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The Game Room’s Video Game Music of the Year Awards for 2011

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As in movies, music is a key but often times overlooked part of video games. Music is what sets the mood for us and helps the storytelling process along. And if a video game soundtrack is well crafted, it can be enjoyed many times over outside of the confines of the game.So now it is time to announce the Game Room’s winners of the 2011 video game music of year.

Best Video Game Song – Winner:

“Now I Only Want You Gone” by Jonathan Coulton

This category has only has one nominee as the writer and performer of this song nailed it and hit it out of the park.

Best Video Game Soundtrack – Nominees:

“Batman: Arkham City” by Nick Arundel and Ron Fish
“Battlefield 3” by Johan Skugge and Jukka Rintamaki
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” by Brian Tyler
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” by Jeremy Soule
“Star Wars: The Old Republic” by Mark Griskey and Company

Best Video Game Soundtrack – Winner:

       

(Tie) “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and “Star Wars: The Old Republic”

Now before you scream, “Cop-out,” this was a tough decision to try and pick which one was better. Both soundtracks provided hours of thematic music. “The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim” provided a rich Nordic chorus that pushed the player along their Dragonborn quest. “Star Wars: The Old Republic” used, but didn’t rely too much on, familiar music cues. The various songwriters came up with new themes that blossomed within the Star Wars framework.

As of the posting date of this article, both of the full soundtracks are only available bundled with the collector’s editions of their respective video game releases. Here’s hoping that at some point in the near future, they will be made available for digital retail.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” Xbox 360 Review

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“All Hail the King of Video Games” by Matt Davenport

To say that the “Call of Duty” franchise has made Activision money is like saying the Grand Canyon is kind of big. It is a sentence using sarcasm to state the obvious. “Modern Warfare 3” is the third in the wildly successful first person shooter series by Infinity Ward (this time with assistance from Sledgehammer Games) which includes “Modern Warfare 2” and “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.” For the purposes of this review, we will split it up and talk about the single player and the multi-player campaigns.

This bird is down*

Single Player: The single player campaign picks up right after the events of “Modern Warfare 2.” After killing General Shepard, what’s left of the now disavowed Task Force 141 make their way to a safehouse to regroup. Captain John Price is hauling a critically injured Captain John “Soap” MacTavish to safety. Meanwhile, World War 3 is unfolding all around them as Russian forces are being repelled from Manhattan. From there, the player is transported around the globe to various flash points in the storyline to twart the plans of the main antagonist, the Russian rogue Vladamir Makarov, as he attempts to get the nuclear launch codes from the Russian President. With of the military hardware being bandied about as superpowers collide, “Modern Warfare 3” is able to bring the focus to the single soldier level. The story is linear and involves a lot of “fight your way from point A to point B to point C,” but the developers throw in spectacular set pieces and create a few “Oh wow!” moments. Composer Brian Tyler picks up right where Hanz Zimmer left off and does a superb job of capturing the right tone and mood for the music of the game. Not much new is added to the various global missions. You’ll shoot bad guys, operate mounted weapons, provide overwatch support, infiltrate a villain’s diamond mine underground lair and smoke a cigar. After the success of “Modern Warfare 2,” you don’t want to change too much for fear of alienating your core players. The single player campaign didn’t carry the same weight as the first two parts of the story but it did provide about six hours of an action-fueled conclusion to this “Call of Duty” trilogy.

Single Player Score: 7 out of 10

Coming this fall to the CW*

Multi-player: This is where the “Call of Duty” franchise earns its stripes. This is why the game is a popular as it is. The developers have taken everything that works from the prior games and add a few tweeks. Multi-player in the “Call of Duty” world involves the player being rewarded for their time and skill playing the game. The more you play, the better you get and the more options you have for your online soldier. Along with leveling up your character, you can now level up your weapons. The more you use a particular weapon, the more options you have to outfit it with. Killstreaks are another way the developers have tweeked the online play. You now have the option of Assault killstreaks or Support killstreaks. Assault killstreaks work like before, your kills add up until you are killed and then reset. The Support killstreaks don’t reset when you die and (aptly named) the rewards are meant to support your team in objective based games. Along with the multi-player games of Free-for-all, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination and Sabotage, the developers have added a new mode called Kill Confirmed. Kill Confirmed is a team based mode where when you kill an opposing team member, dog tags appear over the body. Pick those up and your team is rewarded, but if an opposing team member picks up the tags before you do, it denies your team the points. Another new addition to the multi-player experience is Survival mode. This compliments the Co-op mode with a game format that sends wave after wave of enemy troops at you. As you survive the waves, you are able to purchase upgrades, ammo and support.

