PixlBit

I bought two copies of COD: Advanced Warfare today so Mark and I could check it out. Each was under $10 at Gamestop. But as I was waiting for the install, I started playing some Gems of War and couldn't stop. Then I finally played four or five missions of the campaign in COD: AW. Details below. 

Gems of War, a free-to-play game by the makers of Puzzle Quest, is very much like the first Puzzle Quest, which is great because I always wanted more of the first game. Puzzle Quest 2 and Galactrix were ok, but not nearly as fun as PQ: Challenge of the Warlords. So I got seriously hooked on Gems of War and almost forgot to play the game I bought.

So what's different? You can add three other party members that can give you more special moves and attacks and level them up. They are presented on cards. I guess that's basically it.

I played the campaign, challenges, arena battles, and PvP. How PvP works, or so it seems, is that you can battle other players but I don't think they are actually controlling their side. I think it's you against their party which is run by the computer. I think that's the case because after a played a few rounds, I left and came back, and was alerted that my party had defended against several attacks.

There is also a Guild where you can join Clans. These are mostly passive affairs but you can join up with real people and then contribute gold from the main game to finish clan projects. What these projects are I'm not sure yet, but there is a task list on the main page that asks you to do things like contribute to a clan project, so I did it for the reward of souls. Souls are gained from battles and tasks and are used to level up your party members. Kinda macabre, that is.

Anyhow, the game had a glitch where the effects sounds would drop out every once in a while. You don't know how much you miss those sounds until they're gone. The game got a little less fun without sound. I fixed that by rebooting the game. Then later in the PvP area, the whole game froze up on me and that's when I decided to go play COD, long since fully installed. 

COD: Advanced Warfare is probably the most realistic looking game I've ever played. It's not the most interactive game, at least in the campaign. I can destroy things to a certain extent, though, with gunfire and exo skeleton muscle. Not quite to the extent of a game like Black which prided itself on its destructible environments. Which makes it kind of frustrating in a way because I'd like to roam these incredibly detailed environments a bit more. Of course, I'm playing the campaign right now, and that's a pretty linear affair. I image there'll be a little more freedom in the multiplayer surival and zombie modes. 

I had a blast in an early area where you are laying siege to a fake Camp David to rescue the president. I kicked down doors and laid down a crazy amount of firepower into a dinning room. Then I launched a drone and shot up a whole hoard of baddies by the pool. Then I tried to take a dip. Nope. Can't go in there. You think they could've used some of their Activision millions to make a swimable pool. This ain't GTA, I guess.

Later on, I began to realize I can't run-and-gun this game. You have to be careful and use cover wisely. It's basically a shooting gallery, so set up behind a shield or wall and hit the flying duckies. 

I guess I'm down with that. It's not my usual super soldier routine, but it's fun. 

I'm not sure I'm really that thrilled with realism in game graphics. It really isn't that important to me. Some kind of aesthetic beauty is more up my alley. But sometimes the realism of the physics is impressive. Using the exo-suit's boost assist (read, jetpack) feels very realistic and the particles from everthing exploding is incredible. It's certainly a feast for the eyes but not something I think is truly beautiful and I'd like to revisit often. 

Well, that's a wrap. My weekend's over, and I have next weekend to look forward to. I may get vanilla Destiny for XBO so Mark and I can transfer our characters from the X360 version. It's like under $10 too. 

Bye.