My Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review (for PC)

For one year I have been playing Call of Duty: World at War, which I was addictively hooked on for its multiplayer and Nazi zombie mode. After waiting for so long, Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 got released yesterday.

I've been playing this game for 2 days straight with every little sleep. It has been very addictive, some may argue that it is even more addictive than sex. Anywhom, I spent hours completing the single player campaign, special-ops and multiplayer components.

VISUAL 10/10
To start off, the visuals in the game are stunning. The graphics are really really nice, and what makes it better is that the game doesn't lag but runs really smooth. The atmosphere and the weather effects are great as well. The physics in the game has improved hugely compared to its predecessors, where nearly all objects interact somehow when there is a explosion or a shot directly at the objects. Even little details like pipes blowing steam when shot at and among other little details makes the overall world come to life (not to mention I also had several minutes of fun shooting caged chickens though PETA would protest). For visual, I will give it 10/10

SOUND 10/10
Sound is also impressive. Sound effects have always been excellent in all Call of Duty games, but the voice acting in the single players have been amazing as well.

GAMEPLAY 9/10
The gameplay has been overall been a huge improvement. The map design is excellent, the ranking/leveling-up mechanism is also excellent, and best of all, the game is basically really balanced. Players no longer have to be annoyed with mass amounts of players with juggernaugt perk (perk where you get more hit points). Players can also not have to deal with crazy martydom (perk where you drop a grenade when you die). The amount of things you can unlock is also very nice. There are so many things that you can unlock that the game becomes so rewarding everytime you play. I also liked how you can now choose what winning streak and death streak rewards that you can have (from the classic arty strike to the insane nuclear bomb).

The single player was stunning. All the plot twists will give you a surprise, and there are so many events where it will completely blow your mind away. So many moments in the campaign where you will say "wow" or where you heart will beat like insane. Although the plot can be a bit confusing, the single player was really well designed. But one downside is that the length of single player was short like all other Call of Duty games.

Special-ops mode is a new feature in this game. In special-ops mode, you can team up with one other player to finish many challenges. The harder challenges are unlocked as you complete the easier ones.

As for multiplayer, this has always been the best part of any Call of Duty games. Multiplayer has hugely been improved since Modern Warfare 1 and World at War. Like I said before, there are more rewards overall, maps are better designed, and just things overall are amazingly fun and addictive. It's really a hugely upgraded version of Modern Warfare 1 and World at War. I also love all the end game statistics as well, as you are rewarded for many things like "the highest kill in the game" to things like "the player who sprinted the longest" and etc.

The gameplay as overall been amazing. It's fun and addictive. But overall, there are only 3 things that I was annoyed with. 1) I disliked how you can't type chats during the intermissions of the game matches 2) I disliked how you can only invite friends in special-ops mode instead of also allowing to invite other random people to join you. I also missed zombie mode from World at War 3) I dislike how you can't find a map you want to play, because the computer randomly puts you in random matches.
One more thing that annoyed me (that was not part of the gameplay) was the installation time of the game. The game took nearly an hour to install, and I had to download a steam upgrade that took nearly another hour and a half!

So ya, this is my basic quick review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Here is my score:

Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Value: 10/10/
Single player: 9/10
Multiplayer: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10

100th Anniversary of assassination

Tomorrow will be the 100th anniversary of since the assassination of Japan's prime minister Ito Hirobumi. This date has some significance for me because the assassin, An Jung-geun, is a great... etc grandfather or uncle.

Christianity is important for my family, and religion plays a large role in my family's life. For one thing, An Jung-geun was one of our ancestor for introducing Christianity into our family (he was a coverted Catholic). So this aspect is somewhat important in our family's life.

But what An Jung-geun is most famously known for in East Asia is for his assassination of Japanese prime minister, Ito Hirobumi, inside a train that was bound to arrive in Harbin, China, in 1909. He assassined Ito because he believed that Ito was an obsticle of bringing overall peace in Asia. He also believed that even the majority of Japanese disliked Ito. By assassinating Ito, An Jung-geun believed that this would help restore peace in East Asia, and perhaps help liberate Korea from Japanese colonization.

Although Japan was seen as a aggressor, and the "bad guys" to most Koreans at that time, An Jung-geun highly praised the Japanese state. He believed that Japan, Korea and even China and unite to form a Pan-Asian Empire or coalition that would serve as a international model that the rest of the world can follow.

Although he has assassinated Ito, ironically, he is still praised widely by the Japanese people and the government. Even some of Japanese government officials regretting executing An or saying that they have wished they haven't.

