my name is mwd

Laura and I have both been having great fun since we got the Xbox 360 of working our way thought the Halo series of games in cooperative two player mode. Hats off to Bungie for doing such a good job of both the Halo games and making them work well in coop mode.

Halo 1 and 2 were good, but graphically nothing amazing, both being original Xbox titles, but Halo 3 is just amazing. It’s not just that the graphics are more amazing (which they are), but also the physics in the game means scenery is more interactive, and the enemy AI more, well, intelligent. That’s actually been one of the main joys, as you have the idea that the aliens in the game have a set level of responses based on the previous two titles, then suddenly they really surprise you by becoming a lot more wily.

The only downside is that this’ll be it – just another 5 levels and we’ll be out of Halo to play :)

The other good thing is that I’ve possibly finally found something to take over from Unreal Tournament 2004 as my online fragfest of choice. The only thing I miss is the members of the old #playpen clan. There’s a nice set of different game styles, although nothing quite as good as UT2K4’s Onslaught mode, but a nice range of variety so it’s more than just “shoot as many people as possible”. There’s also a nice experience and medal system, with your stats stored online, that lets you keep tabs on your performance over time (for those interested, I suck – the above link will show you my stats ;).

I do miss mouse/keyboard input though – joypad for FPS games seems very slow, and it’s quite hard to target with fine detail weapons like sniper rifles with such limited input. But everyone is on a level playing field, so I don’t mind that much.

Here’s me in full flow last night:

Whisky and a rocket launcher are an excellent combination ;)