Halo Goodbye Halo Goodbye

I was away for the weekend and was curious to see the state of Halo: The Master Chief Collection upon my return.  Spoiler alert -- matchmaking is still broken.

Betrayal: Destroying a Legend

Ok, 343.  I gave you a week.  You know what?  Halo: The Master Chief Collection is still broken.  And now, so is my heart.

I remember quite vividly watching the undergrads carrying in their TVs and Xboxes to play Halo:CE while camping out for basketball tickets overnight.  Long satisfied with my PS2, I knew I needed to play Halo 2 and purchased an Xbox for that reason alone.

I waited for the midnight launch, bought the metallic box edition, and played Halo 2 for hours and hours, late into the night.  Not once did I regret a next day's sleep deprivation one bit because I loved Halo.

 

I waited for the midnight launch at my favorite independent game shop for Halo 3.  I bought the special edition with the Master Chief helmet and bought six BAWLS energy drinks for the late night sessions ahead.  I couldn't wait to "finish the fight."  I get goosebumps thinking about taking down the scarab with friends in co-op.   I remember taking a picture of the title screen on my old Motorola, the first smart phone I ever had, so I could use it for the phone's background wallpaper.

I downloaded the Halo theme DLC for Guitar Hero.  Steve Vai was my ringtone.  My Playstation Vita's lock screen is Master Chief.

I loved Halo Wars and played it even after Ensemble folded.  I smile when someone mentions "All units" and wish for a sequel despite Forge's demise.

I have Halo Action Clix and a Halo Reach stocking cap from the midnight launch.  I played through ODST and brought my nephews to GameStop for their first midnight launch for Halo 4.  They received inflatable spartan helmets for swag.  I have the Halo 4 UNSC controller with the blue-lit guide button.  I own Halo Spartan Assault for my Windows phone -- and Xbox One.

I read The Fall of Reach and the first book of the Forerunner saga.  I own Halo Legends in HD via Xbox Video and Forward Unto Dawn.  I watched the Remastering of a Legend and used the Halo Channel to watch the first two episodes of Nightfall, the Halo Wars Harvest storyline, and the Spartan Ops chapter intros.

I have a small collection of Halo series Xbox Live Avatar figures and sport my Master Chief helmeted avatar as my Twitter profile pic.  I wanted to name our new cat John-117, but my wife vetoed that option.  She did get me the Halo 4 soundtrack as a stocking stuffer for Christmas.

I purchased and pre-loaded Halo: The Master Chief Collection and as recently as this past week, pondered placing the Halo special edition wireless Astro A50 headset on my birthday wishlist.  And I waited for the patch, could barely think of anything else during the day save the chance to jump online tonight.  The result?  It's past my bedtime and the only thing that can make me feel better is to vent about my frustration, anger, and sadness.  MCC was supposed to stir the nostalgia of an unforgettable,  literally life-changing game and series.  The tantalizing glimpses of a few games together with friends and the white-knuckled, tense moments of evading the Flood in campaign serve only to emphasize even more how much this unfinished product has failed to deliver.

I will play, but at this point,  I am not even sure what or when or whether I can... at least the way I was led to believe I could.  It feels like a downright betrayal and I wish I could boot the player from my team.  I don't know that anything will restore complete faith in the franchise,  but please, please, please just fix the game already.

Wake up, Chief. I need you.

I've had Halo: The Master Chief Collection for one week now.  To describe its launch as a "debacle" is overly kind.  Maybe it's karma -- I pondered throwing support behind Sunset Overdrive as a nod of approval for bringing something new to gaming.  I withheld and went with the familiar, the comfort and nostalgia of Halo.  I cannot believe we are ten years out from Halo 2.  And yet this past week, I have been frustrated beyond belief at how disappointing the experience has been.

Waypoint tells me I have almost eight hours of playtime, 18 matchmaking games completed.  I'd be curious to know how much time I have spent in the game not playing.  I know I have waited over an hour to get in a single game of matchmaking.  I know 343 knows that is unacceptable.  And I appreciate that they are working on it.

But to put in perspective how outrageous that is, what a step back that is, I went to Bungie.net to check on my original Halo 2 stats.  I played 12 matchmade games on the first night.  TWELVE!  We are talking November 2004.  In November 2004, I was playing on Xbox -- before Kinect or RRoD or blades.  I had been using Gmail for four months.  Twitter wouldn't come around for a couple more years.  But I played with randoms for hours.  I am baffled that Halo: MCC could be released in such a state.

