According to Giant Bomb, the off-beat and totally cool MMO EVE Online recently encountered their first major class criminal. For people not familiar with EVEO, it's players make up the main government, which includes actually governing and making laws. Players can also own corporations such as banks, and hire real employees to work as tellers and other underlings. (This is how I understand it, someone correct me if I'm wrong)
The story goes like this: a teller went bad, and embezzled over 80 million ISKs (the main currency in EVEO) and took off. No, they didn't just sell the money online and kill their account. They weren't banned by a GM, or asked to give the money back. Players are now conducting a manhunt across the EVE galaxy looking for this person, to get the money back to the bank company.
As you can imagine, the players that had their money in the bank started to go and withdraw funds in a panic, even after the company made a public announcement that they had the funds to cover the loss.
Crazy, crazy, awesome.
What I'm playing: Crysis: Wars, Team Fortress 2, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War II MP Beta
Games I'm into: Dawn of War II, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, Burnout Paradise.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Finally picked it up the other day, and wow. It really is a cool game, and I can see why people have been raving about it. It won "Best Ambient Game" of '07 or something around those lines, and I have to say, it sure does live up to it's name. I mean it's award. Although riddled with bugs and incredibly confusing quests, the open world aspect works very well, and the setting is perfect. I haven't noticed any music except for the menu theme, a deep, eerie string theme that's stereotyped at best, but it fits the mood. The atmosphere is incredible, if you're raiding a Freedom camp the zings of bullets flying past your head and squad commands of your fellow Stalkers are incredibly well executed. As you venture farther into the zone, almost into Prypiyat (spelling?) itself, the radiation is hampering. As you fight your way past mutants, zombie bandits, and crazed militia people into a wasteland of lighting, and anomalies that suck you up then spit you out as a pile of dirt it feels like the end of the world. Really. It does. I feel like I'm playing as Gordon Freeman and stopping the combine super portal, but Stalker style. And it's just so awesome.
Anyways, STALKER is a great game, and I hear it's recently released prequel, Clear Sky, is even better.
What I'm playing: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, CoD: World at War, Company of Heroes, TF2, L4D
Games I'm into: StarCraft II, Diablo III,
Anyways, STALKER is a great game, and I hear it's recently released prequel, Clear Sky, is even better.
What I'm playing: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, CoD: World at War, Company of Heroes, TF2, L4D
Games I'm into: StarCraft II, Diablo III,
Monday, November 10, 2008
Left 4 Dead!
Well, I pre-orded it, and I got the early access demo. I have to say, though, it really wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Sure, if you had asked me what I expected before I got the game, my description would've matched my description for it now, but it feels much different. It doesn't feel like the Source engine. It doesn't feel hard, or scary, even on expert, and although it is difficult, I just don't get that sense of desparation I expected. I don't get that rush when I get mobbed by millions of zombies that I was expecting.
But.
It's better than I expected. The AI Director really is completely dynamic, spawning zombies and bosses just at the point that it's survivable if you work with your teammates. Even the weapons and items spawn dynamically, in different places every time according to how fast your team is proceeding. It really, seriously, 100% works. Very, very well. So the game's demo is amazing, and worth the 44$ with only the 2 levels that are included. Because it playes different every single time.
What I'm playing: Left 4 Dead demo, Oblivion, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, Oblivion
But.
It's better than I expected. The AI Director really is completely dynamic, spawning zombies and bosses just at the point that it's survivable if you work with your teammates. Even the weapons and items spawn dynamically, in different places every time according to how fast your team is proceeding. It really, seriously, 100% works. Very, very well. So the game's demo is amazing, and worth the 44$ with only the 2 levels that are included. Because it playes different every single time.
What I'm playing: Left 4 Dead demo, Oblivion, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, Oblivion
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
GObama!
GObama!
Go America!
Go World!
What I'm playing:F.E.A.R. (Scary as hell), Viva Pinata (Installing)
Games I'm into: F.E.A.R., Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, KOTOR MMO!
Go America!
Go World!
