The addiction that is Skyrim

Even though I said to myself I won't be getting Skyrim at least until next year as I have Dragon Age Origin and Fallout New Vegas to play, I got very disappointed with Modern Warfare 3 so decided to trade it in for Skyrim. I must have played it for over 200 hours and found it as one of most relaxing games I ever played. I even managed to get 1000/1000 achievements on it. Of course, there things that could have been better but all in all the game is top notch. Even if you don't like RPGs you must get in the right mindset and give this game a chance.

Busy

Wow it's busy (gaming-wise) at the moment!

First of all Gears 3 is just great. Whatever game I play it doesn't go long before I need to get back to Gears 3.

I pre-ordered Battlefield 3 (limited edition so I can get Back to Karkand DLC free). I finished the single player in about 5 days (hard difficulty) and hunted some achievements afterwards. As far as single player is concerned that is it. I don't think they nailed the single player yet. However multi-player will definitely keep me busy for many many months. Bit different to BC2 (can't make myself say better, even thought there are many additions on BF3). BF2 MP was just great, especially Vietnam DLC and BF3 is great on its own right too.

I also got Modern Warfare 3 on the day of the release. This game turned out to be a disappointment for me. It is the first COD game (and I played them all from COD 2 onwards) that I just could not find any enjoyment at playing the campaign. I think they have not changed it sufficiently enough to make it feel fresh for us that played previous Modern Warfare games. MP is not much different either but still feels fresher than SP. Obviously they have invested more time on the MP than SP. Can't say that for the COD Elite though. What a disgrace. Millions of gamers buy every COD game and Activision comes up with excuses that they did not expect so many users. Hopefully they will have fixed it by the time anyone reads this post.

Today I got Skyrim and Halo CE is on its way. Add Forza 4 to this plus several AAA oldies I'm yet to finish on my shelf and you can see why this post was titled busy ;).

Battlefield 3 metascore doesn't look too good

I HATE it when they talk the game up and create unfunded expectations.

I was watching this trailer today "is it real or in game" where they combined real footage with game footage. Journalist wrote "Bold move" but I think it is more like stupid move. Gamers will expect more than the game can deliver and will be left disappointed!


Score currently on 84/100. Only 4 reviews in but I bet it won't even get close to 90. Number of reviews mention that there are too many bugs in the game.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/battlefield-3/critic-reviews

I should play at work and work at home

I installed speed test app this week and thought I should test the Internet connection at different places. Check out my upload speed at work :).

Home test:

Workplace test:

Forza Motorsport 4

I had some doubts about this game considering how great Forza 3 was. Basically what was there to improve on? Oh looks like my expectations needed adjusting. Forza 4 looks and feels brilliant. Graphics and sound have improved noticeably which helps the immersion factor considerably. When you see the immaculate graphics and hear beautiful roaring sounds, it just pulls you in. I read that Turn 10 had contractors that work in Hollywood to help them with the lighting etc. You can see the effects.

I must have had ten hours gameplay so far but I only scratched the surface. My career stats say I only finished 1.8% of my career so far. There is Rivals section as well and the club aspect. Famous Top Gear show endorsement was a brilliant move, it puts a smile in your face racing through Top Gear track or listening to Jeremy Clarkson colourful comments.

So far I'm extremely happy with this game and look forward to play it for many many more hours with mates from Gaming Fro Fun.

Gears of War 3 - Epic Finale

I had the great pleasure of playing this game for many hours in the past month and let me tell you - this game rocks. It has got quantity and quality.

Campaign can be played as per usual story mode or with an arcade twist. Basically play through the same levels but with different feel to it. The arcade mode adds scoring, where for each action you get a score and score is calculated after every chapter. I think arcade mode puts more emphasis on action side of the game whiles the standard campaign put more emphasis on the story. Both these you can play on your own or with as many as 3 other player - Ka-chow!

Co-op mode does not end with these two story modes. You can choose to play with up to 4 friends in the Horde mode, where you fight wave after wave of locust horde, or Beast mode where you get to play as locust annihilating gears, again 5 player co-op game. Both these modes are great fun.

The you have the versus mode where you can choose to play private or public matches (standard and ranked). As most versus games are now server hosted, the quality of these games has improved significantly compared to Gears 2.

Well done Epic - top mark from me: 10/10

Can't believe I took so long to come back

Well I've done it again, stopped blogging for months. Shame really because one can just write one or two lines if too busy, but I guess Twitter was there for that.

Hope to synch back in form now. Got a lot new games coming. Currently playing Gears of War 3 a lot and I can't get enough of it. I've started a tournament in GFF, can't wait fo rthe first session this Saturday!

