Monday, November 28, 2011

Food Review (Deluxe Cheeseburger, Mushroom and Swiss Burger, and Western BBQ Cheeseburger from Burger King)

These three $2 were put on the Burger King menu about a month or two ago. How are they? Well, let me start with the Deluxe Cheeseburger.

The Deluxe Cheeseburger to me just seems like BK's way of making their own Big Mac... and I actually like it. It's a typical burger with cheese, lettuce, onions, and pickles, with a Thousand Island-esque dressing. The difference between the sauce on this cheeseburger and the Big Mac though, is that this one seems to be a little sweeter, which wasn't too bad of an idea. I'd probably get it again.

Deluxe Cheeseburger: 4/5

The Mushroom and Swiss Burger is very, very average. What you've got here is a burger with Swiss cheese, topped with sauteed mushrooms, and BK's "grill sauce." I feel like this would taste a lot better if its sauce had less salt in it. The mushrooms are what you'd expect from a fast food place (not very flavorful and sort of rubbery), and that's all that you really get from this. As said, this hamburger would be better if it just had a little less salt in the grill sauce.

Mushroom and Swiss Burger: 3.5/5

Finally, the Western BBQ Cheeseburger. This one intrigued me most - not because it was at all a unique idea, but because I've always liked somewhat out-of-the-box burgers like this one. This one is just a hamburger with BBQ sauce, cheese, and onion rings... and it's good. It's nothing most people haven't had before, but it tastes alright, and that's really all that matters.

Western BBQ Cheeseburger: 4/5

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All three of these are pretty decent, but the thing is, $2 almost seems too much for these things. The size of these are about that of a Whopper Jr., to give you an idea, and it's not like there are little gold flakes on here that make these worth a dollar more than the Whopper Jr. But if you want something somewhat different at Burger King, try either the Deluxe Cheeseburger or the Western BBQ Cheeseburger... they're not too shabby.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Drink Review (Mountain Dew Green Game Fuel)

This past month, Activision reached a deal with Frito-Lay/Pepsi to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on their products. In doing so, they also brought Game Fuel back for a limited time. The first Game Fuel being the one that was initially released for Halo 3, and then again for World of Warcraft. The second was this green version, which is described as "Dew with a Charge of Tropical Flavor."

At first smell, I didn't really care for it. To me it was kind of like the smell of regular Mountain Dew after you burp - so not very appetizing. I thought it would taste like it smells, and it doesn't really. The closest thing I can compare this tasting to is something like a mix of Mountain Dew and Sprite, with pineapple juice. If you can remember how Revolution tasted when it came out a couple years back, it reminds me of that mixed with Baja Blast from Taco Bell. It's not the most unique, best tasting Mountain Dew, but it's a pretty good one... if you have the option of this or the orange Game Fuel though, there's almost no reason to choose this one, unless you haven't had it before.

3.75/5

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Game Review (Mario Kart!)

Yeah... just doing this because I can and I want to. I'm going to list all of the current Mario Karts in order of how much I liked them - least favorite to most favorite - and give each one a score, this time with percentages, so there aren't three way ties with scores. With Mario Kart 7 coming out in a couple weeks, why not? (Keep in mind I won't be reviewing the two arcade versions of the game.)

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6.) Mario Kart Wii: 79% That's correct. I'm giving the most recent version of Mario Kart a C+ rating. The reason for this is that it seems like in Mario Kart Wii, more-so than any version previous, really helps out n00bs. Essentially, this Mario Kart seems to take the least skill. It's still fun, and there is a pretty great collection of new and old tracks here, but this is the most frustrating Mario Kart of them all, as well as the oddest... the inclusion of mini-bikes sort of confused me, seeing as how the game is called Mario KART. Fortunately, they're out, and hopefully for good, in Mario Kart 7. Since it's been said that Mario Kart 7 is more like Wii than any other game in the series, I'm hesitant to get too excited for it. Time will tell.

