Call of Duty Review

I just finished the single player portion of the game Call of Duty. Call of Duty is a first-person shooter set in World War II on D-Day and the push to Berlin. You play the part of a soldier in three campaigns; one as an American, one as a Brit and the last as a Russian.

The game's scripted parts are excellent and go a long way in making you feel like you are part of the action. I played on the hardest difficulty setting which forces you to make it through each level without the benefit of picking up additional health. The weapons were fairly easy to get the hang of and the AI (both enemy and friendly) was, for the most part well done. There were a couple of spots where the friendly AI threw grenades at my location, but most of the time the AI was helpful. The enemy AI was above average and were able to keep me looking for cover. There were levels that I got through on sheer luck. But I suppose that is a good thing since many that survived the war would probably agree they did so more on luck than any special talent.

The game played well and I didn't have any crashes on my Pentium 4 1.8GHz machine. There were a few spots where the action caused things to slow down noticeably but this was infrequent enough that it did not take away from the overall feel of the game. IF you like this type of game this one is well worth the expense.

I have tried a couple of the multiplayer modes, Search and Destroy and Team Deathmatch. Search and Destroy is similar to counter strike. One team is searching for targets that they will try to blow up while the other defends the targets. Of course with this type of game you have the usual problem of having to learn where the objectives are on each map. Fortunately, a radar/compass instrument shows you where the targets are located so you can use that to try to find things. Also, as a new player, you find yourself dead much of the time just hanging around waiting for the round to end. Team deathmatch is a typical team game where the object is to eliminate the other team's players more often than they eliminate you. In all the multiplayer game styles, Call of Duty has implemented a death-cam replay which shows you how you were killed from the perspective of the person who shot you. This is a very cool feature especially when you are trying to learn the game, but I can see that the snipers out there will not find this feature very pleasing as it gives away their position. So far I am not blown away by the multiplayer game. But sometimes these kinds of games can grow on you and getting in with the right bunch of players can make a world of difference.

Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas to my loyal readers...both of you.

Cheers

Return of the King

I saw the third installment of the Lord of the Rings today. Three and a half hours later it was all over. Thankfully the seats were comfy.

This is the first of the three I have endured at the theatre. I didn't go to the first two as I didn't want to pay for a show without an ending. It's maddening enough, I thought, to watch a television program for a hour and then have those nasty words "To be continued" flashed on the screen. Imagine how maddening it must be in a theatre. Of course with TV the wait might be seven days at most. Lord of the Rings made you wait an entire year.

Overall the show was brilliant and I enjoyed the action as well as the slower character building scenes. I will be anxiously awaiting the DVD release so that I can see it all again at a leisurely pace. I also look forward to hearing some of the director's commentary which I have found to be very enlightening on the first two movie DVD's.

I'm Done! Done, done, done!

I finished my Christmas shopping today! New world's record for me. Typically I am one of the glazed-eye zombies walking the malls December 24th. But not this year! Woohoo for me! Now I have to get something for my wife's birthday on the 30th....but at least it won't be X-mas shopping.

"Look out, here come the Canadians"

The above headline isn't uttered by enemies cowering in fear but rather allies clearing landing areas for the Canadian military's antiquated Sea King helicopters. Ottawa is finally looking to replace them. In reading about the history of these helicopters a few things really struck me. First:

When the Canadians suggested Sea Kings could be launched and land on a destroyer, navies reacted by calling them "crazy Canucks." But they made it work, inventing a "hauldown" technique - the Canadians nicknamed it the "beartrap" - essentially a vertical winch that centred the Sea King over the destroyer - often heaving in the raucous North Atlantic - and the chopper pilot then flew down the hauldown and landed on a rolling surface about the size of a double-car driveway.

Canadian ingenuity demonstrated, respect earned.
Second:

The Tories tried to buy new helicopters in the early 1990s, after a decade of severe military cost-cutting and, no small matter, the end of the Cold War. In 1992, the Tories announced they would spend $4.8 billion to buy 50 EH-101 helicopters from the Anglo-Italian consortium European Helicopter Industries Ltd.. These were state-of-the-art choppers, the best in the world.

