When I decided to try to get the campaign scoring achievements in Halo 3, I found out that I had to turn on skulls to increase the point values. This made the game harder as some enemies were stronger. Then I decided if I can take on tougher enemies why not go for the Legendary achievement, i.e. complete Halo 3 on Legendary. This post is my life on Legendary and some quick tips on how to complete the game at its hardest level.
The first thing, you'll notice playing on Legendary is the rate of fire by enemies. It's ridiculous. The second thing you'll notice is that enemies are harder to kill either due to more health or upgraded shielding. The third thing is that enemies are very accurate. Their weapons are upgraded also. Jackals in sniper alley at Sierra 117 are now equipped with beam rifles. And one shot will kill you. Finally, at different missions, you'll face more bosses, such as Chieftains than you did at playing the game on the normal level.
But can an average player beat Halo 3 on Legendary? Yes. But I do not recommend you play the game first on this insane level. Why? Playing it on normal will get you used to the lay of the land so you can bring certain weapons or vehicles to a checkpoint. I am an average player, and I beat Halo 3 on Legendary. Here are some tips.
1. Fools Rush In- The majority of the time you should not rush into battle. The rate of fire will kill you within seconds. Take cover. Try to lure the bad guys to you. Yes, there will be times you have to move out of cover or even charge an enemy but it's rare.
2. Patience- First, after clearing an area, move slowly so you are given a checkpoint save. Why? You will die a lot. Once you know that, you'll be able to "enjoy" playing the game. Just remember, you will get through it.
3. Right weapon for the right job- Head shots are important. And since you're going to try to kill you're enemies at a distance, the battle rifle or Covenant carbine are the standard weapon. Beam rifles are good against Brutes and the sniper rifle has a higher rate of fire. So reach out and snipe somebody.
Against the Flood, the Covenant Brute shot is invaluable. Why? The shot packs more punch than the carbine. If a Flood rushes you and they will, the blade end is a good melee weapon. Energy swords are important also. You will be able to kill most Flood with one swipe.
4. Head shots- You'll do more damage with head shots.
5. Take out Grunts first- You heard that right. Grunts lay down a vicious barrage of covering fire. Take these guys out first. Then concentrate on the Brute commander. Yes, this is the basically the opposite of playing the game on normal, but the small arms fire will kill you in a second.
Conclusion. Did I get any satisfaction from playing on Legendary? A little. I mean it's cool to see the Legendary and Heroic (you get it, if you haven't completed Heroic for getting through Legendary) achievements on record. But I must have gained five pounds sitting and playing the game for several hours. If you're obsessed with getting the achievement, you may enjoy Halo 3 at this insane level. One last thing. You won't get notice of the achievement until the credits run and the last scene after the credits runs. Spoiler. Speaking of the epilogue, you get an extended scene of Master Chief's wreckage heading into orbit around a planet. And at the beginning when the Arbiter talks about the Brutes picking up the squad's scent, Sergeant Johnson might make a joke about a cologne and then say he is making dough for the commercial placement. Anyway, video of the Legendary ending is below.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Heart of Star Trek
In an interview with StarTrek.com, Rick Berman, former producer of the Star Trek TV shows, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and films Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis talked about the Star Trek movie from 2009 directed by J.J. Abrams. Here are a couple of comments about the Abrams film.
"I thought it was a wonderful movie. .... it was a very, very exciting movie. In terms of it having the heart of Star Trek, I think it could have perhaps had a little bit more of that. But I liked it very much."
Now if you read some of the comments by Trekkers, you'd think that he insulted the movie and hated it. Yet, he called it "wonderful."
So who's right? Rick Berman or the movie zealots? Was Star Trek (2009) concerned about the heart of Star Trek? The answer is no. Let's go to the director of Star Trek and see what his attitude towards Star Trek was. J. J. Abrams, director of the 2009 films, says, " We weren't making a movie for fans of Star Trek. We were making a movie for fans of movies." Entertainment Weekly, 10-24-08, pg. 31. Chris Pine who plays Kirks, says, "Exploring grand social issues can wait till the next movie. The goal this time was to make a Star Trek that wasn't alienating to nonfans. We mainly wanted it to be accessible." Entertainment Weekly, 5-8-09, pg. 32.
What is the heart of Star Trek? It's creator Gene Roddenberry's vision. If you watched PBS' Pioneers of Television you saw what Gene fought for. His original series Star Trek covered war, the Viet Nam War, American foreign policy, race, and science. When the network wanted more monsters so the show could be more accessible, Gene resisted. The PBS show said Star Trek was the show with "something important to say." (Clip below.) His vision did not exclude being accessible. But he wanted substance; that was his vision. (See newly discovered letter by Roddenberry detailing his desire for the show to have substance.)