5.) Super Mario Kart: 83% I really remember playing this game for the first time when I was about four or five years old at my cousin's house. He didn't seem to want me to play, so I mostly just remember watching, but the bit that I did play, and from what I watched, the game pretty much blew my mind back then. The really cool thing about this game is that, since it was the first Mario Kart, the game was mostly RACING. It seemed like there was less emphasis on the items, and that's what sort of sets this game apart from the others in the series. It's a bit aged now and feels a bit bland, but it remains a classic.

4.) Mario Kart Super Circuit: 84% I had no idea this game even existed until I randomly went in a Target when I was 12 and got it. Super Circuit got ridiculously high reviews on almost every website on the internet, and that surprised me. It's a pretty fun game, and a tiny step above Super Mario Kart to me, but Mario Kart just can't shine like it's supposed to with 2D landscapes, no matter how fun the game may be - it just feels dated, and at times it's nearly impossible to tell where you're going. Still, as with the original Mario Kart, there's no denying this game is fun, even if it's almost entirely in 2D.

3.) Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: 88% Although I owned a GameCube, and have always loved Mario Kart, for whatever reason, I never owned this game. I'm not sure why... I guess I was just a stupid child. Well. StupidER child. Anyway, I feel like Double Dash!! doesn't get the attention it deserves. At the time this game out- and actually even now, realizing it's a GameCube - I thought this was one of the best looking games released. The cartoony, smooth look, and how well the framerate held up was just one of many reasons I enjoyed this game. The whole two players per kart idea was and still is a pretty cool idea. In fact, I wish we had this option in Mario Karts even today - one of the best Karts ever.

2.) Mario Kart DS: 91% The first-time blend of new tracks with new I thought was a brilliant idea. Couple that with online play for the first time in Mario Kart's history, and Mario Kart DS was probably my favorite DS game, period. The game looked good, the frame rate held up, the online racing was surprisingly fun and minimally laggy, and as I brought up a bit ago, the 16-new, 16-old track idea was awesome. An insta-classic right here.

1.) Mario Kart 64: 93% And here I am, the only person in the world, that would ever say Mario Kart 64 was his/her favorite Mario Kart. Compared to Mario Kart DS in terms of gameplay, I should probably give that game the edge, but this game has a certain feel to it, and the nostalgia factor, that makes me give it top honors. It's pretty simple - 16 tracks, and 8 characters, all off the bat - nothing to unlock. No stats to track... but this game didn't need it. I couldn't tell you just how many hours I put into this game as a kid, but I'm sure as hell it was an embarrassingly high amount.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Game Review (Forza Motorsport 4 - 360)

The game's been out for over a month now, but at least I'm writing a review. Not that anyone cares that I'm doing one anyway. So, here goes.

Let me start by saying I never played Forza - the only bit of Forza I played was the Forza 3 (and 4) demo on the XBL Marketplace about 10 times. I really didn't have any interest in simulation racing games until I randomly started watching Top Gear UK on Netflix. Around that time, Forza 4 was getting a lot of hype in game previews, and I just wound up getting excited for it. The whole Top Gear deal with Forza helped, too.

With all of that hype, it sure would SUCK if the game sucked, but as you know by now (if you're reading this one random review in the depths of the internet), the game has done exceptionally well, with critical acclaim across the board. Now that I've said that, I suppose a review would be pointless... BUT I'll carry on anyway.

As I said, I never played Forza - I hadn't even really heard of it much because I was never big on simulation racers - I said that already too. But when I played the Forza 3 demo, I was almost blown away at the graphics for obvious reasons. The fact that each car was unique in cock-pit view, the lighting, the one track I got a chance to see ... I really didn't think Forza 4 could improve, but it did. Not a whole hell of a lot, but there is a difference. Mainly in that Forza 4 just looks more realistic. I.E., the colors are less saturated. As great as the cars look and the lighting is, the environments leave quite a bit to be desired. Some tracks look spectacular (Bernese Alps), while others look blah (Sebring International, Le Mans). Still, I'm sure if Turn 10 could have, they would have made the environments better, but the 360 can only do so much. I'm just really having to nit-pick here, because the game really just looks fantastic overall.
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Graphics: 4.75/5

