Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II

A while ago I posted a review of Dawn of War: Winter Assault; I still hold to the belief that particular game is packaged ass. I mean, it looks great, but eventually you realize the whole thing just stinks. Wow, I thought I'd make it longer without sinking to "potty humor," but whatever. The point of this whole rant is that I played Dawn of War's sequel series and its expansion and I was impressed.

Picture your garden variety real-time strategy game. Usually your camera hovers somewhere close to several hundred feet off the ground, leaving your units, all of whom are frail enough to detonate on touch. Some games will allow you to zoom in (Dawn of War being one of them), yet you rarely get a good view of your buildings and soldiers, and the battles end up looking miserable and impersonal. Dawn of War was the first big game I can think of with unit specific kill animations (not just death scenes) such as a soldier driving his chainsaw sword through another's chest. It was awesome! Couple that with detailed, animated structures and destructible landscapes, and a pretty epic space opera storyline and Dawn of War was an excellent R.T.S. Now fast-forward a few years and expansions and Relic, the company who made the first game releases a true sequel: Dawn of War II.

To put it bluntly, this is not a true R.T.S. game; certainly the controls are, as well as the general feel of the missions, but this game is more akin to playing Warcraft III with only the hero units. For one, your named characters are the only units (apart from their two-to-three grunt entourage that count as the character's squad) you can control. If they die, you can resuscitate them and they're back in the fray. As for buildings, you have a drop pod where the mission starts, and then there are relay points where you can reinforce the squads (revive those grunts in a character's unit). That's it. Your squads level up and you allocate skill points, and you get wargear that drops from enemies at random, and you have skills you can use on the fly, each of which is character specific. If anything, this game is a strategy-R.P.G.

Returning to the leveling up deal. Each character has three skill lines, and you get a few points with every level up. Each tree deals with a stat or two, such as health and health regeneration, melee damage and melee skill (hit percentage and crits), ranged damage and accuracy, and energy and energy regeneration. Scattered across those skill lines are abilities, both active and passive, that further specialize your squads. For instance, the main character is a blank slate for specialization, and you can play him almost however you want, whereas other characters are really geared for specific jobs. Sounds good, right?
Here's where one of my problems with the game comes in. You see, though they give you free reign with deciding the specs, the main guy really is meant for melee damage with some extra points to throw away wherever you want. This is made pretty plain by the fact that, with the exception of two characters, the rest of your team is ranged, and all but one of those gunners is incredibly frail. Blame gear drops and the main guy's abilities for this.

Gear is plentiful, but the best greens (second tier gear) and onward sort of direct your path through the game. I find it sad that the "most adaptable" character gets the slimmest variety in excellent gear. Look forward to wielding a beast of a two-handed hammer for the last few missions, meanwhile your stealthy character has the option of wicked shotguns and sniper rifles (and by the expansion a grenade launcher)! I'm being hard on the game, really, because the gear itself is excellent, even if your main guy ends up always using the same stuff. There are about 3 different models of gear for each soldier and scout, and then there's the overpowered but slow Terminator armor. And weapons...there are a plethora of choices, though most are taken away once the best stuff appears. Axes, chainswords, two-handed hammers, a shield and one-hander hammer, etc, and that's just the melee arsenal!

The last bit I have to cover -because I refuse to tell the story- is the multiplayer mode. This is where the game returns somewhat to R.T.S. format. In it you build units, even if they population count is small and unit cost high, and you wage larger-scale battles. In the pre-fight you choose which commander (such as the main guy's class from the story) you'll use and the match type. The only complaint I have with multiplayer mode is that there is no teamless mass destruction of your enemies feature; instead, the only free-for-all modes are ones where you capture structures and hold them, gathering points by doing so. Arguably the best part of multiplayer is being the last guys standing and why Relic left this out of the game baffles me. Nevertheless, I've spent hours, now, just on multiplayer, meanwhile my third playthrough in the story gathers dust. When you have three commander types per faction, each with their own customizable features and super moves that cost points gained by butchering enemy forces...well, even a good story doesn't satisfy that kind of itch. In summary, the multiplayer alone is worth the purchase.

I really like this game, and considering you can get it and its expansion for thirty dollars or, if you don't mind a slightly higher price, Steam has the entire Dawn of War-related game library, as well as a ton of others, for ninety-nine dollars. If you liked Warcraft III because of the hero units and don't mind losing the base-building and constant refreshing of unit upgrading per mission, buy this game!

Bioshock 2

I'm a big fan of this game's predecessor, clocking in at least four play-throughs. Not a big number, nor impressive, but, considering I'm done with most games after one...anyway! The story isn't really new or special, yet it's an entertaining ride the whole way through, even when the twists and turns can be seen coming almost right at the beginning. I will try to refrain from spoilers, though I suppose that is not always possible.

