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Battlefield 3 Gets Five New Premium Assignments

by David Veselka

October 1, 2012 11:24 am in News

It’s that time of month yet again. Battlefield 3 Premium members get a shiny new soldier upgrade in the form of brand new assignments.

Once again, these assignments reward players with various camoflauge patterns. However, this time, we see a new set of weapons get the special treatment, including the L85A2 assault rifle, the LSAT light machine-gun, the MTAR sub machine-gun, the SKS marksman rifle, and the UMP-45 personal defense weapons.

Which one are you going after first? Let us know in the comments below.

L852 Specialist

Objectives

100 kills with the L85A2
50 headshots with the L85A2
15 Assault Rifle Ribbons

Reward: L85A2 Berkut weapon camo

LSAT Specialist

Objectives

100 kills with the LSAT
25 kills with the M224 Mortar
15 Suppression Ribbons

Reward: LSAT Digital Woodland weapon camo

MTAR Specialist

Objectives

100 kills with the MTAR-21
10 pieces of enemy equipment destroyed with the EOD Bot
15 Anti Vehicular Ribbons

Reward: MTAR Woodland Oak weapon camo

SKS Specialist

Objectives

100 kills with the SKS
25 kill assists with the laser designator
15 accuracy ribbons

Reward: SKS Desert Stripe weapon camo

UMP-45 Specialist

Objectives

50 kills with the UMP-45 as Assault
50 kills with the UMP-45 as Support
50 kills with the UMP-45 as Engineer
50 kills with the UMP-45 as Recon

Reward: UMP-45 Berkut weapon camo

Tags: Battlefield 3 Featured PC Premium PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

Home > Features

Multiplayer Games You Might Have Missed – Week 4: Monster Hunter

by James Lara

11:15 am in Features

Another week of multiplayer gaming has passed and by now many of you are just finishing up those assignments for Battlefield or getting yet another prestige in Call of Duty. This week I decided to sit down and give my old PSP a wipe down and continue my long awaited journey back into the world of Monster Hunter. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you haven’t even heard of this title, seeing that it hasn’t had a single release on PS3 or Xbox 360 outside of Japan.

What Is Monster Hunter?

I’ll be honest with you all, my first time playing the title, I absolutely hated it, as at the time, my learning curve was about the size of a pea. If there are any titles this generation of console that I can compare Monster Hunter to, then it’s the Soul series (I’ll discuss that in a later article). This is a title that is literally built on the idea of co-operative online play. Not that you can’t play and beat the game alone, it’s just far more entertaining when your gathering up three other players to go on an epic hunting quest.

The game doesn’t have a real story to it (unless you dig deep), but mainly, the main focus is just completing quest after quest and trying to earn new rewards such as armor or weapons. There are two types of quests: gathering and hunting. The gathering quests will have you traveling through the available worlds and your main focus is just to gather the requested items. At times though you’ll be required to slaughter a monster to get a specific item, but for the most par, you’ll be collecting herbs and monster hides. The hunting quests is where all the fun truly lies.

There’s just something about this title that makes it rather addicting and fun. The game is pretty easy when it comes to low-level monsters, but once it introduces buffed up versions of the younger monsters, or even bosses such as a Raven or a Tigerex, things quickly become a challenging, something that many games lack. Bosses are no easy task to take out, as many times, their attacks do near critical damage. You’ll most likely be bald by the end of your journey due to constant hair pulling, but at the end of the day, it’s all worth it.

Upon killing a monster you’ll have the chance to carve it. Depending on the location of where you are carving, you’ll be rewarded with different types of items. Example: carving near the tail of a raven or Ratholos may reward you with a tail item, while carving at the body would reward you with perhaps a bone, scale, or other items.These rewards can then be used at the blacksmith where you’ll be able to create new armor and weapons for your character. This is what it’s really about, as the game doesn’t have a leveling up system and is based on the fact of how good your gear is. That is why playing with friends is highly recommended, as it makes your journey a bit easier, but be warned, as the number of death each player can have decreases or rather becomes a single death pot. This meaning that the team will have in total, say, 5 deaths. If one player dies, then 4 deaths remain for the whole team. Not only that, but the carving is also built the same way, meaning if one player carves everything from a monster, then the other players will be out of luck. Though I can’t say this idea has been a bad one considering that most of the time your partners will leave you some to carve.

Here’s some co-op in action:

[youtube id=”1WALi1nmONc” width=”600″ height=”350″]

So again what is Monster Hunter? To sum it all up, it’s a fantasy role-playing game that sends players on quests to protect the local village from invading monsters. The gameplay is set as a third person, hack and slash, but the armor and weapon system works in level stages so that you may become stronger over time. It makes excellent use of co-operative play, which can support up to 4 players per quest. The game revolves around the idea that you must always hunt in order to survive this dangerous world.

It’s Metal Gear Solid Debut

What does Metal Gear Solid have anything to do with Monster Hunter? Well in a story sense, absolutely nothing, though that didn’t stop the guys at Kojima Production from teaming up with Capcom for this amazing cross-over. For those who own Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on either the PSP, PS3, or Xbox 360, you’ll be able to play this cross-over version of MGS and Monster Hunter right in the game as a special story mission that appears later on. It’s not a true Monster Hunter experience, but it is a rather fun Easter egg quest from two amazing franchises.

[youtube id=”Lf3uleVGtJ0″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

Anyway, if your someone who’s looking for something that isn’t a shooter, I highly suggest trying Monster Hunter out, as the co-op is an excellent system and encourages you to play online with others.

If you do want to give Monster Hunter a try, I suggest getting a PS Vita, PSP, or a Nintendo Wii as all these consoles have a playable Monster Hunter title that are available stateside.

Tags: 3DS DS Featured Monster Hunter PS Vita PS3 PSP Wii Wii U Xbox 360

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > News

Valhalla Returns In Halo 4 as Ragnarok, New Mantis Vehicle Introduced

by MP1st Staff

11:04 am in News

343 Industries won’t stop blowing our minds until Halo 4 releases, and there is more great news to prove this.

A new video has surged giving a preview of the new Mantis vehicle on the map Ragnarok, which seems to be a remake of the fan-favorite Valhalla.

With the Mantis, this map’s gameplay as well as others will greatly change, giving the player a new experience. However, we still need to know in which maps will it be available.

Check out the trailer below.

[youtube id=”Kg-gspVSjak” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Fan-favorite Valhalla as well as many other maps will see the light when Halo 4 releases this November 6.

What are your thoughts? Excited for all the new features this game will have? Post your comments below!

Tags: 343 Industries Featured Halo Microsoft Ragnarok Valhalla Xbox 360

MP1st Staff

Home > News

Battlefield Founders Talk the Future of Battlefield – Mod Tools, Return to WW2 and Bigger Maps

by David Veselka

September 30, 2012 3:04 pm in News

Ever wonder what the Founders of the Battlefield franchise want for the future of Battlefield? Taking into account the current trends the series has been adopting, you might find some of the answers surprising.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Battlefield founders Mats Dal, Lars Gustavsson, Magnus Walterstad and Stefan Vukanovic sit down for dinner not too far away from the DICE headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and reflect back on the years and events that brought them to where they are now. While past achievements and experiences were the primary topics of discussion amongst these Battlefield veterans – of which was transcribed thanks to the official Battlefield blog – there was a point where heads turned toward the future.