What now?  I do not expect free DLC or a full refund.  The apologies from 343 are nice, but ultimately, they do very little to ease the pain.  I have played the Halo 2 campaign to pass the time, and it is nice.  The game is beautiful.  The new cutscenes look stellar.  The soundtrack remains iconic and awe-inspiring.  And when I get in games (it has unfortunately been three days now of unsuccessful attempts), every moment is tense and exciting and makes me smile until it is over.  And then the wait begins anew.  So what do I want?  Just a game that works.

Oh My Darling: Returning to The Walking Dead

I loved The Walking Dead: Season One and eagerly snapped up 400 Days.  I became a fan of the comic and caught myself up to the new monthly releases.  But something happened, I realized I actually preferred the big chunks of story -- always wanting to know what happened next now.  I could barely wait to download the new comic from Comixology only to find myself wanting the next installment as soon as I completed the current one.  The impatience affected how I approached The Walking Dead: Season Two.

Of course, part of the delay was also a consequence of the Xbox 360, while still hooked up, not transfering super easily to play on my set up.  No "Xbox, Play 360 command" (yet) on the X1.  That said, I have had occasion to dust off the old console for a rare Rock Band session or some Disney Infinity when the nieces and nephews are over.  But no Season Two just yet.

I was tempted to pick the game up for the Vita and while I love the handheld, there's definitely something to be said about the atmosphere of playing The Walking Dead late at night, lights off, on the big screen.  I'd often times play late (not sure that the wife would look so happily at me playing it) and with the headphones on, me, Lee and Clementine.  And I do want to see how my story progresses.

So I managed to avoid most spoilers and am pretty much ready to queue it up and go.  I'm hoping for some more of the great "fun" of the Walking Dead world.  I'm ready to make the difficult decisions and live with the consequences.  If there in fact is a Season Three, and I hope that there is (without knowing for sure), I have my fingers crossed that there's a way to transfer the save data.

Always a Bridesmaid: Why Can't We Love Titanfall?

With Destiny a little over a month away, I suspect Titanfall's run is coming to an end.  But what kind of run was it?  Released in March, Microsoft and Xbox One owners alike hoped Titanfall would be the new console's killer app.  From the makers of COD, the game was supposed to reward us with the first great next-gen game.  Maybe it was asking too much.  Maybe it was the lack of campaign.  Titanfall just did not resonate with folks, and I am not completely sure why.

I will say a portion of the issue is tied to identifying with the character.  And while perhaps not character as identified all the time (i.e., Master Chief), there's something to be said about my character.  Certainly, campaign mode can create an attachment to a character, especially when that character is playable in multiple modes.  Dom, anyone?  But even the ability to individualize a character can have a profound effect on the player's relationship to the on-screen counterpart.  In Halo 2, I remember creating my insignia that would follow me through multiple games (including Mario Kart DS).  I know I completed a lot of Halo's daily challenges for credits to customize my spartan.

In Titanfall, there is minimal customization.  There are a handful of pilot types, male and female.  I find that things usually move so quickly in Titanfall, that I rarely recognize anything other than the gender of the pilot.  Titan insignia have been added but though I gladly picked an appropriate emblem for myself, I scarcely notice any on the titan, be it my own via death cam or other when attacking.

I also feel like there is a certain physicality that Titanfall is missing.  And while perhaps that I turned my controller feedback off does not help, I feel like there is a disconnect between when and where I shoot and when and where the bullet ends up.  Even on grunts, I feel like I never know when I have actually killed another player.  Similarly, there are times when I think I am in cover and yet bullets find their way to me (beyond just the smart pistol).

I think perhaps the biggest issue with Titanfall is the lack of community experience.  It is really too bad because the game itself is filled with "Xbox, record that" moments.  But unless I actually record and share them, my experiences are largely private.  Rare is the case when teammates are around to see what I've done.  Even rarer is the case when we have been able to play against each other and celebrated/moaned over our successes/defeats together.  I thought it telling the other day when a friend entered our party, and I assumed he was in the game only to find out afterwards that he was still playing Guacamelee.  I'll never know why people haven't used the Gears of War "death room."  It provided some of the best moments of console gaming I've ever had.

Don't get me wrong, Titanfall is fun.  I've played it more than anything else on my Xbox One.  Respawn has done an excellent job tooling and re-tooling the experience to make it better.  Unfortunately,  I suspect come September, it will get little time in the rotation.

