Mini Impressions!

So, I haven't updated for a bit, mostly due to the lack of new gaming going on in my life until the last few days. I just got Madden 09 and Call of Duty:World at War from Gamefly.

We'll start with Madden. It seems like EA takes the main criticism of its flagship franchise to heart way too much. That criticism being that they are never innovating Madden, they are just basically charging full price for a roster update every year. This may be true, but I think that sometimes its fiddling with the game engine makes things worse. The character animations, especially after plays, look terrible. You would think this would be a huge area for polish for them, since the source material for these animations NEVER CHANGES. You don't have to put in new, lackluster animations in every other year in order to keep things fresh. Just continue to polish the ones you have, the game would be so much better.
Also, Pass Defense is horrendously hard to do manually, since the ball flies so lightning fast that the mechanical actions you have to take to switch to the nearest defender, run to the receiver, and block the pass will never be fast enough to get in the way of the pass. Madden now likes to rub it in even more at the end of the game by telling you your "Madden Skill" in Pass Defense has gone down. Thanks John.
Also, the ball looks huge in a player's hands, Quarterbacks don't look natural at all throwing the ball, Punt Block is the best way to return a punt, and you can't set the Sim Quarter Length, like you can in the 2K sports games. This means while you are playing a 4 min quarter, the CPU sims the computer controlled teams at 15 min quarters, making you seem like a slacker in the Season stats.
Here's an idea EA. Just polish your existing game. People will buy it no matter what, and you'll end up having a better game for it. Don't listen to the stupid reviewers.

Call of Duty:World at War is another Call of Duty game. Which means it is a great game, but nothing has changed since the last go around. Except the Japanese are more crafty at hiding in bushes and ambushing you than Germans are apparently. I haven't played a lot through the main campaign yet, but we'll see how it stacks up to CoD2 and 4.


So I got a wonderful little email today from Mythic saying my Warhammer account is canceled because the credit card was rejected. Oh right, I had to cancel that credit card. Thanks for making canceling my account easy for me Mythic! I was thinking about doing that for a week or so now, but this makes my decision for me hah. Warhammer just didn't get it right. It may eventually get there, as long as Mythic makes the base gameplay smooth and fun. It is just not fun to play right now.

WAR has actually made me want to play WoW again. I know, I know. Say what you will, but the base gameplay for WoW is just great. The game runs so smooth and it just feels right. WAR feels too forced. It is like here's something like WoW, but we don't have the will or resources to make it just right. I know WoW will be the same stupid questing/rep grinding/raiding at end game, but I'm looking forward to getting back on my Shaman, doing some 5-man instances, and pvping. My Shaman in WoW is an absolute blast to play. I can wade into a group and face stomp someone, and also actually feel like my heals make a difference. My Disciple in WAR just seems useless all over. My DPS never seems to matter, and my heals never seem to matter.
WoW got it right, and WAR might get it OK in the future. For now, I'll see what's up in the new expansion in WoW and have some fun on the perfect class for me, while I wait for the DAoC Origins server to get in some real RvR.

Meghan and I played Guitar Hero 2 last night. Goddamn I can't wait to play the new one. I miss me some GH action!