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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

YNTE Gaming Night: Halo and Metroid

Once again, the two franchises released at approximately the same time, in a competition to test whether Nintendo or Microsoft has the bigger ego. Regardless, I picked both up.

The first one I played through (on Co-op with my brother) was Halo Reach. For those of you who don't know, it's a precursor to Halo 1, so it's like Star Wars Episode 1, where things are less advanced (supposedly) and yet they look prettier. However, they stayed pretty consistent--Grunts didn't know how to speak English, couldn't dual wield, etc. But the inclusion of Brutes and new weapons kinda throws off the ambiance a bit. To be honest, it was a good storyline and a good addition to the franchise, but it felt the same as all the other games. If you've played other games and you play this, it just seems like recycled material. But, I suppose the attention to detail elsewhere makes up for it. As for the other modes, this game is even more feature rich than the other games. It still has multiplayer, the forge, and several other solo game types to help you earn those credits and achievement points.

Then afterwards I played through Metroid. Since this was on the Wii, it obviously wasn't as shiny as its Xbox antithesis, but it was still expertly done. Instead of its other 3D predecessors that were created by Retro Studios, this one was developed by Team Ninja, famous for their Dead or Alive franchise and the 3d adaptation of Ninja Gaiden. And highlighting womanly jiggly-bits. It seemed like an obvious choice for them to develop this game, as Samus is probably Nintendo's bustiest heroine, but for once they put away the boob-physics and made a seriously good game without staring at her chest in every cutscene. The gameplay was a blend of platforming/FPS/puzzle and played mostly like a 2D/2.5D game, and the cutscenes were also expertly crafted. The constant narration of trivial things by Samus in these cutscenes was kinda off-putting at times, but looking past this just gives the game a complete feel. In addition, after completing the game, you can view all of the cutscenes back to back in the theater mode, which turns the game into a feature-length movie.

Both were good games, I recommend picking them both up. Sorry Evan, Metroid won't add to your gamerscore still.

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