Gaming time

Sunday Oct 17th 2004

I was out with a friend today and decided to buy a couple of video games. The first one was Halo - which everyone raves about. The other was Dawn of War - which no one has said anything about since it’s brand new. Here are my opinions:

Halo sucks. I played it for about 30 minutes. The mouse control is terrible (even after you adjust it). The landscapes are weak, character movement doesn’t feel right and it’s downright boring. See an enemy, shoot and enemy, run to the next objective, blah blah blah. Very disappointed in it. I’ll be bringing it back for a refund next Saturday. For all this hype I heard about Halo, it sure doesn’t live up to it. Guess I fell for the hype and got screwed for it.

Dawn of War is good. Since I like it I have lots to say about it.

I won’t say DOW is awesome but it’s better than average. It’s like a big game of capture-the-flag but it’s very involved. Very reminiscent of StarCraft, almost a little too much in some places (but that’s not a bad thing). Graphics are smooth. Gameplay very engaging. Lots of things to do, lots of weapons, lots of fun. I can also see this game being a big online hit.

Worst part about DOW: The cutscenes between campaigns are horrible. They should have spent more time on those. However, the intro movie is absolutely perfect… I just wish they carried that effort to the cutscenes. To put in bluntly, the cutscenes look like they were made in 1999. That’s how bad they are - and this is a 2004 game. But fortunately the cutscenes don’t affect gameplay whatsoever (thank God).

Best part about DOW: It has something I haven’t seen in any other RPG-ish style game, the ability to zoom and pan on “the field”. You’re not just stuck with an overview. You can get right to the ground, zoom in and see live fight scenes up close. Very cool.

Controls for this game can be easily picked up by almost anyone I would think. Every single mouse command with the exception of some movement can be done via keyboard. This is one of those games where it’s a big advantage to learn the keyboard shortcuts because it will enhance gameplay a lot more.

DOW doesn’t require the latest/greatest computer to run it. It runs very smooth with stock settings. Suffice it to say, I’ll be keeping this game.

So.. Halo’s out, Dawn of War is in.

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