Multi-player Score: 8 out of 10

I have you now!*

Final Word: Action movie single-player, lots of re-playability in multi-player. What “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” does it does well and deserves its crown as the King of Video Games.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” is available for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC and Nintendo Wii. This review was played on the Xbox 360 with a review unit provided by Activision.

The Game Room Review scoring system is based on the 1 through 10 model with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest.

*Screenshots were taken from the PC version of the game.

Battlefield 3 Review

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“Battlefield 3” PC Review

“It’s all about doing your J.O.B.”

by Matt Davenport

It seems like forever (in game world time) since EA introduced the world to online multiplayer shooters with “Battlefield 1942.” This award winning game released in 2002 took players to World War II locations and allowed them to recreate battle strategies like “parachute out of the jeep as you drive it off the cliff.” Since that time, EA has released many incarnations of the “Battlefield” franchise. The latest is “Battlefield 3.”

Time to make a Thunder Run

Single Player: The game’s single player scenario is set in the near future as tensions are at an all time on the Iraq-Iran border. The mission starts you off as an unnamed, unarmed character wearing half a handcuff. Clearly running from someone, your character hops a train (in dramatic fashion from an overpass) and proceeds to take out armed terrorists who have commandeered the train for their nefarious purposes. Just as you make your way to the head terrorist, the game transports you into a series of flashbacks, letting you close the gap towards real time by completing various missions that explain the story. The main character in the story is Sgt. Henry Blackburn. The Marine starts of the game being “debriefed” by American agents who are trying to unravel the events. Blackburn is up to his “Semper Fi” in trouble as he is at the center of questionable events surrounding stolen nuclear devices. The player doesn’t spend all of their time as Sgt. Blackburn, there are some missions where the player spends time as a tank operator, a F/A-18 weapons op and one Parisian mission as a Russian agent.

The handful of single player missions are very linear. You move your player from A to B to C to complete your missions. Some levels like the air strike mission are just rail shooters, but very beautiful rail shooters. In fact, much of the single player experience came across as a graphical treat for the eyes thanks to the Frostbyte 2 graphics engine. As if the programmers wanted to show off what the latest graphic cards can do. The four and a half hour tour of duty let’s you do a little bit of everything, but doesn’t focus too long on any one aspect of wargaming. The player will get to run and gun, sneak around, fly, drive a tank, take down a plane, sniper and knife opponents. It’s a quick tour though a beautiful world. But even on Normal mode, the constraints put on the player don’t let you explore it.
Single Player Rating: 6 out of 10


Soldiers check the scene in “Operation Metro”

Multiplayer: This is EA’s bread and butter. Multiplayer is what made “Battlefield 1942” and “Battlefield 2” such great games. “Battlefield 3” on the PC opens up the landscape with 64 player maps, multiple maps and weapon progression unlocks. The player can choose from four soldier classes assault, engineer, support and recon. Each class has a speciality and particular weapons assigned to it. “Battlefield 3” multiplayer works best when the player sticks to the job of the soldier class they have chosen. If you go into the battlefield as recon, then your job is to hang bank, spot enemy troops and amour and take sniper shots at the opposing troops. “Battlefield 3” rewards you the most when you help out your team and squad by performing the job for each soldier class. Sure you can run and gun with your .50 cal, but you will progress faster and unlock more items by helping out your team. “Battlefield 3” brings in multiple game modes including conquest, rush, squad deathmatch, squad rush and team deathmatch. Multiplayer hosts have the ability to choose game mode, number of players, maps and quite a few other customizable options.The maps can get a little laggy with 64 players on larger maps and with a game like “Battlefield 3,” having a low ping can make all the difference. Jeeps, tanks, APCs and jets are back for players to drive off a cliff (or fly) and parachute out. Ah, the good old days.“Battlefield 3” multiplayer uses your web browser for its Battlelog to sort through the servers and it acts as a communications center for your friends playing the game. But to get to that, it needs to have the Origin service up and running on your computer. An extra step that is a little frustrating. Another frustrating feature is that weapon load-outs can only be accessed in-game. It would be nice to accomplish that using a web browser. After a few PC and Xbox 360 server hiccups at launch, the multiplayer experience has settled down and now millions of solders are out there getting the job done. The game also features six Co-Op  scenarios where you can a friend can take on the bad guys.
Multiplayer Rating: 8 out of 10


Surveying the battlefield at Mach 1.8

Final Word: EA keeps the franchise alive with “Battlefield 3.” Don’t think of it as a short single player campaign, think of it as a large scale multiplayer experience with a single player and Co-Op modes for those times when you want to take a break.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

This review was played on the PC with a download code provided by EA. The Entertechment Game Room review scoring system is based on the 1 through 10 model with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest.