Games Reviews, and Random Banter

Game Craic Is Now Dot Com!

2011-08-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our new video games and movie reviews website Game Craic is now officially our own website.

The new address is www.Game-Craic.com, with daily news updates and reviews, bringing you the best craic around. Currently, we only do video gaming and the odd movie news update, but we're soon to be doing weekly videos and eventually adding a comic book section to the website.

So, don't forget to check us out over at Game Craic, and feel free to join in or ignite any discussions in the comment section below the articles. Feedback is more than welcome.

If you have Twitter, then you can follow us @Game_Craic

Cheers,
Jay.

Time for something new!

2011-07-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers!


Game Craic

I have pretty much moved web locations now, and I don't have much time to do any posts for this blog any more. Not only am I currently writing for the internet magazine Blogcritics.org, but I am a co-founder of a brand new blog (soon to be website) for all of the gaming news, previews and reviews you will ever need, with a movie section soon to be introduced into the mix. Our new to-be website is called Game Craic, and you can find us here.

You can follow me on Twitter (epixx_Jb) by clicking here, and you can follow Game Craic on Twitter (Game_Craic) by clicking here.

We hope that you will get involved and keep up to date with our articles!

See you around, and thank you to all,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

ArmA 2: Free-to-Play

2011-06-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers!

Ever wanted to give the tactical war shooter ArmA 2 a try, but never ended up getting round to it? Well then ponder no more! Developer Bohemia Interactive have recently announced that their multiplayer version of ArmA 2 will be available as a Free-to-Play download towards the end of this month, June 2011. I for one am one of those people who always took an interest in the game, but never did get that final push to purchase it, so this time around I will definitely give it a try.

Once the game is released for download, there will be no mod support. However, gamers will be able to create missions and scenarios for up to 50 players at a time, to keep ArmA 2 as fresh as possible, to add a little bit of longevity to the game; not bad for a free download, I must say.

If you haven't ever heard of ArmA 2 before, or you just simply need more information on the game, then click here.

Battlefield 3: Multiplayer

2011-06-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers!

Battlefield 3 itself looks absolutely stunning, as you have most probably seen yourself. However, I am more interested in the Multiplayer aspect, rather than the campaign, even though I wish the campaign to be brilliant as well. After having played every single major Battlefield release since Battlefield 1942 came out back in 2002, EA DICE have never failed to provide us with an epic and stable online service, and it has been one of those games to really shine in the first person shooter genre. The Battlefield series never did have a single player campaign until the release of Bad Company, so it has pretty much always been a multiplayer-dedicated franchise. Because of this, and having a lot of practice with the multiplayer aspect of the game, they always deliver perfection, and I will not be expecting Battlefield 3 to be anything less than perfect - if anything, it looks more than perfect.

Click here to see a very pleasing interview with Lars Gustavsson from EA DICE, as he talks to Gamespot about Battlefield 3 multiplayer. He basically says that everything good about the Battlefield and Bad Company games will be melded in to one epic experience, with lots more features and improvements on top of what is already a successful creation. On top of all of the nice little features and changes though, I am most excited about the reintroduction of fighter jets!

Even though Modern Warfare 3 is predicted to outsell Battlefield 3 in the opening days of the game's releases, I do believe that Battlefield 3 will end up outselling MW3 overall, and it will no doubt rise way above Call of Duty's lack of ideas and direction.

In EA DICE we trust!

Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta

2011-06-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers!
I received an email from EA today, notifying me that there are still spots open to become Beta tester for the highly anticipated MMORPG from Bioware and LucasArts, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It's going to be the same deal as Call of Duty: Elite (as explained in my previous blog post), however, you will need to register yourself and create an account on the website before you can enter yourself for a chance to be a tester for the game; easy peasy though.

To apply, click here!

Fingers crossed for those who apply, including myself!
Hope you're all good.

Call of Duty: Elite Beta

2011-05-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers!

This is my first dedicated post on this blog for quite some time now, as I've just been copying and pasting some of my published stuff over on Blogcritics onto here... so yeah, I've been a bit lazy in that sense! I'm going to try and spend more time on my own blog from now on, as well as doing my work for the website magazine, just so I can get some news bulletins out to you all with hast; let's start with a popular franchise, shall we?

It was announced today that Activision will be making a Beta version of Call of Duty: Elite available for players to test out, just so that they can get it perfect for the release of MW3, I presume (let's hope that the game is near perfect, eh?). Call of Duty: Elite is a social networking service for gamers who will be playing MW3, which will allow players to befriend people, chat with people, group up with people and start a clan with friends and total strangers... Codbook?

If you want to be considered as a Beta tester for CoD Elite, then you will have to register your details here, and hope that you get a spot! Also, you can read more about Call of Duty: Elite, here.

Hope you're all good! Thanks for reading.

L.A. Noire

2011-05-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

Seeing as the L.A. Noire hype is in full swing now, I've been re-watching some videos and reading up on some details on what is included in Rockstar's new title. One of the features that keeps on impressing me is the attention to detail on the facial expressions of the characters; it's mind blowing! So, I dug a little deeper to get some information for all of you who aren't quite sure on how they do it.

The method of creating the facial expressions for the characters isn't like any other methods that have been used before; this is the first time that something like this has been done for a big title release in the videogame industry. It uses Depth Analysis's newly developed technology called MotionScan. MotionScan uses 32 High Definition cameras which surrounds an actor/actress, and the cameras capture the facial expressions from every angle possible, to create a realistic looking in-game character without the use of animation; it's pretty damn cool, and the results are phenomenal. You can read more about MotionScan here.

Now that this technology is available for videogames, more and more developers will hopefully follow in L.A. Noire's footsteps, and integrate this into their own games. This will then give us gamers convincing looking characters as well as the already-achievable (but not always achieved) convincing voice acting.

The future for videogames is looking very bright indeed.

Article first published as L.A. Noire's Motion Capture Technology on Blogcritics, by Jay Blundell.

World of Tanks Review

2011-05-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

When I first saw one of the trailers for Wargaming.net’s World of Tanks, I didn’t really know what to expect. The footage is crazy! Initially, it looked like a racing game from a funny farm, giving the impression that the tanks had fallen out with the cars over some sort of name calling issue or something and as a result there was a vehicular war sparked, like in Transformers. I just didn't get it. Take a look at the trailer below, and see for yourself. But make sure you don't judge it solely on the trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlnT...layer_embedded

Wrongly, I chose to ignore World of Tanks after seeing the above footage, but the reason why I eventually decided to grab this game is because a friend of mine said that it is actually bad-ass. I trusted his many excitable outbursts and commenced downloading the game.
World of Tanks is a free, 1.8GB download, and if you download it directly from their website, it goes pretty quickly.
At first, by looking at the title of the game alone, I was quick to assume that it was going to be an MMO, which did actually push me away from the idea of getting the game even more so, as I just couldn’t see it being a success. However, World of Tanks is in fact a Team Deathmatch game, with a hint of base capture in the mix, and it works well! So the early lesson here, is that you shouldn’t judge a game by its cover.
The main menu in World of Tanks is set in a depot, which stores all of the tanks that you have earned. You start off with three really bad tanks, which you have to use in order to build up your credits and experience points. The credits and experience points earned from the 15-on-15 battles will enable you to purchase upgrades for the chosen tank on the tech tree. Each tank has its own, unique tech tree, which players will have to work through in order to research the tank on the next tier, or to just make the current tank in the depot as good as it can be.

All together, there are exactly 101 World War II tanks to unlock within the following categories: light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, and artillery tanks. These tanks exist in10 different tiers and, simply put, there are a lot of metal monsters to choose from. There are also upgrades on sale in the tech tree, different types of ammunition, and consumables (perks) available as well.
A lot of downloadable games like World of Tanks will require you to pay for certain things in order for you to progress in the game, whilst the basic features are free to use; World of Tanks is different. You have, however, got the option to purchase gold for your account, which can then be exchanged for credits, to give you a fast track to buying the tanks, but this isn’t essential. Earning credits and experience in the game can be a breeze once you have come to grips with the controls and how your tank handles. It does take practice. It isn’t exactly a lengthy amount of time until you rack up enough resources to buy your next tank, but some people will find it a bit tedious if they’re impatient... and this is where buying the gold comes in handy. All the details for buying gold for a user account are on the World of Tanks website.

The gameplay in World of Tanks is glitch-free, and I have yet to come across anything significant to complain about. The controls are smooth as well, and they are mapped like a first person shooter — W, A, S, D for the basic movements and the mouse is used to operate the weaponry, which in this case is a turret.
I wasn't really expecting anything groundbreaking when it came to the visual detail in World of Tanks, however, the graphics are really well developed. The tank textures are great and it is evident that there has been a lot of effort put into the model design of each vehicle to make them all look as historically accurate as possible. The developers have made clever use of soft lighting and distance blurring to make the game look polished and pretty on a fair variety of well-designed maps. The physics in the game are good looking too, boasting real-time tank movements through to destructible environments, which will have you running over trees at every given chance just for funsies.

Last but not least, there is the multiplayer feature, which is as stable as an iron box. Fast matchmaking and good pings allow there to be uninterrupted fun, with players whistling shells over the fields at the opposing tanks with no problems at all. It is an epic idea, turned into a well executed game.
In conclusion, I would say that World of Tanks is definitely worth a go for everyone seeing as it is free, fun, and easy to play. World of Tanks is a really addictive and stable online experience which immerses players in a brilliantly designed environment, constantly giving people something to aim for and achieve. World of Tanks has the longevity we have come to expect from a multiplayer game and it is packed full of entertainment to keep you on your seat for hours on end, whilst looking the part.

