Till we Have Faces is the last book written by C.S. Lewis before his death and one of the questions he raises in the beginning of the book is whether or not the castle Orual sees in the mist is real. This will probably be revealed later in the book but for now it has not been revealed to the reader but for various reasons its safe to say the castle is probably real at least in this section of the story. Also before we begin there are spoilers ahead and to understand what this is about you will, unfortunately, have to have read the book. Which is unfortunate but if you haven’t read the book you definitely need to go and read it even if it’s just for fun as it’s really that good.

My first point is that if the gods are real then wouldn’t they have this power? If God or gods are real would they have not the power to make something that isn’t physical and then only certain people could see it? If they couldn’t then they would not be gods because they are not sovereign and all powerful, but at this point in the book there is little doubt that the gods exist. Whether or not they are for or against humans is something else entirely but they do exist.

It is also established in the book that the spiritual world exists and that it is where gods and souls live. If this is the case then the idea for them to live in houses probably isn’t too far off as people would be accustomed to living in something and the gods wouldn’t mind either. The house would simply be something in the spiritual world and Psyche can and does walk out of the house and into the physical world.

The final reason that the castle exists is simply the testimony of Psyche. Now this does seem easily explained away by simply saying “she is mad” but Psyche does not appear to be mad, indeed, she seems to be quite sane and maybe more than Orual. Psyche does not rave on and on about her wealth or does not respond in anger even when she is grabbed by Orual. Psyche is also well fed and not dehydrated and that is clearly seen by Orual who can’t see the things that Psyche can. 

Considering the evidence its safe to say the castle is almost certainly real though if someone comes up with some counter arguments that would be great. Also if you’re still hear and haven’t read the book give it a try it isn’t too difficult to read and has a purpose that will probably surprise you if you found out.

We finally got to play Halo Infinite on Friday (or Thursday if you stayed up for a while) through Monday. The flight covered human players vs bots in a 4v4 setting. We got to try out several new weapons and look at three maps. On the customization side of things we got to look at the battle pass and a piece of the store.

Gameplay

Gameplay feels pretty solid and is a more return to form after Halo 5. A few abilities such as sprint and slide still exist but they have been improved from the last game. Slide is longer making it more useful and sprint is less necessary as it is slower. You can also recharge shields while sprinting another change from Halo 5. Equipment is back after being thrown out for armor abilities and I felt like I used it more than in Halo 3. The grappleshot is a good edition even with the concerns that it wouldn’t work. Of course on certain maps it doesn’t work perfectly but on some it is fantastic to use. Gunplay feels pretty solid there could be a problem sometimes when things got chaotic but considering I’m on an Xbox One S and that this is a few months behind where the team is now I can understand. The DMR being replaced by the Commando (at least to our knowledge) is a bit sad but as the pistol and BR are pretty good I do understand the need to have something different even if the Commando is still similar. The Gravity Hammer seems pretty powerful but it doesn’t seem to actually effect gravity like it did in every other game. The Bulldog is not an adequate replacement for the original but the new Covenant weapons are pretty cool.

Maps.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get any first person screenshots of the maps so there will only be cinematic shots. The first map we played in the flight was Live Fire. Live Fire is a basic three lane map with a few power positions. It’s a good map and will probably become one of the maps people think of when they think of Halo Infinite. The second map we played was Recharge and it reminded me a lot of Plaza from Halo 5. Lots of verticality and movement. Another good map overall but not the best but certainly a good map. The finally map that was in the flight was Bazaar which is a three lane map much like Live Fire but it has more height than Live Fire. Some people seem to think this map is to much like a Call of Duty map because its set in a middle eastern town but I disagree Halo 2 had plenty of maps that were set in New Mombasa just like Bazzar is and Halo 2 came out three years before Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Again a pretty good map though I wasn’t able to play it as much as the others.

Customization

With the introduction of armor coatings and the removal of red vs blue (which is quite sad and was probably done to bring in more money rather than give the player more customization) many people were worried about the customization. The armors customization is pretty good it’s not quite on the level with Reach but is a step in the right direction. Thankfully most standard colors were free and not in a battle pass or store so that should help though I do want to know if this is in the base game. Weapon skins are pretty standard for Halo and other games nothing changed to much there.

I have been pretty impressed so far with flight besides a few bugs with matchmaking and some questionable customization decisions I have enjoyed the Halo Infinite flight not to mention I have been surprised but glad how well the game has improved over a year. Hopefully we’ll get player vs player next flight along with maybe one 8v8 map.