Anywhom, most likely, I don't think most people will remember this moment (people outside Korea I mean). But nonetheless, this date will still have a important significance for me.

Germany trip November 5th update

Nana, Dan and I are one step closer in going to Germany! Yesterday night, we have purchased 3 tickets to fly over to Germany from June 21st to July 14th. All three of us have been really excited last night, even Dan and I had trouble sleeping because of all the excitement even though the trip isn't until for several months!

So, we will be in Germany for 3 weeks. And we have a brief idea of what the trip will be of.

Day 1: We arrive in Hamburg Airport. Picked up perhaps by one of our German friends.

Week 1: Basically, the first week will be about Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony. We will most likely to spend most of our time in Hamburg, reuniting with our old German friends.
These are some sites we would like to see in this province:
-City of Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Ahrensburg
We might also go to the province of Schleswig-Holstein as well in our first week. Most likely to see nature here and espacially the Northern seas.

Week 2: Week 2 will only be in Berlin, the nation's capital. There is a lot to see in Berlin. For me, the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag is important to see because of lot of history. Also, the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche is on the list, a church destroyed during WW2. The famous Berlin museum island is also on the list, and on this island, I would like to visit the newlz reconstructed Neues Museum. The Altes Museum, Pergamonmuseum and Alte Nationalgalerie is on the list as well. We might also go to University in Berlin to see our other friend. East Berlin Fernsehturm might be on the list but we are not sure (since CN tower is better. lol). The Jewish memorial near the Reichstag is also something I want to see. There is really a lot to see there. We will have to see how this goes.

Week 3: Week 3 will be travelling in Bavaria overall. Munich, the castles, the mountains. It's all in there. Only problem here is that by this time, we might have limited amount of money and therefore must spend wisely. The last few days of week 3, we will go back to Hamburg getting ready to go back to Canada.

So, that is our plan so far. And this is only a really brief plan. Details will come much later once the time to have our trip draws nearer.

Unpunctual, non-efficient society?

I've been so pissed the last few days because of so many things that happened to me, all which relates to someone being unpunctual.

Honestly, is Canada (or at least Ontario) really that non-efficient and unpunctual? No matter where I am in Ontario, it's always the same, I get disapointed everytime. I might be impatient, but usually, I tolerate when people are 5 minutes late but no more. I am a person who is punctual and efficient, and I expect the same from others (even if that is highly unrealistic). Here is a brief summary of weekend.

Friday night, I was waiting for the Greyhound to go to Peterborough for the holiday. The bus was supposed to arrive in the Ottawa station by 6:10pm, but the bus arrived at 6:35pm!!! 25 minutes late!

Sunday night, I was supposed to go to work. My work was suppose to finish at 3:00pm, but the person who was supposed to take over my workshift came at 3:30pm! So I worked 30 minutes longer without pay!

Tuesday morning, I was in Peterborough going back to Ottawa since the holiday was over. I was waiting for the Greyhound which was supposed to arrive at 8:20am. But it arrived at 8:30 am! Ok, 10 minutes late... but still! Because the bus came late, we arrived in Ottawa late by 20 minutes!

Later that day, I had a class at 6:30pm. But the prof didn't show up for several minutes! As a result, the students had to pay for the prof's mistake! Class was supposed to end at 8:20, but she kept going on for 15 minutes longer! So many people left because they bad other classes after that, as for me, I almost missed my shuttle bus to go home (which comes every hour)! But then... My shuttle bus was supposed to leave at 8:40... but of course, the driver decides to have a smoke outside and doesn't start the bus until 8:55pm!

Also, everytime I have a event planned, or when I'm going out on an outing or hang out... 98% of people come sooooo late everytime! Three quarter of that 98% come 15 minutes or late, and a quarter come an hour later or longer!!!

What is this? Are people here just plain unpunctual?! Does nobody care about it? Honestly...
I'm angry not because people are late... but people are late almost ALL the time.

German Election result 2009

Although I live in Canada, and don't know much about German politics, I am glad that Merkel is winning the German federal election. Angela Merkel's party, the CDU, is in the led with 33%. Her CDU party is forming a coalition with the FDP party.

I liked Angela Merkel because I think that she is doing a great job as the Chancellor of Germany. I also think she is one of the best world leaders out there (my favourite being Vladimir Putin). And it is always a plus to have another women leader that is on the international stage.