See my review in all it's published glory, here.

Article first published as "World of Tanks Review" on http://blogcritics.org/gaming/articl...orld-of-tanks/

Thanks for reading gamers, I'll be back as soon as I can with another update!

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

FIFA 2012 - First Official Screenshot

2011-04-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

So, this is the first, early glimpse of what FIFA 2012 is going to look like:

FIFA 12 Screenshot | EA SPORTS Football

It doesn't look like much of an improvement on FIFA 2011 visuals, but the visuals in '11 were pretty good anyway, so I will be content with a 'Copy & Paste' job.

However, in my opinion, what EA Sports Canada need to focus on, is the attention to detail of the game, even more so than they did in '11. I was satisfied with what they had come out with, in FIFA '11, but after a few months, you do start thinking, "Oh, well.. they could have done this better, couldn't they?" or "Why the hell did they not include this? Stupid b*stards."

The main things I would like to see in '12, would be better crowd detail, better commentary, better sounding atmosphere and maybe animated coaches, players on the bench and camera men, and all things off-pitch related. In regards to the players on the bench, it would be pretty awesome if you could see them warming up, up and down the touch line.. but we can only hope

So my question to you is, what would you like to see in FIFA 2012?
Leave your answers in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading gamers,

Take care,

Jayhmmz.

Crysis almighty!

2011-04-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers! Time for my Crysis 2 review! I know I've been very inactive of late, but I've had a lot going on, and posting has slipped my mind unfortunately; hopefully this makes up for it with this review! Now I know people don't really want to be reading a massive wall of text, so I will try make this as short as possible, highlighting the key points in the game, whether they be positives or negatives :)

Straight off the bat, this game was always likely to be an epic, following on from Crytek's massive success with the first in the series, back in 2007. When Crysis: Warhead came out, the expansion pack for Crysis, which was released in 2008, that wasn't anything short of an immense ride, either. However, prior to release, there were a few rumbles from gamers, in regards to the fact that Crytek may have dulled down the PC version too much so they could easily cater for the consoles at the same time, this giving the impression that Crytek were being lazy.. but this didn't end up being the case! Well, not totally anyway.

From what I have seen from all platforms, Crytek have done a sterling job! However, even though they didn't end up dulling down the graphics for our beloved PC platform as such, there were still certain restrictions in the way you could tailor Crysis 2 to suit your visual needs, which is slightly annoying if you're a graphics snob like myself. I wasn't best pleased to find that you could only edit the visuals in a general sense, giving you a drop down menu which contained choices ranging from High, Highest and Extreme (options may differ depending on your system.) There is absolutely no other way to change the settings officially. However, there has been a third party program released, that you can integrate into your Crysis 2 directory, which enables you to tweak almost everything within the game, before start-up; but I found that it doesn't work as well as if there were in-game options.

All restrictions aside though, the game looks fantastic and well polished, even down to the game's Menu. Even though the Anti-Aliasing settings within the game are virtually unknown, the "Extreme" settings seem to do a good enough job, automatically, in getting rid of unwanted 'step-ladder' effects around objects. I don't know what style of Anti-Aliasing is automatically used, but the game engine seems to blur the edges, subtly, so everything melds in quite nicely. The only downside to the Anti-Aliasing is that it doesn't make the game look as sharp as possible, but it still looks good because of the environment you're in; there's a lot of steam, smoke and dust floating about, so sometimes the fact that the game doesn't look as sharp as it could do, is hardly noticeable.

The animations, textures and lighting in this game all look spectacular. From gun reflections to collapsing terrain/buildings, you're always in awe of what Crytek have managed to achieve with their Cryengine; it seriously feels like you're in a Blockbuster movie at times, especially in the opening 20 minutes of the game.

The campaign's length is decent, could have been longer, but it's not a bad length at all; certainly not as bad as Homefront anyway, no where near! The voice acting and music score will always grab your attention and immerse you into your surroundings and the general mood of the game, keeping you glued to your seat and making you feel compelled not to quit before you've completed the game.. which would be very irresponsible and unhealthy, don't do it!
Now, there is a big downfall in the campaign, which is the AI, as per a lot of games. You will often find that the AI will make some questionable decisions in their tactics to try and take you down, whether it be firing and moving, or just getting into position. I witnessed that on many occasions, the AI will fire a few shots off, and then run into the most stupid spot ever, leaving them open to be fired upon; this is after they were already in adequate cover. Another thing I noticed was that when the AI are patrolling, they tend to walk into objects, and sometimes into other AI models.. it really took the attention away from the games realism, but I guess that getting the AI perfect in all video games is an ongoing battle for developers, and not just Crytek.
The gameplay in the campaign is fluid and stable. I didn't come across any problems at all when moving about, nor did I have any problems with weapon recoil or anything of the like, so there isn't really that much to say about it in this section, as in general, everything tied in with the gameplay in Crysis 2 is awesome.

If you played the first Crysis game, or Crysis: Warhead, you will know all about the Nano suit modules. There were plenty of suit options for you to play around with, including Speed, Strength, Armour and of course your Cloak; all of which were accessed from a selection wheel on-screen. In Crysis 2, they have taken away said selection wheel, and instead made a short-cut for just your Stealth and Armour modes. But don't worry, they haven't got rid of Speed or Strength as such, they have just melded it in with the Sprint button, and the Jump and Melee buttons. At first I was a bit disappointed, but then I got used to the idea and it really isn't that bad.. it's easier if anything! The Nano suit works well, I haven't really come across any imbalances or bugs, so thumbs up in that respect!

Last but not least, it's time for the multiplayer; it's pretty damn awesome. Let me just say, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Crysis 2 has your simple custom class load outs, with a few weapons to choose from (some which you must unlock, including attachments), a side-arm slot, a special grenade slot and three suit module slots (aka perks; one for each Armour, Stealth and Power slots). Crysis 2 Multiplayer is to-the-point, and it isn't overkill when it comes to choosing your equipment, like Black Ops is. There's a decent amount of equipment to choose from, but not too much, so you can select your things and get playing as soon as possible, with minimal time wasted; it's excellent.

The gameplay itself is fluid, much like the campaign. I didn't notice any major glitches in the multiplayer, nor did I notice any imbalance or massive connection issues, apart from one, which has been resolved now, but I will explain anyway. When I first attempted to enter the multiplayer menu, it asked me for my CD-key, which I duly delivered. However, I then entered a server for it just to kick me back into the menu, stating that I had lost connection. I restarted the game, clicked on the Multiplayer option, and it asked me to enter my CD-key again.. which I thought was very strange. I repeated the same process around about four times, and by then I knew that it wasn't a problem with my computer. After trawling through many forums myself, I was then pointed towards a helpful thread by a friend, which stated the following fix:

Enter the multiplayer menu, and input your CD-key. Once you have done that, and you're in the multiplayer section, go back to the main menu again. Re-enter the multiplayer, and re-enter your CD-key, if prompted to do so (if not, it doesn't matter). After this process has been completed, the game should work.

..and that it did work! So, I was finally all happy again and I went on my way to be all jolly and shoot people in the head and stuff.
Despite the aforementioned hiccup with the game server, the multiplayer does seem stable from my own experience, I've had no problems to note since then, thus making it pretty much perfect!
The game did have an auto-aim feature for the online, but it was removed by popular demand, luckily, so how well you play will all be down to skill, and skill alone; and that's pretty much it for my review! Hope you've enjoyed the read, and I would highly recommend you play this, whether you buy or rent it, for any platform you have at your expense.

Personally, I give this game a 9 out of 10. Epic visuals, fluid gameplay and a multiplayer feature to keep you entertained for a long time.

Take care guys and girls,

Jayhmmz.

How's it looking on the Homefront?

2011-03-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers, welcome back to my blog!

It's time for my review on the hugely anticipated game, Homefront! I've clocked up a lot of hours on this game already, on-line and off-line, and I'm here to tell you the good and the bad points about this thrill of a shooter!

First of all, the hype surrounding this game was insane, so it was no wonder why everyone was expecting big things on all fronts from this game, no pun intended. Because of this, when the game was first released in the U.S and in other selected countries earlier this week, Homefront was getting bombed with negative comments as finishing below expectations, in the minds of both critics and gamers in general. Although.. this isn't exactly the developer, Kaos Studio's fault, as they didn't create so much of the hype and people forget and don't realise that this is only their second ever game; their first game being Frontlines: Fuel of War (FPS, released February 2008.)

I'm going to talk about the presentation of Homefront, to kick off my review, as it has been one of the main factors under scrutiny. The graphics aren't what I would call 'ground-breaking'. They don't even match the standards of the likes of Call of Duty, and they definitely don't come anywhere near being as good as Crysis/Crysis 2. With there being a lot of open spaces in this game, with a long view distance, the game suffers with it's lack of graphic power and it makes the game look rather tattered at times. However, up-close, the game isn't all that bad. The textures on the player models are just about above-average, but they're nothing close to spectacular; however the texture detail on the weaponry is pretty damn sharp, they've done a great job with that.

In regards to the general terrain, lighting and surroundings, Kaos Studios have done OK; they manage to capture the mood with pathetic fallacy effectively and set the tone for the game to match the events within the story.
As well as the at-times tatty graphics, the facial detail on the characters leave a lot to be desired. Throughout various parts of the game, the characters show no emotion whatsoever, it's almost like you're playing along side a band of action men and women, it's very plastic! Because I am very picky regarding attention to detail, this was bugging me, as it was spoiling some of the heart-wrenching and general dramatic moments when the character expressions weren't there to match.