I go on TrekMovie.com and post comments. Under the name Basement Blogger, I've distilled Star Trek into three elements for posts. Heart. Adventure. And INTELLIGENCE. That's great Star Trek. You can slap the name Star Trek to any space opera you want. But it's not Star Trek unless it adheres to Gene Roddenberry's vision.
Pioneers of TV Clip: William Shatner on origin of Star Trek from TrekMovie on Vimeo.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Playing the Halo Games Over Again
Bungie last fall released Halo: Reach its last Halo game. I rated the games in a previous post. I then decided to play all of the Bungie Halo games in chronological order.
So what did I learn? The story holds up pretty well. And Halo: ODST (2009) is a better game than the first time I played it. First, I like the music. It's an unusual jazz score, evoking loneliness as you attempt to find your squad. Yes, it's difficult at times when you're stumbling around in the dark. But the action on the missions of your squad mates, (you play your squad mates) is exciting. And I appreciated the romance between Nathan Fillion's character and Tricia Helfer's intelligence officer. Plus you get a stand alone arcade game. I won't change the ranking of where I put it but I will change the grade from B to A.
Halo 3's story has some problems. It's confusing. The big problem is the script. There's not enough dialogue to explain what's going on. Two examples, the Prophet of Truth escapes through a portal. It's not discussed what the portal is. Is like a wormhole? In the game it's just a big energy sphere. Spoiler. At the end of the game, Master Chief escapes in a frigate from the Halo ring that is firing. There's no scene of it going thought the portal. Instead, we cut to a memorial ceremony where Lord Hood is honoring the dead. We see the Arbiter who escaped with the Chief but where's the Chief. Okay, we see a scene where part of the frigate is falling to earth but there's no dialogue since Lord Hood is doing a memorial voice over. Huh? Unless you know the frigate well, you really don't have an idea what happened. Even the epilogue, doesn't necessarily tell you what happened. Cortana just tells you that some of us made it through. You do see part of a ship that looks like it could be cut in half. The game should have shown it get cut in half as it goes through the portal. All this reminds me of when Sergeant Johnson says in Halo 2, it's classified as to how he escaped the first Halo since there wasn't supposed to be survivors.
Still Halo 3 retain its grade for one reason. The technology. I just marvel at how the Flood Stalker transforms to a Ranged creature then to the huge Tank. It does this many time during a battle. The graphics are beautiful and there are some scenes that look like watercolor paintings. The game ends like the first one, with a driving sequence. This time, no ludicrous obstructions. The Warthog handles better also. And the game is still fun.
So what did I learn? The story holds up pretty well. And Halo: ODST (2009) is a better game than the first time I played it. First, I like the music. It's an unusual jazz score, evoking loneliness as you attempt to find your squad. Yes, it's difficult at times when you're stumbling around in the dark. But the action on the missions of your squad mates, (you play your squad mates) is exciting. And I appreciated the romance between Nathan Fillion's character and Tricia Helfer's intelligence officer. Plus you get a stand alone arcade game. I won't change the ranking of where I put it but I will change the grade from B to A.
Halo 3's story has some problems. It's confusing. The big problem is the script. There's not enough dialogue to explain what's going on. Two examples, the Prophet of Truth escapes through a portal. It's not discussed what the portal is. Is like a wormhole? In the game it's just a big energy sphere. Spoiler. At the end of the game, Master Chief escapes in a frigate from the Halo ring that is firing. There's no scene of it going thought the portal. Instead, we cut to a memorial ceremony where Lord Hood is honoring the dead. We see the Arbiter who escaped with the Chief but where's the Chief. Okay, we see a scene where part of the frigate is falling to earth but there's no dialogue since Lord Hood is doing a memorial voice over. Huh? Unless you know the frigate well, you really don't have an idea what happened. Even the epilogue, doesn't necessarily tell you what happened. Cortana just tells you that some of us made it through. You do see part of a ship that looks like it could be cut in half. The game should have shown it get cut in half as it goes through the portal. All this reminds me of when Sergeant Johnson says in Halo 2, it's classified as to how he escaped the first Halo since there wasn't supposed to be survivors.
Still Halo 3 retain its grade for one reason. The technology. I just marvel at how the Flood Stalker transforms to a Ranged creature then to the huge Tank. It does this many time during a battle. The graphics are beautiful and there are some scenes that look like watercolor paintings. The game ends like the first one, with a driving sequence. This time, no ludicrous obstructions. The Warthog handles better also. And the game is still fun.
