WarHawk: Omega Dawn Review

I present to you another great review from our excellent editor Rob "Dark Harvest" Kreh.



WarHawk is back and the battle is more intense than ever. Last night I bought the much anticipated “Omega Dawn” expansion pack, and I a survived a long night of battles to bring MonkBlog an exclusive review.

“Warhawk: Operation Omega Dawn” adds a lot to the already amazing game play. As I have mentioned before, Warhawk is the greatest online multiplayer in history, IMO (sorry Master Chief, You just don’t cut it). And much like my review for “Uncharted” this is another game that is completely underrated.

The expansion is priced at $7.99, and is well worth the price. The key addition in this XP is a new vehicle called the “Drop Ship”. This massive ship allows pilots to pick up six infantry and one ground vehicle to transport across the map. And this thing is POWERFUL! Wielding three laser cannon’s on each side of the ship, and transported infantry can also utilize missile turrets located on the top of the ship. This completely changes the face of war, especially in CTF mode.

Last might I made it my goal to take down one of the enemies heavily armored dropships in nothing but my lone Warhawk. I felt like Luke Skywalker taking on the Death Star in his weak ass little X-Wing, amazingly after several run and gun attacks, I brought her down in a rain of fire. BOOYAH!

Also added with the “Omega Dawn” expansion are new map layouts for the original 5 Warhawk maps that add the dropship, and a brand new stage called “Omega Factory”. This new map is huge!!!! Seriously, Warhawk is known for huge maps, but this one takes the cake. Oh and did I mention that the “Omega Factory” is a night mission, nothing as beautiful as my WarHawk screaming through the sky at night! Could replace my current favorite map “Island Outpost” We shall see!

One thing I noticed is that the XP was not available to buy directly from the Playstation Store. Instead they added an update to the Warhawk game that adds a “WarHawk’ store in which you purchase the XP from….. Hmm. Now why would they do that? Why not just sell it on the PS Store like all the other XP’s... I think all signs point at future WarHawk content. This is fine in my books! Here are some of my suggestions for WarHawk additions:

1. Parachutes! (To jump out of Warhawk at last second)

2. Boats! (To cruise around in that beautiful water on most maps)

3. Motorcycles (just for shits and giggles)

4. Level Designer (How cool would that be)

5. Custom Warhawk Skins (Come on; let us put our own skins on our Warhawks!)


I will say however that I was disappointed because initial rumors stated that the new upgraded original maps would also be “Night Missions”, that that was not the case. They are the same as the original maps, only with the Dropship added.

So I must say the XP is worth the cost and has been well worth my sleepless, drooling nights of anticipation. If you already have Warhawk, get the expansion. If not, WTF are you waiting for? Merry Christmas and It is time to Play B3yond!

(I might also add that it is so great to be able to FINALLY play WarHawk with my Bro!)

Your Hot Christmas Cocoa is Served: Hidden Topless Code for Twisted Metal Black

Many years ago on some gaming message board (I can't remember which) someone posted a new cheat code for Twisted Metal Black that causes the hot goth chick who drives Shadow to burst out of the top of the car topless on a machine gun turret (it's a pretty powerful attack to boot!). Like all other supposed nude codes in videogame history, this one was met with universal skepticism by other people on the board. I naturally believed this one would be like the infamous Nude Raider but there was a certain confidence in his words that inspired me to try it, and, lo and behold, it worked!

Fast forward to last week when I was stuck at home with a sick daughter. I decided to break out some of the old TM games. When checking out the code section for TM Black on a certain popular FAQ site, I discovered that the infamous topless code was still unknown to the world. I checked out quite a few other code sites and to my surprise, none of them had the code listed. It appeared that the code was doomed to be lost to history, like it never even existed at all. Fortunately, I still remembered it, and today I share it with the world.

To see some ultra-low res goth chick boobies, choose Shadow, and have the special listed as your current weapon. Hold down all four trigger buttons and simply press triangle, triangle, triangle.

Launch window PS2-era graphics certainly aren't the most erotic thing in the world. But still, it is slightly scandalous in this post-hot coffee world, and it does make you wonder how many other games have similar things hidden in them that no one knows about. Mad props for Incognito for having the balls to put such a thing in the game.