Gears of War 3 guide

Found this guide accidentally today. Looks to be just to my liking, not too detailed, not too brief. The only dowside is they want $9.99 if I want to mark as I get collectables but I can do without that, for now anyway.
 
http://www.gamerguides.com/guides/gears-of-war-3/table-contents/

Addictive Speed Run in DiRT 3

So far I think these challenge game modes, like speed runs, are the only improvement form Dirt 2. I spent some two hours last night to nail this speed run for a platinum medal. You can make uploads direct to youtube but they are fairly low quality, take ages to prepare and upload and the maximum clip length is 30 seconds. I had  to upload two clips to youtube for this one, download them from youtube and put the together in Windows Movie Maker before uploading it as one clip. I definitely need to get a capture device.

Portal 2

I've recently had a 5 days Portal 2 marathon. I rented the game from Blockbuster as spur of a moment and had to concentrate on it to try and finish it.

If you have played the original Portal game from Orange Box or Portal arcade game then Portal 2 will not be a novelty for you. If my memory serves me right it looks very similar and the gameplay is more or less the same. Even though I have not played Portal for couple of years, when I started Portal 2 I was a bit disappointed they have not changed it a bit more. But as I started solving the puzzles I realised that there are plenty new types of puzzles so the game started to bewitch me as the original game did.

In total there are two sets of maps, one for single player and the other for co-op game mode.

The single player maps can be played during the story mode or with developer commentary, which is a great touch. Story mode is great. You get brilliant puzzles to solve using all sorts of chamber features (won't give any details as it might spoil it for someone), the story is interesting and Glados is as funny as it was. You can also choose to play the game with developer commentary which is the same as the story mode except you can't save and you get comment bubbles here and there to open the developer's commentary.

Co-op section does not run as a story but you do have to play it sequentially the first time you play. You get one learning chapter and then another 5 chapters with different types of puzzles to solve. The puzzles are absolutely brilliant, simply work of a genius. You can play co-op on split screen or via xbox live. If you play over xbox live you can play with friends or any random dude. You do get a reminder from developers that the game is best played with friends and there is a reason for that. Communicating during puzzle solving is great part of the gameplay. Not just in working out how to get form a to b, but the banter around it is priceless. You can create traps for each other and laugh your head off with comments from Glados and the different ways you can die.

I had to take it back but will definitely buy the game to finish the remaining 2 co-op chapters.

9/10 from me

Gears of War 3 trailer

Probably seen it but in case you haven't here it is:



I was a bit disappointed, I thought they'd show us a bit more story details. We knew Adam Fenix


was going to have a part (from the teaser they showed before). So unless I'm missing something there isn't anything knew on this trailer.

BRINK - 1st impressions

Got Brink yesterday, at last. Played for couple of hours so thought I share my first impressions with you.

Game presentation looks good. Menus and few cut scenes look very nice. You set you character and then choose which side you want to join - rebels or the authority. Won't spoil it and tell you what the difference is but will tell you that the game looks like it is split in two halves. You play it start to finish as a rebel and then again start to finish as authority troop.

Had 3 options to choose from: campaign, challenges and free play I think. I tried campaign and challenges. You get unlocks for completing challenges. There are many things to unlock and they seem to be unlocking very quickly ie finish one mission and you get 6 unlocks.

Campaign can be played on easy, normal or hard. I decided to go for normal as didn't want to get stuck and didn't want to have totally dumb opponents. It turned up AI is mostly very dumb. Most of the time I was struggling to find my way around and working out what I need to do. I failed the second mission because I did not know what to do. I could activate objective (use up in the D pad) and got to it but was in the wrong class because pressing X was not doing it.

In the end I can only echo what many others said. If you have friends to play it with, it can be a good fun. If you end up playing with AI, it is only a weekend fling and back in the shop it should go.

Lag in games

Gears 3 Beat just finished and major discussing issues was the LAG. Are we on dedicated servers or P2P?, host advantage, blla blla...

It is true Gears 2 and most probably Gears 1 too, had some major issues with lag and host advantage. Often I could see these things in Gears 3 Beta too. But I'm more or less convinced that the lag we get in gears is no worse than what we get any other game. so why is it people complain lot more in gears than any other game about the lag (or so it seams to me)?

Looking forward to LA Noire

Another ten days or so and I'll be able to shift myself back one century using LA Noire. Hopefully Amazon will send it a bit sooner so I get it on the release day which will give me full weekend of LA magic. Need to book it with my kids and wife so I don't get the looks when I'm playing for hours. 

I've been playing Gears 3 Beta a lot for the last 3 weeks and I feel the time has come for something different. Can't wait for the full release though, campaign will most definitely be awesome.