Anyways, I send my congradulations to Frau Merkel. I would have voted for her most likely if I was a resident in Germany. :)

My criticism of human rationality

Are human beings being more and more rational in the course of history? For me, I don't think so. The idea of human progression has been a big thing during the age of Enlightenment. Many great philosophers like Kant, Hegel, Locke believed that human kind are rational. Some of these philosophers believed that this human rationalism would increase step by step as history moves forward.

But looking at modern history, I think people are not being ever more so rational. We are no where near rational as Kant and Hegel as suggested. Although we possess some rationality as Locke says, I believe that we can only be rational to a certain extent. In other words, our rationality is quite limited.

There was a discussion in my class if we believed that Hegel's philosophy is correct if we are getting more rational. I had to disagree, since I have already mentioned that greed and self interest limits our rationality. Also, if history is about rational progression, and how does that explain the events of the Second World War and the Holocaust. The Holocaust alone I believe defies Hegel's philosophy. There is also the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaka which is also a step back of human's progression of rationality.

For me, I think the world is constantly accumilating more and more global problems. Seems that our rationality is going downhill also. The average people are often distracted with entartainment and media which I also think is a variable that plays a part in the decline of our rationalism. As people are subjected more and more into the media and entartainment, it limits us from fully developing our minds.

In a part of Kant's theory, he says that human rationality is ultimately linked to morality. He suggest that we will eventually be completely moral. I also disagree with this. I believe that our morality is also on the decline because of the same reasons as why our rational thinking is going downhill. So there must be a relationship between rationalism and human morality.

Though I gave my two cents on why I think human ration and moral is on a steady decline. I also have to say that I am, after all, a realist thinker.

This is all for now. I might give a longer explaination later on, since I have to go now.

Just a rant about discussion groups.

School is alright, and this semester is looking decent. Except...
I have so many classes that have discussion group participation marks! And not like 5% or 10% worth, but like 20% or 30% worth! I hate this the most because I lose so much marks on these. I am a shy and quiet individual, so discussions are too difficult for me. I never put my hand up even if I have something to say because I just don't have the courage and I get too nervous. And when I do end up speaking, my speech becomes all tangled, not clear, and nobody understands what I am saying.

In other updates. I pre-ordered Assassin's Creed 2 and Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2, which I am really anticipating for! I can't wait to get my hands of them! So far, I'm not distracted from school work, but when I get these 2 games I know I will be.

Boring Boring Boring

School life is really boring. Everything is far, campus is far, no good games to play, not much friends, night comes too quick.

I've been taking so many naps since school started because of boredom. I might blog often to keep myself company... =.=

Germany Update

I decided I'm going to list things that I want to do in Germany. Even though I still have a year to do that. Nonetheless, here it is:



-I want to visit Schloss Neuschwanstein , a remarkable fairytale like castle located in Bavaria

-Visit my friends in Hamburg, and München. And another friend in Wurttemburg.

-Be a passenger of a car while in the German Autobahn, which is a highway that has no speed limit. Though most likely it will be a normal boring car ride, I still want to try nonetheless, just to boast that I've been on the Autobahn

-Travel on the U-Bahn

-Try nice authentic German food

-Try cheap but good German beer

-Visit museums

-Visit nice German sceneries

-Visit Hamburg and Munich's Rathaus

-Visit many of Germany's famous cathedrals and castles

-Visit the 2010 world cup stadiums

-Cheer on for Germany with Germans during the 2010 world cup.

-Meet my German friend's friends.

-Experience nice classical music

-Und so weiter...











<--Neuschwanstein castle



...

Auch, jetzt habe ich genug Geld für eine Flugzeugkarte nach Deutschland. Aber die Flugzeugkarte ist ganz teuer! Air Canada und KLM ist die am billigsten für 1500$ (CAN). Brauche ich auch mehr Geld für eine Hin und Rückfahrkarte mit dem Zug von Hamburg bis München. Und Ich muss auch meine Deutsch verbessern.

Und endlich meine deutschen Fruende beginnen ihren Arbitur, deshalb wünsche ich ihnen viele Glück.

Back to School

Horray... back to school again. This year, I'm hoping to do better than last year (I hope). The classes I have are:

1) Modern Chinese Culture Studies
2) Greek Civilization
3) Political Modern Thought (part 2)
4) Politics in Asia
5) And Comparative Politics

Meanwhile, I am also continuing my German and Mandarin studies on my own time.

I'm not really that excited at all about school, since I miss summer and my girlfriend a whole lot.

What I don't anticipate right now is the hour long line-ups at the overpriced bookstores...

Oh well, third year here I have arrive!