GAME POW 01.23.10: The Return
Posted by Sam Pow on 01.23.2010
I know you've all been waiting patiently for the return of GAME POW, and now it's back! This edition will feature some NHL 10, a guide to a new iPhone MMO, and the first ever GAME POW Awards. Don't miss it!
GAME POW---January 23, 2009
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Hello to all my readers (if there are any left), and welcome one and all to the return of GAME POW! I know you've all been missing your weekly dose of strategy goodness, but now you can rejoice; GAME POW has made a come back, and it's better than ever! Now that Christmas is over and January is here, I'm sure many of you have your hands full with all of the new games coming out this month. Or maybe you're catching up on titles you missed last year. Whatever your gaming resolution may be, hopefully you'll have fun kicking back and relaxing with this week's two guides. The first is an article on NHL 10 that I'm sure will give new life to the game if you've been playing it since October, and the second is a guide for the iPhone MMO Graal Online Classic, which is quickly becoming one of the most popular and well made online games on the system. But first, we need to take a look at my very own week in gaming. Seeing as how I've been gone since November, I think something else is in need. I give you:
Sam Pow's Last Two Months in Gaming: Let's go back to November. I was playing, loving, and finishing up the review for NHL 10. You'll hear more about that later in the column. Also, I picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum, and beat that, then I started Mass Effect, which I'm still playing in anticipation of the sequel, which I am reviewing for the site. I was also playing and reviewing quite a few iPhone games, mainly from Chillingo. And that is pretty much it. Anyway, I wanted to try something new with the column, so here are the unofficial GAME POW 2009 Awards. Keep in mind that the categories are completely random, and enjoy.
THE GAME POW 2009 AWARDS
1. Sports Game of the Year: NHL 10
NHL 10 represents something unimaginable. Last years installment in the NHL series was quoted by many sources as being the best sports game ever made, and the bar for NHL 10 was set extremely high. However, it easily overcame that expectation and improved upon NHL 09 in many ways.
2. iPhone Game of the Year: Graal Online Classic
This fall, iPhone developers finally began to embrace the system. For its entire lifespan, I have been promoting that the iPhone would be great for simple MMOs. I mean, look at it! The touch screen allows for any kind of control setup, it has a great downloadable market for in-app purchases, and it can be taken and played anywhere. Luckily, this year we got the latest expansion of Parallel Kingdom, the age of emergence, and an excellent port of the browser MMO Outer Empires. However, this December also gave us Graal Classic, which is basically an MMO of A Link to the Past. Graphics, animations, and environments were designed around the classic Zelda title, and then MMO style fun was added. The iPhone client does so many things right, and makes an MMO easy and fun to play on the system.
3. Best Game in which you get to Wrestle a Cougar: Cabelas Big Game Hunter 2010
I know what you're thinking; this is kind of a niche category, but what the hell. Why not? Sure, Big Game Hunter may not be the best game around, but…Ok, there is no but. The game is basically crap. But I'd like to see YOU find another game that lets you go toe to toe with a freaking puma.
Best FPS of the Year: Borderlands
Screw Call of Duty! Borderlands is one of the best shooters released this decade, and it miraculously blends RPG elements into the classic formula, as well as co-op. Innovation like that can't be found elsewhere, and the strange, sometimes humorous world and graphics create the perfect scene for this game to show off it's talent. I myself am a huge fan of customization in games, and Borderlands is chalk full of it. In case you've never played it before, I'll explain. There is a randomizing gun system which blends together thousands of gun parts, ammo, and effects to create literally millions upon millions of guns. I mean, come on. Anything with rocket launching shotguns and psycho midgets has to win some kind of award.
GAME POW GAME OF THE YEAR: BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM
Gaming hasn't ever been a very good mix with licensed titles. Year after year, we have, and will continue to have crappy movie tie-ins attempting to make a quick buck by releasing a horrible game purely for sales profit. Occasionally, we see good ones, but they are only a small fraction compared to the bad ones. Arkham Asylum changes that. This game is not only the best licensed title ever made, but is my uncontested pick for game of the year. The story is written superbly, and is classic batman material. The gameplay is wonderfully split into sections of hand to hand fighting, predator style play, and platforming. It succeeds in each category, and creates a fun, fast paced style of gameplay that has huge allure. This is one of the best games I have ever played.
Well, now that that's over, we can get on to our articles. The first is a short piece on NHL 10. I'll let it speak for itself.
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NHL 10: Dream Team Guide
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If you're a hockey fan, then you've no doubt debated who the perfect hockey team would consist of. Especially with Olympic rosters being announced already, we start to see who are among the NHL elite this year. Here's the question: if you could create one 20 person team of players from the NHL, who would they be? Four three person offensive lines, three two person defensive lines, and two goaltenders. Who would you pick?
