I’m on Winter Break from school at the moment, and I don’t return to classes until the 9th of February. Which leaves a lot of time on my hands. I got a few games for Christmas and, shortly afterward, my birthday. One of them was Wrath of the Lich King. Of course, many of you probably have been braving Northrend for some time now, but I was itching to see the Death Knight missions and couldn’t resist. It was worth the funds, let me tell you. A few other games I got, Gears of War 2 and Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams. Silent Hill 2 was one of the first games to draw me into the story and captivate me until the very end. To this day I wander the streets of Silent Hill looking for clues to draw more history for the town, as well as answer a few questions I have yet to recieve from recent installments.

And speaking of games that can suck you in, Gears 2 is one of the best action games I have ever played. In fact, it might BE the best action game I’ve ever played. One of my biggest problems with the first game was that Dominic’s AI was really stupid. He would often try charge at the enemy and die in the most unsafe of places. Namely in the middle of a dark, unlit courtyard where Kryll like to feast. This time he’s much smarter, and saves you much more often. The difficulty is just right, whereas the first game suffered from the occasional teeth-grinding ambushes, this game places you in situations that are fun to play, but not too easy that you don’t leave with a sense of accomplishment.

In terms of story and gameplay, this game is Epic. I can’t talk about it much if you haven’t played it, because that would be like somebody telling you the entire plot of the Dark Knight from beginning to end. It must be experienced. If you have an Xbox 360, and a spare pile of bucks lying around, please go experience this game. I haven’t finished it yet, but come next Wednesday I’ll have a full review. By then I will have had a chance to dive into Multiplayer as well.

Speaking of which, I got a new gamertag if you guys want to kick some Locust tail. Send me a friend request at the gamertag : MPLocke. I’m usually on later at night but feel free to leave a message.

I’d also like to thank Guardian Games for being totally DnD savvy. I got an old Player’s Handbook there when all hope was lost trying to find a cheap one in Portland. Thanks guys.

-Locke

I’m officially offering up my services to anyone that would like an official, Encifer drawn picture.

Here’s how this’ll work:
-Tell me what you want me to draw
-Send me money
-Receive gift of awesome

Easy!

Don’t worry, the pictures will be high-quality and really, really big. Most of the pictures I draw are about 3000+ pixels wide. That’s about twice the size of your monitor (more or less, depending on the monitor of course.)

Depending on what you want me to draw, the price could be anywhere from $10 black and white pictures to $30 full color masterpieces. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you how much it’ll cost.

So yeah! Anybody want me to draw them something?

Hey there, like I promised, here is my review for Gears of War 2:

If you remembered anything from the first Gears of War, it’s that this wasn’t your daddy’s shooter.

Nothing has changed. Gears of War once again pits you against the merciless Locust Horde, but this time, thanks to advances in the Unreal Engine, they come in massive waves. How big you say? Think marching bands with fuming, ugly faces. Once again you take control of Marcus Fenix, on a routine patrol of Jacinto, mankind’s last city in the wake of the Locust War. They give you a tutorial of sorts when a new Carmine brother joins Delta. You can either take a patrol with him to learn the ins and outs of Gears if you’re rusty, or dive straight into the action.

Combat is intense, the Locust have gotten smart. In the last game they preferred to shoot and flank, using covering fire for safe passage. Now they’re shooting to hold you down while their second squad comes in to stomp your head in. They’ve added a few new weapons each of which is fairly effective in most situations. My favorite new weapon is their mortar gun. In tight situations where you are facing huge numbers of locust, or a very big one, this weapon levels the playing field quite nicely. A close second is a flamethrower you encounter about half-way through the game. Although it’s range is a big downside, it comes in handy when you are trying to take down those quick little Wretches before they can jump on you. A nifty new feature is the ability to crawl away when you are down and dying. This gives you time to move to a safe place before the Locust can finish you off. Unfortunately this works both ways; the Locust need to be killed before they can crawl away, or you’ll be missing the bullets. You can also pick up a crawling enemy and use them as a shield. This is handy when you want to press through heavily guarded areas and Dom hasn’t quite caught up to you. Not that Dom isn’t handy in this game; I’ve cursed his name many times in Gears 1, mostly because he either kept getting killed, or he refused to revive me, despite the fact that I was close enough to bleed on his boots.

