Do you remember Crimson Skies? Who doesn’t, Right? Well everything you knew about that game has been put on the XBLA in the form of Peanuts…

Snoopy: Flying Ace by SmartBomb Interactive hit the marketplace yesterday, and I had NO idea what it was. It literally crept up out of nowhere. It’s a good thing, too… It made me curious, so I took to the computer to look up some info. The FIRST thing I came across was an article comparing it to Crimson Skies. I was like “Nah, no way…that can’t be.” But indeed… check this out —->

This game is incredible! You get an arcade air combat game that incorporates a bit of a platformer (for a lil Story telling) and a multiplayer that exceeds the experience from Crimson Skies, all wrapped up in a tight little bundle of joy.
The story mode takes you through numerous types of off the wall missions. From dogfighting waves of the Red Baron’s forces to taking down Zepplins of Doom, and with two modes of difficulty, this game has proved to have great replay value for me already.
The MultiPlayer is what makes thing game more interesting… It offers a wide range of customization for your plane and weapon choices. Choose from one of their many custom pilots, or you can take your Avatar to the skies! ( I might have to put my Recon helmet on to see what that looks like in my plane…) The game supports up to 16 players in one match, and has a lot of gametypes to choose from.

The best thing about this game…is that you get all this wonderful sweet glaze of goodness for 800 MS points… That’s $10 people !!!

So what are you waiting for? GO GET IT and meet me in the skies!

Sicky’s Motion Sickness Rating: 4/5

AMMIH’s Overall Rating 5/5 Yes!

Once again, the same disclaimer from part 1 applies to this post. If you missed Part 1 go back and check it out now.

Generator Defense has launched and we’ve had our time to poke at the game type and map a bit. Most matches have a noticeable amount of delay when doing certain actions, but Bungie did warn us to expect that. The game is two rounds long, with three members on each team. Spartans spawn at the top of a hill near a barn with three generators they must defend from the Elites who spawn at the bottom of the hill. Elites must shoot, slash, and ‘nade spam the generators until they explode. Don’t think the Spartans have no defense against this though as they can run to each generator and activate a blast shield that will completely protect the generator for thirty seconds allowing them to regroup and help their team mates without worry.

Overlook is a relatively small map, and I would have to put it about the same size as Heretic from Halo 3 maybe a bit smaller. When you play G.D., don’t expect a long drawn out game. While there are going to be networking bumps here and there, the game type is designed for fast paced and intense combat.

Now to the sad part…
The Halo: Reach BETA ended this morning, but Bungie had posted that it went through “Sudden Death.” This apparently means that the servers were still running for a bit afterwards, but players that were still battling it out, dealt with some issues… They seem to have been actively messing with the servers to get a tad bit more info out of them… “Experimenting,” shall we say?

Here’s the good part…
The full Halo: Reach title is available for Pre-Order at various locations. They are also available in three Editions. Amazon is offering free shipping and the September 1st release date for the game. Pre-orders are going quickly, so if you haven’t jumped on it, now would be a good time.

With everything that Bungie threw into the Halo:Reach Beta being only a taste of what’s to come, I’m sure that we’re going to be completely satisfied with the retail version (if not overstuffed). This will be the most promising Halo game to land on our plates.

Now, to get this straight… this may be a review, but it’s on a BETA! Remember that. This is also meant to be taken simply as observations of what we’ve seen so far and by no means are we judging this beta. Both PsychoVandal and Ryokea co-wrote this to bring out a few points and some information about the beta. We both realize we may leave stuff out, but that is likely because we are not actually giving any sort of grade or score on this beta. There will be a thorough review of the final product when it is released by Bungie this fall.

So we got our chance to throw down in the BETA version of Halo: Reach, and oh boy we CANNOT WAIT for the real thing. If you have not had a chance to check it out, you don’t have much time left. The BETA test phase ends May 19. Also, those who are Silver Xbox Live members will have access to the benefits of Gold members for the 14th -17th! Want to know how to get in on it? Go here. If you’ve already been enjoying the BETA then you know much of what we’re about to spew..