The sound in the game doesn't reinvent the wheel like EA Dice managed to do with Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2; Homefront just sounds like a common game in regards to the sound effects and the voice acting. However, the background music depending on what situation you're in, is pretty cool, and it goes well with the game and adds to the intense atmosphere.

The general game-play is fantastic. The controls are smooth and the movements are fluid, and there's also a satisfying amount of recoil on the weapons, which makes it much more realistic compared to, for example, Call of Duty: Black Ops. Whichever gun you choose from your load-out, or from off the floor, you will always feel like you have a good, powerful weapon. Using Black Ops as an example again, a lot of the weapons didn't feel powerful enough, and it didn't really feel good when you were using them, as it was like there was no significant damage being dealt, at all. Whilst every gun feels powerful, they're not powerful to the extent that it makes the game imbalanced; it just means that it feels like you're actually using something based on a real weapon, and not a spud gun.

Homefront is no way a run-and-gun type of campaign, oh no. You have to move from cover to cover, effectively, as the AI soldiers on the other team are a crack shot, and this adds realism to the situation. It doesn't take a lot of bullets to kill you, so if you're used to playing Call of Duty on a moderate difficulty, I would screw your head back on and pull your pants up for this one, as at times, it's quite difficult!

However, having said all of that, there are two big annoyances tied in with the game-play. The AI on your team take a hell of a long time to get into position, and what's worse is that you actually have to wait for them to get into position in order for the next sequence of the mission to start, this happens quite regularly. As for the second problem, it's pretty much a direct link from the first. After the AI has spent a good while getting into position, whilst you're stood there itching your head, you then have to wait for every single AI character to move through a door, climb down a ladder or hop over an obstacle, before you can do so yourself; this reminded me a lot of Medal of Honour's problem, regarding the same issue.

To describe the campaign in a few words, it's very short! I managed to complete the campaign in around about three hours. It's not even like the campaign leaves you wanting more.. it just leaves you expecting more! It's so frustrating. But, you have to give credit where it is due, as the story line was truly fantastic. I didn't expect it to be anything less than fantastic, considering the writer was the same guy who did the story for Apocalypse Now, John Milius. As I've said already in this review, some of the scenes and dialogue in the game are simply heart-wrenching. The story-line is so powerful that it will make even the hardest man or woman choke up at some points. One of the main reasons that I completed the campaign so fast, is because it was just so intense, and it was just none-stop action in one way or another, with the right amount of 'rest' periods in-between, where you got to walk around briefly and talk to some of the AI, to fill you in on what's happened. But because the story-line was so great, it just added to the disappointment when you find out that the game has been completed, in what can only be described as a sudden halt. Don't get me wrong, the ending was great, but it will make you let out a big, automatic sigh if you play it.

With the campaign leaving a lot to be desired, in terms of it's life-time, can the multi-player do Homefront any justice? To answer swiftly, hell yes!
Kaos Studios have done an immaculate job with the multi-player, and even though it doesn't try anything new, it just tries to be fun. What is most evident for me when I play the multi-player, is that they have taken the best things about Call of Duty and the best things from Battlefield: Bad Company and melded it into one, to make a thrilling on-line experience. I have been playing Homefront multi-player for quite a lot of hours now, and it's made me nothing short of a happy panda.
Kaos Studios haven't gone overboard in regards to the weapon selections and general equipment and perks; they have managed to create a good balance so that it isn't over-kill, and it makes sure that you won't be sitting there for about fifteen minutes before your session, just trying to figure out what damn guns to pick!

One of the things I like the most about the Homefront multi-player, is the game points system. In each game, you will start at 0 points, and with every kill, assist and general team objective that you manage to execute, you will be rewarded with points. With these points, you can unlock vehicles for use for when you next spawn (which won't carry over after you die, unless you get the right amount of points again), and those vehicles include Humvee's, Tanks and Attack Helicopters. Also with the points, you can unlock whatever special weapon/equipment you put into your load-out, and this could include anything varying from a flack jacket to a guided missile. You can also control robots to your advantage too, such as the radio controlled mini-tank equipped with a mini-gun to suit, and different types of helicopter-like vehicles. I really like this points system, as you actually have to earn the powerful vehicles and equipment by putting more effort into your game, instead of getting kill-streak rewards regularly in Call of Duty, which has become a massive annoyance to a lot of people who play that game on-line.

The maps in the multi-player are really well made, and a lot of fun. There are plenty of places to hide with your sniper, flank as an assault solider or just have a full on shoot-out on a main road. Said maps are quite large, and can effectively host 16 to 32 players on-line in one game, which makes for some immense battles. Even though there can be 32 players on-line in one game, the stability of the multi-player is awesome. I've experienced no connections problems, nor have I come across any obvious bugs which spoil the game.

Now, I could have said a lot more about this game, but I have said quite a lot already! So I will stop there, and let you rest your eyes, because I'm nice like that.

I'm going to give this game a score of 7.5 out of 10, and here's my general conclusion, kept as brief as possible; the campaign is short and will leave you wanting more, but the story is incredible and must be played. The visuals and the sound are altogether quite average, but in terms of capturing the mood and the weapon detail, it excels. The AI on your team are slow and leave you waiting whilst they get into position for the next sequence of the mission, which can leave you frustrated as it breaks up the pace of the game significantly. In terms of game-play, on and off-line, Homefront boasts fluid movements and smooth controls, making it an effective shooter. The multi-player alone will have you thinking it's money well spent; if the campaign doesn't give you a kick, then the intense multi-player will. It has the potential for a long life and no bugs at all are present at this stage.
I would highly recommend fans of FPS games to at least rent Homefront and give it a chance, because you will be able to complete the campaign before you have to send it back, and you will be able to get a good amount of hours played on the multi-player, which is very likely going to nudge you towards buying the game!

Thanks for reading gamers, and if you're still with me after that epic wall of text, then you deserve a pat on the back! If you didn't stay with me until the very end, then you're impatient and you fail.

I hope that you're all awesome and that you will come back soon!

Take care,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Well.. here's a curve ball that I wasn't expecting!

2011-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers, time for a quick follow on from yesterday's post about Homefront.. and I bring news, of somewhat disheartening proportion.
After many gamers having bigged up the game after visiting game conventions, and gameplay trailers conveying what seemed to be a pretty amazing looking game.. turns out it isn't all what it was hyped up to be. However, it is still "fun" and "unique".

I watched a video review on IGN.com this morning, and they pretty much delivered a curve ball, in terms of what the game is like overall.
First of all, they reported that Homefront's presentation isn't all that great, but that it didn't look bad; it just wasn't going to be battling it out with the rest of the awesome looking games, such as Killzone 3 and Crysis2, but it's still playable and it does a great job in presenting the mood and surroundings of the setting. It's also been said that the voice acting and sound effects aren't outstanding, but they're still good.
The last negative worth mentioning, is the fact that the campaign will only last the average gamer for five hours. However, where the campaign length fails, the multi-player impresses. Homefront's multi-player is said to have added significant value to the game overall, with a lot of customisation and great gameplay, which has been described as "fluid".

IGN.com gave this game a 7 out of 10.. but with that and the negatives that have been stated, it still doesn't put me off buying Homefront, as the story-line, "fluid" gameplay and the multi-player still tickles my fancy.
The problem is with developers and their games these days, is that the focus seems to be more on the multi-player, rather than the effort being equally distributed between both the campaign and the multi-player.. it's either one or the other with a lot of games. The first developer that pops into my head in regards to campaigns filled with effort is Crytek, with their Crysis games.. but the sacrifice being that the multi-player left a lot to be desired, but they look like they have learnt their lesson, and have put more effort into the online aspect in Crysis 2. Fingers crossed for an all-round fantastic experience on both the single-player and multi-player fronts.

Anyway, that's all from me, it was just a quick news blast to let you all know what's going on in the Homefront, just in case you wanted to reconsider buying the game.
If you want a nice, long campaign to play through, and you don't really care about the multi-player aspect, then steer clear of Homefront until the game comes down in price! Or you could go out and rent it, due to the fact that you could probably complete the game before you have to return it!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

Have a good day,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Homefront is close!

2011-03-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Gamers! Welcome back to my blog, for a quick mention about a super-awesome, epic winning game, called Homefront. I've heard that this game is going to be so awesome, that it most likely has digital tiger blood contained within the software, banging seven gram rocks.. because that's how it rolls. *

* Yeah, because all of those phrases aren't overused. Fun nonetheless.

Chuck Norris' house.

Anyway, you're side-tracking me, time to get back to the point.

Seriously though, I have heard from a few reliable sources, one source in-particular that I know personally, that Charlie Sheen's.. I mean, Kaos Studio's (Frontlines: Fuel of War) Homefront is an incredible creation, and it's only their second game, ever. After demonstrations having been given at PAX East and other video game conventions, a lot of people have come away in awe, in regards to their first experiences of playing Homefront. It has been described as "the thinking man's first person shooter..", and when I first viewed the footage of the gameplay and the developers diaries, I could pretty much predict myself that this game was going to be more than just a mindless, spray and pray game, like Call of Duty. (Yes, that was yet another snide remark towards Call of Duty.. One of many, from me.)

Holy Shi-!

Just to give you a quick description of what the game is all about, I will give you a quick shakedown on the story. Homefront is set in 2027 America, which has been invaded by the Korean People's Army (America being invaded in a video game.. that's new!). The game focuses on the fictional collapse of the U.S.A, the occupation by the Greater Korean Rupublic and the American Resistance (that you will be a part of) who attempt to fight the occupation.

Choo, choo.. oh wait..