What I'm playing:F.E.A.R. (Scary as hell), Viva Pinata (Installing)
Games I'm into: F.E.A.R., Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, KOTOR MMO!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Call of Duty: World at War Beta
Yes, I was skeptical at first. CoD 5? Are you insane? And it's made by Treyarch, the devs of Call of Duty 3? (Which was a flop, and wasn't even released on PC) Do they expect to get any money from this thing? Well, yeah, I was told that they do expect to get a lot of money from it, and I can say that they're getting mine when it's released on the 11th of this month. Because the multiplayer beta is totally awesome, and it seems that Treyarch has really gone in the right direction with this one. Using and updated version of the CoD4 engine, WaW takes the player back to the WWII theatre, but this time in the pacific. As you can guess, it shows a bit more brutal side of the war, (not saying that the Europian theatre wasn't terrible, but this was before they banned flamethrowers) adding more of a survival horror aspect and 2 player co-op.
The advantage to the WWII theatre is the single-shot rifle, which I never really liked untill now. But now that I've played with them, I think they are a lot more fun because of the disabling single shot format. You get one chance, and after that you've gotta switch to your side-arm or run and stab everyone in sight. Don't get me wrong though, there's a lot more than single-shot rifles in this game. The armory ranges from high-powered machine guns like the BAR, and powerfull sniper rifles like the Ariskara, with a ton of SMGs and rifles in-between like the MP40 and the M1 Garand.
The Perk system works almost exactly like the one in CoD4, with the exeption that they added a few more, and you get a vehicle perk slot.
All in all, this almost feels more like a gigantic, insane, rediculously polished total-conversion mod for CoD4. It addes a few new elements, like the ability to call a pack of dogs on the enemy team, and tanks, but it just feels like the same game. Still worth my money, especially with the Co-op, but somewhat boring at times. Here's to hoping the singleplayer is good!
Sorry for the lack of picture, I might add some soon if I don't feel lazy.
What I'm playing: CoD5 MP Beta, Company of Heroes, Team Fortress 2
Games I'm into: CoD: WaW, Halo 3: Recon, Far Cry 2
The advantage to the WWII theatre is the single-shot rifle, which I never really liked untill now. But now that I've played with them, I think they are a lot more fun because of the disabling single shot format. You get one chance, and after that you've gotta switch to your side-arm or run and stab everyone in sight. Don't get me wrong though, there's a lot more than single-shot rifles in this game. The armory ranges from high-powered machine guns like the BAR, and powerfull sniper rifles like the Ariskara, with a ton of SMGs and rifles in-between like the MP40 and the M1 Garand.
The Perk system works almost exactly like the one in CoD4, with the exeption that they added a few more, and you get a vehicle perk slot.
All in all, this almost feels more like a gigantic, insane, rediculously polished total-conversion mod for CoD4. It addes a few new elements, like the ability to call a pack of dogs on the enemy team, and tanks, but it just feels like the same game. Still worth my money, especially with the Co-op, but somewhat boring at times. Here's to hoping the singleplayer is good!
Sorry for the lack of picture, I might add some soon if I don't feel lazy.
What I'm playing: CoD5 MP Beta, Company of Heroes, Team Fortress 2
Games I'm into: CoD: WaW, Halo 3: Recon, Far Cry 2
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Goo . . . what?
Argh, haven't had time to blog in a long while. Makes me mad. Anyways, I'm here to promote Goozex! Goozex is a game trading site where you can ship your old games to people who want them, and they give you Goozex Points, which you can use to get other people's used games. It costs 1$ every time you receive a trade, and you have to pay shipping when you give games. You only get the Goozex points for your game if the receiver says that they got the game. How do they stop scams?
Delivery Confirmation. You give them the code, and they track your package for you. Works like a charm, as I have shipped 2 games out and I am receiving F.E.A.R. and Viva Pinata. (Shuddup, this got GOTY in '06.) 'Sa 'bout all.
www.goozex.com
What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Call of Duty 5 Beta, CoH World Builder
Games I'm into: L4D, Fable II, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Delivery Confirmation. You give them the code, and they track your package for you. Works like a charm, as I have shipped 2 games out and I am receiving F.E.A.R. and Viva Pinata. (Shuddup, this got GOTY in '06.) 'Sa 'bout all.
www.goozex.com
What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Call of Duty 5 Beta, CoH World Builder
Games I'm into: L4D, Fable II, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Crysis: Warhead
Scroll down for a Crysis Review in the next post.