There are few games that are remembered like Modern Warfare 2. Mostly remembered for the controversy that surrounded its campaign and becoming an icon for trashing talking over mics. Modern Warfare 2 isn’t the most important game in the Call of Duty franchise and is far from being a important game in gaming but is still loved by many people everywhere. So as I had heard so much and never been able to play it I thought I would give it a try.

Campaign

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is set, unsurprisingly, in modern times in the year 2016 to be exact and set five years after the events of the first game. The Russian ultranationalists have made Imran Zakhaev a martyr and have seized control. Zakhaev’s right hand man Vladimir Makarov has been committing terrorist acts against the west for killing Zakhaev. I won’t give the whole story away because I firmly believe you should play a game and not have the story spoiled for you. But I would say the story is pretty good, though one large plot hole does stop it pretty easily but I’ll get to that later.

The game isn’t to terrible long at only around six hours but I did have fun for all of those six hours including on veteran. Every single level is more or less insane whether stealthy or not this is both good and bad for the game. On one side it is really fun to be doing ridiculous stuff like jumping snowmobiles over a giant chasm. On the other hand though it kind off ruins stealth missions and every now and then it is a good idea to have a stealth mission to break up the pacing. It is ok to have a stealth mission that ends with you having to make a explosive escape but this happens every single stealth mission not a single one ends with you sneaking away. All Ghillied Up from Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare you could mostly play without getting spotted. This does also sometimes make levels blend into each other but the locations are different enough to mostly eliminate this problem. Besides the problem of stealth missions and a few that don’t do enough or nothing to differentiate themselves I would say the levels are pretty good and fun to play.

Remember that plot hole I mentioned earlier? Well its time to talk about that and really the mission No Russian as a whole. First let me state I don’t have a problem with this level because of its violence I think the way the civilians and cops act during the whole thing is unrealistic and even if they did it wouldn’t really matter. My problem with this level comes down to really only one thing. Unfortunately, it is a large one. I am of course talking about the plot hole. (I think this is a large enough issue with the story to talk about but if you haven’t played the game and plan to please skip this paragraph.) The plot hole is pretty obvious from the start. The way Makarov and his team get into the airport isn’t really said at least within the game itself and no one decides to look at the security cameras and see that Makarov was behind the attack and not the USA. How did they not think of this when they made the game? Just put hoods on Makarov and his guys are something. The entire plot is looking for evidence to show Makarov did it and not the Americans. If you can get over this detail the campaign is great but it still is really annoying that this either got through Infinity Ward or they thought we were dumb enough to not notice it.

Multiplayer

I won’t speak to much on multiplayer as the servers are mostly dead and I was only able to play split screen with my friends. Gameplay is pretty standard for Call of Duty and good as always but something that really stood out to me from newer COD’s is the class customization and the maps. Class customization has been standard for every Call of Duty since COD 4 but the importance of classes has varied. Sometimes you wouldn’t even really need perks for example. But the class customization in Modern Warfare 2 is really good it feels satisfying to unlock new weapons, perks, or attachments. Every decision feels like it matters and a good example of this is scavenger. Some guns, like the Scar-H or the Vector, will run out of ammo really quickly and is almost necessary for those guns. It is definitely the best custom class system in Call of Duty that I have seen and maybe in any game. The maps are also the best in my opinion in the franchise. Highrise and Terminal stand out as prime examples. The maps have so many good spots and are sometimes bigger than nearly every Call of Duty map afterwards. Highrise in particular has so many spots that you wouldn’t think you could get to and yet you can and it was even meant for you to get there.

Spec Ops

Only a year before Modern Warfare 2 came out Treyarch had made Nazi Zombies and had implemented it as a reward for completing the Call of Duty World at War campaign. Not surprisingly Infinity Ward also had to add a third mode and they decided to add instead of a horde mode decided to add missions. These missions range from escorting another person to assaulting a suburb controlled by Russians and usually take place where campaign missions took place including missions from Call of Duty 4. So it is cool to play through a part of All Ghillied Up with a friend. Unfortunately, it isn’t as good as Nazi Zombies though it does offer some replayability and challenge. Nothing too special but a great edition that I do enjoy playing when my friends can’t play multiplayer.

“Rip and Tear until it is done.”

This game is maybe the most cinematic game ever.

Happy Memorial Day. A day for remembering those who died in the service. May they never be forgotten.

“This must seem like an 18 karat run of bad luck. Truth is kid the game was rigged from the start.”