December 2002

Halo Once and For All

December 30, 2002

OK so you might have already heard that I am an obsessed Xbox fan.
Let me give you a bit of history about video games and me. I owned
an Atari when I was 5 and as I grew older got a Nintendo. I was
isolated for a bit when the super Nintendo was released, then I
decided to try a Sega genesis. I loved Sonic the Hedgehog. As I
got older things got in the way from the blissful enjoyment of playing
video games. I went to college and got myself a Mac. Many of you
reading this may be avid PC users. As for me, I do a lot of video
editing and I believe that Macs are preferable to my likings in
that realm. I don’t discriminate because I use a PC at work to edit
videos as well. So then I purchased a few computer games to satisfy
my appetite for the time being. Buying StarCraft was one of the
greatest investments I have ever made. When that wasn’t enough I
bought a PS2. PS2’s are great systems that have great games.

At first I thought Xbox was the biggest joke to the gaming world.
Boy was I wrong! The first time I played Halo at the Snackbar crews’
pad I was in love. We had thrown a nice small party prior to playing
Halo, so needless to say we were wasted. Well I was anyway. We played
till 5:30 am in the morning. I wanted to continue to play but my
other counterparts were too tired. Needless to say I was hooked
from there on. From there on it was my goal to get an Xbox, but
since times were difficult it was very hard to come by the cash
for one. So one day I met this girl who was kind and gracious enough
to buy me an Xbox. The very first game I bought was Halo. Let me
tell you a little something about Halo. First off its first person
shooter, second Master Chief rules! Halo does not get old even if
you play it every day and night until you die. It’s impossible for
anyone to get fed up with Halo. The graphics are stupendous; the
game play is unforgettable and Master Chief rules! I mean what else
do you need other than Master Chief fragging mad Covenant scum and
flugs. My life would almost be complete if Halo was on Live. I mean
when I am playing Unreal, Ghost Recon or Mech Assault people on
Live are always wishing Halo were on it into their headsets. The
multiplayer on Halo is just a dominating game, especially when you
hook more than one Xbox together. I have played with more than on
Xbox and it is the greatest thing ever. What more can you have than
whooping ass all over the screen while yelling obscene comments
and hearing your opponent curse you in frustration and anger.

Now your probably asking yourself, what does anything that you
are saying have to with Halo 2. Everything! After seeing the Halo
2 trailer I about messed my pants in all the ways you can think
of. I am a huge movie buff…. movies are my thing. I love movies

to death. When I saw the Halo 2 trailer I almost keeled over in
shock and awe. Seeing Master Chief dive into space onto another
covenant starship. I mean Damn! That was one of the best trailers
I have ever seen in my whole entire existence. I was left in AWE!
If Halo 2 is going to be 100 times better than Halo 1, then people
your going to see Vice City’s sales record be broken within seconds.
I have heard rumors of Halo 2 having a lot more advanced weaponry,
a lot more freedom of movements, and a lot more action when it comes
to killing Covenant scum. I’m ready to blow this pop stand, lets
go, freaking bring it on! Unfortunately, Microsoft and Bungie love
to torture people to death with impatience and anticipation. We
all must wait until 2003.

Out-Panama

Week in Review – 12/23/02

December 30, 2002

Features / by Shane Quast /

Enter the Cone

December 23, 2002

Features / Opinion / by Chris Rasco /

So the site has been online for the better part of a month now and I am finally getting around to formally introducing myself. I am more often than not referred to as the guy who likes everything. This can be a tad misleading to some of you new visitors. They are really referring to all things gaming….which is not the total truth either. Yes, I will admit that I generally have to find some major flaw in the game play or some inconsistent technical detail in the game before I dislike it. This is not the case for ALL games though. As alone on this as I may be, I do not like the Final Fantasy games or the Grand Theft Auto games. Lets first talk FF. I don’t do the turn based thing. I know, I know. D&D was turn based blah blah blah…. If I wanted to play a turn based game, then I would buy a board game. This is a high end gaming console and I want things to be real time. As for GTA3, I don’t need to do the same damned thing over and over and over again. That type of game gets old.

Still think I like everything? I didn’t think so. As for games that I do like… I expect to get the following games for Christmas so I haven’t been able to buy them yet: Nightfire, MechAssault, Splinter Cell, MOHAA (Finally), and No One Lives Forever 2. A

Week in Review – 12/16/02

December 21, 2002

Features / by Shane Quast /

Metroid Prime

December 20, 2002

GameCube / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal /

Cube owners, your wait is over. Finally you can laugh back at the Xbox cronies or the PS2 junkies. Because the good people at Nintendo (its for breakfast now) have given us Metroid Prime. First let me say this; Nintendo seemed to freak everyone out when they released the first information of the game. I don’t think anyone expected the next gen Metroid to be a first person shooter. The gaming community is already flooded with games in the FPS genre, so no one was expecting anything revolutionary.

I bought the game with some hesitation. Although my thin Gamecube library was the main reason for me to trade crap in and reserve a copy of Metroid, I had no idea that the game would be bringing me back to Metroid the way it was meant to be played. Upon placing the game into the console, the first thing I wanted to see is if it played like Halo. I find Halo to be the standard of any FPS, with the way it handles movement and combat. Metroid’s controls unfortunately had nothing in common with Halo at all. The movement is done totally with one stick. No movement and aim stick, just one for both. Although is sounds odd, the movement is very smooth, as a matter of fact the whole game is best described as smooth. To add to that, this game ends up bringing a bit more zest to the FPS genre. This game, strange as it may seem, is a platform! That’s right I know exactly what you are thinking. The good people at Retro developed this game for the purposes of exploring. You will use your visor a lot for this reason. Samus’s visor comes equipped with a scanner that will give you tips to the games many puzzles, and hints to the vulnerabilities of the game’s enemies.

In Prime you will not find yourself with hordes of enemies swarming you from every angle. Instead you will find yourself trying to jump gap after gap, all the while fending off exploding enemies. The crazy thing is, that in a regular platform game, you can see your jumps, ala Mario Sunshine, the challenge with a FPS and jumping is that you cannot see them. Although Retro does make this task seem natural, you will no doubt find yourself at the bottom of an acid pit due to a mistimed jump, only to have to try to make that jump again.

Everything is back, from the Morph Ball, to the upgradeable weapons. The game stays true to Metroid fashion. You will have to use your morph ball to get into tight places, and at the end of the level you are sure to encounter a huge boss. Thanks to the new technologies in the Cube, there are so many little things that will have Metroid fans marking out from time to time. For example the game is seen though the visor of Samus, and depending on your environment you can see condensation on the visor, or water dripping on it, as well as the reflection of her face when you are near a light. Retro made sure to show as much of Samus as possible. You will ,surprisingly enough, see Samus in full so many times throughout the game. These small details add to the personal experience a FPS brings to the table.

Metroid will cater to the tastes of so many gamers. Obviously the FPS freaks will feel right at home, and I believe the platform junkies will love this challenge. For those of you that appreciate a game for visuals…this game will not let you down either. Metroid is easily the best looking game for the Gamecube. The environments are exactly how you would have imagined they should be, if you are a fan of the series. To be able to bring it to life as Retro did, is quite an accomplishment. In my opinion this game is a buy. Go out trade some games in and own the first real good Gamecube game. Hopefully this is the beginning of more quality games to come.

Zelda anyone?

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