“Personally, I have this fantasy about Battlefield having even larger environments where everything is seamless,” proclaims Dal, Co-founder of Refraction Games, creators of Codename Eagle, and programmer on all Battlefield games since. Vukanovic, who took up various artistic positions working on a number of past and current titles, including Codename Eagle and Battlefield 3, answered, “that’s like ten years from now, maybe.” Providing his input, Gustavsson, current creative director on the Battlefield franchise, mentions, “one interesting thing is we’ve talked about player counts over the years. A lot of people still feel that 40 or so players is the optimal number where it plays the best. Sometimes 64 players doesn’t necessarily mean a better experience. On Operation Métro, for example, 64 players gets pretty hairy.”

Walterstad, sound designer on Battlefield 1942 and involved in most Battlefield titles since, shares his idea: “I’d love to see a remake of the big and beautiful El Alamein map.” Dal agrees, “yeah, that was a real favorite of mine,” while Vukanovic recalls, “It was so much fun just flying around on it, doing nothing. Just looking around at everything.”

While many Battlefield fans enjoy the modern setting of current Battlefield titles like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, the World War Two setting holds a place dear to many hearts and can be sorely missed at times. Apparently, Gustavsson agrees: “m-hm. It would be great to return to the Second World War. There is so much left to do.” Dal shares the same desire, stating, “yeah. And we picked 1942 for a reason. Everything had cool design.”

Perhaps even more sorely missed is the ability to work with mod tools in the Battlefield series. A number of fans were disappointed to learn that Battlefield 3 would not support mod tools and felt that it would hinder the lifespan of the game. Luckily, these Battlefield vets are right there with you and hope to see mod tools supported in the future as well. Here is the conversation that ensued:

Walterstad: I’d like to give people back the possibility to modify Battlefield in the future.

Dal: Yeah.

Walterstad: I remember this dude making the craziest mods for 1942. He remade a Tiger tank into a spider…

Gustavsson: …And put a tilt rotor on the B-17 bomber!

Walterstad: Awesome stuff!

Gustavsson: And I remember a Pirates versus zombies mod and a Formula 1 mod.

Gustavsson: Maybe Stefan knows, but if you do a mod tool nowadays I think it has to be pretty thorough since everything is so complex. You’d need to put a lot of work into those tools.

Dal: Wait, wasn’t it MORE complex in Battlefield 1942? Those mod tools were pretty basic.

Gustavsson: Yeah, you pretty much had to reverse engineer the game! Could it be any more complex?

Dal: But seriously, it would be cool to make it moddable again. It makes the game live longer, not just because of us.

Gustavsson: Yes. The game takes on a life of its own.

While this doesn’t confirm the contents of Battlefield 4 or any future Battlefield titles, it’s good to know that the founders, and perhaps most influential of those involved in the franchise, share a vision that would bring tears of joy to Battlefield fans all over the world.

Would you like to see bigger Battlefield maps or a remake of the classic El Alamein map? What about a return to the WW2 setting? Let us know in the comments below what path you would like to see the Battlefield series take in the future!

Tags: Battlefield Battlefield 3 Battlefield 4 Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

Home > Features

YouTube and FPS Gaming

by BOSS JEDIZOHAN

2:29 pm in Features

As brought up by fellow MP1st writer Gav in his latest article, a case could be made that YouTube and its communities is responsible for a lot of trends in online FPS gaming. Quickscoping montages, how-to videos, gun reviews, loadout suggestions, etc., have all helped create a culture of improving as an individual player. While I agree that working on getting better at FPS games is all well and good, it seems to me like the culture surrounding getting better has benefited individual players at the expense of improved teamwork and cooperation. We’ve all gotten those “quickscoping-only lobby” invites and watched as players go 5 and 30 in a game of Domination while trying to get 360 no-scope clips. We’ve all had to deal with players that do nothing but rack up kills and ignore the objective while running the Specialist Strike Package in MW3. And I think it’s safe to say that 2/3rds of everyone we play with has absolutely no desire to put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of a win (capping the B flag or defending a planted MCOM Station).

But is YouTube responsible?

I’ve been running my own channel on YouTube for over a year now. I’ve been actively watching and following other channels for more than 2 years. So it’s safe to say I know a thing or two about what’s going on with YouTube these days. Tutorial-focussed channels get thousands of views every day on how-to, tips and tricks, and weapon statistics videos. That’s thousands of people getting specialized and accurate information about the games they play. That’s thousands of people hearing a handful of people saying gun “X” is the fastest killing, or use “Y” killstreak/perk combo for the most effective loadout. That’s thousands of people being shown what spots on a given map are dangerous and should be avoided. And that’s thousands of people forgoing hours of online experience and getting a filtered version of someone else’s experience and expertise. At the very least, all those thousands of views count as at least a large minority of players.

A great example of what I mean can be found in both Black Ops and MW3. Black Ops had the FAMAS. Pre-nerf, the gun was a laser rifle that couldn’t be beat by anything 1v1 (aside from the equally OP AK74u-Rapid Fire). But the FN FAL killed in less shots than the FAMAS, so did the M14, the M16, the G11, the AK-47, the Galil, the Commando, and basically every other assault rifle short of the Enfield (one of my personal favorites). So why did everyone use the FAMAS over the more powerful assault rifles? Firstly, it was fairly obvious that once you unlocked the FAMAS, you instantly started winning more 1v1 gunfights and did better overall. Secondly, EVERY commentator made at least 1 video describing at great length the ultimate lethality of the FAMAS. Players didn’t need to play with each gun for a few games or hours to get a feel for how good it was, they just worked to unlock whatever gun their favorite YouTubers told them works best and stopped thinking about the matter altogether.

MW3 has the Blind Eye> Assassin >Dead Silence (or Stalker/ Sitrep) perk combination that Robert Bowling himself suggested players try out to find greater success on DLC maps (which has in turn led to a camping epidemic on MW3). Combine being basically invisible with lethal killstreaks that string together across deaths, and you get was has basically ruined (among a lot of other things) the MW3 experience for serious players. And guess what, if you do a quick search on YouTube, you will find hundreds of videos with thousands of views each describing that exact class setup and what makes it so good.

What you get as a result of all this filtering and all these tips and tricks, suggestions, and how-to videos is a lack of experimentation and trying to do as well as possible, even if that means ignoring the objective and your teammates. While only a large minority of players might be watching these videos, their effect spreads because of things like killcams, playercards/ELITE showing what weapons people use and how well they do with them, and word of mouth (of which there is PLENTY of in lobbies). The end result is essentially what happened to MW2. Everyone starts running OMA+Danger Close noob tubes, effectively ruining the game. Treyarch has had to patch/nerf the FAMAS at least twice to make it less powerful. And MW3 is easily one of the most frustrating games I have ever played when I try to take it seriously and you know, win games.

Obviously, YouTube has had an impact on FPS gaming, I don’t think there’s any room for debate in that regard. The question is how big and what kind of impact. If you were to ask me, I’d say it’s about 50/50 good and bad. On one hand, you have players getting more solid information that helps them understand these games and how to play them better than has ever been available. But on the other hand, all that information is delivered under the premise that using it to inform their playstyle and what their classes should be has lead to an overwhelming lack of diversity and inspired a lot of selfish behavior.