Everyone knows that it doesn't matter how great a game looks if it plays like trash ... well, that's not a problem here. You go through 10 seasons in career mode, which will take about 20 (?) hours of driving time to complete. The first season is only a few races, while each season gets progressively longer as you go on. Once you've completed the career, you can do it all over again, or you can skip the career entirely and hit the Event List, where there are hundreds of races for you to compete in. For instance, Charger v. Challenger races, Autocross, Track Days, Top Gear Bowling, and more. To be honest, it's really just addicting, in particular early on. Every time you rank your Driver Level up until level 50, you get a choice between normally 3-5 cars to be gifted to you. This is great because, obviously, if there's a car to choose from that you want, you're getting it for free, and you can spend the Credits you've earned on another car you want. I played this game religiously for the first couple of weeks because I was so keen on leveling up and getting all the cars I could. After level 50 though, you get a credit bonus that goes up every time you rank up. I believe at level 51 for example, you get 105k credits, 52 you get something like 110k, etc. Getting credits is great, but there was something about getting to choose between a group of cars that was just really great.

Me going on about credits and leveling up is reminding me - it's really quite easy to get credits in this game. While in Forza 3 it was (apparently) very difficult to get credits, and players had to grind to get cars they wanted, in this game you really can earn them quickly, which I suppose is better than having them be hard to earn. Still, if you are busy or just incredibly lazy, you can get Car Tokens and purchase the car(s) you want, ranging in prices from the lowly $1 cars to the high-end $3 cars, like your Ferarris and Lamborghinis. But not Porsche - if you haven't heard by now, there aren't any on-disc, unfortunately. Still, there are just so many damn cars in this game, they won't be too sorely missed.
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Gameplay: 4.75/5

Forza 4 is an all-around great experience. Even if you're a one-manufacturer guy - or girl - you'll more than likely want to take many different cars of many different rankings around several tracks just to get a feel for them. Really, every car is unique - if you're finding that the cars drive too similarly or too easily, try driving with all assists off, and you'll notice a difference. In fact, driving with no assists is what makes this game so much fun. Personally, I couldn't imagine playing this game with assists on... flying around the tracks with them all off and getting at "Top 5%" or better on the leader board, to me, is just a really rewarding feeling. Sure, other games can give that sense of accomplishment, but not many senses of accomplishment come following an adrenaline rushing race. While I have gotten a BIT burned out on the game after beating the career mode and reaching level 50 (it goes up to 150 though, and I'm currently only only 64, I think), I still play about an hour a day or so, and it's not any less fun. As said, the only reason I don't play as much, is because I don't have the motivation to keep ranking up to get a car unlock every level. Regardless, it's still of a hell of a lot of fun in bursts, and I'm sure there are many other people out there that will have fun of it in several hour marathons. Forza 4 is simply the best racer on the 360, and there's just no contest there. In fact, it may just be the best racing option on the market. It's not perfect (it could use a few more tracks, and something else I can't quite put my finger on), but for now, this will do. Well, no, it will more than do.

4.75/5

Monday, November 14, 2011

Food Review (Triple Steak Stack from Taco Bell)

While I patiently await the inevitable re-arrival of the Beefy Crunch Burrito, Taco Bell has thrown out yet ANOTHER thing of the "triple steak" variety... just how good is this thing?

The Triple Steak Stack is a pile of steak thrown on an 8ish-inch flat bread with cheese for the cost of five bucks. Yes. Five. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Simply, I can't justify paying that much for one item at Taco Bell - I'll do it once per item, just to have it once, and that's that. This thing is no exception. While it is definitely a pretty hefty portion of steak, it doesn't seem like a good value for the price. It should be noted that the quality of the steak in this is actually surprisingly decent. It's not chewy, and it tastes REAL. The cheese that's in it is almost pointless, because the amount of steak overwhelms it, so this almost tastes like nothing but a salty mess.

