little snippets of story. At first they're very simple but vague. Later they start to make you question what Tim is doing. Finally, the end really confuses your preconceptions.

This link below is a very interesting breakdown of the entire story. It is definitely a spoiler, but it's also a very fun read. I have read many ideas on what the story means and I've liked them all. This is one of my favorites.

Spoilerific link

Achievements: Scourge of Humanity or Wonderful Time Sinks?

With my last post detailing my current endeavor to unlock some Xbox 360 achievements it might be said that I do take my gamerscore seriously. The truth is I don't even pay attention to it. For me achievements are not my driving force to play a game. Video games are my cinema. I don't watch and analyze Citizen Kane; I play Bioshock.

However, I do enjoy achievements. I especially enjoy humorous achievements like Fable II's. Achievements have been the reason I've replayed games like Mass Effect, but they've also ruined games for me. You will never see me trying to unlock ridiculous achievements like Gears of War's "Seriously!?" (kill 10,000 people in multiplayer), but I will shoot for difficulty achievements and others unlocked through side stories and the like.

With that said, are achievements a plague ruining video games or do they really help increase replay value and enjoyment? These days the first thing you'll see on a forum are demands for achievement guides. No one seems to want to explore games or figure out puzzles. They just want a linear path to walk that nets them their 1000/1000 score. They want game save tricks and tips that let them get all the alternate endings (Fable II) or character level achievements (Fallout 3) in a single play.

It's sad to hear how people run through Fallout 3 just to "explore" 100 locations all while never actually seeing or investigating them. The flip-side is the increased value. I would have been much less compelled to replay Mass Effect if not for the achievement challenging me to do 2 plays and reach level 60.

But what about the people who replayed Mass Effect, Fable II or Halo 3 (or played them at all to begin with) and hated them? Some folks buy/rent games just to get the Gamerscore bump even if the game is terrible, too easy or not to their liking. If that's how they want to spend their time, that's fine, but why?

Sales of terrible/easy/bad games go up simply because people want an easy 1000 points. Isn't this just promoting the development of more sub-par games? Doesn't this all ultimately hurt the communities surrounding games and genres?

Multiplayer matches all feel the effects. Players wanting achievements ignore the team and/or objectives just to try to get their achievements. This leads to a less than fun time for the other members of their team. Should multiplayer achievements be scaled back to help avoid this?

Personally, achievements are fun goals I can use to enjoy some free time and extend replay value of my games (sometimes). Others use them as some sort of status symbol or simply spend far too much time and money playing games they don't like because of them. Is this bad?

The Future of MMOs

With my recent brief return to World of Warcraft I feel compelled to write an article addressing the concern some people have with MMOs.

Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) are a hot button issue for some people. They're considered addictive and commonly blamed for all things wrong with society. But are the games themselves really so terrible or is it something else?

MMOs have been blamed for divorce, being fired, and even suicide.

I've played MMOs for years. My friends and I played EverQuest all through high school and then I started playing World of Warcraft with acquaintances from EQ. My total time invested into an MMO totals to nearly 7 years of subscriptions.

Clearly these games must have been terribly addictive, very enjoyable or both to keep me shelling out $15 a month in subscriptions and buying their expansion packs, right? The truth is, they weren't.

I was addicted, yes, but the game wasn't to blame. Both EQ and WoW were extremely fun for an RPG fan like myself; in the beginning. When you first start playing everything is new, you get to really explore the world, experimenting with classes and abilities is fun and you're always doing something brand new.

Then, the honeymoon is over. The game become a grind for money, levels and equipment. Eventually expansion packs or patches add new things, but it all becomes the same. Don't get me wrong, I loved that high-end content. Grouping with 5 or 6 people to tackle dungeons, raids with 75 people in EQ, completing high level quests, etc.. Coordinating all those people to bring down a gigantic dragon or even a god was great fun; the first two or three times. Eventually your strategy is perfected and it becomes routine and boring.