I played some Fallout New Vegas last night and it felt painfully slow after Gears but I did need it. Needed to chill a bit, which you can't really do when you're playing Gears MP. :)

Gears of War 3 Beta

I had three nights and roughly 50 games on the new Gears Beta now. The first two nights I played it was absolutely brilliant.It is slightly faster than Gears 2 and more polished. Few new weapons and moves made it sufficiently different to look fresh and not just extension of Gears 2. However last night I tried for hours to get a good connection but every game was horrible. I think because of the way the game plays, if players are out of sync at all it makes it unbearably annoying. If you compare it with Halo Reach, Black Ops or Battlefield Bad Company 2, you can still play the game even though players are not in total sync because the game is close combat, or as fast, or using the cover system as heavily as Gears does.

Exclusive Beta Unlockables:

• Flaming Hammerburst GOT IT!
  Complete one match by Sunday, April 24 to permanently unlock.
• Flaming Lancer GOT IT!
  Complete one match during the week of April 25 to permanently unlock.
• Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun
  Complete one match during the week of May 2 to permanently unlock.
• Flaming Gnasher Shotgun
  Complete one match during the week of May 9 to permanently unlock.
• Beta Tester Medal -- Wear it proudly, Gear. GOT IT!
  Complete one match in the Beta to permanently unlock.
• Thrashball Cole -- Unlock Thrashball Cole to play as Augustus Cole as he was before Emergence Day -- a legendary Thrashball athlete known for his ferocious, flamboyant style.
  Complete 50 matches in any game type to unlock for the Beta period.
  To permanently unlock, complete 10 matches as Thrashball Cole during the Beta period. GOT IT!
• Gold-Plated Retro Lancer -- Before the chainsaw bayonet was deployed at the beginning of the Locust-Human War, the original Lancer assault rifle had a large fixed blade.
  Complete 90 matches in any game type to unlock for the Beta period.
  To permanently unlock, score 100 kills with the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer during the Beta period.

The sense of achievement

"You've got mail" film is one of my favourite. It's not brilliant but it has got enough great parts in it to make it very likeable. There are some great lines in it like:

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

Innovations on  Microsoft's part are aplenty. To me, when it comes to Xbox 360 , nothing compares to introduction of game achievements. I think it is the genius idea that Microsoft should be very thankful for because in large part it got Microsoft where it is today in the gaming console market. I'm sure Sony would have been way ahead if they thought of introducing achievements for PS3 games instead of game trophies.

So why I'm wondering gamers like myself are so hooked in getting these achievements. Why is it that we get a smile in our face when we see that pop-up message appear: Achievement unlocked? Is it because deep down inside we're still like kids that like to be praised or just get a recognition for anything? Or is it because we went though some failings like almost everyone does and we somehow find solace in playing, escaping to another world, and get the sense that we "did it!" or "I can do this"?

Crysis 2

Not impressed with the SP so far. AI can be as dumb as it can be but at times deadly. There's just no consistency. I think they should have worked much harder on AI.

Script is not brilliant either. Missions will started with lame ideas such as a top scientist saying "Oh shit, I screwed up! I forgot my address in the office computer. You have to go and destroy it or they will find me."

I might just stop reading official game reviews as they are like this game's AI, you never know if you're getting genuine review or not. It appears most of them are totally corrupted. Just checked Metacritic now and the game has got 47 reviews of which 46 positive (http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/crysis-2) with total average score of 86/100. Compare this with COD Black Ops which has got total average score of 87/100 you'd think that the two games are the same in quality but I thin Black Ops is much, much better made game.

Video games wish list for the next couple of months

So we had Homefront and Dragon Age 2, what's next?

Crysis 2 is out this Friday which is promising to be a solid game.

Next month we have Portal 2 YAY!

Month after, in May, LA Noire YAY! (FEAR 3???)

Homefront

Rented it from Blockbuster today. Bloody bastards used the code so can't play it online unless I pay for the online pass and judging from the first two chapters on single player I don't think I want to spend another penny on it.

So far single play is very average. It is trying to copy COD and Battlefield but it is lot less sharper than any of those games and not just visually but the gameplay as well. Hopefully things will change for the better as I play along. I've got another 5 chapters to play so we'll see...

I don't like Harmonix

My game shelf is getting overloaded so when a friend reminded me that I can download songs from Lego Rock Band to play them on Rock Band 3 I thought here's a game I can get rid off. Checked RB site and bang on the homepage it tells you how. So went on Xbox and eventually got a prompt to pay 800MSP to be able to do this! Not happy as I already payed for these songs when I bought the game. So now I'm going to trade it in just to get those 800MSP back. Annoyed!

Unreal Engine 3 looks awesome

I don't care what the game is if it looks like this. Watch it on HD.