From what I have seen of Homefront, the campaign looks as though it will have a solid, emotional and intense story-line (so it should do, considering the writer is John Milius, who co-wrote Apocalypse Now!), accompanied by a fantastic multi-player experience, featuring 32 player matches using dedicated servers.

Homefront is due for release on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, in the U.K and Europe, later this week on Friday, 18th March. Release dates may vary for the rest of the World.

That's enough from me for today! In the mean time, because you're winning, I will leave you with a nice little trailer for Homefront, below:

Thank you for stopping by your favourite blog! No but seriously, thanks for reading :)

I hope you come back soon.. and stay awesome!

Jayhmmz ('')(O.o)(''')

Another FPS attempting to topple the big guns...

2011-03-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hey Gamers! Welcome back to my humble blog.

I return to you all with the latest trailer for the newest addition to the Operation Flashpoint franchise, Red River, which according to this video is due for release on 24th April this year.
I'm not too sure what to make of this game. I've never really been an avid fan of the OF franchise, however, I did go out and buy the Dragon Rising title when it was released back in October 2009. The campaign for Dragon Rising was decent, but nothing more than that. The co-op mode for the campaign did make it a little more fun, but it wasn't exactly mind-blowing. Whilst the campaign was under-achieving, the multi-player aspect to the game wasn't doing any better either; I would go as far as to say that the multi-player would have been somewhat of a success, if it didn't have network problems on almost every single server available. The game wasn't just an FPS, it was a tactical FPS, with realistic weapon characteristics and player movements, with the ability to control a squad out on the field... it definitely wasn't run and gun, which put this game in good stead to be a great success...

But it wasn't.

So, Publisher and Developer, Codemasters, have come back to give it another shot with Red River, apparently addressing all of the problems that popped up in Dragon Rising, and fixing them... So why didn't they just release a patch for Dragon Rising, and fix all of the problems way back when? *sigh*
It has been reported by numerous and reliable sources that Red River is aiming to be more of a Call of Duty style shooter. Having played Dragon Rising to the point where my patience was going to pack it's bags and run away from me, I cannot help but wince at the idea of a mix.

It's not really a game that I am high in anticipation for... as judging by the trailer alone, it looks clunky and the graphics are below expectations of a modern day FPS game, but I thought I would throw it out there and let you all know that it exists! Because you never know, there may be a select few people that are massive Operation Flashpoint fans here, visiting my blog... but I think that there's more of a chance of waking up to realise that you're spooning a snow leopard, than that happening.

Anyway, enough of the harsh truths, check out the latest trailer for Red River below, to see what you think.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River - Gameplay Trailer Video - PC - IGN

That's all from me for today, I will be back very shortly with more news from the gaming world, so sit tight!
Thanks for stopping by, hope you're all awesome!

Oh, oh! One more thing... I would like to say a big thanks to all of you who have been reading my posts and have helped me smash the 1,000 mark for page views! I was a very happy bear.

Take care,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Extended Battlefield 3 Game-Play Footage!

2011-03-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Gamers, I have returned from my short holiday, with a post that links up with my last one that I left you with, in regards to Battlefield 3...

I found out today that there has been a new video released on YouTube by IGN.com, containing extended game-play footage of the Battlefield 3 campaign, on the PC! Let me tell you, it looks amazing. You can definitely judge the game on it's looks more so than you could with the first trailer I shared with you all, and it is proving to be an already stunning game.
There's no real need for me to go on, and on again in this post about Battlefield 3, as I will pretty much be reiterating points I have already made out to you in my initial blog post... so I will just say... Holy Sh*t.

So before you go, be sure to check out the video below... It's a must see!

That's all for this blast, but I will be back again at least twice before the week is out!
So stay awesome!

Hope you're all good,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Oh Yes... It's Battlefield 3!

2011-02-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Gamers! Welcome to my last blog post before I go away for the best part of a week!
I thought I would leave you on a very special note, with a very special trailer!

As you may have guessed by the blog post title and the spectacular banner above what you're reading right now, this blast is about Battlefield 3... need I say more? Well yeah, I will say more, because I will enjoy saying more! So, eyes peeled!
A lot of you may be familiar with Battlefield: Bad Company and Bad Company 2/Vietnam DLC, with it being a popular hit on consoles, as well as the PC. Even though those games are part of the Battlefield franchise by EA DICE, they just haven't got the same magic as Battlefield 2 delivered for PC gamers back in June 2005, which makes me a sad panda. Sure, it still had the same sort of unique Battlefield feeling to the game, but it still wasn't what it used to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Battlefield: Bad Company series is bad, because I love those games, better than Call of Duty if I am honest with you... But I will always be a bigger fan of Battlefield 2, and not just because you used to be able to fly planes, either! It's just because BF2 was bigger, louder and more epic in pretty much every way. However, the plane flying thing does take up a lot of space in my heart regarding BF2...

So you can pretty much guess that I am mega excited for the release of Battlefield 3, which will hopefully be later this year, to rival the release of Modern Warfare 3, if all goes to plan in both camps. The thing I am most excited about is that Battlefield 3 will most likely be a merge of everything that was fantastic and successful in both Battlefield 2 and Bad Company/2, which cannot be anything less than mind arousing.
There isn't a lot I can say about this game just yet, as there have only been teaser trailers released, but the trailer I am going to show you does give you a good idea of what this game is going to look like. You will see plenty of footage, in-game footage may I add, of what looks like to be a single player campaign mission... it's pretty damn impressive, by the way. It looks as though DICE have taken everything that was visually stunning with the Frostbite engine in Bad Company, and just took it a step higher, incredible results!

Anyway, enough of me going on about it, and just watch it and see for yourself!

I have no problems whatsoever with saying that Battlefield 3 is going to wipe the floor with whatever Activision and their handful of developers come up with when they create Modern Warfare 3; if I were them, I would be scared of DICE and Battlefield 3, wouldn't you be?

So on that note, I'll end this blast here.
Hope you enjoyed the trailer for what looks likely to be a pretty epic next step in EA DICE and Battlefield's journey for total FPS domination!

Hope you're all doing great, and I'll be back posting again towards the back end of next week!

Stay awesome!

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Shift your attention to this!

2011-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Gamers! Welcome back to my humble blog.

Just hitting you with a very quick news blast on Need for Speed: Shift 2, which is due to be released 29/03/11. I just fixed my eyes on one of the new trailers for the game, explaining the realism and basically just the effort that is getting put into the game itself, and it looks and sounds outstanding.

Once you have watched the video below, all of you racing fans will have your jaws on your lap, guaranteed. However, if you have no torso, and you just have your head on-top of your legs, then your jaw will already be on your lap... so... yeah. Shut up.

Anyway, feast your eyes on this visual bad-assery:

I'm going to be out of the country as of Friday, so I'm gunna hit you all with one more update in the week before I go, and I will be back by the middle of next week!

Hope you're all doing good! Thanks for stopping by.

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Just a quick blast!

2011-02-21T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hey Gamers!

I've not really been very active on here of late as I've had a lot of other things to deal with, which makes my mind turn to sludge, thus causing writers block! So for this, I apologise.
So I'm just going to throw out some of the latest updates for you all to enjoy, throughout this week, and also to just to let you know that I am still alive!

First on the cards is Bulletstorm! Holy crap, what a game this is looking to be.
I grabbed the demo not so long ago, and it blew me away, quite literally. It is a very over-the-top first person shooter, with a lot of eye-watering visual effects and a lot of blood and naughty language!
Bulletstorm is an EPIC Games release, and it's nothing short of epic, let me tell you! The player models kind of remind me of Gears of War a little bit, as do some of the weapons... However, it is no way a knock-off version of GoW, just to get that straight; although it does look equally as amazing, except with brighter and louder colours.

Bulletstorm is completely unique and bad ass. One of the coolest features in this game has to be your kill combos, sending the enemies flying into the air in slow motion, and doing whatever the hell you want to do to the guy before he hits the ground again, earning you a lot of experience points... it's essentially Street Fighter on speed! Whilst this is happening, you can use your rifles, your whip and/or your physical attacks to combine a nice finishing move.

The environment plays a key roll in this game, too, when it comes to destroying the crazy looking bad guys; there are a lot of shiny, spiky dangerous things you can impale them on, after kicking them full force in the chest, or alternatively you can electrocute them... a long with many, many more beautiful, death-by-environment methods, it's fun and it's bound to get a lot of heat from the government in some way, shape or form, for potentially making people kill other people in crazy ways... I don't know! Basically, in Bulletstorm, the violence is overkill and the dial is set to thrill, giving you a real adrenaline pumped first person shooter, one that we haven't seen for a long while, if at all.
This game is set for release later this week, on the Friday to be exact (25th February), and it's a must buy for all first person shooter fans, especially if you're getting a little tired of Call of Duty. I know it's a bit of a bold statement when I go to type this, seeing as I have only played the demo, but really, you have to get a hold of this game, it's that awesome.

To conclude, this game is violent as hell, full of crazy- fun weapons, comedy dialogue, gripping and unreal variations of combat and intense, eye-watering visuals.
Below is a pre-release trailer for Bulletstorm, I advise you to check it out before you go!

That's all for this blast, gamers! I will be back again sometime this week, and I mean it this time!
Sorry for the delay.

Hope you're all awesome!

Jayhmmz (,,,)(O.o)(,,,)

The Bulletstorm Crysis!

2011-02-07T06:39:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and girls, I have returned! Sorry I have been a bit distant lately, but I've had a lot of things to sort out and a lot of gaming to catch up with!

So to get the ball rolling for us again, I just wanna bring you an update real quick on two of the hottest games due for release this year, said hottest games being Bulletstorm and Crysis 2! You need to be interested in these games... No, I mean like... you need to be interested in these games!

