(note from travis: just because i haven’t been posting doesn’t mean i haven’t been writing. we bought our first home and those of you who have survived this trial by fiery paperwork can hopefully sympathize. This post was written on March 3, 2008)

War? What’s it good for? Absolutely nothing. Unless it’s a game and nobody really dies, then it’s pretty cool.

Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin is a turn-based war game for the Nintendo DS. If you haven’t played any of its predecessors, you’re missing out on a solid (though not terribly deep) wargame. Land, air and sea units vie for cities and factories on relatively small maps. There’s a story that runs through the campaign mode, dealing with military units which have survived a meteor strike. Although the new game is more grim in its subject matter than the previous Advanced Wars title (Dual Strike), it’ still anime — teenage boy falls for blue-haired cypher waif. Loud-mouthed bad guys are hyperbolic in everything they do, and War is Bad. Don’t expect Tom Clancy here, folks.

I’ve enjoyed Geometry Wars for the Xbox 360 only in that it let me keep busy for three minutes while trying to decide what to really play. I’m not very good at the game and it doesn’t hold my interest long enough to want to be good at it. It was single-minded, the quintessence of old-school asteroids-style space shooter. Dodge, fire, don’t die.

Enter Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Nintendo DS.

While the former incarnation is just your ship solo, in Galaxies you get a helper drone. You can purchase various “behaviors” for your assistant — from “go collect the currency dead enemies drop” to “stay in one place and firehose the board with lasers.” The more you use a particular behavior, the better it gets.

The family and I have played Last Night on Earth one more time since last we spoke of it here. It was enjoyable, though still not “Holy Crap! This is TEH FUN!!” fun. Using house rules on Board Game Geek we had a fight between the living and the unsettled dead that came down the penultimate turn. The scenario involved gathering items necessary to gas up and start a truck in the center of town before the zombie horde could chew on our scalps. Collecting the items wore down our heroes a little - one casualty due to bad rolls and bad luck. Getting everyone and their stuff together at the town square (which was thick with zeds) was another matter.

“Tribes 2″ is my favorite online multiplayer game of all time. If you’re not familiar with the series, here’s why I remember the gameplay with feelings that dare not speak its name:

I loved the choices — did I want to load up with heavy armor and mortar the enemy base, or grab an energy pack and snipe from the hills? I could change roles as my whim and the tactical situation changed.

I loved the vehicles — before Battlefield 1942 made the general gaming public say “OMFG!!11!! Vehicles in games!!!” there was an assortment of ‘em in Tribes 2. When a HAVOC gunship took off from your base, packed with heavy armors and flanked by support fighters, it felt darn-near patriotic. Go get em, guys!

I loved a hundred things about it — the tactical map, the shield generators, the jump jets. In Tribes 2 I could express my territoriality. This base here? This is *my* base. This base are belong to me & my mates. I’m not the kind who instinctively goes on the offensive in a mutliplayer game. I don’t have the super twitch skills a true offensive warrior demands. I defend the base and my teammates with patience and tenacity. In Tribes 2 you mostly found me in the “engineer” role — setting up a deadly garden of sensors and turrets around my team’s fortress. When the battle got too close I switched to medic and kept the virtual hearts beating for those players who *were* good with the shooty-shoot skills.

Sometimes I did vent bloodlust with a base raid. The fact that I could play so many kinds of roles in a first person shooter and really feel like I was contributing — not just shooting and dying — that’s why Tribes 2 rocks. Well, rocked.

Why am I rambling on about the Good Ol’ Days, you ask? The Orange Box and Quake Wars: Enemy Territory.

Will Team Fortress 2 be the game that measures up to Tribes 2 for me? Can their well-balanced classes allow even someone like me to enjoy multiplayer in my own play style; and I can I do it without having to invest a hundred hours in practice and map-study? They have engineers and medics — that’s a good start.

Will Quake Wars provide the layers of teamwork goodness, with its vehicles and objectives, be the new Tribes 2? Or will it be a disorganized mess of ADD kiddies? Once again we get into the territory (forgive the pun) of having a reliable group to play with/against. If I jump into a random game, my chances of teamwork are random. If I could set a time and place to meet a group of folks, then there’s already a group cohesion from the outset. It’s just that I cannot make that time commitment. I can’t say, “I know for sure that my Wednesday night will be free to play,” because, really I don’t. Every night with a relatively new baby and a relatively not new 7 year old is chaos. An often beautiful chaos, granted, but chaos nonetheless.

What worries me more about any new Tribes 2-like game is whether I’m creating standards that are based more on nostalgia and less on reality. When I was playing Tribes 2 it was during a time when I had two or three hours each day to devote to the game. Yes, I was working a full time job, but also living with my parents and without paternal responsibility. Nowadays I’m trying to recapture that true leisure time in fifteen minute chunks. How can one truly become proficient at anything in just a few minutes twice a week? Is it any wonder online multiplayer doesn’t satisfy me like it used to?