Star Trek Girl
Meekakitty has put a out a fun music video on being a Star Trek fan. Folks, it's gone viral. It has 950,000 hits and counting. Hey, I don't want to hear anymore stuff about Star Trek fans being a small number of geeks. We're a gigantic world of geeks! By the way, that picture of her is obviously when she was much younger. Check out the video.
On Freedom for Egypt
After the people of Egypt have forced out President Hosni Mubarak, what does it mean for the country? Are they heading for a Jeffersonian democracy? It's a Muslim country where they have never know freedom. Or will it become a theocracy like Iran?
This is where the United States can lead. And it must come from President Barack Obama. After all, he is a constitutional law professor. He must tell the people who are dmanding freedom what it means. Freedom is more than just majority rule. It is the freedom of the indivdual. Freedom of speech. And yes, that would include freedom of religion. It means a fair judiciary. Civilian control of the military.
I am hopeful that Egypt will not turn into Iran. This revoulution was fueld by the Internet. And that's freedom of speech. It's something that I believe the Egyptian people will not want to give up.
This is where the United States can lead. And it must come from President Barack Obama. After all, he is a constitutional law professor. He must tell the people who are dmanding freedom what it means. Freedom is more than just majority rule. It is the freedom of the indivdual. Freedom of speech. And yes, that would include freedom of religion. It means a fair judiciary. Civilian control of the military.
I am hopeful that Egypt will not turn into Iran. This revoulution was fueld by the Internet. And that's freedom of speech. It's something that I believe the Egyptian people will not want to give up.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Justice
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Super Bowl, 31-25. Needless to say I hate the Steelers. And there are many in the city of Cincinnati that do also. I went to a Cincy pub and the patrons all cheered loudly when those jerks from Pittsburgh lost.
You may ask why do I hate the Steelers. It's not just because they are in the same division as the Cincinnati Bengals. They're a bunch of bums. Take their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He got a college girl drunk, took advantage of her with the help of his cop security. Of course, there was that cheap hit by Kimo Von Oelhoffen in a 2006 playoff game who used his shoulder to destroy Carson Palmer's knee. Wide receiver Hines Wards broke Bengals linebacker Keith River's jaw with a vicious block. It was unnecessary. He is considered by some as the NFL's dirtiest player.
So it was justice that the Steelers lost. There are times the bad guys win. This time they lost.
You may ask why do I hate the Steelers. It's not just because they are in the same division as the Cincinnati Bengals. They're a bunch of bums. Take their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He got a college girl drunk, took advantage of her with the help of his cop security. Of course, there was that cheap hit by Kimo Von Oelhoffen in a 2006 playoff game who used his shoulder to destroy Carson Palmer's knee. Wide receiver Hines Wards broke Bengals linebacker Keith River's jaw with a vicious block. It was unnecessary. He is considered by some as the NFL's dirtiest player.
So it was justice that the Steelers lost. There are times the bad guys win. This time they lost.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Bengals Hire Gruden
The Cincinnati Bengals in a shocking move, hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden to be their general manager... oops, they hired Jay Gruden to be offensive coordinator. What? Who the hell is Jay Gruden? Oh, he's Jon's younger brother and former head coach of the United Football League's Virginia Destroyers.
Sorry, Bengals Nation, you have to be skeptical. This has Mike Brown all over it. The Bengals like their coaches to have NFL DNA regardless of their talent. Don Shula, son of Dave. Bob Bratkowski, son of Zeke Bratkowski. And how did those two coaches work out?
And it gets worse Bengals Nation. Jay Gruden comes from the UFL where by rule there are no 3-4 defenses. And in that league you can only blitz six guys. You got it. Jay Gruden whose latest experience has no dealings with 3-4 defenses will be facing Pittsurth Steelers Dick LeBeau's 3-4 defense. Oy Vey. Welcome to Bengals football.
Sorry, Bengals Nation, you have to be skeptical. This has Mike Brown all over it. The Bengals like their coaches to have NFL DNA regardless of their talent. Don Shula, son of Dave. Bob Bratkowski, son of Zeke Bratkowski. And how did those two coaches work out?
And it gets worse Bengals Nation. Jay Gruden comes from the UFL where by rule there are no 3-4 defenses. And in that league you can only blitz six guys. You got it. Jay Gruden whose latest experience has no dealings with 3-4 defenses will be facing Pittsurth Steelers Dick LeBeau's 3-4 defense. Oy Vey. Welcome to Bengals football.
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