Achievement Unlocked 04.04.09: Legends of WrestleMania, Halo Wars and More

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 04.04.2009

After a long hiatus, 411's Rod Oracheski returns to the weekly column world with a look back at his time away. Shellshock 2, Naruto: The Broken Bond, and Halo Wars all get a mention this week in Achievement Unlocked.



  While work piling up has kept me too busy to write David Redkey's favourite column for the last few weeks, I've still managed to get some gaming in and keep up with what's going on. So this week I'll have a look at some of the stuff that's gone on since I went on hiatus.

  I played some new games, including Halo Wars, Naruto: The Broken Bond, and Legends of Wrestlemania, and even did some spring cleaning on my backlog and got through Shellshock 2. Halo Wars got me to do a little more spring cleaning actually, as I fired up both Universe at War and Red Alert 3, making me wonder why I try to pick up complicated games months later...

  Let's look at all that, this week on Achievement Unlocked!

  Let's start with the spring cleaning of Shellshock 2 from my 'gotta play at some point' list, since it is - unfortunately - the low point in my last week or so of gaming. While there are a slew of things the game doesn't do all that well, let's first talk about the things that it did very well, at least in a few levels: atmosphere and tension.

The Vietnam theme park just didn't take off.

  There have been quite a few first-person shooter (FPS) games that are set in, whether partially or entirely, a jungle environment: Halo 3, Haze, and Call of Duty: World at War all spring to mind. At times Shellshock 2's jungle settings are the equal of any of them, though those 'times' are admittedly few and far between. During one level I actually let myself die just so I could start it again and record the section I'd just played through - you can find that video at the bottom of the column, along with some others.

  That's not the only good level in the game, though. I was also a big fan of the mansion section, where you first have to fight your way into and then out of the decrepit old building. The two paths differ greatly in how they play, with your first trip made extremely tense due to (at least for me) going in with a lack of ammo so every headshot counted. With zombies (that's what I just wound up calling them, as the story is pretty far out there) around every darkened corner, the otherwise abandoned building amplifying the creaks and groans of the floorboards, and random screams from unknown origins...it was very effective at creating tension. I'd even go so far as to say it had more 'OMG WHAT WAS THAT?' moments than Resident Evil 5 - crazy.

  The trip out of the building is a lot less tense and a lot more fun. You're given a shotgun with ample rounds before the turnaround, and if you can't have fun blasting zombies with a shotgun then you need to have someone check for a pulse. Then you hit the last room and run into one of the game's inexplicable and largely unexplained boss-style fights - a hooded guy with a pair of knives who makes, I think, two appearances in the game. Though this enemy appears really no different than any other, he can soak up dozens of shotgun rounds and you fight in a fairly small room...

  And that's the problem with Shellshock 2 - they just can't keep the good times rolling. One good level and then one that makes you want to pull your hair out. Every good idea is outweighed by a poor choice and every high point is tempered by two or three lows. The game is still worth checking out if you hit a dead zone where you've got nothing to play and want to rent something, but I wouldn't recommend anything past a rent.

  Achievement whores take note - this one should be a fairly easy 1,000 points for you. I think I wound up with 950 points, though I doubt I'll ever complete the set on that particular one.


  I'll never figure out exactly why I've tried out both of Ubisoft's Naruto games. I know exactly nothing about the anime or manga at all, aside from what I picked up via 2007's Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, but the games just look so good that I'm always drawn in.

  If you played the first one, then you probably know what to expect this time around - great graphics and solid 'open world' exploration gameplay along with a pretty good, especially for Naruto-licensed games, fighting engine mixed in there. I still don't know that this is something that's going to delight anyone who's not already a fan of the franchise, but if you're down with Naruto already then you should definitely check it out.

  Side note here - I'd love to see some other cartoons get games like this. Something like Batman: The Animated Series, done like this? Huge. Hell, even bring back some old franchises like The Smurfs!

This match will last you maybe 30 seconds.

