A Day in the Life of Sam Fisher
It was Saturday March 27th, 2010, the temperature was 5 degrees and the sun was shining bright. 40 teams, each consisting of 2 people, arrived on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, in Toronto, to report for the Inside Splinter Cell Conviction Challenge.
After we registered for the event, we were provided with a sling backpack which was full of supplies. Inside the bag we were given a Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) day pass, a $50 dollar pre-paid visa card, a mirror, a fake ID, snacks, water, TTC map, and a pen and paper. We were told to report back at 3:30pm for debriefing. Once the debriefing started, we were greeted by members of the Xbox team who explained the rules of the competition. Christophe Grand-Jean came on stage to tell us about the grand prize which was a trip to Montreal, where you would get the chance to hang out with the Splinter Cell development team and the opportunity to play the game with the team.
That was it, all the teams raced out to the lobby to get the first clue and there official Xbox 360 Splinter Cell jackets. Johnny Rotten73 and I formed an alliance with Mister Switch and his partner IvIxANTHMANxIvI . We dashed quickly up Bathurst Street to King to catch the King streetcar eastbound to a local Russian Vodka Bar, Pravda. Our challenge was to get information from Ivan, a local Russian Mafia member. It wasn’t easy, we had to head back out on to the street to find Vlad and ruffle a few feathers to get some information from him. We met back up with Ivan where he gave us our final challenge in the form of an image. We had to locate, using the image, a bottle of liquor and record the size of the bottle, percentage of alcohol and the country of origin. We gave this information to Ivan and he stamped our passport, Challenge 1 in Soviet Russia completed.
We only needed to complete 3 of the 4 challenges so we skipped the Mark and Execute challenge and because challenge number 4, Isabella, was geographically closest we decided to head there. We checked in using our new identities, mine being Edward Flaspoehler. We waited in our room for a few minutes and got a phone call with the information we were waiting for. We cautiously made it to the Employee’s only basement, where we met someone who was tortured and tied up and needed serious medical attention. We gave him the little rations we had and he told us that reception was holding a package for room 304; we had what we needed to know! We got our package and got our passport stamped.
Then, we dashed west across town to Bathurst and Queen and snuck into the Burroughes Furniture store. Once inside, we had to carefully maneuver through the security office making sure not to wake the security guard in order to obtain a visitors pass. Once acquired, we ran up flights of stairs to the rooftop where we needed to locate vital information that was located on the side of a building. We than made it down to the 4th floor, where we needed to dodge security, hop on the elevator and dash around the back of the building to get our passport stamped.
That was it; it was time to get to the final destination, EB games at Bathurst and Bloor. We checked in and since we did not complete the Mark and Execute challenge we needed to locate a game that had the following UPC 6178962, which happened to be Avatar. We got our final clue, ran to the subway station and headed to Downsview station. Our new mission, locate the Splinter Cell Bus line. It was a long and agonizing 25 minute subway ride. Our minds ran through questions like, how many teams had made it the final destination? Where there any other teams on the subway with us? We made it! We were team 4 of 6 to qualify for the final challenge. We had to sit and wait on the TTC bus for the final 2 teams to show up and qualify. We waited for approximately 45 minutes and then took a quick 8 minute bus ride to our final destination. The only information we were told was that we were going to be locked up in a jail cell and tortured while the other 34 teams watched on.
So we waited for over an hour in our cell, then finally a riot occurred and we managed to escape our cells for a brief minute. We headed across the hall to the other cells, where we saw a bunch of numbers written on the wall. We quickly jotted these down and returned to our cells before the prison warden caught us and put us in the hole. A package was slipped into our cell and we had to decipher the numbers along with all the information we collected throughout our challenges to solve the puzzle.
Sadly, we couldn’t crack the code in time another team won. Congratulations to the winners, who took off in style… in a helicopter!
It was a long, physically and mentally exhausting day. As I sit here and write this piece, my body aches all over. I can barely walk around my apartment. I now know what Sam Fisher goes through on any mission and I’m really looking forward to playing Splinter Cell Conviction on April 13th 2010.
Thanks to all that organized the event it was a true blast to participate in.
read moreGod of War 3 Review
The Good
- Awe Yeah, the combat is just fun
- Stunning Visuals
- Boss Battles are Challenging
The Bad
- It ends
- No Help / Hint’s during puzzles
- No HUD/ on screen navigation
My first exposure to the God of War franchise was when Sony released the re-mastered God of War Collection (God of War 1 & God of War 2) on 1 blu-ray disc including trophies. It was a great first exposure to the characters, story and game play. We all remember the ending of God of War 2 where Kratos was on the back of the Titans while they scaled Mount Olympus in search of Zeus and looking for Revenge. This means one thing and one thing only it’s March and Kratos our beloved God of War is back making his debut on the PlayStation 3.