Well, with NHL 10 it's now possible to create that dream team of yours, and then play as them and see how they compare to the rest of the NHL. From the menu, navigate to the create a team option. Choose your city, team name, and jersey. Then, you can choose your roster. Once you're done, start a new season mode and substitute your team for another. Then, you can play as them as see how well you compare. I'm going to give you a quick paragraph or two on my own experience with the situation, and then you can see if yours turned out differently. Here we go.
The Sacramento Cyclones
OFFENSE
Line 1: Heatley - Thornton - Iginla
Line 2: Parise - Datsyuk - Malkin
Line 3: Vanek - Kopitar - Kane
Line 4: Marleau - Zetterberg - Nash
DEFENSE:
Line 1: Lidstrom - Chara
Line 2: Green - Boyle
Line 3: Campbell - Pronger
GOALTENDING:
Starting: Martin Brodeur
Backup: Ryan Miller
Ok, so there's my lineup. I started by creating my jerseys to stand out against the other teams, which ended up being a black with yellow shoulders and stripes. Yes, it does look crazy on the ice. FUN FACT: My team salary was $134,000,000, almost $80,000,000 over the salary cap.
My first two games were both against the Hawks, and both times I destroyed them. The first game I won by a comfy 3-0. The second time I decided that wasn't good enough and played them to a 6-1 win. By the end of these first two games, my first offensive line (which I've named the fire shark) already has 8 points. 5 of those are Heatley's, with 3 goals and 2 assists. After defeating the Caps, the Sabres, and the Canes all by huge margins, I finally meet a worthy opponent: The New Jersey Devils. After a defensive mistake, Jersey got a breakaway about two minutes in, and scored off it. I tied it up late in the second and took them to the third and then overtime. Unfortunately, my Chris Pronger decides that it's a good idea to trip people, and after about a minute shorthanded the Devils land one in the back of the net to win it. The mighty Cyclones are defeated. On a more positive note, it's only been 6 games and now Heatley has 15 points.
As you can see, playing as a dream team is very different than a normal game of NHL 10. I definitely felt more in control because of how awesomely good my team is, and there were a lot more offensive opportunities on my part. It was not more or less fun than playing the game normally, but it was surely different, and a nice change of pace. I hope that you have as much fun as I did with your own NHL dream team.
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In other news, I'm running out of things to say in these little in between segments. Let's just skip to the next article, Ok?
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Graal Online Classic: n00b Be Gone Guide
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Chances are you've never heard of or played Graal. If you have, then might have heard of the PC MMO Graal Classic, which is no longer running. If you've played A Link to the Past, then you know what this game is all about. Just add in MMO-ness. Now, the game has been partially ported to iPhone, but is still playable and crazy fun. I suggest everyone who has an iPhone or iPod Touch go and get this game, it's even free. Once you do, you probably won't know too much about what you're doing, and there is no tutorial, so I decided to write a simple guide for new players to Graal. Here goes.
What do I do?
This is one of the questions that I hear most often from new players, so here's the answer. Like I said, the game isn't complete yet, and there are still no quests or storyline. To enjoy the game, you'll have to rely upon the community interaction. You can chat with other players, battle each other, or go to the arena and compete in some head-to-head sparring, but the real draw to Graal is guilds. There are many unofficial "guilds", or "clans" in the game. It's simple: someone decides to start a guild. He makes up a name and puts that guild tag in his name. Let's say his name is Roger, and the name of his guild is going to be the Knights. He would change his name to: Roger [Knights Leader]. Now he can recruit new members and have them add tags to their names. Guilds go to war with each other, fight for territory, and make alliances, among many other things. Joining a guild you'll often start as a recruit, but as you fight with the guild, put in game time, and pile up stats you may be promoted, and eventually you will become a major part of the guild. After much experience playing with and even running a guild, I can safely say that it is what keeps the game going. Some good major guilds that you may look into joining include DOOM, Gods, and Kurza.
What are codes and how do I use them?
You may see people walking around entering things like setsword or setshield followed by a code into their chat. These are codes which change the appearance of your characters equipment. To enter a sword code, type this exactly: setsword (nameofsword)-sword.png. To set a shield you simply switch all the "swords" with "shield". You'll find a good amount of codes at graalcodes.webs.com.
How do I spar?
Sparring is a big factor in the game. To spar, go to the battle arena at the top of the map. Once inside, you'll see that a number of rooms have signs outside telling you how many people are competing there. Find one with a good amount, and enter. The tournament spar usually has the highest amount of people. Once inside, you'll discover that there is a new sword icon centered at the bottom of your screen. If you press it, you will be added to the list of characters in line to spar. Now, just watch the current fights and wait your turn. Once you're up, you will be transported into the pit, which is the small, obstacle free course in which you and one other player will fight to the death. Only sword is allowed, so there's no bomb spamming or playing defensively with your bow.
Are there any secret places in the game?