So why sink all your free time into something like this?

For some, it is the game. I do not disagree that there are people addicted to or who simply enjoy the game so much that they continue playing, but for me it was the community.

Imagine being in a chat room with over 30 people (Or hundreds in the server wide channels) you know and you're all interested in the same thing. For many people the MMO community becomes their society. They have dozens of people who congratulate them on their in game accomplishments. They get to spend time chatting and gaming with different people they know or meet new people to adventure with. This is even better if some "real" friends play the game allowing you to chat or game with them at the same time.

The MMO quickly replaces all activity outside of the computer room besides eating, sleeping and working.

It's sad that some people becomes so attached that they lose their job or their marriage breaks apart, but I feel this only means the player is unhappy. If the job was a good job that gave them a sense of accomplishment or at least some happiness they wouldn't take too many vacation days or miss work for the MMO. If the relationship was truly a good one then the player would be spending time with their significant other instead of socializing in a world where they don't exist.

I quit WoW because it stressed my real life. A video game shouldn't cause anxiety or stress (except maybe a good survival horror game). When I played during the past few days I found many of my old friends had quit and my "real" friends had switched servers a while back, so there was no one I knew to chat with. I wrapped up some old loose ends I had left behind and fooled around, but I found that it wasn't really any fun.

Flying 100% solo was dull and nearly depressing. I maxed out my characters Blackmsithing skill, but there was one to brag to. Then I crafted a new, better weapon for myself, but I didn't have anyone to show it to or to duel. I found Player-VS-Player (my favorite thing in WoW) to be lackluster when I had no one to talk to or do group PVP with.

Those things and many other events made me realize WoW and EQ had always been nearly 100% social for me. I don't need WoW for socializing. I'd rather go to a Halloween party than complete Halloween quests in WoW, so next month my subscription's time will expire and my account will fade away again.

Some people can't handle something like an MMO, but the MMO didn't damn them anymore than alcohol, drugs or any other addiction would.

However, I am not comparing an MMO to alcohol or drugs. That is a ridiculous comparison. My point is there are much worse things these people could become attached to besides a video game. The best thing for the people with an unhealthy attachment to an MMO is help from the people who want them around.

Don't blame video games for a problem simply because the problem manifests itself into an attachment to a video game. Take a step back and try to see why someone would rather spend time in a digital society rather than the "real" one.

Then again, look at our society. It's enough to make anyone wish they could live in a different world.

Five LittleBigPlanet Pre-Order Bonuses

If you're not familiar with LittleBigPlanet, check it out here.

That's the Wikipedia article because www.littlebigplanet.com is a great example of Sony's marketing. It kind of sucks.

The game looks awesome and it should be a huge hit for the PS3. Today it was revealed that there would be 5 different and very cool pre-order bonuses for the game depending on the store/location you pre-order it in. Unfortunately, the locations have not been revealed.

The bonuses are:

1. The official "LittleBigPlanet Creator" guide.
2. A LittleBigStickerBook -- It's a sticker book.
3. A LittleBigBurlapSack -- Big enough to carry your copy of the game.
4. A Nariko SackBoy -- The heroine from Heavenly Sword as a SackBoy playable character.
5. A Kratos SackBoy -- Same idea as Nariko, but God of War.

I simply must have the Kratos SackBoy to play this game.

If it's possible to have these characters in the game as a bonus then I have to assume they'll be available as downloadable content later on or recreated by the community. If that's the case then I may have to agree with Joystiq and go for the LittleBigBurlapSack.

I pre-ordered Patapon for the nifty Spear of Protection pre-order bonus from the demo disc and they eventually released it on the PlayStation Network for free - Spear included. So maybe Kratos will make his way there.

My guess is if they go by store then Kratos will be available at GameStop since they've been pushing God of War III pre-orders for months and it doesn't come out until March 2009 (I think that's still the estimate).

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