You are Delta, the first successful Big Daddy in the Alpha series, and you have seemingly risen from the grave ten years after the downfall of Rapture. Guided by visions of your once-Little Sister, as well as a shady businessman named Sinclair, it's up to you to put things right. It's a one-versus-an-army sort of game, and you're always one step behind the villains. That is my only real gripe with this game. You see, how many more games can be made where a high-powered, intelligent hero can't get through a zone because an omnipotent villain has done something to hinder him or her with exactly what he or she doesn't have the means to handle yet, but can't surely find nearby? To be honest, the game only requires you to follow a glowing arrow and dispose of enemies and you will be done with the game in under eight hours. No thinking necessary! That being said, the entire package is gorgeous, well-designed, and most importantly: fun.

While I did say the story was cliche, it nonetheless grabs hold of you immediately and rarely lets go unless you decide to take a breather and explore the levels, which are all exquisite even in their desolate state. From ruined diners to a hidden undersea lab, complete with burst rivets slowly allowing the ocean to claim it. This is possible because 2K decided to break the game up into well-defined levels rather than an open-world. Sure, you can't backtrack, but that sort of encourages searching the zones to marvel at everything that they have crafted...which leads me to the next topic.

A big plus of this game is the detail they've put into the "fluff." Splicers (the enemies of the series and former wealthy entrepreneurs who have spliced their DNA in excess) argue, dance, and fight with one another when you are still undetected. Their design has been revamped, where what was once just ugly has been upped to hideous. The audio logs of the inhabitants of Rapture, usually un-Spliced, you find while exploring are considerably better this time around and manage to convey hurt, fear, joy, and so many other emotions; most are recorded and stashed by the principle characters you encounter with the time stamps ranging from before the New Year's War to just minutes before you find the audio log.

The biggest plus, in my opinion, is the upgraded Little Sister section. As a Big Daddy it's your job and driving purpose to protect them, so when you adopt the little girls they ride on your shoulder, talking to you and complimenting their beloved "father," while you and she search for ADAM-harvest-able corpses. Like in the first game, I felt the need to protect them, even when you're given the option to harvest the child itself for exponentially more ADAM than being good, but in Bioshock 2 they have more personality and seem so much more human; any thoughts of being cruel were wiped clean when you're greeted with a wide smile and a comment on her day.

I could go on, but I said enough. Good, good game. I liked it much more than the first despite a few flaws, and while I can't say "buy it," it's definitely a must-rent.

House of Bones

I suppose it's been long enough of a break. Once again, I am just writing this for myself these days, but whatever.

House of Bones, a SciFi Channel (I refuse to call it Syfy) original movie, was something of a surprise to me. First off, it's not original in any way; second, it was fantastic. From the opening credits you get a sense that it is not going to take itself overly serious, but not make a complete mockery of itself like films such as the Scary Movie franchise. Instead, the credits proficiently establish why the movie is taking place. Well, to be fair, the credits happen after a scene generally taboo in the horror movie industry: killing off a child.

So, the plot of the film is that a crew from a Ghost Hunters-like team go to a house with a terrifying past and a record of locals disappearing when they enter the home or get too close. When I said the movie makes fun of itself, it's in the way they portray the team. Ghost Hunters is, as I'm sure you've all seen in some manner, another SciFi show where two dudes and their buddies, all with technological know-how, go to "haunted" locations and prove or disprove paranormal activity. House of Bones portrays the fictional counterparts as cynics whose belief in ghosts is practically nonexistent. From their arrival to the house they sum up rooms, finding creepy filming spots to interview a psychic and apply fog machines. It's ribbing Ghost Hunters all the way up to when stuff actually starts happening; after that it's typical horror movie fare.

What sets this film apart from the majority of the SciFi movies is that the sum of all its parts is something altogether great. I can't think back to more than one scene where I was not wholeheartedly enjoying the movie. The acting and reactions are believable, keeping you engrossed in the story. Only the obnoxious kids in the beginning seemed like amateurs with zero experience and/or talent...well, except maybe the boy who gets offed. As a whole, I worried about each character's fate, groaned when scenes were playing out that signaled potential death, and sighed in relief when I was wrong.

Special effects, too, were above the norm for a cable television release. The reason why was awesome: it went old school in delivery. Computer generated ghosts were absent, instead replaced by quality techniques to induce tension, be it through creepy ambiance or claustrophobia. Also, the filmmakers used physical props and so on instead of relying on their tech staff to create the antagonist and victims. As a rule, if the object of terror actually can be seen by the cast, their reactions are better. Look at Jurassic Park!

Without a doubt, this is one of SciFi's shining successes. If you don't catch it on television soon after reading this, go out and find a copy. Buy it, rent it, watch it online if you can, but make sure you experience House of Bones.