buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Halo

In My Weekend Gaming Hands

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It’s actually been in my hands since Monday, but a busy week means it’s been plugged in, updated and then waited patiently for someone to download some games. (I did download and play Geometry Wars 2 just because, but nothing more)

Have I switched back to being a primarily console gamer? Maybe. I have been craving some laid-back couch gaming recently and I’ve been eyeing an Xbox Series X for quite some time, so when I found one in stock, I jumped at the chance. I have been enjoying the benefits of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on my PC for some time now, but now a whole new realm of possibilities sits before me. For now, I’ll probably fart around in:

  • Vampire Survivors
  • Halo Infinite/Master Chief Collection
  • Forza Horizon 5

After that, I think maybe I’ll try Pentiment, or Dune: Spice Wars, or who knows what. I’m open to suggestions!

(Oh, and lest I forgot, Marvel Snap has its claws in me. DEEP)

What are you playing?

In My Hands

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It’s actually been in my hands for a couple weeks now but with holidays and Borderlands 2, I just haven’t had a chance to play it. I’m going to remedy that tonight.

Samus vs. Master Chief

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This video, Haloid is making the rounds, but as both a big Halo fan and a HUGE Metroid fan, I’d have to turn in my fanboy card if I didn’t link it as well.

It’s extremely well made, excellently choreographed and has a lot of charm. While I don’t care for the ending, this video is a must watch.

Cheaters are dumb.

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Like me rephrase that — the guys who figure out the cheats, not so dumb. I would imagine it’s no small task figuring out how to beat the system. That takes guts and brains. But the ones who use it after everyone knows what’s going on — dumb.

Last week, three of us from the Halo 2 clan were playing on Live, trying to stay alive in some clan matches. We meet up with three of Halo 2 best and brightest and have a go at a Multi Flag CTF in Colossus (one of my favorite maps, which makes for some good CTF). You can view the game stats here.

Anyway, once the game starts, things seem normal. I was sniping like a mad man in previous games, so I make a bee-line for the Covenant Sniper. I hustle over, get it before Red does and I get in position for some head shots. Then things start acting screwy. The alert pops up that the Red Team has grabbed our flag. I pull up the scope, zoom in to our base and see something peculiar – Red Teammate #1 one is running into a corner. What’s he doing? Is he going to take a quick leak on our base before he bolts? No one pisses on my flag. I line up his pretty little head and whamo! I pull the trigger. Strange, nothing happens. Whamo! Another shot, deadnuts. Nope, still jogging in place, in the corner. Then everything rushes around and I’m the one running into a wall as he scores. Uh oh. Immediately we know what’s going on. Smarty-pants Team Red is using the “Lag Cheat” to score one for the bad guys.

Over team chat we contemplate quitting and not give them the satisfaction of cheating us, but we’re upstanding Live citizens who never quit, so we decide to wait it out. As you can see, six minutes later they had scored on us thrice and the game ended. Now remember, cheaters are dumb.

On the score screen after the game, I fully expected them to bolt, nary a word. But they don’t. In some sort of retarded reverse psychology, Red Team starts complaining about lag. “You guys must have been lag cheating us!” they accuse. What? The purpose of cheating is to win by any means necessary. So if, as you accuse, we have cheated, we should have won. Makes sense to me. “No, no lag cheating going on here,” we reply. “Whatever, it was lagging like hell, you guys are cheaters,” is their retort. “Again, we didn’t cheat. In fact, it’s blatantly obvious that you guys were cheating and you’ll be promptly left feedback accordingly.” The logic simply baffles the mind. Here’s were it/they get dumber.

“No, you guys were cheating and we’re reporting you!” they lash back. “You know what?” they consider, “if you guys don’t report us, we won’t report you. Deal?” Right. They promptly exit the game and the three of us just start laughing. Feedback is left and we go on our way, satisfied knowing an update is coming and all the frauds out there will be exposed for what they are:

Dumb cheaters. Dumb, I tell ya.

Halo has been destroyed.

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B00005NZ1G.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpgI have completed Halo, I’m proud to say. It took me less than two weeks, playing about an hour or two, with a couple longer sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed it, everything looked and sounded great, the vehicles are a blast (I really liked the race to the finish), the fact that only two weapons can be carried is genius. The music was moody, but often triggered at weird times. My biggest gripe, of course, is the level design. I understand that some areas need to be repeated, but not every darn one of them. Some were a pain to navigate, but on the whole it never was overly frustrating. The pace was perfect, maybe a tad too fast.

Overall, I look forward to trying on the harder difficulty levels at some point, but I’m going back to NCAA 2005 for now. I left my team in a lurch and they need their coach.

I give Halo 4.75/5 buttons mashed! I also eagerly waiting its sequel.

Halo.

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B00005NZ1G.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpgSo I’m two-and-half years late to the party, but I’ve finally assumed the role of Master Chief and taken the responsibility of saving the world, no, the universe, on my shoulders. I’ve played Halo plenty, but mostly multiplayer, so it’s good to see some of what happens and how everything fits together.

Visually, I’m impressed, it still looks good 3 years later. Sound is top notch, control is great, but as many have complained, the levels lack imagination. The computer enemies are compentent. So far so good. Unfortunately it cuts into NCAA 2005 time, but I’m okay with that for now.