Tired? Fever? Sore throat and a bad cough? You could be catching it too. What started as a one off sick day back in November 2004 just after the release of Halo 2, could now be an epidemic as gamers all of the world might fake an illness to have a full day to get into Bungie’s latest Halo title: Halo: Reach.

So the question is does the newest Halo game “reach” expectations? The answer is YES. If you own a 360 and do not own this game then go out and buy it, you won’t be disappointed.

Reach Noble Team

The single player campaign is epic. Superb level design, excellent graphics, fantastic gameplay. It has the lot. Like all prior Halo games, Reach has 4 different difficulty settings to cater for all skill levels of player. This time round you can play the campaign co-operatively with up to 4 of your friends or enter the returning Firefight to take on wave after wave of Covenant troops*.

Reach combines everything great about the past Halo games and adds many extras to make it truly outstanding. The most noticeable is the abilities each player can choose from. No, this isn’t an episode of Heroes but damn it sure feels like it. Perks such as Sprint (run faster), Active Camo (invisibility), Jetpack (look Ma I can fly) and my personal favourite; Hologram (which one is the real Slim Shady??) add a much welcome extra dimension to the game.

In one level you even take control of a spaceship, bringing the fight to the stars. This reminded me of the N64 classic Rouge Squadron and is one of the funnest levels during the campaign. If Bungie released a game which was just about flying this craft all over the universe I would definitely be buying.

Piloting a spacecraft

I’m going to go as far as saying Reach is the best multiplayer first person shooter I have played on 360. Plenty of different game types to choose from, fast matchmaking, unlockables from levelling up, there is lots to do and achieve in multiplayer. Each game is recorded too so you can download and share with your friends through the file share. You can also check your stats at Bungie for a detailed overview of just how badass (or pathetic) you are.

Customizing your character has also been taken to the next level with The Armoury. Here you can use credits earned from playing single and multiplayer to buy different armour items. Although none give you any real advantage they do make your character more unique.

CBF doing a conclusion, I wanna play some more Reach right now. My Live Id is jase7777 so if you’re up for a game add me.

* Achievement whores like my friend Drez should download this Firefight custom game to quickly rack up hard to get achievements like Killionaire and earning 1 mill points in Firefight. 1 000 000 Points in 10 mins

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Bethesda Softworks owes me at least two months of my life back. Five years ago I found what could possibly be my favourite RPG (role playing game) of all time in Morrowind. One year ago I lost countless hours playing the sequel, Oblivion. And now, after thinking it couldn’t get much better than this, I’ve found Fallout 3. Yes, I know it has already been out for ages. Seriously it’s been on my to do list for a while. Better late than never, as they say.

Now, how to describe Fallout 3…well I started playing on a Friday night, then I looked at the time and it was Monday morning. Wait what? Yes, there you have it, subjective time loss; the quality of a truly epic game. Basically Fallout 3 plays like the other Bethesda RPGs previously mentioned however instead of being set in a medieval fantasy land it’s set in a bleak post nuclear war future, and instead of being able to cast magic spells you have big guns to impose havoc.

The story begins from the moment you are born. Growing up you have it pretty easy living inside a bomb proof vault. The air is clean. The water is pure. Then one fateful day your father decides to leave the vault (which is strictly against the rules) and you are forced to escape and venture out in search of him. What a contrast it is on the outside – the world looks like it has fallen apart!

So it begins. Complete freedom to venture in whatever direction you wish, talk to whomever you want and kill (or try to kill) anything you think deserves killing. Decisions, decisions, decision. Whether you are doing the main quest or not, it’s a good idea to head towards Megaton to pick up a few side quests and scope out the situation when first starting out.

Sneaking improves your accuracy and if undetected will reward a critical hit on targets.

Levelling up in Fallout 3 is pretty straight forward. When you advance you get a number of points to put towards improving your technique with skills and a choice of perk. Regardless of what type of player you are building I suggest you take the Educated perk and Comprehension perk as early as possible so when you level up in the future you get more skill points to assign, and for every book you read you’ll get 2 points instead of 1.

The two mini game challenges in the game are lock picking and computer hacking. Your ability to perform a lock pick or hack a terminal depends on you skill in Lockpick or Science respectively so it’s a good idea to invest points into these two skills as well. Speech is another important skill to have. Sometimes you can talk your way out of fights or persuade people to give you better items or unlock other unique dialog options by having a high speech skill.

Having a follower will help you in fights

I think the game is best played in first person point of view but with the click of a button you can change to third person. The graphics are really amazing, especially if you’ve got a high definition set up. Sure the environment may be kinda depressing but the detail in the characters and textures is very impressive.

Overall Fallout 3 is simply awesome and it would definitely go into my top ten games of all time. I found the Game of the Year copy which also includes 5 expansions for the bargain price of $50 AUD at a local EB games store. If you’re an open world RPG fan I highly recommend playing this game. Now the wait for Fallout 4 begins…

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As a huge fan of the first Bioshock game I was eager to play the second installment – Bioshock 2. I must say it did not disappoint. The game is set 10 years after the events of the original, in the creepy underwater city of Rapture. Your main objective – to find and rescue Eleanor, your original Little Sister, from the new leader and primary antagonist of Rapture, Dr. Sophia Lamb.

Bioshock 2 goes well beyond it’s predecessor. The combat system is sharper and you can now dual wield plasmids*. There are also some new weapons such as the spear gun, drill, and hack tool, which can deploy mini turrets. With more powerful weapons and plasmids come more powerful enemies – the most lethal being the Big Sister. Similar to fighting a faster, stronger Big Daddy, she is very tough to take down.  All these are great improvements from the first Bioshock.

Dual wielding Plasmids and a weapon is now possible

This time round you play as the first successful Big Daddy, Subject Delta. As a Big Daddy you can adopt a Little Sister to help you find corpses containing ADAM. While your Little Sister extracts the ADAM, local mutants, called Splicers, will attack relentlessly until she is done. It is therefore a good idea to set traps and be ready before putting her down to collect. Alternatively you may choose to harvest the Little Sister – gaining more ADAM but killing her in the process. Your decisions do however influence the final part of the game.

Use Little Sisters to help gather ADAM

Bioshock 2 features a full multiplayer experience. Players can compete in several game modes such as Survival of the Fittest (a free for all) and Capture the Little Sister (a take on capture the flag). I didn’t like the multiplayer much but this aspect of the game can be excused as Bioshock is known for being an immersive single player experience, and that is exactly what it delivers.

Overall Bioshock 2 is a very enjoyable first person shooter. I found it a little short, however with alternate endings and acheivements it is worth replaying. Any fan of the original will surely enjoy this title.

*Plasmids are a special serum made from processing ADAM. They allow for genetic modifcation and real time mutation, giving the user super powers. The excess use of plasmids leads to mental and physical addiction and can cause insanity, and this helped cause the downfall of Rapture but these side effects do not affect the player (Bioshock wiki).

Bioshock 2 on Amazon

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