To Beta or Not To Beta: Waiting to Meet My Destiny

I popped on to the Destiny Beta long enough to make sure the "B" button worked.  I'm not really sure how far I got into the Beta, just enough to see other randoms walking about.  I did a quick look to see if I could find friends, but I think Xbox Live was feeling disagreeable and I wasn't able to join a party.  Or maybe it was the ghost of Titanfall that pulled me away.  I turned it off and decided I would wait until September 9 or somewhen thereabout to see what's all the ado.  I know Destiny will make its way to my Xbox One.

Issues of the pro-Sony treatment aside, I was reluctant to jump into the Destiny Beta and I'm not completely sure why.  I remember in the day thinking that Crackdown was a just a perk of my $60 Halo 3 Beta key.  Or that I couldn't wait to jump in my titan and wreak havoc on the puny pilots beneath my feet.

What I saw in that brief period with Destiny was something that felt different.  Certainly it was a bit confusing knowing what was happening, what everything meant.  I relish those moments of playing something new, getting acquainted with a new HUD or controls.  I like the familiarity of the controls too, knowing that RT would shoot and "B" button would, well... "B" button.

I've only a vague idea about what Destiny is.  I have not MMO'ed, but I think the idea of a persistent environment is enticing.  The one thing that will make Halo 2 always hold a special place in my gaming heart was the community it created.  And while MMOs are not new to PC users, as a largely console resident, I'm champing on the bit with the thought that the games I play can have a larger context beyond that moment in time where I shoot the other team until I'm shot, respawn and repeat -- no offense, Titanfall.

In those few minutes I was in Destiny, there was something beautiful about the depth the game appeared to offer.  And for that, I guess I want to see and play and experience the whole thing as it's meant to be seen, played, and experienced.  I don't know how much I'll get to play of Destiny when it does come out.  Maybe I'll regret not having a PS4.  What I do know is that I have a hope for Destiny that it will be the first true next-generation game and that the wait will finally be over.

A Cinderella Story: Hitting the Virtual Links Again

I picked up Mario Golf: World Tour yesterday.  This morning, I was watching credits after completing the Castle Club mode of the "campaign."  It wasn't my goal to burn through it, and by all accounts, the campaign is not really where the meat of the game is to be found.  Honestly, I'm perhaps more relieved than anything because now, I can turn to checking out the online options.  Ultimately, golf games (save Tiger Woods) have changed very little from the NES days.  The three-button-push mechanic is tried and true.  But however many -13 rounds or lower I post, the game, like real golf itself, is best enjoyed with others, preferably, friends.

I went to check -- it took me a little less than two months to earn the Platinum Trophy for Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational.  And yet even after that, I played HSG a lot.  In fact, I played it daily for a good long period to play in the daily tournament challenges.  I guess it helps to not suck, but I enjoyed competing, seeing how low I could score and how that fared versus others.  For whatever reason, the HSG online component was not quite up to speed when first released -- made even more odd considering it was a step back from the PSP version.  Eventually, the developers added modes including asynchronous play.  It was enough to get some people back into the game, but the opportunity was lost.  Online play became limited by the relatively small group of people playing and it was even less inviting for novices.

I downloaded Powerstar Golf at X1 launch.  I liked it though the overall content felt more limited compared to HSG.  Fewer characters and courses, its hook was two-fold: power-up items and online tracking.  For a next gen game, the multi-player suite was severely lacking.  There was no direct competitive multi-player.  I don't know whether that's still the case, but like many of the launch lineup titles, Powerstar Golf offered a multi-player feel even though you weren't playing at the same time with someone (e.g, racing against drivatars in Forza).  What the game did was create markers of where players had been before you as well as your own records.  I could see long drives and closest to the pins and do my best to best them.  It wasn't bad, but when you don't have a lot of friends playing, the feeling of accomplishment dwindles.

I liked when we played Tiger Woods and the notion of our own country club.  I'm not sure why I played that less than I did.  I know we had some folks that played and the competition was fun.  I think ultimately, the analogue swing was a bit too touchy and unreliable for me.  If I wanted to be frustrated by slicing the ball, I'd head to the real course.  But I'll say this, the online options were something that appealed to me.

So, here I am, new golf game in hand.  Come join me on the links.  It'll be a lot more fun with others.