Everyone’s trying to be as good as Sandy Ravage, everybody’s trying to out-snipe zzGrizz, and everybody is under the impression that doing well means not dying. But then you have guys like Woody’s Gamertag and Drift0r who inspire people to play the objective and never rage quit. The end result is that the people watching these guys on YouTube are either going to play like a jerk or play like a team player (how well they actually do comes down to their skills). The people that don’t watch them are just going to play how they want to play, trying new guns and perks as they progress. Bottom line is that we’re seeing less diversity in player skill and loadout selection. Part of what has made BO1 and MW3 so frustrating is always getting killed by the FAMAS or someone camping with all the stealth perks. Would the problem be less severe without YouTube? Well, maybe. But there’d be a lot less informed and educated players that take the games we play seriously without YouTube.

In summary, as a YouTuber that wholly gave up on the notion of teaching people how to play CoD better, I can say that while I appreciate the good that YouTube has done for gaming, I think it comes with a lot of baggage and frustration. In the end, we’re better off in that more people understand how to play these games properly, but we have to deal with a lot more stupid and unsupportive behavior these days than back when COD4 was the latest and greatest thing in FPS gaming.

So I leave you with some advice, the next time you hear a commentator tell you what gun is the best in a given game, keep in mind that there’s a lot of fun and experience to be had and gained in experimenting with guns and class loadouts that you might miss out on if you just do whatever the video tells you to.

Also, check out this montage by my friend and fellow Youtuber Simaul. I think it’s different than a lot of what’s out there as far as gameplay montages go and chances are you’ll enjoy it if you hate 360 No Scope montages.

[youtube id=”GIePthn7qhM” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Leave your thoughts below and thank you for reading.

Tags: Battlefield 3 Call of Duty Black Ops Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

BOSS JEDIZOHAN

I've been a gamer since before most gamers were born. Now a full-fledged member of the PC Master Race, I'm enjoying all the best games from both AAA and Indie developers in glorious 1440p. Praise Gaben and may the Steam deals be ever syphoning funds from your life savings. Subscriber

Home > News

Borderlands 3 In The Works, According To Lead Writer

by Joel Santana

September 29, 2012 7:48 pm in News

With the great success of the recently released Borderlands 2, one has to wonder if the team behind this unique mesh of RPG and FPS elements will ever let the fans of Borderlands get to see a third installment of this franchise.

Fortunately for us Borderlands fans, the lead writer of the Borderlands franchise, Anthony Burch, has recently revealed during ‘The Totally Rad Show’ that Gearbox Software have already started throwing ideas together on what they would like to see in the third installment of this highly addicting FPSRPG.

Sadly, not much else was revealed about Borderlands 3, nor anything about what’s to come in the four DLC expansion packs that Borderlands 2 is scheduled to receive by June 2013. What we do know is that these expansion packs will be at least the size of General Knoxx’s secret armory, which happened to be the largest expansion from the original Borderlands.

With that said, I’ll leave you guys with this fantastic video of gearboxsoftware.com’s member Nolaftw fighting two secret bosses at once!

[youtube id=”ZoIIHEjz35M” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Tags: Borderlands 2 Borderlands 3 Featured Golden Key PC PS3 Xbox 360

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

Home > Features

Borderlands 2 Review

by Joel Santana

3:19 pm in Features

Patch Notes

October 17, 2012 (Xbox 360, PS3)
October 26, 1012 (PC)
November 06, 2012 (Xbox 360)
November 14, 2012 (PC)
November 15, 2012 (PC)
December 13, 2012 (Xbox 360, PS3)
April 02, 2013 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

DLC

Review

Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2009 breakout hit Borderlands. Set five years after the events of the original game, Borderlands 2 returns to the planet of Pandora and adds all-new characters, skills, environments, missions weapons, loot and more.

For those veteran vault hunters all the way to those on the fence, I will cover everything you need to know about Borderlands 2 in this in-depth review.

Basic Story Information (No Spoilers)

As mentioned above, Borderlands 2 is set five year after the events of the original Borderlands game. In Borderlands 2 the new Hyperion president, Handsome Jack, has taken over the gun manufacture and is hell bent on opening this new found vault. He plans to do so by the means of harvesting the powers of Eridium, a powerful alien resource that has been spread all over the planet of Pandora thanks to the events of the previous game.

When you first boot up the game, you are greeted by a story from the familiar voice of Marcus, the gun dealer on the planet of Pandora. He briefly covers the events of the first game where our four vault hunter heroes (Brick, Lillith, Mordercai and Roland) discover the vault on Pandora and destroy the creature that emerged from within once it was awoken from it’s imprisonment. Afterwards, you’re taken to a cut scene that takes place in the snowy mountains of Pandora in which we see the our four new vault hunter heroes (Salvadore, Maya, Zer0 and Axton) being ambushed during their train ride by Hyperion robot forces. They successfully manage to defeat them all, but only to be greeted by a Handsome Jack figure that’s been rigged with bombs, causing a big yet beautiful explosion.

Once our heroes awaken after being knocked unconscious from the train bomb, we meet our first NPC, the lovable and hilariously annoying robot named Claptrap. He is pleased that a vault hunter has survived the trap that Handsome Jack has set up for any vault hunter that steps foot on Pandora. Handsome Jack sees any vault hunter as a threat to his plans regarding the new found vault and wants to kill them all.

Claptrap gives you a brief rundown of the controls and movements of Borderlands 2, which he jokingly says your ability to walk short distances will be the down fall of Handsome Jack. Thus starts our new adventure on the planet of Pandora – saving it from the clutches of the evil Handsome Jack and his robotic minions.

The main antagonist of borderlands 2, handsome jack

Gameplay

Keeping the same formula of the original Borderlands and successfully expanding in every aspect, Borderlands 2 delivers on it’s promise on being better, bigger and badder then it’s predecessor in every way. One of the most noticeable improved aspects from the original game is how fluid Borderlands 2 runs and feels with multiple hordes of enemies on screen at once without sacrificing an ounce of what made the original fun and addicting for everyone. This, and the wonderful writing sucks you into the world of Pandora, making you feel that the planet is really alive this time around.

I can personally say that the folks over at Gearbox managed to make Borderlands 2 much more addicting and satisfying then the original Borderlands. Quests are bigger, better and feel much more original and unique from one another. The delivery quest, which was a huge issue with the first Borderlands, was plagued with quests that felt exactly the same from one to another. Thankfully, due to all the original quest found in Borderlands 2, they can easily make one playthrough of the game last up to 50 hours just to complete.

That’s not all. Luckily for us who want to get the most out of our purchases, Borderlands 2 includes multiple end-game bosses that can only be fought once the game is completed and once a player has reached the level cap of 50. This is possible by either by doing quests to fight these incredible foes, or having them pop up randomly to keep you on your toes. If you wish to re-fight the massive amount of bosses found in the main quest, you can by simply re-entering their location.

Finally, Borderlands 2 has polished the combat system by adding a new game mechanic known as the ‘Bad-Ass’ system, which is essentially a set of challenges that can be completed which gives your character small buffs on any stats that you so please. These can also be given to all characters in your profile and are permanent, but can easily be turned off by a touch of a button if you wish to not include these small buffs to all of your characters. This includes making acquiring items such as ammo and money much easier to pick up by simply just passing over it.

