http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:09:27 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/11/190927.php Johnny RockBattlefield 2142 is back with a new "Booster Pack" from EA. Featuring three new maps, a full new tier of unlocks, two brand new vehicle types and of course new awards.While on paper that may sound like a lot of new content, it's hardly enough to warrant the costs of proper retail release - so instead EA is opting to take the route of digital distribution, offering Northern Strike for a reasonable $10.The game, like it's bigger brothers, is still the fun, fast paced, action packed, system hog it always was - and while it's not the prettiest game or the freest of advertising, there is some security in knowing that EA is not likely to change the winning formula. Like its older brother, it takes even more pages from past successful game and movie franchises like Star Wars and Unreal Tournament 2004 in some aspects.One of the new vehicle types, the Landspeeder, this delightful little hovering go-cart of doom may remind you of curiously effeminate robots and tall shaggy man-dogs, but this gun mounted death wagon is no joke. Though hard to pilot at first, due to it's controls being the same as the aircraft, once mastered you'll be bulls eyeing swamp ra... I mean enemy soldiers in no time.The new unlocks range from great to being as utterly useless as the knife from the original Resident Evil. One standout addition is the new types of grenades. Assault have been given radar grenades which briefly give out nearby enemy positions while the Engineers have the rather interesting "Bait Grenades" that lure mines like a robotic Pied Piper to where they can self-detonate either at a safe distance, or to flush out enemy infantry.Most unlocks, however, are just upgrades of previous unlocks and feel like little more then tacked on space filler making this add-on seem like a better value. One such useless unlock is that of the support class, a sticky grenade launcher that detonates shortly after hitting any non-human target. The damage is low, the blast radius is small and the accuracy is poor. You'd be hard pressed to take down even a wounded enemy or damaged light vehicle with it.The maps are well thought out and serve as the bulk of the new content added to the game. Two are new urban-city maps that will have you zigzagging through alleyways hiding in fear of the near unstoppable force of the new Goliath tank as it mows down anyone not in a heavily armored vehicle that gets close.The next city map is set in nighttime, blending toe-to-toe infantry fighting with more covert-ops style play. All the while you'll be wondering where those damn enemy snipers could be hiding. It makes for a very intense, fast paced game. One you won't soon forget.The final new map is a standard Titan map. There's a small skirmish area for ground to battle over the silos, a large amount of air space for fighting in the sky, and of course the two battling Titans. There is nothing special about the new Titan map but it is well thought out and certainly doesn't disappoint.Overall for the small price of $10 and the incessant need to take a shower after giving EA your money, Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike is a game that manages to deliver big on the fun while still being easy on the wallet.Northern Strike needs a full copy of Battlefield 2142 to run.Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Violence. Gaming60841@blogcritics.org Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:09:27 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/19/174707.php Johnny RockYes, EA and Dice are at it again with the newest installment of the Battlefield franchise. Boasting that ever familiar 64-player, arcade styled, jump-into-any-vehicle-at-any-time, team killing, explosion filled, sniper-whoring, and spawn-camping fest that we lovingly call the "Battlefield Multiplayer Experience," and oh how we love it so. This game will be familiar to anyone who has played Battlefield 2, so familiar in fact that Battlefield 2142 almost seems like a mod, or a flimsy upgrade with higher system requirements (and this game is quite demanding). It has the same squad-system, commander system, and ranking system.The story is pretty basic, it's set in the 22nd Century, after a new ice age in which the ice from the North Pole spreads and pretty much destroys hundreds of countries including North America. Two factions, the European Union and the Pan Asian Coalition, are fighting an ongoing World War IV. There are some improvements over the previous installment though, for one the aircraft are so easy to pilot that it doesn't make you wish you shelled out the extra cash for that fancy new joystick. The kits which are now narrowed down to four: Recon, Engineer, Assault, and Support; the kits are combinations of the classes of yesteryear (e.g. Assault is a combination of Assault and Medic) and through unlocks which is in a tech-tree system you can customize your classes any way you want, EA quotes "more than 1500 combos."The biggest draw is the totally new content for this game, the main one being the all-new "Titan" mode which has a slightly lowered player limit from Conquest mode at 48-players. In which the goal is to destroy the other team's Titan-Ship by controlling automated missile silos around the map to destroy the shield then assaulting the hull or even entering the ship to destroy the reactor core. Other new additions to the game are new kinds, and large upgrades of the vehicles - the Battle Tank, which now hovers but is just the same as the antiques from over 100-years ago, the APC which has a nifty James Bond escape pod system for the passengers, able to send the player flying hundreds of feet into the air and then can be piloted as it falls; the Fast Attack Vehicle which is just the same as the old jeeps and humvees from the past with a juiced-up mounted machine gun; the Armored Air Transport which also acts as a mobile spawn point; a Gunship, which is more-or-less a replacement for the attack-helicopter; and the real attention grabber which is a bipedal-mech called a Walker that can fire guided rockets or machine guns. Don't think they forgot about the infantry though, although you start off almost naked with only the absolute basics, with each rank-up you'll be able to unlock more and more and be able to get the more familiar feel as you see fit, with grenades, mines, remotely detonated explosives, and an ultra-cool Active Camouflage that will make you invisible, (and wanting to stalk commandos in a jungle) are all upgrades, as well as new rifles, rocket launchers, and machine guns. The addition of the EMP attacks adds a whole new range of tactics and danger, as the Battlefield franchise has always been about the vehicles. The EMP attacks, which come in way of grenades, mines, vehicle, and even air strikes, can temporarily disable vehicles making them vulnerable for a Recon to run up and drop remotely detonated explosives without fear of being shot or run over by the target, or for an Engineer to get in a few free rocket hits. Overall, Battlefield 2142 while including some interesting new content and higher graphical quality, and even higher demands of a top notch computer, it still feels like a modified version of Battlefield 2, and in fact runs on a slightly modified engine. There are also the usual problems and bugs that have yet to be worked out by EA. This is a fun game, but there isn't very much reason at all to buy this game if you already have Battlefield 2, or if you don't want to deal with the expected bugs that won't be fixed until a few patches down the line. Battlefield 2142 is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Violence. Gaming54595@blogcritics.org Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:47:07 EDT