Crysis: Warhead is not so much a sequel, or even and expansion, it's actually more like a gigantic patch with lots of stellar (excuse me for using that word) DLC. Except that it's completely stand-alone, and too much of an improvement from the original game to be a patch.
You play as Sgt. 'Psycho' Sykes in a parallel story line to the first game, but on the other side of the island. Although the storyline isn't memorable, it's enough to propel you through the game with moderate interest. The game play is tuned to just short of perfection, improving AI and general game flow from the original. Two new weapons include the dual-wield able SMGs, which replace your standard pistols while packing an amazing punch at close range. The other weapon is another prototype that doesn't require a lock-on to fire, which is fun for killing everything on a level in around 3 mins. The suit still functions the same, with minor tuning, and most of the guns have better skins, along with the enemies and vehicles. Two new vehicles are fun, but you don't use them more than once. The campaign runs around 8 hours, without dying once or getting stuck anywhere.
The game itself is optimized ten-fold over the original one, it runs better and looks better at the same time, but when cranking it up to max it still takes a monster to run. Shadows are more shadow-y, and the anti-aliaising even looks better. Other than that though, it doesn't look much different from Crysis.
The balance issues from the original are also mostly resolved, which makes the game much more enjoyable. You won't find yourself doing try-and-die fifty times in a row.
If you bought it at the store, Warhead gives you Crysis: Wars for free, which is the multiplayer element. Unlike the last game's multiplayer, Wars is actually a great game. It's two new modes, team free-for-all and plain FFA are fun, but those get old after several plays. The old mode, Power Struggle is polished and improved to the point that it really works well, where as the original's multiplayer was lackluster and boring.
Warhead really is the game that Crysis should have been, and if Crytek is smart they'll give the original Crysis a makeover and release both games-in-one for $50, for people who didn't play the games the first time around.
9.3/10 for improved game play and graphics, new campaign style, good multiplayer, amazing price of $30, still takes a beast of a system to make it run well
What I'm playing: Mass Effect PC, Crysis: Wars, TF2
Games I'm into: L4D, Mirror's Edge
Crysis: Warhead is not so much a sequel, or even and expansion, it's actually more like a gigantic patch with lots of stellar (excuse me for using that word) DLC. Except that it's completely stand-alone, and too much of an improvement from the original game to be a patch.
You play as Sgt. 'Psycho' Sykes in a parallel story line to the first game, but on the other side of the island. Although the storyline isn't memorable, it's enough to propel you through the game with moderate interest. The game play is tuned to just short of perfection, improving AI and general game flow from the original. Two new weapons include the dual-wield able SMGs, which replace your standard pistols while packing an amazing punch at close range. The other weapon is another prototype that doesn't require a lock-on to fire, which is fun for killing everything on a level in around 3 mins. The suit still functions the same, with minor tuning, and most of the guns have better skins, along with the enemies and vehicles. Two new vehicles are fun, but you don't use them more than once. The campaign runs around 8 hours, without dying once or getting stuck anywhere.
The game itself is optimized ten-fold over the original one, it runs better and looks better at the same time, but when cranking it up to max it still takes a monster to run. Shadows are more shadow-y, and the anti-aliaising even looks better. Other than that though, it doesn't look much different from Crysis.
The balance issues from the original are also mostly resolved, which makes the game much more enjoyable. You won't find yourself doing try-and-die fifty times in a row.
If you bought it at the store, Warhead gives you Crysis: Wars for free, which is the multiplayer element. Unlike the last game's multiplayer, Wars is actually a great game. It's two new modes, team free-for-all and plain FFA are fun, but those get old after several plays. The old mode, Power Struggle is polished and improved to the point that it really works well, where as the original's multiplayer was lackluster and boring.