I said almost. While it is pretty damn saltified, it still has a decent flavor, and if you want a steak fix without having to stop at a restaurant or the store to bring it home and make it, you have this option. Granted it's not the best thing in the world, but it's decent.

Anyway, yeah. I wouldn't get it again. $5 for steak on bread, and that's all it really is. If it were a dollar or two cheaper, I'd maybe get it a few more times in the future, but it costs just too much, even if the steak does taste better than the typical Taco Bell stuff.

3.5/5

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Game Review (Battlefield 3 - 360)

Alright, I'm a few weeks late, leave me alone. Better late than never, right? One of the most anticipated games of the year is now available. Does it live up to the hype? Is it the Call of Duty killer?

DICE/EA and Activision had a lot of words exchanged between them in the months leading up to the release of their games, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, respectively. Naturally, it intrigued me, and I had high hopes for both games with all the words that were flying back and forth.

Let me just dive right in here - the campaign and co-op in Battlefield 3. Enjoyable, but in no way comparable to Call of Duty. The story is worth playing through, but it's utterly average, at best. As far as difficulty goes, for sake of a comparison, the campaign on the hardest difficulty is harder than Modern Warfare 3's, and about the same length (Roughly 6 hours). For the co-op mode, you get six missions that you can play through with a friend. I must say, these are all surprisingly challenging, even on easy, so consider yourself warned. The missions can all be completed on normal difficulty within about 3 or 4 hours, so it's not lengthy, but it's a worthwhile experience. Still, even with the enjoyable co-op mode, the single-player campaign is just not that great.
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Campaign and co-op score: 3.75/5

And the main focus of Battlefield 3, the multiplayer. Battlefield 3 launches with 9 maps on-disc, with more to come in the months following via DLC. DICE really made a huge deal about this game and its new engine, Frostbite 2, and to be honest, I don't see much of a difference at all in map destruction between this game and Bad Company 2. Hell, I don't hear much of a difference, or notice much better graphics period, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because Bad Company 2 was already pretty snazzy. The maps in this game are pretty nice, despite there only being nine. The only map I don't particularly care for is Tehran Highway, mostly because of the lag issues there are on it, but I'll talk about that stuff in a bit. The gameplay in this game is just what you would expect from a Battlefield game. It's somewhat slow paced due to the map size, but at the same time action packed and exciting. If you read my Battlefield vs. Call of Duty entry, you'll know that I mentioned that Battlefield is for the more cerebral player, and that rings true in Battlefield 3. You really have to think about what class you want to be, and what you want to do to work your way to your objective. In Call of Duty, seeing as how there are no vehicles, you can really pick almost any combination of things and manage, but in Battlefield, you can't go it alone. You need an Assault guy to heal you up, the Engineer to lay a hurting on enemy vehicles while repairing your own, a Support guy to lay down covering fire and provide ammo, as well as a Recon guy to spot enemies, and throw down a radio beacon for your squad to spawn at. Team work truly is essential for a successful squad, and to get the most out of the game.

With all of that said, there are several problems I have with this game... really, so many that I'll likely forget a few in my list. What comes to mind first is the hit-detection. It is spotty to say the least. Some times you can kill a guy in 5-6 shots, other times it really seems to take 15, even if he's nowhere near a medic kit. This can be fixed with a future update, and it likely will be, but as of now, it's really one of the biggest frustrations I have with this game. Second, a close second, is the lag. Even with the game running at 30fps in a Squad Rush match, the game has its fair share of lag, and it's just a bummer to see. This could also be managed in coming months, but I think it'll be more difficult. My third biggest issue isn't with the game, but with some of the people that play it. I really already said it earlier - if you aren't playing with friends or a communicative squad, you will NOT get the most out of Battlefield 3. Hop into a match alone in a random squad, and you'll more than likely find yourself with some morons that are either camping back and doing nothing, or playing Rush or Conquest like it's Team Deathmatch, rather than contributing to the team. Overall, the online experience in Battlefield 3 as of now is just slightly above average. Solid, but in need of several fixes.
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Multiplayer: 4/5