Here is a crappy quality video to show non-owners of the game a brief demonstration. NSFW and all that.

Rob's Uncharted Review

In light of Uncharted's poor performance in the NPDs, Rob has decided to grace us with a review of this under-appreciated game.

After many months of mouth watering anticipation, Sony’s 2007 holiday big shot has been released. Uncharted: Drakes fortune comes from Naughty Dog, famously known for their “Crash Bandicoot” series from PSone. You can definitely feel some of that series in Uncharted.

Uncharted is the tale of a young man by the name of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who alleges to be the descendant of Sir Francis Dake. After recovering a treasure map from Drake’s coffin, he sets out on an adventure to locate the booty. However, there are some shady characters that find out about his quest, and are willing to kill to get to it first.

Uncharted it AMAZING! I know that the PS3 has not had many killer titles this year, But Uncharted is definitely one of them. And just like Sony’s other killer title “WarHawk”, it is COMPLETELY underrated.

The game play is insane. I have heard several people refer to it as a cross between Tomb Raider and Gear of War, I would have to agree. Although in my opinion, Uncharted took the “take cover and shoot” gameplay from “Gears”, and fine tuned it. There is never a dull moment in the game, from exploring beautiful lush green jungle vistas, to exploring rusty WWII U-Boats (with dead, rotted nazi corpses still inside!).

The gunplay is just as satisfying (if not more so) than “Gears”, and the exploration elements are like nothing I have ever seen in a game. There are even a few cool driving stages that will blow your mind, especially one involving a jetski ride that will have you just staring at the screen admiring the graphics and drooling at what the PS3 is capable of. (You may even just find God while playing this game…lol).

As I mentioned, the Graphics are beautiful. There were times that while playing the game I would just stop for a moment and take it all in. Lush green jungle, Sunsets that rival the ones here in the real world, and character animations that are unprecidented. This game should be reason enough for people who are still cautious of the PS3, and the game showcases the power and potential of Sony’s amazing next gen system.

OMG! Did I Mention the water effects…. Must see to believe….

Another thing sony does not skimp on is music. Uncharted features an amazing orcehstral score that is along side the greats of Hollywood blockbusters, It is sounds like John Williams himself scored this gmae, and adds so much to the mood of the game. You feel like you are playing the Video Game equivelant of blockbuster summer film!

I know I have rambled on about the amazing graphics, But this game really is just amazing, and is fun to play. Naughty Dog knocked it out of the park, and has set the standard by which games should be mad. I truly hope that we see more of Nathan Drake’s treasure hunting adventures in the future…

November NPD Results

Well, they are in folks, and they are big. It is the second biggest shopping month and we have virtually three million sellers on the software front, and some really big numbers for hardware. A huge month for the industry overall.

Hardware Unit Sales

PlayStation 2 496K
PlayStation 3 466K
PSP 567K
Xbox 360 770K
Wii 981K
Nintendo DS 1.53 million

November 2007 Top 10 Video Games Rank # Units
360 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION (CORP) NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 1 1.57 million
WII SUPER MARIO GALAXY NINTENDO OF AMERICA NOV 2007 EVERYONE (E) 2 1.12 million
360 ASSASSIN'S CREED UBISOFT NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 3 980K
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION (CORP) OCT 2007 TEEN (T) 4 967K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA FEB 2007 EVERYONE (E) 5 564K
360 MASS EFFECT MICROSOFT (CORP) NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 6 473K
PS3 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION (CORP) NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 7 444K
WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION (CORP) OCT 2007 TEEN (T) 8 426K
360 HALO 3 MICROSOFT (CORP) SEP 2007 MATURE (M) 9 387K
PS3 ASSASSIN'S CREED UBISOFT NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 10 377K


Other Software Sales of Note
Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (Wii) - 330k
Rock Band (360) - 312k
Lego Star Wars (Wii)- 180k
High School Musical (Wii) - 180k
Resident Evil UC (Wii) - 130k
Crysis (PC) - 86,6k
Rock Band (PS3) - 70k
Zack & Wiki (Wii) - 35k
Unreal Tournament 3 (PC) - 34k
Manhunt 2 (Wii) - 18,5k
Wii Zapper incl. Crossbow Training (Wii) - 232k
Zack & Wiki (Wii) - 35k
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3): 117k


Nintendo once again kicks ass, and takes names. They ended up shipping more Wiis than I expected, having believed that they "shot their load" earlier in the year. Nearly a million Wiis were sold last month, the highest November total in North America for a system since the PS2 broke 1 million in 2002. The DS sold an utterly OBSCENE 1.5 million. Ridiculous. There were more DSes sold than all Sony products COMBINED. Also, the big title of the month for Nintendo, Super Mario Galaxy, sold over a million. Clearly 2007 will be remembered as the year of Nintendo on the hardware front.

On the other hand, 2007 will be remembered as Microsoft's year on the software front, posting two seperate million sellers this month, Assasin's Creed and the number one game overall, Call of Duty 4. After soft sales for the mediocre Call of Duty 3, Activision has to be happy that they handed the series back to Infinity Ward who really knocked it out of the park. Mass Effect had a strong debut for an original IP, in stark contrast to a certain PS3 new IP that will be discussed later. 360 owners are really just voracious software buyers, Micrsoft could not ask for a better fanbase.

Hardware-wise, Microsoft was no slouch either, pushing nearly 800k units. A sales total that in and of itself is reminiscent of various PS2 Novembers back in the day. In North America, 360 continues to have the healthiest overall ecosystem, and this will likely be the case for the forseeable future. An interesting oddity software-wise is that Guitar Hero III Wii outsold 360 Guitar Hero for the first time ever. Is this a sign that the 360 audience is transitioning to Rock Band? Hmmmm....

Sony, as usual this year, had very mixed success. Though PS3 did claim some small-scale victories, with hardware numbers that were slighly above what was expected, but they are well below what 360 had last November in it's 2nd holiday season (360 had 511k, which was considered disappointing at the time and below expectations). Most ominously however, the PS2 beat the PS3 again, even with a holiday season in full swing and a full month of the $399 pricedrop. Software-wise Call of Duty 4 and Assasin's Creed sold better on the PS3 than anyone expected, myself included.

However, aside from these two titles, PS3 continued to be the system for people who hate to buy games. With Uncharted posting a paltry 117k and Rock Band PS3 only selling 70k. 360 fans showed that they were willing to embrace a daring new IP in Mass Effect, but PS3 fans were not willing to do the same unfortunately. Uncharted's poor sales may be a chilling harbinger for the future of innovative new titles on the system (It should be said though, mad props go out to Rob for being one of the few PS3 fams to actually buy the damn game). Some analysts attempting to explain the lack of PS3 software sales believe that a significant percentage of PS3 owners are actually buying 360 games even though they don't the system. At least, that is the best explanation they have come up with so far...

On a final note, it looks like it is bedtime for big budget PC games, with Crysis selling under 100k, and Unreal Tournament 3 selling 34k. The future of PC gaming is looking more and more like it is going be subscription-based MMOs and casual fare.

That about wraps it up for this month, stay tuned next month for the big daddy of them all, Decemeber. Can the 360 finally beat the Wii? Or will Nintendo be able to deliver enough units to win yet again? Will Sony still be stuck in the proverbial gaming ghetto? Check out monk blog for all of the latest info.

I Got a PS Triple! And Pre-NPD Link Fest

Thanks to my awesome bro Rob (who is the awesomest bro ever) I have got a Tripler at a ridiculously cheap price, completing the holy trinity of current-gen video game consoles. It is only the 40 gig, meaning I will have to brush up some of my old PSOne games for some old school PSone gaming since it doesn't support PS2 games. I did buy Warhawk (PSX version) for 7 bucks at game exchange to hype me up for buying the next gen version soon.

Before posting my NPD analysis here are a couple cool links for you.

An article on games that pushed the NES to it's limits.
Click

The top ten gaming innovations of 2007, really a very good list.
Click

Great Endings in Videogame History: Mortal Kombat Mythologies

World Exclusive Gamestop Coupon

Monk-Blog has just inked an exclusive deal with mega retailer gamestop to provide some exclusive savings. Be sure to print some out and give them to any potential future console buyers. Once again monkblog delivers the goods for it's readers.