Now, I bet you’re expecting a little paragraph or two about how to move from Halo 3 game play into the Reach beta. Well, let me dish it out to you straight. Reach feels like a completely new game, and honestly needs to be approached as such. Don’t go into it with high hopes of nabbing that BR and getting some headshots, mostly because the BR has been replaced. This has caused a bit of a stirring in the community, but really if you think about it. Change is good.

One of the biggest changes, and will be the most noticeable ones during a game of Slayer, is the addition of Armor Abilities. Not only do we get to run around as Spartan-III’s but we also get to rock some cool abilities such as: Armor Lock, Sprint, Active Camo, and a Jet Pack. Of course you can also play as Elites under certain game types, their Armor Abilities are similar but they get Evade instead of Sprint and there is a decided lack of Armor Lock. Keep in mind this is just the beta, and the retail game may or may not include more abilities or possibly give the Elites access to Armor Lock.

Another fun note about this game is the fact you get access to a wider array of customization options for your Spartan. Elite’s will also have some options, but they are in full armor sets unlike their human counterparts. The beta has given us a peak at some of the things we will be able to purchase using the credit system implemented in the new game, and occasionally due to a glitch some have seen other options not purchasable until the retail release. Spartans will be allowed to customize their helmet, shoulders, and chest plate to whatever they wish from the options available. So get crackin’ on making your “unique and deadly snowflake.” The Spartan you make for yourself will look the same whether you are part of Noble Six in campaign or beating heads in during multiplayer. To buy all this eye candy goodness for your killing machine, you will make use of the credits that you earn from every game. To help line your pockets with that digital cash, Commendations can be earned by collecting so many of a certain type of medal from kills. Once you get a Commendation it gives you a nice boost to your earned credits at the end of the match, so they give you a better incentive to nail some multi-kills and headshots.

Remember the Veto system introduced with Halo 3? Well it has been done away with. Now before you start raging, it has been replaced with a far better system. The new voting system shows you a small selection of map choices with game types listed by them and lest you vote on one of them or you can opt to choose None of the Above for one round to get a new mix of maps and game types. As of right now, if a vote ties the system will choose the one higher on the list.

Map selection is limited since this is the beta, no big surprise to anyone who played the Halo 3 beta. We have Powerhouse, a bit of a circular map with four buildings to offer cover and power weapons contained in tight spaces to make fighting for them a fairly intense battle. Sword Base is the other common map you will be choosing. Yes there is a sword on it, but this is also a multi-tiered map that makes Jet Packers jump for joy due to being able to navigate the tiers quickly. Other armor abilities are handy here too if you know how to properly apply them and maybe you can cut a Jet Pack Spartan short of reaching a power weapon placed on a center platform. There was one more map available as of the 7th, but we’ll touch on that one in a moment.

Playlists:

The Arena rears its head for the first time in this beta for us to scrutinize and prod at it’s various aspects. Arena is the proving ground for the hardcore players to try and get ranked in as high of a Division as possible. The Arena pulls from your standard sets of four man Team Slayer game types you would expect to see on the two maps Powerhouse and Sword Base. Arena also has seasons that last for a set amount of time, and at the end you are given a rating depending on how well you played compared to your peers. Divisions are listed from lowest to highest as: Steel, Bronze, Platinum, Gold, and Onyx. Play three games in the Arena playlist to get your rating for the day, and do that enough times you will be classed into a Division. When the season finally comes to a close, you will get a statistical layout of how you did that season. Your rating is scored by your “Best” three games of the day, so if you don’t do so well in the beginning you can still improve in later matches.

Grab Bag is pretty much exactly as it sounds. A mix of various Slayer and objective based game types with teams of four pitted against each other on Powerhouse and Sword Base. This is where you will see your Oddball and its variant Headhunter along with CTF and its variant Stockpile. This playlist also allows Spartans to face off against the Elites in SvE Slayer. Team Crazy King and its variant 3 Plot pop up in the rotation from time to time as well. One last game type that likes to stop by for a chat is Team SWAT, lovingly referred to by some as “Host Advantage.”