Customization

For a game that includes millions and millions of different weapons, one would expect the player customization to be rather lacking just like in the first Borderlands. Thankfully this isn’t the case for Borderlands 2. Gearbox has made it possible for players to switch the heads of their vault hunter to something different, but it doesn’t stop there. There are also options to switch the colors of your costume to ensure that you won’t ever look like any other vault hunter you may encounter online. If you’re worrying about a limited selection for both head/skins, fear not, currently, there are 17 different heads for each character and 88 skins in total.

These can all be unlocked through various means, such as winning them from the slot machines, enemies dropping them or you completing a Bad Ass challenge that nets you an item that can customize your character. You can also even earn certain faces that will make you look like certain bosses from the game once you have defeated them.

The Commando with a customized Minecraft head

Multiplayer

Taking a page from the first Borderlands game, Borderlands 2 is also playable with four people online or with a buddy of yours via split-screen to stop the Hyperion president Handsome Jack. To accommodate the added players, the creatures of Pandora will also become tougher to present a better challenge. But since the creatures themselves are much tougher, they will also drop better loot. The tougher they are, the better the chances players have to obtain rare loot, which vastly adds to the Borderlands 2 experience.

To add to this experience, matchmaking in Borderlands 2 is superb thanks to the added ability of seeing anyone on your friend list who’s currently playing Borderlands 2 and to easily join them with the press of a button. Also, having the ability to see if the game your joining is right for you due to the new symbols that let you know if you should or shouldn’t join your friend’s or a random person’s game is a nice addition. For example, a red skull appears near the player’s name in the match making menu indicating that one of you are ahead of another in the main story line or are much higher leveled up. A caution sign implies that you will have some difficulty in dealing with the monsters in the host’s game. Finally the last symbol, a green check, indicates that you and the host of the game are near the same level or are evenly progressed in the story line.

With all the new features that improve on the multiplayer aspect of Borderlands 2, the fans of the arena mode in the original Borderlands, saddened to know that is gone from Borderlands 2. Thankfully the ability to duel another player 1 on 1 is still there.

Visuals

Some people might have different opinions on the cell shaded art style of the Borderlands series, especially after the original one due to the game’s locales taking place in a boring and uninteresting desert area. However, just like the other aspects of Borderlands 2, it improves vastly in the visuals department from the original. Beautiful maps and vibrant scenery such as the caustic caverns, an abandoned mine site that’s been covered in acid, which really shows off the beauty of the cell shaded art style, really show off the talent of the Gearbox artists. Another must-see beautiful area in the game is the Eridum Blight, a volcanic area that’s over flowing with lava and Eridum. You’ll easily be drawn into travelling around the area just to take in the beauty.

The improvement of the scenery is not the only thing that’s a step up from the original Borderlands. The guns and character models have also been reworked and look more colorful and sharper then ever. Speaking of the guns in this game, you will be pleased to know that each gun now has better distinction from another. Each gun manufacture is noticeably differently this time around. For example, the Jackobs gun manufacturer not only specializes in very powerful weapons, but as well being inspired by the old wild wild west gun design. The Vladof manufacturer, on the other hand, has the distinct feature of having double or even triple barrels on their guns, including pistols and snipers.

But, the guns that really stand out visually are the new, powerful E-tech guns. These E-tech guns are rare weapons that the weapons manufacturers of Borderlands created who essentially borrowed the technology that the Eridium civilization created for their weapons before them and incorporated it into their own product line. This makes for very interesting combinations, visually.

Final thoughts

Aside from the minor issues within the game like the small texture pop-up, it can be easily ignored thanks to the stunning visuals that Borderlands 2 features. Another problem that Borderlands 2 contains is the occasional boss covering an item that they dropped after they met their demise with their dead carcass. Aside from these two small issues, I’m honestly impressed with all the work the Gearbox team accomplished with Borderlands 2, especially visually. This is definitely a big step up from the original Borderlands. I was especially pleased with how the team managed to make planet of Pandora feel much more lively. NPCs found around the world interact with you more and deliver fun and random quests as well as lines such as a Pandorian gloating about beating Crawmermax who happens to be the toughest boss in the original Borderlands – with just his pinky toe. Also, the addition of memorable characters such as Tiny Tina, the 13 year old who’s gifted in the art of demolitions clashing with the cast of the original game like Claptrap, our annoying yet funny robot companion, are a great addition.

Over all, Borderlands 2 is a huge step up from the original in every way possible. It builds on the near perfect game and makes itself easily a favorite contender to win the Game Of The Year award. So, if you enjoy RPG or FPS games and are looking for something with vast amounts things to do, feel free to pick up Borderlands 2 on the gaming platform of your choice. It delivers the most bang for your buck out of the recently released games this gen and will be sure to occupy you for months thanks to it’s 50+ hours of gameplay that can be played again in the new True Vault Hunter mode which adds an increase difficulty to the game.

5 / 5

If you think that’s more than enough to keep you busy, Borderlands 2 is slated to receive four massive DLC expansion packs that are set to be released by June 2013, including a fifth playable class the, Mechromancer, incoming next month.

Had a chance to sink some hours into Borderlands 2 yourself? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Tags: Borderlands Featured PC PS3 Reviews Xbox 360

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

Home > News

Additional Maps for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in Upcoming Update

by David Veselka

1:21 am in News

Valve announces some big changes making their way to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive this Monday, October 1.

This update will feature the following, according to the official blog.

A revised matchmaking system for Classic Competitive mode

Two maps

The classic de_vertigo
The fast-paced ar_monastery

A number of bug fixes based on community feedback

Check out these images from CS:GO’s Twitter hinting at the upcoming changes.

Keep your sights on MP1st for the full patch notes this Monday!

Tags: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Featured PC

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

Home > Features

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Preview – Best CoD Yet?

by David Veselka

September 28, 2012 7:52 pm in Features

So I got to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for several hours, and it was awesome. It was so awesome, in fact, that I dare say it was the most fun I’ve had with a Call of Duty title since the original Modern Warfare… if not more.

Let me elaborate.

Operation Play Tons of Black Ops 2
Pvt. D. Veselka
Treyarch Headquarters, Santa Monica, LA
1000h Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Upon arriving at our destination on a sunny Tuesday morning, our platoon made up of fellow website owners, CoD forum moderators, live streamers, members of Optic gaming and YouTubers, the likes of Hutch, SeaNanners, TmarTn and PrestigeIsKey, were escorted to the Black Ops 2 media room deep within the Treyarch headquarters. The festivities began with an introduction by studio head Mark Lamia who then gave the floor to a digitalized David Vonderhaar, senior game design director. Via a subscription/like/favorite-worthy video presentation, he filled us in on all the good stuff there is to know about Black Ops 2 multiplayer. No worries. You can read up on everything we learned in this detailed recap!

Afterwards, the gaming began. Set up on two rows of Xbox 360’s, we were treated to hours of Black Ops 2 multiplayer. Lucky for us, absolutely every weapon, perk and piece of equipment was unlocked, giving us complete free reign over the Pick 10 create-a-class system. Speaking of the create-a-class system, I personally found the simplicity and freedom that Pick 10 has to offer very enjoyable. The lack of Pro Perks is a welcome addition (or take-away) in my books and brought back those fond memories of Modern Warfare and World at War. Same goes for Scorestreaks. I, for one, didn’t even notice the lack of “Strike Packages,” introduced by Modern Warfare 3, nor did I feel restricted in anyway. Others may feel different, but as the saying goes, sometimes less is more.