Dead Space 2

Literary just finished Dead Space 2 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Scared the bejesus out of me but was worth it. It is funny because I have Dead Space gathering dust on the shelf for years. Tried to get into it several times but I only got to chapter 4 and gave up on it, but I will now get back to it and see what preceded events in Dead Space 2. There is a short film describing what happened prior to Dead Space 2 in the disc which helped a bit but I'd like to "see" it first hand. Here's the film:


Horror games and films are not really my thing so I was never too bothered about the prospects of this game but high review scores and excellent graphics made me give this sequel a go and got hooked on it straight away. There is so much graphic detail in this game it is incredible. They really took their time and paid attention to every detail.

Music is brilliant too, so much so it made a huge impact for me. I can't remember any other game music making same impression on me. I will surely check for other games with music by Jason Graves in the future.

Gaming For Fun

In about a month it will be exactly two years since I opened the new gaming community @gamingforfun.co.uk. Even though named  with Vibrating Egg, EmUK and Punk74. We got a lot people joining in. Among first ones to join were Vixen and Khaos who were offered place in the council as they both were friends from another gaming community we used to hang around. Six months or so in the site and Vibrating Egg decided to skeddadle and delete all his posts in the process. Soon after EmUK was gone too hanging out in a new site

Bulletstorm - Epic Edition

Fancy a game where you can play the role of a crazy drunken mercenary full jokes? Then make sure you pick up Bulletstorm. I haven't played much of the multi-player modes (Echoes and Anarchy) but almost finished the single player on normal.

What makes Bulletstorm unique is the use of skillshots. The game  awards players with credit for killing enemies in one of over hundred possible ways. This gives gamer a mini-game within the game - make kills fun. Works great when you had a stressful day at work and you need to let some of the steam out so you don't have to punch the manager when you go back to work the day after.


It can get old quickly though. You need special weapons, enemies and environment to get all the skill shots which can be tedious and it can become boring after a while. But it is one of those games that you can come back at any time, no huge story behind it.

It is a real shame they haven't included a versus MP game mode. It does feel as half-baked as a consequence.   The only MP mode is Anarchy, which is similar to Horde on Gears of War where you get wave after wave of enemies and you work with your team mates to clear them out.

The shooting feels a bit like GOW but there are some nice new touches such as sniper slow motion shots. There is no cover system in place but there is a slide option which allows you to move away from danger and take cover most of the times.

The best thing yet about this game was the menu to play Gear Of War 3 MP Beta which you get with Epic edition.

Fallout New Vegas

I've rented New Vegas this weekend gone and have been playing it a lot since. It is so similar to Fallout 3 which incidentally I have not finished all the side quests yet.

I don't know what it is with this game, because the shooting is not great, especially if you're not using VATS, graphics are poor-ish, dialog animations are so last century and I just can't stop playing it. Must be the story, it's just so good and there so much to explore it's incredible.

Portal 2 on Valentine's Day

It is really encouraging to see Valve has invested into making this Portal 2 trailer for Valentine's Day. It could mean that they are dedicated and hard working, or just desperate to get some publicity, or maybe both.
I really enjoyed Portal. It is a clever little puzzle game built around a very simple idea. Get from A to B using a portal that you can place in almost any surface. Portal 2 will have co-op mode hence the which is what the trailer is aiming to bring forward:

Mass Effect second play through

Finished my second Mass Effect play through :D. Managed to get few more achievements in the process which is always a nice bonus. I'm not sure if I should start playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood next, continue playing and finish Dead Space (I'm half way through) or jump onto Mass Effect 2 for the second play through and bunch of DLCs that I'm yet to start playing... Might do all at the same time :D

Mass Effect assignments

I've played Mass Effect for over 40 hours and I just found out that some assignments you need to discover yourself. I thought the game will present them as you progress through the story.

Got to the last mission and I had no assignments left undone, so I was not sure I'm going to get some of the Ally achievements for finishing most missions with a specific squad member. So I decided to explore some of the planets that I thought I've not explored yet and bingo! found bunch of assignments in Nepmos.

Back to blogging

A long time since my last blog post so consequently a lot happened since. I'm starting to get that urge to blab to myself on the open again so decided to come back to dreri MIX and start blabbing again.

I was trying to find a solution to a problem on SharePoint 2007 today and could not remember it because it has been a long time since I last had to deal with it. I wished I had put something down somewhere so I could now remind myself what I did. Hopefully will have the time and dedication to publish more and more of different things I have to do work-wise just for me as a record and on odd occasional help someone as well (as a bonus :)).

I've been using twitter a bit more recently, mainly for gaming. I will try and link this blog with it so the two can work together -

I will also try and link or copy game related posts from here to Gaming For Fun, former Jolly Roger. The site has changed a lot since I last posted here. Not as busy as it was in the first 6 months or so but still going.

I hope this time I'll stick to blogging and it won't be yet another thing that I intend to do and get sidetracked. I can't count the number of times I decided to do something and before I knew it, I'm off to something different.