Free For All makes a return for those wanting to go Lone Wolf with eight players total in the game to run about bashing each other’s heads in on Powerhouse and Sword Base. In this playlist you’ll see what you would expect from the usual mix of Slayer and objective game types. This is also where you will go to try and score a game of the new and improved Juggernaut, or as some call it “Oh f@#k, here comes the flaming dude with the Grav Hammer.” Crazy King makes its appearance here as well for some good times ‘nade spamming the hill, if that’s your thing. An important note to mention about FFA is you shouldn’t jump into this playlist with the hopes of playing as Elites since there are no Covy game types in the rotation.

The final playlist we have access to, until tomorrow, is Invasion. Six Spartans versus six Elites with teams broken down into three fireteams composed of two people each. This effectively gives you a mobile spawn point as your team mate stomps around Boneyard. You are allowed to choose from several spawn points other than your team mate if he happens to come under fire or is in enemy territory. One quick note, Boneyard is the largest map that Bungie has cranked out for one of their games and definitely one of their better ones. There are two game types in the rotation, Invasion or Invasion Slayer. Invasion is objective based with the Elites fighting their way through the Spartan defensive checkpoints to gain access to a navigation core from the decommissioned frigate that composes part of the level. The Elites have to steal the core and bring it back to their Phantom to win the match, but they lose if the time runs out before they can make it past any one checkpoint or fail to get the core to the ship in time. Invasion Slayer is just as it sounds, Spartans versus Elites with the team to reach one hundred kills as the victor. But in this mode there are Drop Zones available to capture and hold until a weapon or vehicle drop is made. As Invasion games go along, the teams gain access to increasingly powerful load outs and vehicle drops.

As far as part 1 goes, this is where we will give you a breather and let you get back to running and gunning. Look forward to Generator Defense as it drops on our plates tomorrow. Soon as we get our fill we’ll give you the low down on that with part 2.

What I propose to you, is that we gather every single person we know that owns a copy of the game and has a few hours on that night in April to rally together and make sure that one of our most beloved games isn’t sent out with a whimper but with a bang. This is the end of an era, but that doesn’t mean we will forget those times we spent late nights just reaching for the next rank.

I’d like for all of AMMIH’s staff to edit this with their thoughts and list if you will be participating that night along with your gamertag. I plan to take the night off of work if I have to, so I don’t intend to miss out on this last hurrah. Time for me to sign out, come April 14th contact me at my gamertag Ryokea Hakubi if you want to get in on a team.

Ken Raves: Hey, this is…well, Ken. I came into Halo “late”, like, a few months before the Halo 3 Announcment trailer. And didn’t get LIVE til like, two years ago. But Halo and Halo 2 were…awe inspiring. I loved them, they were my first few games for Xbox. I have a history with this game and while I only ever played two online custom games, I will not miss this, and I may even beg to miss a day of school for this. Halo 2 launched Halo into what it really is today, in my opinion. It changed things. My gamertag is “Ken Raves” and I will personally escort Halo 2 unto the Great Journey if I have too. Semper Fi.

SickNdehed: I have a confession to make. @JohnStvan stuck me and now the video is all over the internet! I feel so dirty.

PsychoVandal: @SickNdehed You?! it looks like @JohnStvan had more fun sticking me… Hows that strike ya?

JohnStvan: @PsychoVandal @SickNdehed guys… I enjoyed sticking you together.

Watch and learn…

Hello, and welcome to the very first Matchmaking Monday! In this article series, I’ll be recounting stories from online shenanigans that vary from stories in Campaign to the most exciting/fail-filled matches in Slayer. Now, while not technically matchmaking, I thought I’d share this story because it’s pretty recent in my mind. This is a short recount of my attempt and success at obtaining the Annual achievement in Halo 3.

So in the beginning, there were four. Me (Ken Raves), PsychoVandal (on his son’s account), and my friends ElusiveEagle519, and AKACptShadow. I won’t bore with details such as our arming up, or our small skirmish across the snowy hills up to the control room. What I will recount here is our first major obstacle: grenade/double jumping. We march over to the far right of the spire, opposite the side with the ramps you normally should be ascending.

We tried to double jump (someone jumping on top of someone else while they’re jumping) and get up the small slope that was the wall. We spent about five minutes here, before getting someone up. Two more get up there, and then our first death. We restart at the checkpoint, spend a little bit of time and get three up there, with one trying to grenade jump up. After a few tries, Eagle gets up with us and we move to the elongated pillar that comes down the center of the spire.