Since you can read about the plethora of features being added to Black Ops 2 multiplayer in my earlier report, I’d like to strictly speak of the gameplay we experienced in my impressions below. I’ll also lay out right away that since we were playing over a LAN connection, lag or network complications were non-existent, and therefore, will not be judged in these impressions.

I’ll start off by saying the gameplay in Black Ops 2 is fast – much faster than the original. I could compare it to Modern Warfare 3, but I’d be hesitant to considering the insufficient amount hours I’ve put into it. The last Call of Duty I sunk some good hours into was the original Black Ops, and this blows it out of the water. Improvements in every aspect greet you with a shiny smile as bright as a police officer’s tac-light. Improvements to the presentation, the visuals, the sound (oh my god, the sound) are all apparent. The menu and in-game HUD both feature that slick 2025-design, textures have been upped while the new lighting is just gorgeous and the sound design will blow you out of the water. Weapons, grenades and explosions now have that “kick” and “boom” they’ve been missing in almost all previous Call of Duty titles while some of the realistic Scorestreak sounds are just plain frightening. The Stealth Chopper in particular had me jump in my seat a few times.

Though the gameplay itself is very fast-paced, you’ll find that most of it tends to be gun-on-gun. Previous Call of Duty titles will have touted this as a focus in their game design, but I think Treyarch has really found the sweet-spot here. Scorestreaks are much harder to obtain since their transition to scorestreaks, rather than killstreaks. If you’re set on playing that “Slayer” role, you’ll find yourself climbing the Scorestreak ladder rather slowly, as kills don’t earn you a whole lot. However, start killin’ fools occupying the “Hardpoint” or capturing and defending Domination points and now we’re talkin’. Of course, though being more objective-minded will build your score rather quickly, it’s also a much more risky style of play, meaning you could very well die before reaching that K9 Unit or Drone Swarm. I can safely say that you can say goodbye to the days of old when wave after wave of attack dogs ruled the battlefield.

The guns in Black Ops 2 felt great. As mentioned earlier, they grew some balls and now have that satisfying kick. They also look great thanks to the many engine improvements. In my time with the game, it seemed that many of us found the most comfort using the SMG class of weapons. They were simply bad-ass. I especially favored the MP7 with the silencer, fast mag, and laser sight attachments. This made hip firing a breeze. (I should also quickly mention that adding a suppressor to your weapon no longer makes it sound like a beebee gun.) And, yes, this also meant that I needed to employ the use of the “Primary Warfighter” Wildcard which would allow me up to three attachments on my primary. In fact, most of my loadouts were focused on the use of attachments as they provided some real nifty benefits like aiming down sight faster, reloading faster and better hip-fire accuracy, all attributes that used to be Perks in previous titles. This, of course, didn’t allow me much room to experiment with normal Perks or equipment as a trade-off. Like the SMG’s, Shotguns, once again, have a mean bite. The R-870 MCS in particular was rather beastly, especially with the laser sight attachment.

My favorite class set-up by far, however, was this:

Primary

DSR 50 – Bolt-action sniper rifle [Carbon camoflauge]

Variable Zoom | Ballistics CPU | Fast Mag

Secondary

B23R – Burst-fire pistol

Dual Weild

Wildcard

Primary Gunfighter – Use up to three attachments on your primary weapon | None | None

Perks

Hardline – Earn Score Faster
Fast Hands – Swap Weapons Faster
Dexterity – ADS After Sprinting Faster

Equipment/Lethal/Non-Lethal

None

Scorestreaks

UAV | Hunter Killer | Care Package

That’s 10 points right there, plus your Scorestreaks.

Now, when it comes to Call of Duty, I can safely say that I haven’t touched a sniper rifle since World at War. It just wasn’t my style since then as I never found the same sense of enjoyment post-WaW. However, in Black Ops 2, once I went DSR 50, I couldn’t go back. This gun (as do all sniper rifles) just feels and sounds bloody amazing. I don’t care that I wasn’t the best with it. It was just so much fun and so satisfying to use.

Turn up your speakers and have a listen to its ferocity below.

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You’ll notice that this map in particular, Hijacked, is very action packed. It’s design is very familiar and really rocks that old-school Call of Duty feel. Modern Warfare 3 this is not. Not to mention, the new game mode Hardpoint (aka King-of-the-Hill, displayed here) really focuses all the action in one particular spot and is sure to become a favorite for both myself and many others. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Turbine, a rather large map, was also one of my personal favorites. Its layout lent perfectly to the Capture-the-Flag game mode which we primarily played when on this map. The many paths one could take to and from the objective created tense situations at all times – not knowing where the enemy could come from, while trying to find the perfect route to your objective. Turbine also happened to be the most visually stunning of the locations we sampled. However, I was generally impressed anywhere we played. There were no maps whatsoever (of the six that we tried anyway) that I would have put on my “ignore” list.

Now, I’ll admit that within the several hours of time I spent with Black Ops 2, I was unable to get any indication as to what sort of connection or network issues might pop up once millions of gamers get their hands on it this fall. I also cannot tell you if any particular class set-up is unbalanced or unfair, as all that will be discovered in due time. But in all, Black Ops 2 filled me with enjoyment and satisfaction on many fronts – more so than any of the more recent Call of Duty titles. Will it surpass WaW, MW2, BO1 and MW3? I think yes. Will it surpass the original, highly-acclaimed Modern Warfare? Tough to say, but if there is one title to beat it, it would be Black Ops 2.

I know I’ll be cheering for this guy as best CoD yet when Black Ops 2 hits this November 13, 2012.

Tags: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Featured PC Preview PS3 Treyarch Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Borderlands 2 – Konami Code and “Extra Wubs,” More Playable Characters To Be Available In The Future?

by Joel Santana

2:04 pm in News

During a recent Q&A session with none other then Gearbox Software’s president, Randy Pitchford, it was has hinted that there might be a good possibility that the team behind Borderlands 2 could add additional playable characters to their game. That’s if, however, the success of their up and coming character class titled the Mechromancer, slated for an October 16th release, goes well.

If it does, Mr. Pitchford has stated that these additional character classes would not be a part of the Borderlands 2 season pass. So far, the season pass is set to include four pieces of DLC that expands on the world of Pandora, each of which will be at least the size of General Knoxx’s secret armor, Borderlands largest DLC yet.

In what seems to be a never ending discovery of easter eggs in the world of Borderlands 2, we’ve stumbled upon yet another. In order to achieve this easter egg, one must back out all the way to main Borderlands 2 title screen. Once there, you must input ye good old Konami Code: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B [crouch for you PC/PS3 players], A [jump button for you PC/PS3 players], Start.

After having input the code correctly, go to the option section of the main menu and go to the gameplay tab and scroll all the way down. You should now see a new option called ‘Extra Wub‘ which, sadly, does nothing, according to the description of it. If you’re having issues finding it, here’s a quick pic:

For those of you guys who wanted to get your hands on more golden keys for your characters, Randy Pitchford is also planning a golden key give away this weekend. In order to get these keys, all you have to do is just follow Randy on Twitter and wait until he tweets out the tokens to redeem these golden keys. Remember, these tokens are only to be redeemed in-game by going to the main menu and going to the extra tab and clicking on the ‘Shift’ option. This will open up a new menu that let’s you redeem these tokens.