There are many moments where the story tears away from the Locust war to Dom’s personal mission; finding his lost wife Maria. While at first I found this a distraction from what I came for, it soon grew onto me, and I was drawn into this character’s history. Dom was different from the other Cogs, he had a family once. Suddenly he was a deeper character than the simple sidekick that spouted a few good quips during the game.

The sequences in Gears never really leave you bored at all. The first game’s campaign was great, but this one is a freakin’ rush. Once it ends you feel satisfied with what was accomplished. You can feel a sense that the developers put a lot of effort into making a game world that you can believe in.  Action is fast, and well-paced, with just the right amount of exploration mixed in between. It allows you to take in the local that makes up the world of Sera, and the characters that dwell in it. The game ends with closure thankfully, it doesn’t pull a cliff-hanger like Halo 2 did. But because this is part of a trilogy, there’s something at the end that hints at a sequel.

The Multi-player in Gears is just as extreme as ever. The new weapons come with new challenges to overcome. Mastering each and every weapons is a great challenge, especially for me; I’m a horrible Gears player. There are new gametypes to enjoy, as well as maps from Gears 1 that have been remade for Gears 2. Horde mode is very fun; it’s a gametype where you and a squad of fellow gamers square off against wave after wave of Locust. They come in armies, so movement is essential. This game is fun online, but there are a few huge gaping flaws that I think need immediate attention.

Connecting to a game was extremely annoying, each time a set was finished, I’d lose connection and have to go through an eight minute process of getting into a new server, which would not always load correctly. If this is the punishment for sucking at a game, how can one be inclined to keep playing if they are always kicked out before they can get the hang of the game?

Glitches are very annoying, being punched through a wall, or shoot to death by an invisible jerkwad really gets on my nerves. Bungie has a policy against these kind of things, but with this many glitches, I’m not sure Epic can address them all.

Lag! There’s no way at all to see if you’re lagging or not in a game. Halo and COD both have a way to check your connection in the matter of seconds to see if you’re not just sucking. I couldn’t tell whether or not I was lagging or if my opponents where demi-gods shot up with Valkyr.

Automation! The process of picking a server manually has be removed indefinitely, leaving no choice but to trust the computer to pick the best server for you, rather than letting you pick the server with the map and gametype that YOU want.

On the whole, Gears of War 2 is a must buy for it’s single player campaign. The multi-player is not for the faint at heart; you can expect to die many, many times before you start getting some frags. There is a mode to practice with bots, but it’s ultimately up to your skills with each weapon that determines victory for you. The game is near perfect and a damn fine sequel. Epic, you can expect my money in your pockets if you were to make a Gears of War 3.

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Bottom Line:

Gears of War 2 gets a 9/10 for it’s great story, stunning graphics, and epic gameplay.

If you own an Xbox, and haven’t played a great shooter in a while, place your trust in this game.

-Locke

Ever check your e-mail in the morning to find 1000 spam messages? I did. Twice.

But that’s what happens when you have a super awesome webcomic.

Tuesday was the biggest day for Massive Pwnage EVAR with 8000 visitors. That means that 8000 different people saw Massive Pwnage that day. Compared to the average of 80 people a day? That’s a lot of people. Like, tons.

This is thanks mostly to the Clammy comic, which was very popular with WoW players.

Of course, it’s also thanks to everybody that reads this. The fanbase for Massive Pwnage, however small it may be, is a driving force for Locke and I to constantly put forward our best efforts. The site will continue to grow until we get 8000 viewers everyday. And then it’ll grow some more until 8000 sounds like a small number to us.

So, thanks for reading Massive Pwnage everybody. Now I just have to make sure I get tomorrow’s update done on time.

-Ence

I guess I’m still working on the site. I only just recently finished the About page. Well, almost finished.

If you look over on the left side of the site, right above the vote buttons, you should see a shiny new “Commissions” button. Not surprisingly, that will take you to the new Commissions page, where I talk more about drawing for hire. There’s also an example!

If anybody’s interested in having a commission done, or has a question on how it works, send me an e-mail or just a leave a comment. If you have a question that I didn’t think of, I can add the answer to the Commissions page, making it easier for everyone else.

-Ence

Most of today’s shooters are known for their use of powerful protagonists. Rarely can we see in a shooter that the person isn’t a cyborg, or in a high-tech suit of armor, or a master of psychokinetic powers. Max Payne is one of those shooters that’s simple in it’s execution, but leaves most of the epic moments up to you.