And that's really that. TL;DR, Battlefield 3 is a game with a lot of potential. It looks pretty good, and for the most part plays well, but the amount of bugs in this game can't help but make me think that EA rushed this game out to beat Modern Warfare 3. In a few months, and with a few pretty drastic updates to fix the games problems, I could give this game about a 4.5, but as it sits now, the game really just feels like a beta to me in several ways, and so I give it a

4/5

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - 360)

The third and final installment - well, final installment as in MW3 will conclude the story started in the original Call of Duty - of Modern Warfare is here. Despite my high rating of the second Modern Warfare, I soon realized I basically reviewed that game out of early hype. Upon more playing, I realized the game was nowhere near as good as I had originally said. A 4.75? Much too generous for a game with so many issues... but that's said and done and a topic for another day. Right now, I'm talking about Modern Warfare 3.

First things first - the campaign. Well without spoiling anything, let me just say that if you're a fan of action, this is probably the best Call of Duty campaign yet. The story is pretty good, but not as incredible as a lot of people are making it out to be. I can tell you that there are some unexpected twists throughout. The number one issue I have with the campaign here is that, well, it's just too damn easy, even on Veteran. Having played Call of Duty 2's, Modern Warfare 1 and 2's, and Black Ops's campaigns, I can say quite easily that this is the easiest. Really, they've gotten easier to complete year after year for the most part. Although the campaign can be completed in roughly 6 hours on Veteran, the story is good enough to keep you interested.
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Campaign score: 4/5

Next up we have the Special Operations (Spec Ops) modes, which unlike Modern Warfare 2, now includes a Survival Mode. The Spec Ops Missions mode is just like it was in MW2 - you and a friend work together to complete tasks. Hey, it was fun in '09, and it's still fun now. But that feature isn't new, so I'll try explaining Survival Mode... think of it as Infinity Ward's version of Zombies. While Zombies isn't a game mode here in Modern Warfare 3, I find Survival Mode to be a more than adequate replacement, since I prefer it. The gist of this game type is that you and a friend cooperatively go through several waves - I believe it goes up to 50 or 60...? I'm not sure, don't quote me on that. - of enemies. But unlike Zombies where you shoot at the slow moving undead, these guys fire back. You can expect to see swarms of infantry including juggernauts, as well as attack helicopters. I really enjoy this mode, and am looking forward to playing it more in the days, weeks, and months to come.
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Spec Ops Mission and Survival Modes: 4.5/5

And, of course, the multiplayer, what many Call of Duty fans would argue is the most important feature. How is it compared to Modern Warfare 2, in a word? Improved. Many people are going on and on about how Call of Duty is selling the same game every year for $60 and whatever else, but the fact is, it sells as well as it does for a reason: The online play is just addicting. While not huge changes have been made to multiplayer, at its core it's still a very enjoyable thing to play. Sure, Kill Confirmed and Team Defender have been added as new game modes, and you can now level up your individual guns to get proficiencies and stuff like that, but that's not what makes this game's multiplayer better than that in Modern Warfare 2; it's simply the fact that the game is more balanced, and just feels better overall. The different killstreak packages (Assault, Support, Specialist) add a new level of strategy that hasn't been seen in Call of Duty before, and it encourages more team work than any previous game in the series. While this is all fine and good, and really does make for a great experience, there's one big thing that could make it better: the maps. Modern Warfare 3 has 16 maps on disc, roughly 12 of which are mediocre or worse. Personally, I only find Arkaden, Hardhat, Resistance, and Village to be particularly "good," and none of them are really instant-classics. Instead, they're really just buried beneath a lot of maps that are just average, or simply bad, like Downturn, Interchange, and Mission. Hopefully there will be DLC in the future that will be better than the lot of maps that are on disc. Honestly, that shouldn't be too difficult of a task. Despite the lack of enjoyable maps to play online, that's the only real thing that's stopping Modern Warfare 3 from being a great FPS.
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Multiplayer: 4.5/5