Eagle suggests we grenade jump onto it and head up to the icy cliff to rendezvous with Sgt. Johnson. We spent fifteen minutes here, grenading and jumping. The first person to die was Psycho, who blew himself off the side of the wall. After about six or so minutes, Vandal discovered that frag grenades worked much better than plasma grenades, allowing you to throw them against a wall, and jump to the side as they  bounce back, blasting you upwards and to the lower end of the pillar. So we try that, including some interesting combos such as two people on one grenade, or a plasma grenade thrown from the pillar down to someone (resulting in two or so sticks.). Eventually, through trial and error, we all ascend – just for someone to get killed by me meleeing them, or “high-fiving” as I phrased it. We try once more, get up in quick succession and ascend. We hit another checkpoint, much to our pleasure. We’ll need it.

We get to the ledge, Vandal falls right as we get a checkpoint, having to hold his own against the Flood while Eagle and I support from the cliff, with Johnson and Shadow. (Though after a few deaths and respawns I started to just wander, admiring the view, with Shadow running about and Eagle trying to get the Spartan Laser from Johnson.) After a number of times, hearing the dialogue made by the Gravemind, we get in. We watch the cut scene, discussing some of Halo’s plot, relaxing for a quick break. We fight the boss, killing him once, then twice. (Shadow was pegged in the face by Spark’s laser just before I killed Spark.) We watch the next cut scene, I take solace in making it much further than I had in my last attempt (the first Flood wave.).

We move forward, popping Flood forms. We did this a number of times, mainly because of taking the Ghosts too fast, and right off a cliff, or pissing off the super accurate Sentinels that spawned outside the control room. We eventually push forward, getting to the Warthog spawn. We get in formation and boost. No one dies, things are looking fine. We make it, not only past the first rotunda, but also through the first ramp-hangar-room. We get a checkpoint as we land on the next rotunda, starting a long series of goof-ups. Now, I’m aware that a lot of the problem was just taking it too fast, or breaking formation and falling off the ledges, but I personally blame Vandal, who, along with me, seemed to just hold the boost trigger and swerve near or into the Flood Carrier forms, which would either fly back and hit me, explode and flip me, or just explode and flip him into me. After fifteen to twenty minutes, we just take it calmly (my screaming like a banshee and our laughing like crazy), and make it through the next area. We make the next rotunda and head for the second ramp-hangar-room. I speak up, saying, “Aren’t you supposed to take the left or right ramps on vehicles that aren’t the Warthog?” Someone said, “I don’t think it matters”, and me, Vandal, and Shadow go off the center jump, and into the red abyss.

Fast forward ahead – we’re together. We are nearing the Frigate. I’m ecstatic, I’m having a blast with friends, and I can tell they’re having one too. We can see the engines. Everyone just goes and boosts for it. And the highlight of the evening for me; everyone boosts off the ramp so that they would, if the cut scene didn’t take over, make it in the hangar. I, however, hit a hunk of metal, and the ramp collapsed. The cutscene triggers, literally inches before I hit the “kill-wall”. We cheer, laugh and watch the cutscene. Making jokes and chatting. We continue watching, going through the credits to see the legendary ending, discussing some random things like ODST and funny dialogue. We played some recordings of funny dialogue both used and not used in the game, and recounted funny lines we’d heard. We see the legendary ending; I’m smiling a huge cheesy smile because I’d never caught the Legendary ending on my TV before. The game came to an end and we got the achievement. “Vidmaster: Annual, was unlocked”. We headed off for some customs, and some of us played until nearly three in the morning, but had fun; what Halo is about. We had a blast with each other, friends, and we had obtained an achievement that would get (some of us) closer to the end of the Road to Recon, and taken a peak at the implied continuation at the wonderful story to Halo 3.

And I’d do it again Seven thousand times.

Ending stats (From Bungie.net, keep in mind my stats all read 0 for some reason):

Total Kills: 90

Total Enemy Kills: 90

Total Vehicle Kills: 0 (Was above thirty that I saw in the saved film and can remember.)

Deaths: 307

Betrayed Co-op: 6 (Should be about eight or so, as I did some betrayals.)

Betrayed Allies: 1 (Eagle killed Johnson for a laser.)