Broken

Well, Im finally here. unpacked, moved in, parents left all that good stuff. Tears were shed, friends have been made, duct tape has been forgotten and well,i could go on but it gets boring after the duct tape Generally, this should mean to all of you that I cannot physically get on a 360 and take screenshots. I will continue to plan on paper and whenever I am home do some work, but I do need to focus on classes. now that im unpacked i can relax until classes…tomorrow lol.

So college starts on the 22nd for me and since I will not be permitted to take my xbox to college I’m running out of time to make chapters for Broken. I will complete all of chapter seven before I leave and continue the once every Friday posting schedule until it runs out. Then I’ll…apologize over and over. However, come winter break (or any long weekends between now and then when I’m at home) I do vow to do at least a little work on Broken as I hate leaving things unfinished. In essence, my posting schedule will just become less regular. Far less regular.  Also, for those who care, judging from my current location in the story and pacing I should end up with a nice round number of ten chapters. Nothing promised after that of course but it isn’t as if I don’t have ideas for other series…

Remember children, in war there is no hero or villain, no protagonist or antagonist, no good or evil. There exist only people, death and, every so often, a false sense of justice.

I spy with my little eyes…

Weapon name: description: time into trailer where weapon can be seen:

DAO-X “Protecta”: 12 gauge shotgun 12 rounds individually inserted semi auto but trailer seems to depict full auto: 10 seconds

Kriss super v: submachine gun advertised as having little to no muzzle climb or recoil. It also uses the larger .45 acp round the Thompson and M1911 used. It also has excellent firing rate for a submachine gun approximately the same as the MP5. Standard clip holds 13 rounds extended holds 30. I could see this as filling the same role as the Scorpion from COD4: 36 seconds

pistol laser sight: self explanatory. they may pull the same thing they did for COD4 and make some attachments campaign only though…: 48 seconds

AK 103: basically an AK-47 made of composite materials instead of wood and metal. developed and used by the Russian spetsnaz but its worth noting that it has been exported to Venezuela.  53 seconds

Steyr Aug: Austrian assault rifle used by many countries notably customs and immigration and customs by the US and the Venezuelan national guard.

HK G36: a returning weapon: 1 minute 25 seconds I’m not entirely sure about this one but on the snowbile in front of the player the rider appears to be using it.

Glock pistol: high capacity and capable of full auto, but cod has yet to differentiate between pistols with the exception of the “good” pistol like the desert eagle and the magnum which are much more useful than the others. although it is interesting that it can be fired while driving: 1 minute 26 seconds

in addition to this other guns have been seen through gameinformer screenshots: dragunov sniper and FAMAS rifle

Analysis: where to begin?

The addition of civilians is the only immediately foreseeable flaw for me. it is a new aspect for cod and may pose movement target identification problems and I also have a question to ask: what’s stopping me from shooting all the civilians, the same friendly fire will not be tolerated message? anyway it could add to the tension in Rio de Janeiro. Speaking of Rio, the article in Game informer makes the city seem large and expansive with a large number of ways to approach the target. It was also mentioned that the statue at the top made it easier for a complicated environment as it always served as a target for the player to move towards. This raises a question for me: what’s at the top of the hill that is so important? This may be the helicopter seen 51 seconds into the trailer as extraction from a bad situation perhaps the arrest of Makarov is what we witnessed going wrong and he calls on his local support to kill the foreigners forcing a chase through the city.

Next in importance is the recurring theme of airplanes. 14 seconds into the trailer swat are seen exiting vehicles at an airport with airplanes in the background. Again at 36 seconds a graveyard of airplanes seems to be the setting for a large firefight. Last but not least COD4’s bonus mission took place on an airplane to rescue hostages. This led me to think about what a terrorist organization would want with planes. Obviously, the suicide attack capability is immense but in addition to that the strong nuclear themes of COD4 makes me look deeper like the need for a delivery system for the terrorist’s nukes. Airplane boneyards exist in the southwestern US deserts and while this may seem to fit the locale protrayed in the trailer these are always well organized and often planes are often pulled out of boneyards and put back in service.