Infinity Ward has really done a lot right with Modern Warfare 3. While I tried to not to get caught up in the hype, it didn't work. Luckily, unlike with Modern Warfare 2, I wasn't disappointed with the game. Although it's not perfect, this installment really is one of the best Call of Duty games out there. The campaign is action-packed and enjoyable, albeit easy to say the least, the Spec Ops modes are there for two friends that can't find a group of solid players to play online with, and the multiplayer is, in my opinion, vastly improved over Modern Warfare 2. It may not be the best Call of Duty, but it's certainly one worth buying.

4.5/5

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Maps)

No, this is not a review of the game - this is simply a review of the maps that are on-disc for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Personally, I found Black Ops to have the best maps of them all, and apparently, I'm the only one. Why did I like those maps best? I really liked the variety - it seemed to have more than any other in the series. From the several snow maps on-disc and as DLC, to Jungle, to Nuketown, to Stadium, to Hotel, to Drive-In, to Hazard, to Zoo... I thought it was absolutely great. But here's MW3. Infinity Ward's last game was MW2, and I really disliked a pretty large number of the maps in that game. But what about this time around?

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Arkaden: 4/5 Taking place in a German mall, Arkaden is one of the bigger maps in the game, and probably the map I was most looking forward to. After a decent number of matches, I'm just not a huge fan. It's definitely a good map, and decently layed out (you'll read about stuff like that in a bit, I assure you.), but it's not the best map in MW3.

Bakaara: 3.75/5 This map just reminds me of Crash from CoD4 and MW2. (If you don't recall, Crash was remade as DLC in MW2.) The colors, the way some of the buildings are laid out, and hell, there's a chopper crashed in the middle of the map even! Thing is though, this map has got nothing on Crash. It seems like they really tried to make Crash and improve upon it or something, but they just failed. Worst part is, this map isn't really particularly good in any one game mode. Average.

Bootleg: 3.5/5 And this one? A bit of Kowloon... but I think that's really only because it's clearly in a third-world country and it's dark/rainy. I haven't played this map too many times, but I don't think I have to to see that I'm just not a big fan. It's not that the design is that terrible, but it just feels boring and dull. I'm really having trouble trying to remember all the areas of this map... I guess that's just how forgettable it is?

Carbon: 4/5 Mm. Probably being generous on this one... I sort of have a love-hate relationship with Carbon; I really enjoy a few areas of the map, and just completely hate the others. I haven't played this map yet in S&D, but I have a feeling it would be pretty fun on that, so really that's what's making me fetch this a 4.

Dome: 3.5/5 Look everybody, it's the Rust of Modern Warfare 3! Except, I completely hated Rust, and this map I just deal with. It seems to come up fairly often in the playlist, which sucks, but at least it's not Rust, which I refused to play. Dome's the smallest map in the game if you hadn't guessed by now, and there are very few places you can camp. I think for most this is a map you either like or dislike. For me though, I put it right in the middle. I'd like it quite a bit more if it was bigger... That's what she said.

Downturn: 3.5/5 A pretty big map, yet not all that friendly for snipers. I thought the idea of this would be cool, but it just turned out poorly. It's large, so games drag on (especially TDM), and it just looks shabby. Yep... another average-at-best map.

Fallen: 3.75/5 Here we have an "Overgrown" look-alike map. Fallen plays nothing like it, but the colors and buildings and things like that remind me a lot of it. As I've really said with a lot of these MW3 maps, this map is just... average. Don't love it, don't hate it, but I'll play it. For a small map, Fallen really encourages quite a bit of camping, so keep that in mind.

Hardhat: 4.5/5 One of my favorite maps from MW3... it takes place at some construction site, and it's really just a whole hell of a lot of super fast-paced action in gametypes like TDM. For being as small as it is, it somehow manages to fit in a couple decent stretches where you can look down the sites of your assault rifle and pick enemies off. Great layout. Kudos to the map maker.