Also, don’t forget the Mechromancer class will be available free of charge for anyone who’s a part of the Borderlands 2 premium club. If you aren’t, then this class will run you about $10.00 USD to download.

If the Mechromancer class is indeed successful, what kind of character would you guys love to see added to the game? Leave a comment below!

Tags: Borderlands 2 DLC Easter Eggs Featured Golden Key Mechromancer PC PS3 Season Pass Xbox 360

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

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Battlefield 3 Wake Island Dog Tag Challenge Underway

by David Veselka

12:44 pm in News

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to complete 19,420 rounds on Wake Island in Battlefield 3.

Join either your Xbox, PS3 or PC brethren to complete DICE’s Wake Island Dog Tag Challenge beginning yesterday, September 27. “The first platform to complete 19,420 rounds of Wake Island in Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand will unlock a special new dog tag that the entire community can use, whether on PS3, PC or Xbox360. In the spirit of celebration this first challenge won’t see any losers, but the sooner you reach the goal, the sooner the dog tag will be unlocked,” writes DICE.

Below is the current progress for each platform as of 10am PST, Friday, September 28.

Looks like the PlayStation 3 is taking the cake so far! Which platform are you representing?

Are you at Battlefield 3 Premium member? Don’t forget about this weekend’s Premium Armored Kill event!

Tags: Battlefield 3 Featured PC PS3 Wake Island Dog Tag Challenge Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Community Double XP Takeover Weekend

by David Veselka

12:27 pm in News

Check out some of the interesting events going on for Modern Warfare 3 fans this weekend!

“In celebration of the newly updated Call of Duty® Elite, both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops are activating Double XP starting Friday, September 28th through Sunday the 30th,” writes Call of Duty: Elite.

Additionally, a series of 24/7 playlist events will be taking place this weekend, starting with Dome 24/7 today, Friday, September 28, and then Terminal 24/7 tomorrow, Saturday, September 29. On Sunday, September 30, Modern Warfare 3 fans will get the chance to choose which two maps will get their own 24/7 playlists. One playlist will be focused on all non-DLC maps, while the other on select DLC maps.

Vote for your favorite Modern Warfare 3 non-DLC map Here.

Vote for your favorite Modern Warfare 3 DLC map Here.

On top of all this, all challenges within Elite will award double clan XP for the duration of the weekend. Specific badges will also be rewarded throughout the Daily Clan Challenges. Elite writes, “If your clan earns a badge of any level for all three weekend Daily Clan Challenges, you’ll be awarded with a fourth unique badge to commemorate your clan’s participation.”

What maps are you thinking of voting for a 24/7 playlist?

Tags: Call of Duty: ELITE Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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“Only in Battlefield 3” Video Contest Winners Announced

by David Veselka

September 27, 2012 10:22 pm in News

At last, DICE announces the top three video entries in their second “Only in Battlefield 3” competition.

DICE writes, “Over 1,200 fan made Battlefield 3 videos reached our inbox, and the level of quality was exceptional. Here at DICE, we never tire of seeing your Battlefield Moments and your creative editing skills. It’s been very tough, but after picking our top 10 favorites we finally settled for the three grand prize winners.”

Check out the three finalists below with a brief description by DICE. Congratulations guys! Very nicely done.

You can also check out the top ten videos right here.

Which of the three below take your number one spot?

ONLY IN BATTLEFIELD 3: JACKFRAGS

[youtube id=”EY0zmsEsBAM” width=”600″ height=”350″]

The modest title “JackFrags” hides one of the most professionally edited videos we have ever received from a fan. Everything from tempo to scene selection, transitions, and use of audio is spot on. This is as close to a DICE produced in-game trailer you can get without actually working at DICE.

CRAZY COPTER

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Combine crazy flying skills with a daredevil attitude and a panache for flying your helicopter indoors and what do you get? You get “Crazy Copter” from magic heli pilot Frenchswat!

OPERATION TEAMPLAY

[youtube id=”o7bLHIUmrOQ” width=”600″ height=”350″]

There is too much awesome team work in this video to make it justice in text form. Two helicopter buddies jump in and out of the chopper at need, knowing their friend will safely pick them up afterwards. Just another day in Battlefield 3 for true team players.

Tags: Battlefield 3 Featured Only in Battlefield 3 PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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The Sweet Sounds of Halo 4’s Weaponry – Promethean, Covenant and UNSC

by David Veselka

9:51 pm in News

Plug in your headset or speakers. 343 Industries is going to blow your mind with the awesome sights and sounds of Halo 4’s weaponry.

In the three sets of videos below, 343 Industries reveals the weapons of Halo 4, showing off the fire power harnessed by both the human UNSC forces, the deadly Covenant, and the mysterious Prometheans.

The top video in each set offers some good old “wub-wub” dubstep music to enhance the gameplay, while video below offers nothing but the pure, unadulterated punch that these weapons pack.

Let us know which weapons seduced your ears the most in the comments below!

Promethean Weapons

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[youtube id=”snCG2GOHSoI” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Covenant Weapons

[youtube id=”Z4NLJpTXOtU” width=”600″ height=”350″]

[youtube id=”ctyrT11HT34″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

UNSC Weapons

[youtube id=”s76uMzaQ120″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

[youtube id=”0o-rwNODTsU” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Tags: Covenant Weapons Featured Halo 4 Promethean Weapons UNSC Weapons Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Borderlands 2 Massive Gearbox Golden Key Give Away and New Easter Egg Discovered

by Joel Santana

9:13 pm in News

Just after a week of Borderlands 2 successful release, the good folks over at Gearbox Software are already planning some exciting events.

According to the president of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford, who states in his recent tweets, the team will be giving away none other than a handful of tokens in which players can redeem only in the Shift section of the Borderlands 2 main menu (details to come). Once the code is redeemed, the token will you grant you five or more Golden Keys that you and all of your characters can use on the unique golden chest that’s located in the city of Sanctuary.

This will automatically net you one or two loot items of purple rarity scaled to your level. No worries about receiving an item that’s lower or higher then the level you are when you open this unique chest.

Speaking of loot, a recent and rather substantial Borderlands 2 easter egg has been discovered and solved. This easter egg may contain spoilers, so please read below at your own risk.

In order to activate this very rewarding easter egg in Borderlands 2, a player must have finished at least one playthrough of the game. Meaning, that you have to have unlocked the True Vault Hunter Mode with a character in order for this to work. If you have, follow these steps below and receive some good loot.

Fast travel to Claptrap’s place. Once there, go to his fireplace and discover an ECHO recording by a Geary. Once found, you will automatically be able to listen to it and you’ll notice he mentions a long walk. Once the recording is finished playing, you must travel all the way to Eridum Blight and find this character and give him his ECHO recording back. Geary can be easily found on the top left of Eridum Blight in the middle of a volcano. After walking a few distances and overcoming some obstacles, you will notice a bandit by the name of Geary standing there alone.

When you spot him, do not shoot nor engage in any type of combat with him. Instead, let him come up to and hit you once. When he does, he should run away and jump into a pool of lava instantly killing himself, thus triggering three rakks incoming to your area. Again, when you see them, do not shoot them since they each carry chests with them and will be dropping them in your general area. Once they disappear into the horizon, feel free to open these chest for your free loot that will contain at least two items of purple rarity in one of the chests.