  If it wasn't for the awesome video packages offered up as you progress through the three Wrestlemania modes, I'd have said this game was the most disappointing one I played lately - not Shellshock 2. Clumsy animation, limited movesets, and setpoint moments that feel really neat the first time you play them, but not so neat the third or fourth time - it just adds up to a game that's a fantastic rental, but a pretty poor purchase.

  For me, it's all about the nostalgia value, since I find the actual gameplay to be extremely lacking. Unfortunately while the video packages might be amazing the first time you watch them, there's really no lasting value there. The nostalgia wears thin quickly, and what's left behind is a sub-par game that I found I just didn't want to play again.

  It's disappointing that the nostalgia factor built with the videos doesn't extend to the game itself - the Andre/Hogan encounter, which should have been the pinnacle of the game, is instead a 30-second encounter that sees you hit two or three QTE chains for the win. That match is pretty much automated from the start to the end - disappointing all the way around.

  Achievement whores have a good game here, with the full 1,000/1,000 being extremely easy to finish. Probably worth a rent for that and the video packages alone, but is it worth $60? As Vince McMahon is known to say...NO CHANCE.

Bad guys, good guys - depends who you're playing as.

  While I wasn't a big fan of Halo Wars when I first tried it out, I did get through the single player campaign and try a few skirmish matches. I came away thinking it was a solid game, quite good technically and with a number of features I'd like to see other games pick up. I'm a huge fan, for example, of using the bumpers to select all/select local, and being able to flip through the selected groups using the Right Trigger is another great feature.

  I just didn't find the game, despite the amazing cutscenes, really grabbed me. I'd play a level or two and get bored with it, going off to do something else. To be fair, that's still an hour or two of gameplay most of the time, but I didn't feel like I'd gotten that 'this is tiring' feel from other real-time strategy (RTS) games I've played.

  So I fired up Red Alert 3 and Universe at War, two RTS games I still need to get through, and tried to step back into their campaigns - huge, huge mistake. I found myself unable to form groups, I couldn't remember how to gain resources, and the layout of the interface was overwhelming. I'll need to go through the tutorials before I get back into those - probably even starting the campaigns over again.

  I don't think that will be the case with Halo Wars if I pick it up again in six months, however. People can decry it for being a Fisher Price 'My First RTS' if they want, but the controls make sense and don't get in the way of the action. I'm hoping it'll bring a lot more people into the RTS genre, but I hope they're willing to hit the tutorials of whatever game they try next.

  After playing some multiplayer online, I think I might keep Halo Wars around for a while longer. There are quite a few strategies and associated counters which makes each game pretty exciting and unique, especially when you get into the 3 vs 3 games. I still want to get back into Red Alert 3 and Universe at War (RA3 especially) but that's going to have to wait for a little more free time than I have right now...


  I can always tell how busy I am by how many new games I still haven't gotten to, and this week is already two games strong: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and The Godfather II. I'll have videos of those up, hopefully by the end of the weekend and definitely by this time next week.

  It was the week of April Fools jokes, though it was a bit tamer than most years. Even Blizzard's offerings were just good, not great, and Google's was a bit too 'high concept' for a lot of people to really appreciate. The day wrapped up with an announcement that I was sure was an April Fools joke - Sony's announcement of firmware 2.70 bringing 16 player chat...text chat.

  I thought for sure that was going to be followed an hour or two later with a 'Fooled you, it's really voice chat' but that wasn't to be. I don't really understand if I'm supposed to be elated that I can text chat via my PS3 while playing a game or watching a movie. Is there really a huge part of the marketplace calling for that? Honestly, if you're in a game of Killzone 2 and you're texting people instead of killing the enemy - why are you even playing?

  This is one of those situations where Sony's been bitten by not having a coherent plan for their online service prior to the launch of the system. I mean they didn't even have a name for it initially - and this is a company that names their controllers so that's how far down the totem pole 'online' sat. They're trying to piecemeal in features to try and get parity with Xbox Live, but with additions like text chat..

  I mean seriously, is that just a delayed April Fools joke that's going to be revealed at E3? Anyway, here's your videos:

Shellshock 2 - Jungle Atmosphere



411mania Goes to War



Until next week, I'm out.