The story of Max Payne is told mostly through comic panels with voice-overs, in the old Noir style of film. You play as Max, a detective deep undercover within the Mob, haunted by the murder of his family years ago. Your journey takes you through the city on a killing spree against the Mob who have framed you for robbery, having found out of your true identity.

Max Payne is a very different shooter. While most shooters ask you to rely on powerful weapons and group tactics, you are alone against many thugs and obstacles. Much of the time you have to improvise many of the gunfights. Unlike most shooters, weapons can do quite a bit of damage, and it only takes a few rounds to put Max out of the fight. Luckily, you can use bullet time to make precise shots and dispatch the more challenging foes more quickly. Bullet time slows down the game’s overall movement, making a few frantic seconds of shooting into a minute of deadly gun-play. Max Payne 2 differs in this factor; whereas in the first game, everyone moves the same speed in bullet time, you actually can move freely using bullet time in the sequel. Reloading quickly is also a new feature in the sequel while using bullet time.

Some objects in Max Payne can be used to dispatch enemies without a lot of ammunition; finding these objects can make the difference between making out of the level in one piece, or dragging your leg behind you as you finish. Conserving the life restoring Pain Killers are a must, and knowing when it is better to save them takes some of the difficulty out of the later levels.

Overall I think Max Payne is a great game for it’s time. The graphics were pretty good around the time it came out, having been released in 2003. The series leaves with an open, but pretty good ending by Max Payne 2. Rumors have come in that Max Payne 3 is supposed to be in production, but that is only whispers in the night.

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Bottom Line

Max Payne gets a 8/10 for it’s interesting take on the shooter, the great story, and the introduction of time slowing effects into the world of gaming.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne gets a 9/10 for it’s cinematic quality sequences, fearless story, and awesome graphics. If the Noir storytelling won’t win you over, the gunfights will.

See ya next week,

Locke

Hey there, gamers!

I recently got the RE5 Demo, as well as the FEAR 2 demo off of Xbox Live. It’s crazy how far Resident Evil has come, the graphics are amazing. Although trying to fiddle through your inventory in real-time is a real pain the backside, having a buddy to cover you is pretty nifty. The enemies are pretty much as smart as they were in RE4, so there are little surprises to see here. Story-wise, the demo left little clues to the plot.

FEAR 2 was a definite winner in my book. The demo pretty much captures the vibe that FEAR gave us in the first place. Of course, the original FEAR was flawed due to the generic environments that you had to crawl through. Everything was pretty much either a sewer, a warehouse, or an office building of some kind. Within the first ten minutes you are forcefully tossed into the fray, keeping the same feeling of paranoia indefinitely rather than in hiccups like the previous game. Piloting the Mech was pretty sweet, leveling the competition with both your slow-mo reflexes and rocket launchers. Getting used to Medkits automatically applying themselves was kind of odd. In the old game, you had complete control over when you used the med-kits. In this game, if you are slightly lower on health, and you step over it, it will patch your wounds. Most of the time it was well deserved however. I’m happy with how Monolith reclaimed their IP, and it looks to be a solid game.

I’m currently looking forward to some new DS games, I’ve been traveling quite a bit, but I haven’t had a good game in my cart since Professor Layton and the Curious Village. My girlfriend picked it up after she lent her intellect to help me solve some puzzles. Just as I was finishing the game, she asked if she could make her own save file. This was pretty exciting for me, since I can rarely ever find something for her to play on my DS. She’s also been following me around Azeroth, and is currently learning the ways of the Hunter. She just acquired her first pet, a Nightsaber named “Gumdrop”.

So it looks like Locke finally got some customers in, albeit at the cost of some Epic Loot. Hopefully he can keep this streak of good luck going. Hopefully…

Sorry I haven’t put out a review this week, I’ll be sure to write one on my recently recovered PS2 gem, “Odin Sphere”.

See ya!

Locke

So there’s this little RPG I picked up while I was working last summer, “Odin Sphere”.

I was reluctant to try it because it was a recommendation who had Hit or Miss accuracy of what I would like.

As it turned out, the game was pretty good in my opinion, and I’ll tell you why.

