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As video games become more advanced, more features are being put into video games such as a Physics Engine. Yes, sometimes Physics Engines are amazing to play with and highly entertaining, but should they be a main focus of a game?
A Physics Engine for Good
Take Half-Life 2 for instance; it’s a game highly based around its physics engine, Source, an engine created by Valve that was a heavily modified version of the Havok Engine. The Source engine defined Half-Life 2 with its ragdoll physics and the well known, Gravity Gun, a gun that pushed the limits of its physics engine.
Though the game is based around the Source engine, it does not overpower the incredible storyline Half-Life 2 has; it only helps. If you have never played Half-Life or Half-Life 2, here is a quick summary of both games:
Half-Life is a first person shooter in which you assume the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman. He is a theoretical physicist who has to fight his way out of a secret underground research facility, whose research and experiments of Teleportation have gone completely wrong. In Half-Life 2, it is several years after that incident and he must fight against an alien regime known as the Combine.
Now imagine that same game with amazing physics with the Gravity Gun and the ragdoll effects. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve burst out laughing because of how the ragdoll positioned a Combine when it died from a blast of my shotgun; it’s an entertaining feature of the game!
The Source engine is a great example of a physics engine is used for a good purpose. Though it is the main focus of the game, it still does not over power the compelling storyline Valve has made for us. Half-Life and the other games Valve has produced would not be the same without the Source engine.
A Stuck-up Physics Engine
Now, you’re probably thinking: How can a physics engine be stuck up? Answering that would be the Unreal Engine produced by Epic Games. The Unreal Engine is a very popular engine that has been used on many games such as Unreal Tournament, Gears of War, Bioshock and Mirror’s Edge to name a few. They have produced three versions of this engine and the fourth version is still under construction.
Why am I calling the Unreal Engine a stuck up physics engine? It’s because recently the engine has made a huge importance on the game Gears of War 2 and in addition, it was spotlighted more than the actual storyline before the game came out. Before Gears of War 2 was released, Epic marketed the engine like it was better than the amazing storyline Gears of War 2 offered.
The Unreal Engine 3 showed off several new features such as the ability to have “hordes” of characters on a screen, more realistic water physics and soft-body physics which was displayed by the popular “Meat Cube”. Now, anyone could agree these features were a vast improvement and were very well used for Gears of War 2, but the Unreal Engine really put a crown on itself at the GDC in 2008.
The Real Importance
Overall, a physics engine can be very important for a game. It will improve its graphics and capability to make amazing, destructible environments, but you do not need to completely disregard other important features of a game such as a storyline. Basing a game solely on its physics engine is a tricky thing to do, Half-Life pulled it off phenomenally, but other games sacrificed important elements to base their game around a physics gun. Does this sound familiar Fracture? Remember what a gamer wants: a storyline, not a game based around a terrain deforming gun.
I look back onto my gaming career and some of the best times that I’ve had happened on a Halo game. It all started on Halo 2 with my boys in Team Tabula Rasa, then KSI, then Fallen, then ATF. Halo 3 hit and the bond between my friends and I continued. What allowed the friendships that I have on Live to go on for so long? The unity that one game gives us. When Halo 2 was losing its edge and the 360 came out our ranks seemed to disperse onto various different battle fields. Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 is doing the same thing to Halo 3. Every time another game threatens our unity our ranks become confused and are strung thin.
What makes the Halo franchise such a good game? No other game in the universe has such a diversity of communities and things to do. You can 4 shot kids with your team playing MLG, build forge maps, play stupid games for fun like Duck Hunt, make machinima, or just play some good fun games of BTB with all of your friends at the same time. The lobby system is what makes everything I mentioned above ten times better. When you get out of a game there is nothing better than talking about how insane it was. That honestly never happens in any other game…sure you congratulate each other on their awesome kill streaks, but the same banter is not there. You just jump right into the next game after you tweak your kit with the scope you just unlocked.
When I think of Halo 3 I immediately think back to amazing matches I’ve had with the ATF crew like the time we squeaked by with a win over a clan match with TTL. Halo 3 is a complex game of chess where communication and play execution is your key to victory. Not camping with dual model 18s to get your harriers, to get your chopper gunner, and finally your nuke…Team work is valued so much more in a game like Halo compared to Modern Warfare or MAG. Of course you “work” together to accomplish a goal, but you can’t tell me you’ve ever had a more intense feeling game on any other game than Halo 2 or Halo 3.
I realize that there are new and exciting games out there like Modern Warfare 2 or MAG, but remember where your roots are…remember the good times. So why not come on back and play some Halo 3 from time to time? Reach is a long way away. I would hate to have to wait till then to see the unity that we used to have return.
Arm The Flag is back with it's latest Podcast/Radio Show! Destiny, Shadow and J Pice sit and discuss about gaming in the past 10 years! Everything from the Halo Series to how the PS2 keeps truckin' and more! Check it out on our radio show page or here is a direct link!
If anybody can guess the opening and ending song. I will give you a cookie.
-Destiny
As you all are aware, Haiti had a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed the city. Everything is grounded including all of the hospitals in that area. To help the people of Haiti, Bungie has started creating shirts to help raise money. If you buy a shirt, 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to help the people of Haiti.
I'm not saying you need to buy this shirt from Bungie, but if you haven't already texted HAITI to 90999 or made a contribution, this is a good way to help out the people of Haiti.
Also from 1AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 11:59PM PST Thursday 1/21 Bungie will be donating the maximum of $77,000 to the Red Cross if you wear a special emblem. Here is how you can participate:
Quote:
1. Round up all of your friends and hop online with Halo 3 or ODST any time next from 00:01AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 23:59PM PST Thursday 1/21.
2. Edit your appearance settings so your character is wearing the RED HEART emblem.
a. Press START
b. Select “SETTINGS” / “APPEARANCE”
c. Select “EMBLEM”
d. Select “Hearts” ICON, “Circle” BACKGROUND
e. Back out to the APPEARANCES menu and select “COLORS”
f. Set “EMBLEM PRIMARY” to RED (or MAROON / BRICK / ROSE depending on which game you’re playing!)
g. Set “EMBLEM SECONDARY” to WHITE
3. Once your emblem is set, play! This can be a custom game or a matchmaking game, just make sure it’s played online, on Xbox LIVE, or we can’t track it.
If you don't want to buy the shirt, I would at least go on Halo 3 ODST or Halo 3 that day and play for as long or as little as you like.
Arm The Flag