Both of these demos have already been released on their respected platforms. However, Crytek and Microsoft agreed to a deal which makes the demo for Crysis 2 only available only for Xbox Live! ...sucks for PC and PS3 owners! But... there has been news! *trumpets* Crytek announced at the back end of January, that there will be a pre-release demo available for PC gamers in March! Fortunately, I got to play Crysis 2 now along with Bulletstorm, and I was blown away, by one game more than the other... and I will now explain! So sit tight.

Following on from my last blog post, which contained information on the Crysis 2 release, it would make sense for me to explain this game to you all first, before I do Bulletstorm. I was really excited for the Crysis 2 demo, even though I was majorly disappointed that it wasn't released on the PC as well, considering that it will be the platform I will end up getting the game for anyway. I wasn't raising the bar of expectation too high for the Xbox version when my television screen relayed a message to me saying that the download had finished... downloading, anyway...

Shit just got real... Sunny!

The menu screens in Crysis 2 are what you would come to expect from a futuristic shooter, they're sleek, attractive and they give you the sense that you're some sort of secret super-solider in a cool suit, which essentially, you are! It just so happens that you will be cutting around in a much cooler suit than James Bond has ever worn in his nine lives, after all, his suit doesn't have Maximum Armour mode...pfft, fail.

The multiplayer matchmaking in the demo is rather unstable. If you don't have a completely open NAT type, which in short means that if you don’t, you won’t be able to connect to anyone and everyone on Xbox Live, you're going to find it pretty hard to find a match, more so than in other games. If any of you guys and girls own Halo: Reach, you will know what I am talking about. I myself was going through a bad patch on the Xbox where my NAT would be randomly appearing as open, and then going back down to moderate again, giving me real problems finding a suitable match to join in the Crysis 2 demo... it was really frustrating. My NAT type eventually fixed itself, and alas there were still instability issues; two of the main issues including bad host selection and generally awful connection problems in terms of attempting to join a game, regardless of your NAT type. Sometimes you are connected to a game just so you can be kicked right off it again, putting you back to square one to try and find a match! Let's hope they fix the issue swiftly for the game's release.

Tending the greenhouses

When you eventually connect to a game, it isn't half bad! From the console screenshots however, I was expecting the game to look a lot more smart than it actually does; the graphics look very patchy, lacking in texture quality in places, and at times there is a major over-use of soft lighting which kind of makes you think that you need glasses. Apart from that, I would say that the graphics just about hit the above-average level for a console.

The game play in Crysis 2 isn't all that much different from the likes of Call of Duty; essentially it's exactly the same feeling, just with added screen shake and weapon drag (head moves before the weapon) which is quite a nice addition nonetheless.

However, what makes Crysis 2 differ from Call of Duty is the suit that you will be wearing. You will have the ability to go into one of three modes at any given time, providing your suit has enough power; Maximum Speed, Maximum Armour and Cloak (Invisibility...to some extent, so it's basically camouflage). Crysis 2, as far as I have seen, doesn't have a separate option for Maximum Strength, which was a big feature in the game's predecessor, but I guess it just ties in with your melee button, just as the sprint button is your Maximum Speed, instead of it being a separate selection; Maximum Strength and Maximum Speed seem to be put on an if and when needed basis.

Base classes for Crysis 2 MP

The weapons class set-up and the ranking up systems are pretty much a mirrored version of the latest Call of Duty titles. You will have your base weapon to unlock, and then many additions for that weapon to unlock afterwards. In regards to the ranking up system, even though Crysis 2 does have unique ranks, you will basically be getting the same types of awards that you would get from, for example, Black Ops. You have your own Playercard which you can unlock a background picture for, which displays your rank and your name, which also grants you new avatar unlocks to add to that... it's really nothing new, and I am kind of disappointed that they have, in a nutshell, copied off Call of Duty.

Continuing on from where I mentioned the weapons, they themselves are okay. There are a decent amount of them to choose from, and they do look cool, however at the moment they do seem very imbalanced, and some of the weapons don't even work anywhere near as effectively as they should do. The shotgun for example, requires you to be closer than you should have to be to the enemy, in order to blow their nuts off. One of the colossal problems with the weapons at the moment, is the melee side of the action. Crysis 2, at the moment, is very slow to respond to the fact that you've just owned someone in the face with the arse end of your weapon; even though it shows the animation swiftly, the result of the player feeling the blow comes a good second or so after... not very handy if you're in the middle of cross-fire and need to run away!

Holy Sh-!

As I have already mentioned, the controls are pretty similar to your regular first person shooter games, just with some added features aforementioned regarding suit controls. The actual stability of the game play leaves a lot to be desired; it needs a lot of work as it feels very slow to respond and the movement feels quite clumsy considering you're pretty much a super-soldier. It doesn't feel like you're doing anywhere near enough damage to the enemy either; even though the opposing players have the same bad-ass suit as you, it still seems like you have to shoot them in the pupil ten times for them to actually flinch, depending on what weapon you have... there needs to be a lot more balance introduced into the multiplayer before the full game goes live on release.

Being as this was a multiplayer only demo, I sadly cannot comment on the campaign mode first hand. However, if I know Crytek, it will be an amazing storyline, fingers crossed!

To conclude, I would say that it is well worthwhile for you to give the Crysis 2 demo a download, providing you have an Xbox, or a friend who owns one, so you can just steal it or whatever... I don't know; just give it back when you’re done, okay? But at this stage, for the people who are not going to be able to play the demo, I will not say that you should buy this game when it comes out, because at the moment it has a lot of bugs and glitches that need ironing out. However, having played the demo and it not particularly grabbing me in, I will still be buying Crysis 2 for the PC when released, so I will give you guys and girls a full review on it when I have played on the game for a fair amount of time, and tell you first hand whether you should consider buying it, or not.

Anyway, on that note, I will bring what is to be part one of my latest update to you, to an end. I hope you feel enlightened by my review of the Crysis 2 demo, and that you people without an Xbox don't feel as much in the dark as they did, you're not missing out on anything spectacular.

My review of the Bulletstorm demo will be following on from this post in the next few days, so be sure to come back and check it out, as it's a must see, must play game! So far, from what I have experienced, Bulletstorm should be a definite purchase for all of you gamers who love your hectic, first person shooters, because this game has it all... as I will explain in a few days ;)

Take care gamers, hope you're all well!

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')

Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo

2011-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Finally! The potentially epic game gets a multiplayer demo! Welcome back gamers for a very brief news flash!

EA and Developer Crytek have today announced that the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo is confirmed for exclusive release on January 25^th for Xbox Live Gold members only. Crysis 2 is the sequel to the highly rated game Crysis, and its expansion, Crysis: Warhead, which was only available for the PC. This time around, not only will Crytek be releasing Crysis 2 for the PC, but they will also be releasing it for the game’s console debut on the 360 and the PS3. The demo will include one map, Skyline, with two game modes: Team Instant Action and Crash Site. The following was said regarding the new game times:

“Team Instant Action follows standard team death match rules, while Crash Site will see players vie for control of alien drop pods a la Capture the Flag.”

If you haven’t yet seen anything relating to Crysis 2 in the past few months, then shame on you! You have to be excited for the game’s release if you’re an FPS gamer, I know I am. However, I do have a slight head start on the whole feeling of excitement in regards to the release of Crysis 2, as I am a big fan of the first game and its expansion, so I am highly anticipating how awesome the next chapter will be!

Take a look at both the reveal and gameplay trailer for a quick glimpse of what to expect! Enjoy.

That was about it for today’s splash! Hope you’re going to be just as excited as me for this game, it is set to be ground breaking! Let’s hope it follows through, eh?

Anyway, thanks for the visit and the read, hope you’re all awesome.

Enjoy your weekend.

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (,,,)(O.o)(,,,)

Shattered Horizon Review

2011-01-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and girls, welcome back! I did say that I was most likely going to be reviewing DC Universe Online for my next review, but it’s too big of a game to review just yet, I feel that I would be doing the game an injustice by not playing it for a decent amount of time.

In the mean time, I recently bought a very interesting game called Shattered Horizon for the PC from Steam. It’s a first person, tactical shooter and a multiplayer only game, much like Counter Strike is multiplayer only. I first seen this game advertised a couple of months before its release on PC, back in November 2009 and it was one of those games where I was excited for its release... but then totally forgot to buy it when it came out! Doh! So, after all of these months, I spotted another advertisement for it which jogged my memory and naturally I bought it straight away for £15, not a bad price at all.

As aforementioned, Shattered Horizon is a first person, tactical shooter by a company called Futuremark Games Studio, who developed and published the game. As far as my video games knowledge goes, this is the first video game release by Futuremark, and it’s a pretty awesome debut I must say.

In regards to hype, there wasn’t really a mass amount of it, compared to other FPS games being released around the time, the game was easily overshadowed, which is probably why I forgot to buy the damn game! I can guarantee that on average, out of every group of ten people who visit my blog to read this, only two of the ten, at most, will have heard of this game. Not many gaming sites previewed this game at all; it just got a brief mention. However, I do remember that Gamespot.co.uk did a brief write up, but again, the preview was nothing compared to the bigger games of its time, and they didn’t even follow it with a review!

Shattered Horizon’s game play is very unique in contrast to the likes of the Call of Duty and Counter Strike franchises, as gamers are fighting in Space, in the year 2049! The fighting doesn’t take place just inside structures either; SH has made it so that you will be fighting in zero gravity with a jet pack to aid you in your manoeuvres, tactically moving between the debris of the Moon, which has exploded due to an apparent mining disaster.

