Exploring "New Mombasa"

Title: Halo: ODST

Designer/Author: Bungie

Studio: Microsoft Gaming Studio

Company: Microsoft

Platform: Xbox 360

Genre: First Person Shooter

Halo: ODST

Story: Halo Odst takes a different tone on the Halo series by taking you through a more open world environment and weaker main character. In Halo: ODST you play an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper whose mission was to infiltrate a covenant ship. Due to a mysterious change of course you and your squad and separated and it’s up to you to uncover what happened through a series of flashbacks. The games story immerses you into the mind set of each Odst throughout the campaign giving you new perspective on what it means to be a marine.
Premise: You are a Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and your mission is to find your squad and uncover the mystery behind you what happened during the six hours you were knocked out. The only problem is that you are alone with covenant patrols all around.
Challenge: If you were used to being able to jump ten feet in the air, regenerate health, and have a over shield than "ODST" while be a much harder experience for you. The Game stripes down on what made up the past Halo games making you have to keep close watch on health and ammo due to the fact that you are a regular soldier. As the game progresses you will find that the enemies become more and more hard making better maneuvers such as flanking. Due to the strip down of supplies and regenerating health "ODST" is a much more intense and harder experience than past "Halo" games.
The Merging of Action and Awareness: As the player progresses through the game they begin to feel what "The Rookie" feels during his lonesome tracks through the city of "New Mombassa". In each flashback though the player feels like their apart of a bigger conflict due to the excellent fight sequences and well laid out narrative. The controls work well and help keep the player immersed in the characters rather then frustrated at the lack of good controls.
Clear Goals and Feedback: In this Halo your goals are clearly placed throughout the city and way points are helpful in finding the safest route to get there. When you activate a flashback you are immediately dropped into the mindset of that individual, and after each mission you complete you are given another objective of where to go and how to handle the new point in the story.
The Transformation of Time: Throughout "ODST" you are given a wide open world where you can tackle each objective in any order you want. With the fantastic pacing and excellent narrative it is easy to lose track of time. Another great contributor is the new game mode “Firefight" which pits four players against a increasingly hard army of Covenant troops. Although this mode has been done before it is by far the installment making player make wise decisions along with giving them different objectives throughout each mission.
The Nature of Play: The game is a war game giving you different objectives form destroying a covenant ship or holding out against a onslaught. The tone of the game is serious and humorous due to the differences in each character. One moment you'll be the silent "Rookie" (serious moments) and the next you will play as the hilarious "Dutch" (humorous moments).
Types of Players: The game will appeal to Halo fans, but will also be a great way for non-halo fans to get into the narrative. The game will most likely appeal to "The Artist" due to the different type of art style compared to other halo games. The game could also appeal to "The Explorer" due to its wide open world that features different district and areas. The game could also appeal to "The Storyteller" because of its intense narrative and fascinating plot.
Levels of Engagement: In the beginning of the game it feels open and very different from the past games in the series, but if you aren’t interested in the narrative than the game will drag on as you go from flashback to flashback in the wide open world.
Characters: In Odst you play as multiple characters that have their own distinct personalities and fascinating backgrounds. In each sequence you see their role in the main plot along with their part in overall conflict. For the most part you play as "The Rookie", but those sequences change throughout. The Rookie doesn’t talk throughout the game, but you begin to feel as if you are the lonesome soldier through his reactions to each encounter and overall part in the fall of New Mombassa.
The Dramatic Arc: The narrative becomes more and more intense and dramatic due to the experience and missions that are laid out before you. You begin to see how each Odst has their own tale to tell and their own relationships and issues that they have to deal with. In the beginning you see a city in ruins and hundreds of bodies littering the streets. The game becomes even more fascinating and intense as you see how it all went down.

