Catching up

I'm back in Athens, after a relatively fun weekend (despite the fact that I hurt my back and it makes me feel like an old guy right now) which I spent playing... Halo 3.

I played through the whole thing in two days, on heroic difficulty in co-op mode. It was an amazing experience, the co-op helped of course, but the game felt so well-designed throughout, with definitely fewer low points than the previous two games of the series. The battle with the two Scarab tanks was epic.

There's a few valid criticisms about it, such as its length. Honestly, the game feels (and probably is) shorter than Halo 2, which was pretty short for an FPS as well. Still, I'd rather have a shorter game than one filled with filler missions such as Halo: Combat Evolved, its name was uh... something about a Library. My memory isn't what it used to be.

I really can't understand how people are criticizing the game's graphics. While it might not be significantly better than everything else in the market right now, or as (I guess) as good as its fans have hoped for... They are still really fracking good. Some of the textures are insane, and you can't argue with the draw distance of the game, as with all Halo games.

I haven't had the chance to play the multiplayer part of the game online, but even the offline mode is good fun, I can only assume it's even better online.

Lastly, I loved the amount of options you're given when fighting. Close-quarters combat with machine guns or melee weapons, sniping fools from afar, a combination of the two with the Carbine/Battle Rifle, it's there. Personally, I love sniping people and then finishing them off with the Elites' energy sword, I love this combination of both long-distance and close-up combat. It's actually kind of funny in a sad way that an FPS can offer you such level of customization, when RPG's force you to specialize in a specific way (hello, World of Warcraft.)

In other matters, the local media have finally caught up with Stephen Colbert and his presidential run, even if the Democrats have already declined him. The person writing the article in the local "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia" newspaper had his facts about Stephen a bit messed up as well, but I guess it's good enough that they actually had a report on this.

This is also the 100th post in this blog, didn't quite make it in time for October, but better late than never, no?