The castle mission seems to be an American endeavor from the patch of a soldier in a helicopter and the general style of how COD has portrayed US operations in past games, ie big explosions. It is possible that it is both an air and sea attack on the same target to heighten confusion for the enemy. However, if this is true and both attacks are displayed in first person perspective, will it be possible to take part in both attacks?

The snow mission is detailed in the latest gameinformer as being led by Soap Mactavish the main character from COD4. This almost certainly makes it a British mission especially since it’s stealth oriented. the main objective of the mission is left ambiguous but involves explosives hinting at sabotage. However, when a crashed satellite is seen the mission paramaters shift to infiltration and aqcuisition of intel. Usually crashing satellites are monitored by multiple countries. how this one escaped the public eye and how its crashdown location avoided even covert government notice is an extreme stretch of logic in a game. Here a wide array of melee attacks are seen. ice picks, knives, shoulder flipping. This may hint at a new melee system but is likely case specific and NPC exclusive as it was in COD WAW. lastly, the snowmobile chase seems like it would be effective as an early high note, especially if a hind helicopter is giving pursuit, but implementation of non combat vehicles in COD multiplayer is a new and untested idea

Makarov: the new bad guy in Modern Warfare 2. Based on the narration it is possible to conclude that he is the young African male seen 45 seconds into the trailer. He seems to be even more radical than Zakhaev as he was said to be kept under control by Zakhaev but now that Zakhaev is gone, Makarov’s restraints are loosed and he has a new mission of vengence. Not good. He seems to be more combat capable than COD4’s bosses that ran like pansies and got shot in the back but that means it could boil down to a boss fight..

There doesn’t seem to be any hint at a sniper mission.

The riot shields would be interesting in campaign but I’m unsure of their possible role in multiplayer. will the shield exist as a perk like the RPG or will it replace the main weapon and only allow use of the pistol? Also, in campaign GameInformer talks about how hard it is to kill the SWAT shielded enemies, suggesting you knock them down with significant force and then hit an exposed bodypart. this begs the question: why are we shooting the SWAT forces?

Sparknotes:

Rio de janeiro

Airport

Russian mountain base: British infiltration

Coastal Castle: American air and sea insertion

civilian NPCs

airplane importance of some sort

vehicles in campaign: multiplayer?

fighting against SWAT?

Makarov: bad guy: combat capable: boss fight?

new melee system?

Well, it’s happened again. My xbox has been rendered useless through technical difficulties. This time the problem is overheating. Right now I’m waiting for an action required email from xbox.com and until this is resolved I cannot put out any comics. sorry guys.

P.S. has anyone else had the overheating issue, and, if so, how long does it take to repair?

If you read the headline and still glanced down to see what’s written here you must want some sort of excuse explanation or reassurance that the comic is on the way. Have no fear, it will arrive tuesday, but until then I have an anime convention to attend in Raliegh, NC called Animazement. See you guys next week!

well, it seems that my ancient modem has finally stopped accepting updates and is ignorant to the internet it should be giving me. In my mind I see my modem as an old man shaking a cane and yelling about the old days. I am currently trying to take the screenshots and take my hard drive to my friends xbox put them on my fileshare then get them off bungie. complicated and annoying I found myself saying “the things I do for H3W.” I do have one more chapter to post tomorrow but after that im dead in the water. I enter another news update when it gets fixed but I don’t think I’ll have a comic on thursday.

As the title suggests something amazing has happened. On the most recent Chaos Theory chapter (episode 21 A Kiss of Lead) A link to my page was included. It is reported that I then laughed maniacally, ran in circles (approximately 20 times) and passed out. This story has yet to be verified by a second source. On a slightly more depressing note, I have had technical issues and am only one chapter ahead of my posts. hopefully, this will not impact my posting schedule but stuff happens.

In a (futile) attempt to avoid the initiation that is still in debate for me I am offering up this….offering of a typography project I did of the master chief. I hope this gets me out of having to a chapter in MSPaint which is the current initiation test. Comment if you wish.

Welcome to Broken – a new Halo 3 webcomic!