Note: This easter egg will not work if you do the following:

Fast travel to Eridum Blight.
Die on the way to Eridum Blight.
Loot the caravan in The Dust.
You may use a car to get to Eridum blight quicker.
You may go into fight for your life mode, the easter egg will still work if you do.
Do not wear a spike shield when Geary is about to hit you, doing so will instantly kill him.
If Geary hits you more then once, the rakks dropping loot for you will not trigger. If so, you may feel free to kill Geary. Doing so will drop a head for any of the four playable characters.

Feel free to duplicate this easter egg as many times as possible, only if you quit and save the game. That’s the only way Geary and his ECHO recording will spawn back.

With that said, did you guys receive any awesome loot from this easter egg? If so, feel free to leave what you’v gotten below.

Tags: Borderlands 2 Easter Egg Giveaway PC PS3 Xbox360

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

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Battlefield 3 Premium Armored Kill Event Starts Tomorrow, September 28

by Shawn Kegarise

9:02 pm in News

Set up your best Engineer class and practicing your tank handling because a Premium event is hitting the Battlefield 3 scene tomorrow.

Exclusive to Premium members only, an in-game competition in the Tank Superiority game mode tasks players to perform the most kills.

The event is scheduled to start Friday September 28th at 9AM UTC and will run for 3 days. The full skinny on how to join, terms and conditions and the grand prizes will be published on Battlelog before the competition starts, but we here at MP1st will be sure to update this post with all of the latest news regarding this event.

Anybody here ready to kick ass in some Tank Superiority over the weekend? Let us know in the comments!

Tags: Amored Kill Battlefield 3 Featured PC PS3 Tank Superiority Xbox 360

Shawn Kegarise

Hailing from beautiful Pittsburgh PA, Shawn has spent most of his 25 years playing video games. The original Killzone on PlayStation 2 captured his love for competitive multiplayer experiences and has thrived on that ever since. Now I live, breathe and eat multiplayer madness with the guys and gals of Lucky Strike. Subscriber

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Kelevra Tactical Gaming Presents The Battlefield 3 Kelevra Squad Deathmatch Challenge on the PS3

by David Veselka

8:55 pm in News

Kelevra Tactical Gaming presents the first of their Battlefield 3 Kelevra Challenge tournament series, Squad Deathmatch Challenge on the PlayStation 3.

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Hosted by FraggedNation, Battlefield 3 players on the PlayStation 3, 32 teams in total, will be able to form squads to test their might to have a chance at winning a pair of Turtle Beach Ear Force PX5 Wireless Headsets. Additionally, Gamermodz will be supplying 8 modded PS3 controllers for the 1st and 2nd place winners which will be customized to the winner’s preference. 2nd runner-up prizes include a free, 30-day PlayStation Plus membership. This brings the total prize package to a value of around $3,000!

The tournament is open to all PlayStation 3 players and is completely free. Just sign up on the official tournament webpage!

Not a PS3 player? No worries, Kelevra writes, “we will be expanding to PC and XBOX in subsequent challenges, so even if you cannot compete in this event, signing the mailing list will keep you notified of upcoming tournaments on your platform.”

Tournament dates, prizes and official rules are to be announced in the coming weeks.

Tags: Battlefield 3 Featured PS3

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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New Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Details – Game Modes, Challenges, Player Card, Theater and Prestige

by David Veselka

11:00 am in News

Call of Duty is seeing some major improvements and additions in Black Ops 2’s multiplayer – more that you might of initially expected.

We’ve already learned about some of the initial Black Ops 2 multiplayer features back in September, including Pick 10, scorestreaks and wildcards etc., but after having recently visited the Treyarch Studios down in Santa Monica LA, MP1st was fortunate enough to preview a slew of brand new multiplayer features and content that have yet to be revealed.

Though unable to attend the event in person, game design director David Vonderhaar put together an informative presentation detailing some the exciting new multiplayer goodness making its way to Black Ops 2 this November 13.

Game Modes

Multi-Team

At launch, three modes will be playable with up to three different teams within the regular assortment of playlists. These three teams can be made up of three to four players. Treyarch calls these “3×3’s” and “3X4’s.” Multi-team game modes include:

Team Deathmatch
Kill Confirmed
Hardpoint

Party Games

Party Games essentially replaces Wager Matches from the original Black Ops. However, players will now be able to earn XP and rank up in the regular progression. Game types include:

Gun Game
Sticks and Stones (Yes, the crossbow and ballistic knife are returning.)
One in the Chamber
Sharpshooter

Combat Training

Combat Training is now integrated into the main game and will include three different modes at launch.

Bootcamp – In Bootcamp, players can rank up from level 1 to level 10 while gaining full experience. This playlist is solely made up of the Team Deathmatch game mode and pits one team of humans and bots against another team of human and bots. This eases the level of expectation placed on someone who may be new to the game.
Objective – Here, players can rank past level 10, but will not earn the full amount of XP. Once again, two teams made up of both humans and bots are pitted against each other in various objective-based game modes.
Bot Stomp – No XP is earned in Bot Stomp. Quite simply, a team of humans is pitted agains a team of bots – great for practice, map knowledge, and nailing down the basics of Call of Duty.

Customization

All game modes are customizable in Black Ops 2. Bots can be added to almost all game modes if a team needs filling out, for example. Players will also have the power to restrict content like certain attachments, perks and equipment. Interestingly, players will also be able to redesign the Pick 10 system to either a Pick 3 to Pick 17 system and anything in between. This can make for some extremely skill-based matches when weapons, perks and equipment are limited to only three slots. A slew of competitive settings and options have also been thrown in, including how FFA, TDM and CTS are scored, the ability to turn off 3rd person spectating, the ability to disable the announcer and a whole lot more.

Challenges

Challenges reward players for almost anything and everything – ranging from simple tasks to more difficult feats. Completing challenges is ‘the’ way to unlock cosmetic content for your character which can be shared throughout all aspects of the multiplayer. These challenges, numbering in the thousands, also reward players with XP in order to level up even faster.

Every weapon in the game, including atypical weapons like launchers, knives and assault shields all have challenges for camoflage patterns. Once these base camos are unlocked for a weapon, a whole new set of challenges are unlocked to complete for special camos, including some interesting hidden ones.

These challenges also extend to optic reticles. There are a total of eight unique reticles for each optic that are all unique to that optic which can all help your aim and precision. Just for the lol’s, Treyarch has also thrown in a number of comical shapes, including a mustache, aka “The Steve,” as well as the “EOTech Zombie Stopper.”

In-game, these rewards show up as a neatly presented icon in the top center of the screen when earned and are reviewable in the after-action report.

Player Cards

Every Player Card in Black Ops 2 is made up of these elements: a background, a clan tag, a player’s matchmaking level and a player’s current League Play rank.

In the emblem editor, players will have up to 32 layers to work with. Objects can be flipped, moved, rotated, scaled and copied and pasted from one layer to another. The choice of colors has been improved and RGB color mixing can also be tweaked. The emblem editor now also supports transparency.

Should you choose not to create your own emblem, default emblems will also be provided. For those willing to get creative, more complex shapes will become available upon completing specific challenges. When it comes to backgrounds, over 150 are selectable, not all of which are simple rectangular shapes.