Odin Sphere takes place in a storybook, or several storybooks to be exact. A fantasy kingdom in the brink of war awaits the first book you enter in from, “Valkyrie”. You start as Gwendolyn, the Princess of the Valkyries, and you are immediately placed on the battlefield. The combat is fairly simple. You have jump, double jump, attack, and a special move. You can use magic by collecting souls with your weapon. Collecting souls also gives your weapon experience, unlocking more spells the stronger it gets. Your character gains experience from eating food. Food can be bought, found or grown. Yes, that’s right, I said grown. One of the key parts of the game is growing fruits using seeds with…well, souls.  Souls come from defeating your enemies and mixing up potions through the built in alchemy system. Figuring out the best means of creating souls is one of the main things that makes the game fun.

It’s curious to see that the game is a side-scrolling RPG, whereas most RPG’s are 3D nowadays. You play in one of many interlocked rooms, or Stages. You basically kill everyone in the stage, and you are graded before you move to the next room. Based on your performance, you can get some pretty nifty items from randomly grinding, and it makes the game all the more enjoyable. It’s never really a hassle to grind, there’s enough balance of thinking and fighting to make sure that you are never really bored while playing.

The art itself is beautiful. Odin Sphere is lush and colorful, with moving leaves and glowing lights, it’s a very pretty game altogether. The characters are almost instantly likable, and there’s not one charater design that I didn’t instantly appreciate when I saw it. Monsters in themselves look very cool. I suppose one of the best ways to describe it is a more mature Maple Story. The environments are charming, drawing, and haunting at the same time. The only flaw in the game, however is what kind of kills the moment.

During combat, there are many things moving on the screen. One boss in general had so many lackeys in tow that it starting lagging…badly. It took three whole seconds for my character to respond to my pressing the jump button. This doesn’t happen that often though, so I can easily forgive it. Some players may be discouraged by the loading times, but I played through the 360 Sonic the Hedgehog which is Load-tastic.

I’ve only finished the first story, there being around 5 if my hunches are correct, and I’ve played for around 4 hours on one character. The story, “The Pooka Prince”, features a new character with new moves to play with, although you do have to start back at level 1 on both your character and your weapon. However, the story and combat keep me playing.

Odin Sphere is a fresh, original RPG with great presentation. It’s very hard to be mad at it’s gameplay when the dang thing looks so pretty in motion. The fighting is solid, the difficulty challenging but not maddening; all in all it’s a great game.

Bottom Line

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Odin Sphere gets…hell, I’ll give it 9/10. It’s an innovative RPG that will keep you entertained during that long wait for the summer game release season. Kudos on the story and art.

-Locke

I know, I know, I haven’t been writing as of late.

Most of the scripts have been by Ence, mostly because I’ve been so busy I can’t really develop scripts into perfect, funny, haha-sort of scripts. And I’ve neglected to write any game reviews, although I’m not sure how many of you read those. It’s slow going, although that’s no excuse. It’s not like I’m writing anything else that’s more important.

I recently got wind of a few things that vexed me. Apparently a girl got booted from her Xbox live account due to her personal bio. Nothing was amiss about it, save for her preference in people. This was deemed inappropriate by Xbox Live ToS supposedly, and she was taken off her account. Now, I realize that some people are concerned with their kids seeing such things, but I told this story to tell you a similar one. My dad and I had to rename our gamertags due to “inappropriate names as listed in ToS” meaning, either copyrighted or not very mature. Mine was Cosymeatpacker and his was MCPeepantz503. Now, why couldn’t Microsoft just tell her to change her bio instead of booting her?

Apparently many gamers decided to flag her bio due to her preference, almost doggedly. They would stalk her and harass her to leave Xbox Live. This is a sad story to me, because I know many other gamers just like her. I really wish that someday, someone can find ways to choke these jerkwads through the internet, because really, this is getting out of hand. People are using services like this to make people’s personal lives a living hell. I can understand that one feels pretty ticked off when someone else rips them a new mouth with a sniper round, but that’s no reason to steal fifty bucks from somebody.

/preach

I got to 71 yesterday, finally. Leveling is getting really hard, mostly because we don’t have a large enough group to roll with. Northrend is a neat place, but without many guildmates, there is only so much you can do. Ence and Tikara are quickly catching up with their alts, but I feel like I won’t have much time at all to get to 80. But I know that the next expansion of WoW, if there is any, won’t come for a while, so I got some time left. I know there are a lot of WoW players reading the comic, so if you want to start fresh, the Stonemaul server is where we’re lurking. Pst Encifer or Orin for more details.

Later,

Locke

Wallpaper!

You can find various sizes (two sizes) in the extras page.