Then came the 1993 federal election campaign, when Jean Chretien and his Liberals attacked the Tory plan as wasteful, calling the EH-101 a "Cadillac" helicopter. When the Liberals won and Chretien became prime minister one of his first acts was to scrap the Tory deal, an act that cost the Canadian government nearly $500 million in cancellation fees.

This was on the heels of the military blackeye in the Somalia Affair. The Liberals, preferring to be politicians rather than leaders, rode the negative public opinion fallout and cut military spending to the quick. And lastly:

They were supposed to have been retired by 2000, but the air force prolonged their life by spending $80 million to keep them flying until 2005. The Sea Kings require 30 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight, and they are unavailable for operations 40 per cent of the time.

There's logic. Pump money into something you can't use effectively and put lives in danger to boot.

These snippets show beautifully how the Canadian Military went from one of the most respected and innovative units in the world to a laughing stock. The worst slide can be directly attributed to the Chretien-led Liberals of the last decade. I hope the winning bid is for whatever the "Cadillac" 'copter of the day happens to be. Our military needs to start feeling proud again and start gaining back some of the respect it used to have.

Game Over

I finished the original Deus Ex game a couple of days ago. Although it shows its age graphically and there were a few odd crashes, the game had an excellent balance of requiring rambo-style brute force and subtle cunning to complete the various missions in the game.

I decided to rent a couple of PS2 titles also. NHL 2004 is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. You can control every aspect of the game from the rules (icing, offsides, etc.) to the frequency of penalties. You can also act as GM and coach allowing you to make trades, pick up free agents and edit your lines. The AI kicked my butt on the more difficult settings. Eventually I was able to hold my own on the lower difficulty settings. Jak II is the sequel to Jak and Daxter for the PS2. The first one was a lot of fun and the second does not disappoint. It is a platform game with attitude with all the usual jumping and smashing of boxes but it also allows you to ride in vehicles (hover cars) which is an excellent addition to this type of game.

What part of "Illegal Entry" do you need explained?

19 Men from Pakistan and India plan on suing the Canadian government for being mistreated when they were arrested on suspicion of being terrorists. Excuse me while I laugh until I lose bladder control.

I don't have details on all the men but 10 of them were deported for immigration violations. That's better than half of them were here illegally. I guess they are just pissed that they couldn't claim refugee status, like Hassan Almrei.

Can't wait for this one

This story had me shaking my head. Who, in their right mind, would want to see this? I guess if I was one of these athletes I would be happy to line up and get paid to run for about 14 seconds. But as a spectator? I guess if this thing happens it will be proof positive of "a fool and his money are soon parted" and "there is a sucker born every minute".

Game Violence

This has been in the media spotlight several times over the past number of years. While I don't believe it is any bigger an issue than violence in any other media, I think legislating access is a good thing. In the U.S., a bill has been introduced to address access to violent video games putting the onus on retailers to help restrict access by children. But like most things regarding our children, it is still important for parents to take an active interest in what our children are doing and playing.

Political Change

The new Conservative Party of Canada is official, thus uniting the political right in Canada. It will be interesting to see how this all translates into policy and who will emerge as the leader.

Raptors Update

The Raptors are on a mini win streak since the big trade that saw Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies go to Chicago in exchange for Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter.

Although I didn't think this trade would be good for the Raptors in losing a real chemistry guy like Jerome Williams, the new guys have seemed to fit in very well. Of course winning will help that process. But it is the way they are winning that is most impressive.

Last night they set a franchise record for 3-pointers (17). Vince Carter had his second in a row double-double in scoring and ASSISTS. This is very significant because I don't think VC has changed his game from before the trade. He is still one of the most unselfish superstars in the game. The difference is he is now passing to guys who are making shots. Marshall has been amazing. Alvin Williams is healthy and making shots. And Jalen Rose is a far better play-maker than I originally gave him credit. But I think the single biggest factor that Jalen Rose has brought to Toronto is the flexibility to play a three guard rotation of Alvin Williams, Morris Peterson, and Rose. It has been obvious to me that the Raptors' other point guard, Milt Palacio, just wasn't getting the job done.

It will be interesting to see how the Raptors respond to a game where they are not shooting well. Hopefully, they haven't become used to settling for the long-range bomb.