Yes, there are. Many areas in the game are supposed to be "secret", but most of them are fairly well known. The secret bar room, or the VIP Lounge, is a good example. From where you start on the map, or the town square, there is a building up and slightly to the right, titled Azrael's Nightclub. Inside and to the top there is a bar. Go to the left-most table, and sit in the left-most seat. Now, slowly edge downward. You should be transported to another room, which is a much cooler bar than the one you were in.
One more example of a secret area is the arena cave. From inside the arena, go left and up until you reach a door at the top. Go through it. There should be two doors ahead of you, both are war rooms. Go through the one to the right. Once you are inside, go to the left, and you will find a secret passageway that goes down. Follow it, and you will eventually reach a door that leads to a room outside with water and a cool secret cave.
How do I get money, and what is it used for?
Money in Graal is called gralats. You can get gralats by chopping bushes and farming. Farming is when you lay down a bomb in a patch of grass (found most abundantly in the swamps). When it explodes, it leaves an empty patch where gralats appear. This method is much faster than chopping bushes, and yields more gralats. At this point in the game, gralats can only be used to purchase more bombs and arrows. The shop is located two buildings up from Burger Refuge.
Is anything being added to the game?
Absolutely. Every day, the Graal admins are hard at work creating new areas and features for the game. Frequently new places are being added that you can access, and a variety of interesting options are being added. As of this article, towers are currently being built for guilds to contest and fight for. Just recently, the castle was opened, and will soon be one of these towers. Also, the treehouse by the river is now open.
You can add admins in Graal to your friends list to see what they are doing on your map. To see a list of all the admins that are currently online, type showadmins into your chat, no caps.
So I want to start a guild, what do I do?
Starting a guild is a lofty responsibility. If your guild gets off the ground, you as a leader will be responsible for negotiating, territory management, recruiting, meetings, and keeping members in check. For starters, you may want to make sure that you are fit to be a guild leader. People aren't going to join your guild unless they know that you are experienced, so make sure your stats are up to snuff. I would recommend that you have at least 20 hours and 200 kills before you start a guild, and your spar record should be positive overall (meaning more wins than losses). If that is all good, then it's time to start the guild itself.
First, decide what you are going to name your guild. Choosing a good name is what is going to convince people to join if you have no other merits such as size or power. You may wish to go to an online guild name generator. Otherwise than that, just use common sense. Today I saw a guild named the Blue Dog Clan. Pathetic. Names like the Awesome Bloody Killers and G4NG$T4 W33D $M0K3R$ aren't going to get you very far. Just look at those guilds I suggested earlier: DOOM, Gods, Kurza. All simple, to the point, and interesting. And for reasons of keeping your guild original, stray away from anything having to do with knights, assassins, and ninjas.
Next, you'll need some members. Simply standing in the town square and announcing to everyone in all caps that you are recruiting may work for some, but I find it better to do it on an individual basis. Find someone with decent stats and no guild tag, and just say "hey". When they respond, ask them if they would like to join your guild. If they say no, just say "Ok" and walk away. If they say yes, add them to your friends list, instruct them to add the guild tag to their name, and tell them what they should be doing to help the guild.
Once you are big enough, you may decide to go to war or make alliances. If you're feeling particularly powerful, you can claim a piece of territory, although this generally ends in a battle that may last hours, so make sure you have enough members online and that they are willing to spend that kind of time. In general, territory is simple. Almost everything on the map is claimed by one guild or another. If you want it, get your guild members together, go to that spot, and claim it as yours out loud. If you see any members of the guild that controls it, tell them that the territory is now yours. Once they hear, it will get around to the leader, and soon the other guild will be there to fight. Normally the owner of the territory is the last one standing, or whoever is willing to battle it out the longest. As more members get bored or have other things to do, they will log off. Sooner or later, one guild will back out. So really, territory can come down to two things: how many members you have to fight with, and how many are committed enough to battle for hours on end? And I mean HOURS. When the secret arena cave originally opened up, both Kurza and Alpha Dragon claimed it. I was currently the leader of a fairly large guild named Templar. We were allied with Kurza, and so I went to help fight. It started at about 4 PM and went straight to the next day. By about 6 AM, Kurza was the only guild still there, and therefore won. Crazy.
And that ends our time with Graal. I hope that after reading this you learned something helpful, or go out and get the game. It really is very fun, and it's only getting better.
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Ok then readers, this officially ends the returning edition of GAME POW. Remember, you can always email me by clicking on the links below. My Xbox live account is m43lstrom, and you can even reach me on Graal quite often by seeking out Scragglebeard. Remember, if you have anything to say at all, I want to hear it, so everyone comment. Didn't like the article? Comment. Think I should have done something differently? Comment. And I'm always looking for suggestions for things to add to the column, so just email me or leave it in your comment and your idea might end up in the next GAME POW.
It's been great, but like all things, it must come to an end. Until next time, POW!