Warhead really is the game that Crysis should have been, and if Crytek is smart they'll give the original Crysis a makeover and release both games-in-one for $50, for people who didn't play the games the first time around.
9.3/10 for improved game play and graphics, new campaign style, good multiplayer, amazing price of $30, still takes a beast of a system to make it run well
What I'm playing: Mass Effect PC, Crysis: Wars, TF2
Games I'm into: L4D, Mirror's Edge
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Crysis: The Complete Pack review!
Ah, Crysis. That game that your computer won't run. I hear it's all just flash, no real material, and that it's game play is uninteresting. Is that actually the case? Quite the contrary, actually, as Crysis and it's counterpart Crysis: Warhead deliver stunning visuals and exciting game play. I'll go over Crysis first.
Crysis puts you in the suit of a super soldier, on a mission to rescue archeologists on an tropical paradise. You fight Koreans with a squad of other super soldiers like you, although most of the time you're a lone wolf, so don't get me wrong; this is no tactical shooter. The suit you and your chumps are wearing has several different features, an armor mode, which lets you absorb more damage, a speed mode, which lets you move much faster, a strength mode, which lets you, well, be strong (to jump higher, and throw things farther), and a cloak mode, which renders you invisible for a limited amount of time. The effectiveness of these modes are all based around your suit energy level, which recharges moderately fast but also is spent as fast.
The gunplay in Crysis is somewhat different that most games, the guns feel heavier, more realistic, and all around more awesome. But that doesn't stop you from dying more than ever. The difficulty of the game waxes and wains, as sometimes you'll be able to breeze through enemies like a tank, other times you'll find that you have to try and die ten times before you complete an area.
Amazing physics and great visuals really complete the game, and I know you're saying "yeah, on your computer", but I have no dream machine, I was able to run everything on medium with a dual core 2.6 ghz, and nVidia 256mb 7600gt, and it looked great.
The story of the game is interesting enough to keep you captivated, and although it's not a very original idea, it's still fun. The game play ranges from person to person combat, stealth action, survival, jet flying, car chasing, massive tank skirmishes, sniper wars, and a number of other innovative mechanics.
My only complaint is that just as you get the hang of it, you're onto the next thing.
I finished the campaign in around ten hours, minus load times and reloads due to dying, around eight and a half hours. The experience is short and sweet, at worst; lackluster and frustrating, at best; pure genius. I hear there is a map editor somewhere in there too.
Check back for a complete Warhead review in several days.
8.6/10 for innovative game play, amazing graphics, map editor. Frustrating at times, un-original story, unbalanced combat.
What I'm playing: Crysis: Warhead, Mass Effect
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead, FarCry 2
Friday, July 25, 2008
What Blew my Mind at E3.
This post was originally posted after the Electronic Entertainment Expo event, but due to some technical difficulties it is only being published as of now.
-TJ
Alright, Jimmithen's back from summer hiatus bliss to cough up another foray into gamin' with the whole E3 biz. People can say what they will, E3 may be going downhill, but I gotta say, this year the show delivered, and no one delivered better than Microsoft. With a linup headlined by such titles as GoW2 (which actually impressed me, though not so much when Marcus and Dom talked, damn crappy dialogue), Fable 2, Resident Evil 5, and my personal favorite out of the fantastic 4 (did that on purpose, sorry guys), Fallout 3. Now, for the oldschools who played the originals, or one of the two, you can skip to the end of the article, because you already know what I'm talking about. To be continued in next post.
-TJ
Alright, Jimmithen's back from summer hiatus bliss to cough up another foray into gamin' with the whole E3 biz. People can say what they will, E3 may be going downhill, but I gotta say, this year the show delivered, and no one delivered better than Microsoft. With a linup headlined by such titles as GoW2 (which actually impressed me, though not so much when Marcus and Dom talked, damn crappy dialogue), Fable 2, Resident Evil 5, and my personal favorite out of the fantastic 4 (did that on purpose, sorry guys), Fallout 3. Now, for the oldschools who played the originals, or one of the two, you can skip to the end of the article, because you already know what I'm talking about. To be continued in next post.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Far Cry 2 Video
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