The basic movement controls are the same as in any other FPS game, as you will be using the W, A, S and D keys to go forwards, backwards and strafe. However, because Futuremark have given the player complete freedom of movement, there are some nice additions. For instance, when pressing the space bar, you will not only jump, but you will float up as far as you want to, as long as it is within the area boundaries. You will only stop floating until you balance yourself out, using the shift key by default, which controls the top thrusters on your jet pack, as opposed to holding the space bar to control the thrusters beneath the pack. If you want to reverse your movement, you have to keep hold of the shift key, and you will be thrust downwards... or upwards, whichever way you see it in space. As well as using the shift key to control your downward movement, it is also handy when it comes to being close to a big chunk of rock or general debris, as when you keep hold of the shift key when just above a surface, the game will automatically grip you to it as if you had Velcro boots on a fuzzy floor, enabling you to walk for as long as the surface lasts, this is a handy action for steady aiming. When you are attached to a surface, you can then use your weapon’s reticle (crosshair) to aim to a location relatively close to you, and press the F key to quickly jump to that position, which is great for tactical movements to give you the advantage. When floating in space, you can also hold in your right mouse button and move your mouse to the left and right, to control the angle at which you are at, for example; if you feel like you’re upside down and would be more comfortable with a certain part of the area being below you, you can rotate yourself to whatever degree comes more natural to you (as natural as you can feel in Space) until you feel less nauseous... The last thing to note about the controls is the quick boost that you can give yourself with the jetpack by pressing C; this way you can quickly dash to any location, for as long as the boost lasts, a good tactic to use when flitting from rock to rock.

Shattered Horizon is pretty basic in regards to the menus and finding a server to play on. The game has the usual audio, video and controls settings tabs with a big shiny button above them all saying “Play now!” When clicked, this will bring you to your usual server browser window which is pretty responsive; pick the server with the best ping and a decent amount of players on, and go! The maximum amount of players you can have on a server is 32, although I haven’t come across a server with that many players in as of yet, it may be down to the times I play or just how many people still play this game in general.

The multiplayer is based on team combat. The game types are a mix of conquest, team death match and head quarters related modes, the objectives being certain areas or significant points to take control of or defend to help you win the game. SH was initially released with only four maps, which isn’t impressive whatsoever, although Futuremark have already released an add-on that brings gamers four new maps, doubling the amount there were already, making it a bit more respectable. There are two sides to choose from, The International Space Agency (ISA) and The Moon Mining Cooperative (MMC). The MMC are facing serious charges after their big oopsy on the moon, causing a cataclysmic explosion which they only barely survived. Now that they’re cut off from Earth, with them not being all that popular and all, they see the ISA as a threat to their existence. Now, the ISA are pretty grumpy, because they have astronauts and scientists trapped on the ISA Space Station, which hasn’t really been left in a pretty shape after the MMC blew up the Moon, so the ISA are seeking those responsible for what happened to their station and staff.

There isn’t all that much of a choice in weaponry, which may have been something done on purpose considering that you wouldn’t have that much of a massive weapons cache floating around in space anyway, unless that is you have a magical orifice which enables you to pull something useful out of it, which is very doubtful. There are five weapons in the multiplayer; they are the Assault Rifle, the Rail Gun (Sniper rifle), the SMG, the Shotgun and the Machinegun. They haven’t got any other names, just the type of weapon they are, although I was expecting the Assault Rifle to be called the XT29000 or something... but never mind. Depending on which class you pick, you get various special launchers, such as a grenade launcher, a smoke grenade launcher and some sort of a flare launcher (which is pretty and crystal like...oooooooo, but it’s evil as it blinds you!). You also get a standard side arm and a melee weapon, called the pick. The pick is much like the type of picks you see people use when ice-rock climbing.

The multiplayer in general seems stable, there are no connection issues and I haven’t seen many major complaints on the forums regarding other gamers’ problems. The game play is also pretty balanced too, if you’re new to the game like I am, you’re not put at too much of a disadvantage. Also, however awkward the controls may sound to you at first, it is really easy to get used to. Like most of the FPS games out there at the moment, Shattered Horizon also has a ranking system, but it only really resembles how long you’ve been playing the game for, rather than rewarding you with special unlocks to accompany the rank, it’s a standard game in that respect.

The graphics in this game are great and they do a good job in setting the scene and giving you a real feel for space warfare, but on the other hand it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, so to speak. However, you will need to have a respectable system to play this game, as it does not support any OS (Operating System) other than Windows Vista or Windows 7, nor does it support anything earlier than Direct X 10, so if you’re thinking about looking into this game more, please note those important facts. There are no graphical glitches to note, everything seems well designed and it looks like they put a fair amount of time into the game’s development to make it look as sharp as they could. However, If you do get this game, I would recommend you to bump up your Anti-Aliasing settings (to x2 or x4 at least) if your system can handle it, as it will help remove the ladder effects around the objects to make it look smoother, as it will be highly noticeable with all the debris floating about. Also, sliding the Anisotropic Filtering bar across a few notches at least will help make the game look a lot better by giving you a sharper texture detail, as the default settings just don’t cut it for me, personally.

In conclusion, this game is pretty awesome and it’s very different from the FPS games that are out there at the moment. Based on average press reviews, this game gets 7.5 out of 10, although gamers have been giving their own reviews attaching an 8/9 out of 10 rating to them. Myself, I would give this game an 8, just, as it’s a pretty impressive and unique take on space warfare, and it’s something that hasn’t been done a lot by other developers (let’s see what Call of Duty manages to bring). The game play is solid with no glitches to note; it runs smoothly with a balanced feel to the combat and the freedom of movement with your jetpack makes it all the more fun. There could have been more content in the game in regards to weaponry and general unlocks, but I guess that just wasn’t on their agenda with it being a lightweight game. Also, it would have been nice for Futuremark to have included a single player campaign in Shattered Horizon, as the background plot seems like it would make for a pretty cool storyline.

If you’re tired of the general ground walking FPS games and you want something a bit different and fresh, then I would definitely try this game out. It’s indie to say the least and I would love to see a sequel with a lot more content included, as it has the potential to be an awesome franchise, especially online; fingers crossed.

For £15 off Steam, I would say this game is a bargain, although some may argue it should be £5 cheaper, but that’s just being tight! Remember, if you want to try this game out, you have to have either Windows Vista or Windows 7 and a video card that supports Direct X 10 software. On that note, I do have three free guest passes to give away to people who want to have a trial of this game, so if you give me a comment/message then I would be happy to give them to you, whilst stocks last of course!

So, that’s it for this episode, hope you will come back and join me for my next news/review splash!

Also, remember to click ‘Follow’ on my blog if you can, so you can be notified of my next Blog post and also leave any comments below if you have any questions or anything to share regarding Shattered Horizon!

Thanks for reading and I’ll be back soon!

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (,,,)(O.o)(,,,)

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood Review

2011-01-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome back guys for my first games review of the New Year!

The Assassins Creed series kicked off back in November 2007, and gamers hadn’t seen many releases like it. Sure you had Prince of Persia which is a pretty awesome franchise, but this had an added twist, massive sandbox, action-adventure game play... where you climb walls like an old-style ninja and just generally look and be awesome. You play a guy by the name of Desmond Miles who is your friendly neighbourhood bar tender, plodding along in life as you do... then HOLY SH*T you’re captured and taken ‘prisoner’ by an insane company called Abstergo Industries and made to do things you don’t want to! ...Nah, but seriously though, Abstergo Industries have a machine at their disposal called the Animus, which basically allows you to relive memories of your ancestors... and yes, you want one. Desmond’s ancestors turn out to be Assassins, which is always an added bonus if you’re lucky enough to own one of these bad boys. So Desmond is pretty much ordered to re-live his ancestor’s memories so that the crazy people at Abstergo can find and recover artefacts, all together known as the ‘Pieces of Eden’. Sounds cool, eh? In the first instance, you play as Desmond’s first known ancestor, who goes by the name of Altaïr. Assassins Creed II was then released in November 2009, where you played as Ezio, Desmond’s next key ancestor; Ezio Auditore’s story is now continued in Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, released a year later in November 2010.

Before this game was released, the air was filled with many questions relating to the length of the game, the story line and the multiplayer. The main issue was that a lot of the Assassins Creed faithful were worried in case Brotherhood was going feel like an add-on for Assassins Creed II, instead of a being a full blown release. With Assassins Creed II being released two years after the franchise’s debut, it was understandable that the fans were concerned that Ubisoft were churning out another release just a year later. Now we all know what happens when you start churning out game after game, year after year don’t we? The modern Call of Duty titles happen! Not necessarily a good thing either...

There were also questions being raised about the multiplayer and whether this was just an effortless feat for the game to give it a bit more of a longer life. Although, with these questions came excitement, as Brotherhood is the first game of the franchise to introduce multiplayer, so naturally, there was curiosity thrown into the mixed feelings.

Ezio's day to day activity.

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood still has the core game-play of the title’s predecessor. You still have the same fluid feeling to the controls which enable you to free run around Rome in the year 1499, the new setting for Ezio. The fact that Ubisoft have perfected the controls in this release make this feature alone entertaining enough to keep you playing for hours on end. In contrast to the game play in ACII, the combat controls have been improved; they feel smooth and free flowing, and less restricted and repetitive. There are a lot of cool new animations in the combat sense too and there is never a dull moment when duelling or fighting five guards at once, this helps a lot to make the game feel fresh throughout and to prevent it from going stale quickly; like the first Assassins Creed was guilty of doing.