Obviously the game starts with Kratos standing on the shoulder of Gaia a titan, who urges her fellow titans to climb Mount Olympus and kill the gods for once and all ending the rein of all mighty god Zeus. The camera pans around and shows this mere molecule (Kratos) enjoying the ride. Kratos main job is here is to protect Gaia from the relentless attacks from Poseidon with most the battle taking place on the titan herself. A confrontation with Gaia ends up with Kratos arriving in the land of the dead where he must battle Hades and defeat him. I personally had such a hard time battling Hades the game recommended I switch difficulties.
Next up it was time for Kratos to make his way into the City of Olympia and track down Helios during the course of wandering through the city you poised to help a titan by shooting down Helios using a ballista. This was like target practice, quite challenging at first but shooting him down provided me with instant gratitude. Using the head of Helios to light the way it’s time to head down the path of EOS. Later on you’ll battle your bitter rival Hercules and after disposing of him it’s time to check out Poseidon’s chamber where you speak to the goddess herself Aphrodite. Next it’s time to make for the Pit of Tartarus and look for the Omphalos Stone. Remember Crono’s from God of War 2, he’s back and it’s time to rumble.
After that it’s Time to return to Daedalus’s workshop, escape Hera’s Garden, then head into the hidden passageway to find Pandora and to escape the Labyrinth before it’s too late. Finally you arrive at the Chain of Balance where you must break it and return to Pandora. It has arrived time to Battle the mighty Zeus.
There isn’t a whole lot changed in terms of combat, it’s the same formula just polished up from previous versions. Of course there is a bunch of new weapons like the blades of exile; the army of Sparta is one of my favorites. These Spartan Warriors surround Kratos with shields and spears, these warriors attack those who cross Kratos path. You also are immune from taking damage during the casting of this spell. The Claws of Hades are cool but you have the blades of Athena and I haven’t found much use for them. One of the favorite new items is the head of Helios this allows the Kratos to shine a light and kill enemies. The finishing moves are just over the top, gratuitous, fun to execute and enjoying to watch. One of the big things I’ve noticed over its predecessors is that the level design and the variety is quite noticeable and makes the game a lot more enjoyable. The boss battles are challenging, fun and cross between fighting the Gods and the Titans is a good mix up. I wish I could battled more titans.
Sony Santa Monica has developed a visual masterpiece, the sense of scale of is incredible, the way the camera pans out to show everything and you see Kratos this little spec on screen. One small noticeable improvement all game developers should take notice of is during quick time events placing the buttons on the side of the screen. This draws the player’s attention to focus on the quick time event so they can enjoy the action. The camera, I loved how the camera pans to show the incredible sense of scale, detail and just awe dropping moments throughout the game. However, I wish I had more control of the actual camera at times. I’d love to be able to look out the titans or gods from Kratos point of view.
One of the biggest dislikes in the franchise I’ve noticed and still isn’t rectified in God of War 3 is there is no HUD system on screen. This is more of a personal preference rather than a fault of the game. I am not a great puzzle solver at any game and the lack of “hint” system in place has caused me great frustration at different stages of the game. Sure when you get to a puzzle the camera pans around showing you where you start and where you end. If you half way through solving a puzzle and get stuck why not implement a “help” button similar to Uncharted 2? It’s simple, easy and if you don’t want to use it don’t press the button.
Honestly there isn’t much wrong with God of War 3, the things I mentioned above are small personal preferences I like in games. I understand why there not there. The facts are God of War 3 does what it does and does it better than the original 2 game’s. Isn’t that what sequels are for? Improving over the original games while sticking to the key successes of the franchise and God of War 3 does that well. If you like Kratos, the storyline, the button mashing and the gruesome finishing moves and oh yea did I mention an artistic masterpiece? God of War 3 will sell a ton of copies, hell it may even sell a few additional PlayStation 3 systems. Why would you miss out on potentially one the best games of this generation.
read moreFebruary NPD’s
I can’t believe my eyes the Xbox 360 outsells the Nintendo Wii? Seriously? I can’t remember the last time this happened!.
- * Nintendo DS – 613,200
- * Xbox 360 – 422,000
- * Wii – 397,900
- * PlayStation 3 – 360,100
- * PSP – 133,400
- * PlayStation 2 – 101,900
So the juggernauts keep on selling New Super Mario Bros and Modern Warfare 2. I was surprised to see BioShock 2 take the top spot. I was very happy to see Heavy Rain make the top 10.
01. BioShock 2 (Xbox 360) – 562,900
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 555,600
03. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) – 314,300
04. Just Dance (Wii) – 275,400
05. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – 272,500
06. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) – 252,800
07. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) – 246,500
08. Dante’s Inferno (PS3) – 242,500
09. Dante’s Inferno (Xbox 360) – 224,700
10. Heavy Rain (PS3) – 219,300