Just an NPC. Dammit.

It's been awhile. Sorry about the lack of posts. I've been holed up playing video games all week. Yes, I said week, not weekend (my work and sleep schedule went to shiot last week). I guess I just had to catch up on all the game time I missed around Christmas. Blockbuster is now allowing you one coupon every couple of weeks for a free in-store movie or game rental. Schweet, but I'm still gonna have to end up subscribing to Gamefly, soon. Blockbuster's available titles (at least the one I go to) either suck, or I've played all the good ones. Newayz, I picked up Chrome Hounds on Tues. The graphics were nice, the environment was massive, but the soundtrack sounded like something from a mililary funeral procession. I felt so depressed every time I wasn't blowing up the nearest target. So my take on this is it's Microsoft's replacement for the MechWarrior series... which the origianl Xbox titles still haven't been "ported" to play on the 360 emulator (those fsckers). This was a different publisher, however, so the Mechs are now called HOUNDS and have what are called AT classes instead of individual names (but the "Mad Cat" was such an awesome Mech!). The storylines are kinda... well, blah to put it best. I think it's just there to gain parts as you complete quests so you can build your own badass HOUND for some butt-kicking on Xbox Live!. I got to goofing around and created a "Soldier AT" I dubbed "Buttmunch". This thing was frikin wicked! Then I created a "Sniper AT" named "The Almighty" (reference to the sniper code-named "God" in the movie Navy Seals with Charlie Sheen). Ok, I was wrong, you can name them, but in the stories, they don't have names. Either way, an alright game. This is not one I'll be dropping more than 15-20 bucks for; I'll just wait till it goes Platinum status. Maybe I've been spoiled by Tomb Raider Legend and the Halo 3 previews, but I expect more than this game offered in my next-gen titles (the original Xbox hardware could probably handle this game). My overall play time was about 2 nights, so I've still got quite a few quests to finish when I finally do buy it. :)

Originally, I was searching for was Ninety-Nine Nights (N3). Unfortunately, Blockbuster's copy was no longer in stock (guess someone decided to not return it), so that's why I got Chrome Hounds, instead. The next day, however, I was at GameStop searching for my own copy of N3. With the demo, I fell in love with the massivly emersive envrionment and the fact that there were 500+ some-odd enemies and allies on the screen at the same time (with little to no lag)! Now that is how you take advantage of next-gen hardware! :D So my usual GameStop had one on the shelf (I had to search like hell for it), but not behind the counter. I should have taken this as an omen. But they guy called the store at the mall, and they had plenty. They were even $10 bucks cheaper than what I was about to pay for this one. This turned out to be yet another reminder as to why I hate (with an ugly passion) malls. You circle the lot looking for a parking spot. BTW, who the hell pays $6 for valet parking at a mall!? Then, once you finally find a spot, you traverse to the opposite side of the damn thing ('cause you didn't know which side the store was on to begin with) while avioding post-pubescent, vally-girl wannabe's, talking about the color of some sweater they have and the high-school junior/senior boy trying oh so hard to hook up with the two girls that only asked him along to carry all their packages. You spend all of 45 seconds to a minute and a half in the store (since you know what you're there for), only to have to traverse thru "Oh, do I wanna go in this store? Nah.", not paying attention, cell phone alley, again, just to get back to the parking lot you're in. This leads way to yet another reminder: I shouldn't be living where I live. My crusty dingy Jeep (keep in mind, it's had a non-rainstorm bath about twice in its life - it's a 2000) was surrounded by an Altima, an Acura, and a Lexus, all freshly washed and shined. If only online ordering were quicker with their deliveries (without having to spend as much in shipping as you payed for the item). An hour later from what I originally planned, I finally got home.

Great game; however, it has its downsides, also. The creators pushed the engine so hard (tons of enemies and allies, massive environmental damage, and graphical "ooo's" and "ahhhh's" with the cool move you just executed), that there is eventually a point at which the lag gets so bad you have to wait on the processor to catch up. That only happened one, tho. The basic concept is you feed thru the storyline. But, depending on which of the 7 characters you choose (you start with one choice, but more "unlock" as the game progresses), there's a different ending based on that character's, shall we say, influence, for lack of a better word, on the battles. The 7th character is supposed to be a "bonus" that becomes available once all the other storylines are complete. *** SPOILER WARNING!! *** Of all the crapass choices for a bonus character they could choose from all the cools NPC's from the other storylines, you get VigkVagk the troll!? His ending is pretty cool, tho. :) He just goes beserk and kills everyone (both light and dark sides) to end the war. You'll have to play the game to understand why he goes beserk. In Myifee's scenario there's this really hot chick in scanty lether and fur called Epharr. Dude, she was a badass. I wanted her to be the bonus. But, she only showed up in Asphar's story and briefly, at that. SPOILER END. There's not an Xbox Live! tie-in, so once you finish all the stories, all that's left is keep replaying to get a higher "ranking" for each mission and collecting points to view all the stuff in the "Library" menu section (pictures and character profiles). Speaking of, come to think of it, I don't think I've even competed on Live! since I purchased the 360 (other than a couple of Halo 2 matches). You can tell this was originally a Japanese game cause the voice-overs sooo don't match the character's mouths. But, I think I recognize two of the male character voices. One sounded like that guy from General Hospital that voiced "Cloud" in the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie. The other I don't know specifically, but it sounded famalier; like I had heard it in one of my anime series, or something. Overall? Pretty frikin cool! But, their marketing's "Rich story and unparalleled depth" comment I'll have to argue with. Even Final Fantasy X-2 (as cheezy as it has been) is more "rich" and "unparalleled". That part's pretty average if you ask me. But, I don't do, nor do I like game reviews. "Try it out and find out for yourself" is my motto.

So where does the title fit into all this? Dunno; just thought it sounded cool. Maybe because I was a little peeved that I didn't get to play N3 as Epharr. ;)



l8rs.