Theater

The theater mode in Black Ops 2 is back and has seen some major improvements while keeping all the same tools, including the dolly cam, from previous Call of Duty’s. The new Social Features allow players to bookmark gameplays so that they can be revisited, meaning it’s now much easier to go back and search for your favorite moments after a plentiful night of games. The Meta Data has been expanded to include score, captures and defends while the robust Community Filter can help sort videos to a player’s preference. Up and down-voting is now also included for both films and screenshots.

An extremely powerful new feature, the Highlight Reel, allows players to create a film with the simple touch of a button. Simply load a game in the theater, select ‘Hightlight Reel,’ and “bam,” the game instantly creates your very own montage of your most excellent moments. Settings can be customized, however, to expand or simplify the contents of your film. Further editing can be done once completed as well.

As previously mentioned, players can also CoDCast previously recorded games in order to either get some practice in, or create some nifty commentaries. Parties can now head into theater mode and watch videos together while having the ability to watch any player from a first-person perspective.

Treyarch has also doubled the amount of clips or segments that can be put together in one video – up to 20 in total. Additionally, clips can now be merged into each other, creating one big clip. The brand new Attach to Object feature, a brilliant addition, will let players produce some really fancy shots. By entering free-roam, objects that are selectable will turn green. When selected, the camera will simply follow that object as it moves throughout the gameplay. Objects can range from various scorestreaks all the way down to the rocket that is launched out of an RPG. This means you can now follow said rocket in slow-mo as it plows into your enemies face.

Prestige

What everyone’s been waiting for.

Treyarch is handling prestige very differently in Black Ops 2. Once again, assumptions are being challenged. No longer is Prestige a “restart” as it was in previous Call of Duty titles. This time around, weapon experience and earned attachments are are carried over, as are all challenges.

Black Ops 2 is meant to be played all the way to prestige 10. Upon prestige-ing, tokens are rewarded to the player which can then be used to unlock what ever item you want forever, including items that you have yet to reach the required level for. On top of these tokens, an additional reward can be selected. These rewards include:

New create a class slot – Up to 5 extra slots.
Stats Reset – This is a complete wipe of all stats and unlocks. This is essentially like buying the game new.
Refund – This gives back all unlock tokens a player has spent so far that prestige level. This basically allows players to re-roll or re-spec their character.

Only at prestige 10 is absolutely everything unlocked for the player. It seems Treyarch really wants players to see it through to the end in Black Ops 2 in order to achieve 100% of the benefits.

Ambitious, indeed, is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s multiplayer, but that’s not even the half of it. There’s still Zombies. Treyarch is holding nothing back this year and is sure to prove that Call of Duty’s still got the magic. Stay tuned for more undead info, as well as our very own thoughts and impressions of the multiplayer gameplay.

Any of these new features in particular have you interested? Let us know in the comments below!

Tags: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Achievements/Trophies Revealed

by Shawn Kegarise

10:15 am in News

Below is a huge list of the upcoming achievements in Black Ops 2.

There is a nice mix up and variety of each game mode thrown in there, including multiplayer achievements. To complete this list 100%, you will have to prestige like previous Call of Duty title, World at War. There are story related achievements below, none are secret, so if you are weary of spoilers I would avoid this post altogether.

Once the PS3 trophies are revealed I will add their trophy value next to the Xbox 360 gamerscore below.

No Man Left Behind
Rescue Woods – 20G/

Gathering Storm
Investigate the jungle facility – 20G/

Shifting Sands
Gather intel on Raul Menendez from Mullah Rahmaan – 20G/

Driven by Rage
Take down Menendez and his operation – 20G/

Waterlogged
Gather information on Raul Menendez’ suspected terrorist plot – 20G/

What Happens in Colossus…
Find the Karma weapon – 20G/

False Profit
Capture Manuel Noriega and bring him to justice – 20G/

Deep Cover
Capture Menendez – 20G/

Sinking Star
Interrogate Menendez – 20G/

Late for the Prom
Escort the president to the secure location in downtown LA – 20G/

Death from Above
Stop Menendez once and for all – 50G/

Old Fashioned
Complete “Pyrrhic Victory”, “Old Wounds”, “Time and Fate” and “Suffer With Me” in Veteran – 50G/

Futurist
Complete all future levels in Veteran – 50G/

Giant Accomplishment
Complete all challenges in Black Ops 2 – 50G/

Mission Complete
Complete all challenges in a level – 10G/

Just Gettin’ Started
Complete 1 challenge in any level – 10G/

Singapore Sling
Successfully neutralize the SDC freighter at Keppel Terminam – 15G/

Desert Storm
Successfully escort the VIPs to safety – 15G/

Defender
Successfully defend FOB Spectre from incursion – 15G/

Black Ops 2 Master
Complete the campaign on Hardened or Veteran difficulty – 15G/

Art of War
Successfully assassinate SDC Chariman Tian Zhao – 25G/

Blind Date
Successfully rescue HVI – 15G/

Family Reunion
There are two futures – 10G/

Hey Good Looking
Plastic surgery avoided – 10G/

Showdown
A duel between rivals – 15G/

Dirty Business
Listen and think before you shoot – 15G/

Ship Shape
Reinforcements on the way – 10G/

Dead or Alive
Jailor or executioner – 15G/

Ultimate Sacrifice
Only one can survive – 15G/

Good Karma
Crack the celerium worm – 20G/

High IQ
Collect all intel – 20G/

Back in Time
Use a future weapon in the past – 10G/

Man of the People
Stop the brutality inflicted by the PDF – 15G/

Gun Nut
Complete a level with customized loadout – 10G/

Ten K
Minimum score of 10k in every mission – 15G/

Welcome to the Club
Reach Sergeant (Level 10) in multiplayer Public match – 10G/

Welcome to the Penthouse
Prestige once in multiplayer Public match – 50G/

Big Leagues
Win 5 multiplayer League Play games after being placed in a division – 20G/

Trained Up
Win 10 multiplayer games while playing in Combat Training playlists – 10G/

Party Animal
Win 10 multiplayer games while playing in Party Games playlists – 10G/

Tower of Babble
In TranZit, obey the voices – 75G/

Don’t Fire Until You See
In TranZit, have all doors opened without being set on fire – 30G/

The Lights Of Their Eyes
In Green Run, pacify at least 10 zombies with 1 EMP – 5G/

Undead Man’s Party Bus
In TranZit, complete all additions to the bus in 1 game – 15G/

Dance On My Grave
In Green Run, acquire your tombstone – 5G/

Standard Equipment May Vary
In TranZit, acquire 4 different eqippable items in 1 game – 25G/

You Have No Power Over Me
You have no power over me – 15G/

I Don’t Think They Exist
In TranZit, kill one of the denizens of the forest while it is latched onto you – 10G/

Fuel Efficient
In TranZit, use an alternative mode of transport – 10G/

Happy Hour
In TranZit, buy 2 different perks before turning on the power – 10G/

A huge thank you to X360A for providing us this list.

Tags: Black Ops 2 Call of Duty Featured news PS3 Xbox 360

Shawn Kegarise

Home > News

A Huge Slew Of Halo 4 Screenshots Arrive, New Complex Map Shown Off

by Shawn Kegarise

September 26, 2012 8:08 pm in News

Thanks to the official Halo website, a bunch of new screenshots have been released showing off a brand new multiplayer map Complex, a Spartan Ops mission known as “The Challenge” as well as the first official Infection game mode screenshot.

Complex

Spartan Op’s Mission “The Challenge”

Infection

Tags: Featured Halo 4 Xbox 360