Exploring Halo

Game: Halo Combat Evolved
Company: Bungie
Published by: Microsoft
Developed by: Bungie Software
Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox
Genre: First person Shooter
Number of Players: 1-2 (co op);
1-16(system link)
Premise: The premise in "Halo: Combat Evolved" is that you play as a super soldier called "Master Chief" who is given the mission to save earth and stop the alien alliance known as the covenant from destroying humanity.
Player interaction patterns: Single Player versus Game
Story: You are apart of an elite unit of super soldiers called Spartans that's duty is the protection and safety of earth. After your ship comes under attack by the covenant you crash land on an ancient ring called halo that’s sole purpose is to destroy humanity. It is up to you and the rest of the UNSC to stop the covenant from destroying all sentinel life. The story unravels throughout fourteen different missions that range from ground combat to mowing down covenant grunts with tanks. It is up to you along with a little help from artificial intelligence called Cortana to stop the covenant from destroying earth.
Invitation to play: Although Halo may use a regular controller the game immerses you into the world with fluent controls and solid gameplay that has you feeling like the nine foot soldier.
Dilemma: The game's dilemma is the choice of how to handle each objective such as weather to go running and gunning or take out aliens stealthily in order to preserve health.
Boundaries: The boundaries surrounding halo range from the mountains on the "Halo" plateau all the way to walls of the covenant ship. The boundaries do a amazing job on of making you feel enclosed in the environment along with helping you feel as though you really are there.
Player: You play as Master Chief throughout the games levels.
Inventory: Your inventory includes, frag grenades, plasma grenades, assault rifles, and pistol. As you encounter the covenant you could receive different guns such as the plasma pistol and needler.
Character: In halo you play as a soldier called "Master Chief" although his origins are a little shaky you find out that he is the last of Spartan out there. Throughout the main mission you are aided by Cortana (artificial intelligence) that aids you by giving you information on the enemy presence along with giving you little back-story of the halo lore. Although master chief may be a bit far from human, you begin to feel the loneliness that he is faced with along with the decisions and choices that he has to make in order to finsh the mission.
Conflict: The conflict in halo is that the covenant is trying to destroy humanity and it’s up to you to stop them from doing it.
Challenge: Throughout the games levels you are given different objectives that range from saving captive soldiers to capturing and destroying covenant ships and weapons. As the game continues you face different kinds of aliens such as the usual grunts to the cloaked elites set on ripping you to shreds. The player is given an array of weapons ranging from the usual assault rifle all the way to more complex weapons like the alien needler. Although it may sound like it had been done before when you are faced with a large number of enemies the weapons work well with the combat allowing you to take on large numbers with little to no help from your allies.
Obstacles: The Obstacles in Halo range from the usual squads of grunts and elites to more complex enemies and vehicles such as the flood and banshees. Throughout the game their is always something in your way of completing you objective weather its other objectives interfering with yours (example-saving marines) or a ambush by covenant soldiers.
Play: The games pacing ranges from fighting through hordes of covenant grunts and elites to storm the battlefield with vehicles such as tanks and the infamous warthog. (I found the driving instances to be the hardest of the instances due to the increased enemy presence and the low amount of health that your vehicle has.) The game has a large open environment that encourages you to explore every aspect and tackle each objective that is laid before you.
Engagement: The game immerses you into the sci-fi world that “Bungie” has created. The game shows you the darkness surround the war along with making you feel as if you’re the giant super soldier. Although at points it lacks a human touch you are still immersed in the long and engaging story of a soldier faced with a great mission. You are the last of your kind and each step that you take could lead to your victory or your extinction.

My dive into Arkham Asylum

Game:Batman: Arkham Asylum
Company:Microsoft
Published by: Eidos Interactive
Developed by:Rocksteady Studios
Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Genre: Action

Batman Arkham Asylum

Premise: The premise is that you play as Batman as he tries to regain order in Arkham Asylum after the prison takeover by the Joker himself.
Story: Batman Arkahm Asylum takes an even darker twist on the Batman universe than its groundbreaking film "The Dark Knight". It features a simple and satisfying combat system along with enough stealth elements to rival games such as "Splinter Cell". When the game starts out you see "Batman" returning "Joker" to the hospital for the criminally insane formally know as "Arkham Asylum" after "Artimus Arkham". As the introduction progresses you are introduced to more of Batman’s most infamous villians such as "Killer Croc" and "Harley Quinn". Soon Joker springs his trap which consisted of the take over of Arkham Island, along with the invasion of the villains and Criminals that inhabit it on the inhabitants of Gotham. It’s up to you (Batman) to stop the prison break and restore order to the war torn facility. The voice acting is done by the actors of the original cartoon series and Jokers voice acting is done by none other than "Mark Hamil".
Player: The player plays as the Dark Knight himself throughout the course of the game with the option to play as the "Joker" in challenge maps.
Challenge: Throughout the game you are given different objectives that require you to use your arsenal of gadgets ranging from the "Batarang" all the way to gadgets such as the "Bat Claw". Throughout the game you face bosses such as Poison Ivy along with the hordes of criminals at Jokers command. The Game worked well with the combat truly making you feel like the Ninja that Batman is as you fly from man to man taking them down in a satisfying flow.
Play: The Games pacing ranges from you fighting through hordes of enemies all the way to stealthily taking down a few of heavily armed lunatics that want you dead (I found these instances to be very challenging due to the amount of strategy and depth that is required to complete them.) . The Game encourages backtracking along with loads of unlockables that encourage another play through.
Engagement: The game immerses players into the comic world of Batman bringing them to make the hard choices that he has to make on his war on crime. The games environment is roughly based on the "eastern state penitentiary" showing you the darkest parts of the asylum that have players thinking if the place is humane. In the end the objective is simple, stop Joker at all cost, yet theirs always the number one rule to follow.