Just looking at the title, you know there’s going to be some sort of a rebellion or army starting up somewhere belonging to someone; that someone so happens to be you, Ezio! The Brotherhood is in fact a Brotherhood of Assassins, or a guild as the game likes to call it. At a certain stage in the game, you will unlock a mission path which will basically have you randomly coming across civilian rebels in trouble with the new Guards in Rome, the Borgia. These civilians believe that your cause is just, and are choosing to fight against the Borgia too, and you have to save them as they’re really stupid and pick a fight with like five guards at once...pfft. When you save the civilians from the guards, they are then willing to become your apprentice. You may have up to 12 apprentices at one time, and for each apprentice you can assign them with contracts which will have them flitting across Europe completing missions set by you, earning them experience points and levelling up through the 10 ranks, the 10^th rank being Assassin. When your assassin apprentices complete the contracted missions, they will also earn you money and item rewards; as well as contracts, you can call them in to do your dirty work for you, killing guards so you don’t have to... like a more violent version of Flash cleaning spray.

Ubisoft have used the same graphics engine as Assassins Creed II, so not much has changed on the face of Brotherhood. However, the textures are presented in a higher resolution, and the lighting looks sharper, making Rome a perfect setting to show off the colourful and stunning visuals.

Doing good business.

The story in this game is yet again awesome. Brotherhood picks up from where Assassins Creed II left off, with Ezio still confused by what he saw in the vault at the end of the game. After escaping the Templars, Desmond and the gang escape to Monteriggioni, a city in and commune of Tuscany, Italy. They set up their animus underneath the ruins of Villa Auditore after finding a source of electricity which enables Desmond to continue the quest as his ancestor, Ezio. As a Master Assassin, you will have to re-establish the Guild of Assassins and rebuild Rome by destroying the Borgia influence, whilst renovating famous landmarks, faction buildings, shops and banks to give you an economic boost. AC:BH has a fantastic and gripping story line filled with vengeance and ass kicking; the game manages to keep you on the edge of your seat with well thought out, dramatic and action packed missions which differ from each one you choose to do, whilst being helped by an amazing setting for the release and convincing voice acting.

He doesn't look notorious at all...

It took me a while to actually play and review the Brotherhood’s Multiplayer feature, because I couldn’t connect to a damn session easy enough, which explains the delay in bringing this review out to you! Although I did eventually get into games, as the servers seem to have sorted themselves out now. After playing the Multiplayer for a decent amount of time, I get the impression it had all been a bit rushed in the making, which is what I, and many others feared. Sure, when you first play it, it is awesome, fresh and it has the addictive ranking system and skill unlocks, but the style of game play get’s a bit boring for a multiplayer game, and isn’t really a long-term option. There are five game types in the multiplayer; Wanted (6-8 Players, a game of hide and pursue), Manhunt (Two teams, each composed of 3-4 players, taking turns in hiding and pursuing), Alliance (6 players, 2 players on each of the 3 teams, again, hiding and pursuit...) and Advanced Wanted and Advanced Alliance, which basically means a lot of the assists are turned off when it comes to trying to find your target. Again, it is awesome at first, with a great idea being shown through the multiplayer, but I think with a bit more time they could have really made this multiplayer feature special, giving it the ability to last longer.

To conclude, Brotherhood in no way feels like the add-on many people predicted it would be - it isn’t an add-on at all. The campaign is solid with a fantastic story line which doesn’t feel short or rushed what-so-ever, including significant and vital sequences that bridge the big gap between Assassins Creed II and III, with some very exciting and shocking twists added in. There are also a mass amount of side quests along the way to complete, for example, there is a quest path to get some pretty cool armour and gear by adventuring into six different lairs to recover keys from shrines, guarded by weird cultists with wolf helmets... it’s interesting to say the least.

*Slight spoiler alert in this paragraph* The new ‘Brotherhood’ addition to the campaign starts out as a lot of fun, because you can rank them up to become mean machines for them to do your bidding; You’re then let down in the end because you really are expecting there to be some sort of a big fight between your guild and the Borgia, but there just isn’t, it made me very sad. So the Brotherhood ends up being a bit pointless in the grand scale of things. Let’s hope they make things more epic in ACIII, well, they have to with it supposedly being the final instalment in the franchise!

*jaw drops*

Rome in this game looks amazing, just the fact you get to free run around this big, scenic sandbox is enough to keep you entertained for a long while, it’s like being on a hectic, sword wielding summer holiday that you couldn’t get with Thomas Cook. There are next to no limits to your adventures and you can explore pretty much everything on the map. Just climb to the top of a view point and take it all in, it’s actually breath taking what Ubisoft have achieved, the improved textures and lighting are definitely evident here.

The multiplayer is the biggest let down in this title, however it is still a lot of fun in small doses. The only problem is, is that a lot of players don’t play it properly. The game is based on stealth, you know, with you being an Assassin and all – you don’t really want to become notorious. That being said, select gamers still run around like absolute idiots, sticking out like a sore thumb... it’s like Call of Duty or Counter Strike just went back in time, and the shotgun noobs have been replaced with hidden-dagger noobs, sprinting across the map.

This game is definitely worth the purchase in my opinion, and it is important that gamers, who want to buy Assassins Creed III when it is released, play Brotherhood first; as mentioned above, it is a vital bridge from Assassins Creed II!

That’s it for my review of Assassins Creed: Brotherhood! I could have made it miles long, but the story line is just far too complex to note down fully, as there’s been book releases and everything! I would simply put you to sleep. If you haven’t yet played any of the Assassins Creed titles and you have read through this, I would highly recommend getting them all, even the first one. The two titles prior to Brotherhood will be reasonably cheap now. I know Assassins Creed II is cheap, as I recently bought the Game of the Year edition for £9.99, bargain!

Hope you enjoyed the read and I hope you will come back for my next review; I have just bought DC Universe Online, an MMORPG based on the Comic Book heroes where you can basically create your own hero and roam about completing quests and looking effing epic, so that may be my next review when I get another good bucket load of hours in! If you’re interested in the game, it’s only been released on PC and PS3 so far, I myself have the PC version, so I’ll tell you what it’s like as soon as I can give a fair view on it.

Thanks for visiting gamers, hope you’re all awesome,

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (,,,)(O.o)(,,,)

"You with your Switchblade posse..."

2011-01-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year gamers and I hope you had a nice Christmas!

I’m back with my first post of the New Year which is just a quick news update on something very exciting, especially for portable gaming fans!

It has been announced that Razer, makers of the awesome gaming gear such as mice, keyboards and other peripherals, are bringing out the Razer Switchblade, a 7inch portable gaming system, “a revolution in PC gaming.” It has a 7inch touch-screen display with 45 fully customisable LCD buttons! It isn’t as clunky as it sounds, check this video out:

When I first saw this announcement, my initial, optimistic thought was, “Wow, these graphics are going to suck.” - Considering the games it has been linked to. Which is why ladies and gentlemen I haven’t touched a PSP, Nintendo DS or anything else portable since I had my Gameboy with Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow and Silver... cue flashback of happy times. However, I was pleased to learn that the graphics have been reported to be “pretty rich.” Now, I hope they aren’t comparing the visuals to other handheld gaming devices, because when they say “pretty, rich graphics”, I damn well expect pretty, rich graphics! If not, I will be a sad face.

I am quite excited to find out the price for the Switchblade; even though it is bound to be expensive, it can’t be more expensive than a PS3, can it? We shall see! If I do eventually get one of these, I will be sure to avoid purchasing any Call of Duty games for it, as that thing looks so easy to throw accross your room and into your wall when angered.

Anyway, make sure you check out the video above from the guys at IGN to get the full story on the prototype so far, before you go.

That’s it for now readers, as brief as you like indeed! Although I’m almost finished with my Assassins Creed: Brotherhood review! I ploughed through it over the Christmas period, and managed to fully complete the game just after New Year, so I could get my write up out to you as soon as I could! So keep a look out, I will be back soon!

Thanks for the visit and the read,

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (,,,)(O.o)(,,,)

Bad Company 2: Vietnam Review

2010-12-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and girls and welcome back! This is probably going to be my last blog before Christmas, so I’m going to finish what I started with Bad Company 2: Vietnam! It is definitely worthy of my time to review, anyway.

As you guessed from my first impressions of the game, it was a pretty exciting release! With EA being a rival company to Activision’s Call of Duty, you’re always going to be hoping for a pretty good game from both sides, just for the competition. So EAs answer to the constant production of Call of Duty games was Bad Company (part of the Battlefield franchise), back in June 2008. It was a very different style of first person shooter; it felt realistic, fire fights were intense, you had a lot of freedom, the maps were well designed and large, yet not too large, the graphics were impressive, the team play was outstanding (as you would expect from EAs Battlefield games) and the sound effects were incredible, creating that all important and unique atmosphere that Bad Company is now known for.

Take all of these points, improve them by two times the awesomeness that they already were, and you have Bad Company 2. Released in March 2010, the second instalment in the Bad Company series was a massive expansion on the game’s predecessor. It was more of the same but with massive improvements in regards to the graphics, feel of realism, freedom, intense fire fights and the awesome atmosphere – it did nothing less than impress, and still does. With the Bad Company franchise seeming to be getting better and making further progress, it is a massive threat to the Call of Duty franchise we know at the moment; the release of Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops didn’t impress as much as the releases of Call of Duty 4 and World at War, so Infinity Ward and Treyarch compared to EA DICE (Digital Illusions CE, developers of BC) are taking a step in the wrong direction.