Interchange: 3.5/5 Think "Ambush" from CoD 4's layout - in a way - blended with the look of "Underpass" from MW2... slightly. Both of those maps to me were average or below average, so this map reminding me of the two isn't really a good thing. The map just seems random and there's no symmetry to it. The fact that the map is pretty much solid grey isn't helping anything either.

Lockdown: 3.5/5 Another one of the very few fairly large maps in the game, meaning one of the few that is sniper-friendly. The layout of this map is decent, but having so many two-story buildings in it just encourages a LOT of camping unfortunately. Not only do the campers drag this map down a bit, but the pretty bland appearance doesn't help it much either. Still, it's a good map for most objective game modes.

Mission: 3.25/5 Favela, Pt. 2 ... that's about the best way to describe this map. Seeing as how it was probably my least favorite map in MW2 after Karachi, you can maybe guess why I gave it such a low rating. You have one area that's higher with a lot of close-quarters combat, then a lower, wide open area that's there for pretty much nothing. Not a fan of the layout, or the way the map looks - worst map on-disc, to me.

Outpost: 4/5 The lone snow map in MW3! I guess after seeing so many on-disc and as DLC in Black Ops, Infinity Ward decided to put just one in here. And really, it's not too bad. Medium sized map with a good share of inside as well as outside firefights. Nothing extraordinary, but better than most of the maps in MW3. If I really have one complaint, it's that this map doesn't come up often enough in playlists.

Resistance: 4.5/5 A great map - another one of my favorites. The aesthetics, the design, and the enjoyment to be had in TDM and objective modes is just fantastic. There's really not much else to say, other than that this could very well be my favorite map in the game.

Seatown: 3.5/5 Yet another average map. Not much can be said here other than the fact that much of the map feels cluttered and close-quarters, and there are a decent number of small rooms with two floors for people to camp in. I'm sorry I sound so redundant, but the maps have just been designed that way for the most part...

Underground: 4.25/5 A medium-large sized map, Underground doesn't disappoint. Along with Arkaden, this is a map I was looking forward to playing... this one is just better. It's nice to have this map - as well as a few others - that don't force you into pretty much nothing but cramped spaces and almost MAKE you use an SMG or shotgun. Also, there's an area of this map that reminds me quite a bit of "District" from Call of Duty 4. Oh, how I miss that game...

Village: 4/5 Here's another one of not enough spacious-ish maps. Village reminds me of both "Bitter Jungle" from SOCOM II and "Jungle" from Black Ops, almost entirely in terms of appearance. From my experience, this is a good bit of fun in Domination, but I could see it being enjoyable in S&D as well.

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How are the maps? As you can see by the scores, overall, not so great. I've found that far too many maps are close-quarters for the most part, with a little area on the other side of the map that's more open. It also seems like with some of these maps they just wanted to throw things up and call it a day, with a fair number of maps seeming "random"... having no rhyme or reason to their design. Sections or all of maps like Bakaara, Interchange, Mission, and Seatown make me feel that way. Unfortunately, I'm really not a big fan of these maps, and I'd say from CoD4 to now, this game may have my least favorite maps. The game is still quite fun, but a few great maps from map packs would certainly spice things up. Overall, I'd give the MW3 disc maps a...

3.5/5

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Game Tip (Battlefield 3: Co-Op Weapons)

This is the quickest way I've found to unlocking these weapons:

Go to the final mission, "The Eleventh Hour" and put it on Easy. Simply run through all the enemies (shoot a few on the way so you don't get knifed) until you get to the part where you're supposed to defuse the bomb. When you get there, press any random button so the bomb explodes and you fail the mission. You will get roughly 4500-5000 score every time you do this, and it takes just under a minute every time. Since the guns unlock once every 60k score or so, it'll take ABOUT 15 minutes to get each gun.

You're welcome. It may seem a bit tedious, but it doesn't take long, and you'll get a bunch of guns and a cool 30 GS for doing this.