I’m picking up the Orange Box this week, and will report back soon. From what I hear on 1up, Portal is the true gem in the pack, but its Orange Box roommates are solid and fun. We’ll see…

In other news, I’m around 3/4 way through Bioshock. The game continues to be fun and scary and I hate the antagonist more with each vile act he commits. Despite having upgraded both my character’s body and weapons, I still continue to approach any fight with caution. Also: angry hornets make the baby travis cry. You’ll know what I mean when you play. This will be a fun one to finish close to Halloween.

Next time: I owe you another tale of zombie boardgame aggression.

Yes, it’s been a while. Life with kids moves fast (that’s kind of the point of this site, though - our lives are all busy). I can’t always guarantee that I’ll be timely with my posts.

What I can guarantee is that, until game companies of the world notice the sheer *cough* awesomeness of my site and send me free stuff, I’m paying the same prices you are for games. If I say “This game is worth buying” - I really spent my own $60 on the title and don’t feel ripped off. Sometimes I feel like other, larger game review sites, as great as they are, can lose a little perspective in the value of a title simply by the fact that it didn’t come out of their paycheck.

When I start getting free review copies ….well then you can call me a sell-out. Cool? Good.

“I hear angels, Master Chief”

I’ve been playing Halo 3 and more Bioshock. You’ve already read a dozen Halo 3 reviews by now. It’s been out for a month. I’m sure even The Today Show had an in-depth analysis of Forge mode.

Here is a post that I made on RPGnet a couple of weeks ago:

I took Tuesday off to play Halo 3. I mean, I’ve known since I got a job with decent paid time off that I would take this particular Tuesday off. Stood in line at midnight to get my copy of Halo 3. Drove home with glee and played for an hour before succumbing to sleep. In the morning I returned the game by 8:30 a.m.

By 10:30 I was back to playing Bioshock, and stayed with it for several more hours.

Why? It’s not that Halo 3 was bad or anything — maybe a little challenging for my gaming kung fu (I set it to Heroic mode). But compared to Bioshock something in the first chapter of Halo 3 is… missing? Is it story? Is it atmosphere? What? I don’t know. Granted I’m further into the plot of Bioshock, drawn into its plots, subplots and depraved characters. Compared to that, the beginning of Halo 3 is (forgive the pun) spartan in its narrative elements. “Here’s the Chief and all his friends. Now get back to killing things, just like the last two times.”

(Sigh). I feel a little strange for not being as ravenous for Halo 3 as I thought I’d be. Maybe not guilty, just a little empty.

This morning I had a free hour between dropping off my daughter at school and starting work. I played more Bioshock.

Since that day I’ve gone back into Halo 3’s campaign mode more. I can attest that Heroic mode is unforgiving, but satisfying. They have paced the encounters well and, when you clear out a room full of brutes, it’s an accomplishment And it’s even better to go back and watch a particularly refined moment of ballet-like butt-kicking.

That praise aside, I still like the narrative of Bioshock more than Halo 3. Even when the levels in the former seem to devolve into “find splicer. kill splicer,” you still get so much more mood and emotional gravity. I don’t have to go to novels to get the flavor of the game’s backstory — it’s all here.

My forays into Halo 3 multiplayer has been brief and par for the course: There are several people of reasonably equal skill among the matchmaking group assembled. Then there are one or two people who are so far above the group, skill-wise, that you know they’re slumming for the sad, lonely ego boosts. And there’s always one guy standing still, shooting at the wall. I try to not be that guy, but nor am I the l33t 5h00t3r. I’m the guy getting pwned by the rabid players and getting the occasional kill against everyone else.

I do enjoy the “mute idiot” feature of Halo 3. In my first online match I was able to silence the pre-game trashtalkers with gleeful ease. It would be even better if I could then select “Send an email to this person’s mom, telling her what a punk (s)he is.” (let’s get real, though, it’s always a male acting like an ass).

This wearying nature of random matchmaking could be eased by having a consistent group of friends with which to play. I do have a bunch of good people from RPGnet on my friends list; but the last two times I’ve gotten requests to play, I’ve had a sleeping baby in my lap or just a few minutes left in my precious campaign play time for the evening. For busy people with very random schedules, partying up for extended multiplayer time can be a tricky endeavor.

So if you haven’t bought Halo 3 yet, here’s my recommendation for the busy gamer:

• Do you want to finish the single player campaign? Wait until the price drops, then definitely buy it.
• Do you want to play multiplayer online? If you aren’t interested about being the best in the match, buy it. Otherwise, skip it. You’re already behind the curve. If your feelings are hurt by getting smacked around by 13 year olds, many tears will roll down your cheek.
• Do you want to play co-op over the internet, and have a buddy or two ready to play? Get it. I can’t speak for the mode personally yet (hopefully this weekend). All reports about online co-op say that it’s the best way to experience the single player.

My wife and youngins’ will be out of town this weekend. Although I’ll miss them greatly, this means the rare, golden chance to put in a full evening of gaming. As mentioned, I’ll be trying Halo 3 co-op campaign, as well as finishing(?) Bioshock.

Next time: Why I have an unhealthy relationship with Tribes 2.