So, then came the release of BC: Vietnam. Again, they did nothing but tweak the game for the good. With BC’s knack of creating a thrilling war environment and atmosphere, a Vietnam based game was a pretty good choice, because they must have known they would be able to score big with it when the original Battlefield: Vietnam, released back in March 2004, was a such a big success. In my opinion, they got it spot on with their Vietnam add-on. What I like about this add-on the most is that it doesn’t feel like an add-on at all, it feels like a stand-alone game. EA DICE re-recorded most of the sounds especially for the Vietnam era, and with the sound playing such an important role in the BC series, it made the game feel completely different from Bad Company 2 and it created a very authentic atmosphere. BC: Vietnam presented a good amount of new weaponry, bringing in the original M16 model and the AK47 back, along with a few other weapons in their standard issue. DICE have also made the flame thrower available in Vietnam, although it’s not as much of a noob weapon as you would first think. The flame thrower takes a certain amount of skill to use, and it’s mainly used for a tactical trench clear-out, to make way for your team to get to their objective safely; you can’t just run around spraying it everywhere, as you would just get popped in the head... it’s pretty awesome! (The use of the flame thrower, not getting popped in the head) As you would expect from a game being set in the 60s, ACOG scopes and red dot sights are not featured in the game, which is a great thing; you no longer have medics sniping you from the other side of the map, let us leave that to the snipers! DICE also changed the general colours that masked the terrain around you, swapping the yellows and paradise greens of the deserts, for the reds, browns and deep greens of the punishing jungle to effectively set the scene.

One of the last notable things to mention in the major change list is that of the re-introduction of the Huey transport helicopter! Oh and how much fun this chopper is. It’s only featured in one of the four maps for the time being; but with the Vietnam add-on already being a massive success, it’s easy to see that there’s a big chance of there being more maps developed, on top of the one map DICE are already due to release when the world reaches 69 million squad actions; hopefully the Huey may feature more in the future. I was worried that the Huey would be too overpowered, but it’s not; sure it’s overpowered to some extent, but it’s a Huey for Christ’s sake! It helps out the attacking team a lot and it plays a vital role in the assault on your objectives, whilst keeping the balance of the battle. Of course the other additions are the old style US Army Jeep, Patrol Boats and the era-relevant tanks... equipped with flame throwers! F*ck yeah! Ideal for clearing out dense jungle, exposing potential hiding places.

It’s clear to see that EA DICE have worked hard on this expansion, and have not just released any old thing just to make them money. DICE wanted to please fans, both new and old, giving them an add-on that not only stretches the play-time of Bad Company 2, but also gives you an amazing and fun experience as you go! So hats off to DICE on doing an awesome job!

Image courtesy of IGN.com

So the game play is pretty much what you would expect from EA DICE. In case you’re not familiar with the Battlefield game play, it’s immense, involved and intense! The game modes force you, in a kind and gentle way, to work with your team; making around 6-8 squad slots available, fitting 4 soldiers in each one. This enables you to stick with your squad, and spawn on them when you’re felled by an enemy. Your squad members are shown as green markers on your mini map, and their names above their heads are also green to separate them from the other squads that are on your side, who are shown in blue. So it’s made as clear as possible as to what you’re supposed to be doing and who you’re supposed to be hanging with, and it kind of gives you that push to work together and drive for your objective; if you decide to be a lone wolf in this game, then the sniper class is the one for you. However, a lot of servers only allow there to be two snipers per team, which I think is a great rule, as too many snipers can get too frustrating and make the game imbalanced.

With the team play and the objective based game types, the Vietnam add-on is hectic, in a really good way. The four maps that have been released with the game are very well designed, and even though these maps are large, they also have choke points dotted around here and there; you more often than not experience a kind of a movie scene scenario. For instance, I have found myself sat defending an objective with my M60 LMG propped over the sand bag; it’s the calm before the storm. All I can hear are the sounds of the leaves rustling in the trees, the river running close by and the gentle and muffled thudding of boots hitting the ground, as your squad are getting into position around you. I’m looking over towards a ridge, dressed with a scattered tree line; seconds later, before I have a chance to properly admire the scenery, around 15 opposing soldiers appear on the horizon and come pelting down the hill at full sprint, firing as they go. Tracer bullets and debris from explosions fly past your face as you’re pouring it off on your enemy; cutting down trees around them as they go... it’s pretty insane!

Image courtesy of IGN.com

There are only minor faults with the game, but it’s pretty much been a trend throughout the battlefield franchise. You will, once in a while, come across segments of terrain that will get you kind of stuck in the mud so to speak, and send your solider surfing out of control for a few seconds until you regain your feet; it’s pretty annoying, but as I said, it rarely happens. I’ve played BC: Vietnam a lot since the game’s release, and the bug has only happened to me twice. There are also very minor texture errors on some maps, some object skins are stretched and some are quite blurred, but I only notice these because I’m such a graphics snob; you probably won’t even notice it, besides, it’s not even that evident enough for it to cast any bad shadows over the game. The stability of the game is pretty solid, there are no major glitches, and the dedicated servers work well and they seem to be quite reliable. However, in the server search list within the game, it tends to display inaccurate pings to the gamer due to the base server you’re connected to in the first instance, so at times it is a bit of a pain to find a server in your general region with a good ping below 60. I myself tend to look at the server names to see if it’s being hosted in the country I live in, or a country that is close to me. Those are pretty much all of the errors that come to mind.

Image courtesy of IGN.com

To conclude, just because of the sorts of scenarios and general game play features I have mentioned in this post, with the all important team work added on, I would personally buy an EA DICE game over an Infinity Ward or a Treyarch game any day. For me, the Battlefield franchise, especially the Bad Company releases, have a lot more to offer in terms of the experience you have online. Call of Duty is becoming too casual, and when sized up against the massive efforts that are put into the Battlefield multiplayer experience, Call of Duty really does feel like a simple, lazy, disappointment of a game. Of course, Call of Duty will suit the gamers who don’t have a lot of time to play games in general, but if you have just that little more time to spare in your gaming life, Battlefield seems to be the way forward. However, whilst Battlefield and Call of Duty are completely different styles of FPS games, it will be interesting to see what both franchises have to say with their next releases in the near future – in my opinion, I do think EA DICE have the upper hand at the moment, whereas, as I’ve already mentioned, IW and Treyarch are taking a general step in the wrong direction.

I would definitely advise you to give this game a try, it is great fun and it will have you gaming for hours whilst blowing your mind! Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam is available now as Downloadable Content on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 for around £9.99.

Thanks for reading, folks, and I will be returning to you with more blog posts after the festive period. So I hope you have a Merry Christmas, and I should be back before New Year, but if not, have a very Happy New Year!

TTFN and take care,

Jayhmmz (‘’’)(O.o)(‘’’)

Call of Duty: Space Warfare?

2010-12-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so, what the hell?

Welcome back readers, this time I bring you news that will... well, it will probably have you either excited, sitting on the fence or just plain disappointed.

News has been leaked via Activision’s internet activity, that the new Call of Duty could indeed be set in Space! It has been reported that the following web domain titles have been reserved by Activision:

· Future Warfare

· Advanced Warfare

· Secret Warfare

· Space Warfare

So going on some of those titles, it’s not a definite that the game will be set in space – although it is looking likely that the new release will be set in times far from the modern warfare era. Personally, this is both intriguing and nuts; I cannot imagine the Call of Duty series being flung that far into the future, not yet anyway, it is just too much of a big step. Already, I think the franchise has taken too many big leaps since Call of Duty 2 and 3 – even though Treyarch’s World at War and Black Ops re-visit the past, I still feel that they could have slowed down a bit on the timeline jump, and instead should have released games in a sort of a steady timeline order of events. Myself being a massive fan of history, especially wartime history, I was really disappointed to see that they completely skipped a dedicated Vietnam Call of Duty – sure they threw Vietnam themed sequences into the Black Ops campaign, but it’s not enough, it wasn’t historically accurate! The Vietnam War between the U.S and the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) was a huge point in history, sparking many arguments that the U.S should not have gotten involved as Vietnam was in a state of a civil war, causing fights between the North and the South; America had no real place to stand in the matter. It caused mass sit ins in Colleges and Schools throughout America with protests and marches being put into action both for and against the war. When President Nixon had been elected, he promised to bring the U.S troops home; instead he decided to order troops into Cambodia and bomb the crap out of Vietnam, inevitably sparking more of an uproar... it was all crazy! America’s purpose in the war is still debated even now, so why the hell haven’t Infinity Ward or Treyarch made a Vietnam game yet!? It’s so full of history and controversy that it would be a hell of an interesting story line, I just don’t get why the opportunity hasn’t been taken.

Also, just to confuse you more, some of you may or may not know that there is now a company called Sledgehammer Games; the bosses that were sacked from Infinity Ward have started up their own company, which will also be making Call of Duty titles, as well as Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Activision have come out and stated that we’re to expect at least two CoD games on the horizon, presuming that Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward are going to be making one game each. Although the potential Space Warfare title has not yet got a confirmed developer, it has been said that Sledgehammer Games are to be in current development of an Action-Adventure CoD title... which sounds awesome!

Courtesy of Blast Magazine

What’s your view on it all? Are you excited for a potential space warfare game, or can you make do with Halo and have Call of Duty slow down a bit? With three developers and three titles, the franchise really could go any way! It’s both exciting and worrying – as if they all jump too far forward, it could mean the end of CoD! Unless of course they do an awkward rewind in time when they release they have made the mistake. Watch this ‘space’... I don’t get it.

Anyway, thats all from me today. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more entertainment news! I will be introducing some Movie news, previews and reviews in my blog soon enough, so keep an eye out :)

Thanks again, and stay awesome!

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (‘’’)(O.o)(‘’’)