Stu "T-Bo" Cowie's Gaming Blog

An idea for a future venture

2012-06-03T03:39:00.002-07:00

Over the last 2 years I've watched a hell of a lot of videos on YouTube, relating to Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fifa 12, and Battlefield 3 and many more from directors such as KSI OlajideBT, Gunns4hire, Lvlcap, RivalXfactor, Xjaws, Elpresador, DCRU Colin, BigMooney & Sandy Ravage (Who could ever forget the "Booster Justice" videos Sandy released?

Anyway.. I found myself thinking the other day "Whats the one thing all of these YouTube directors have in common??" and the answer to this is simple. They are totally awesome at what they do

As an example, take a look at one of Sandy Ravage's videos:

Also one of my favourite video series on YouTube is by BigMooney and his Battlefield 3 top plays of the week:

Finally one of my fave directors is KSI OlajideBT and his FIFA 12 Videos:

Now I wish I could be as good as all of these guys in the above 2 clips, and every time I watch these kind of videos it makes me feel like I AM that good, and when I actually play the game, I'm not.. I'm.. well.. nothing more than average! Ok, granted on games like Black Ops I have a kill to death ratio of over 1.0 (which is nothing special, but for me its the base marker I want to aim at) and also on Battlefield 3, where its not about K/D ratio but I'm always checking mine to make sure I don't drop below a 1.0 K/D ratio. Battlefield is all about playing the objective and not a run/gun thing like COD so its annoying I am constantly focusing on my K/D!

So... What is my idea? Well basically, I am planning on doing a YouTube channel called "The Average gamer" where I record footage of my games and show them to the YouTube community and get people to give me tips/tricks to help improve performance on these games.. and maybe.. just maybe I can one day hope to be half as good as the above mentioned YouTube directors!

Those are my thoughts. Let me know what you guys think?

What I've been playing (21st May)

2012-05-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

Well quite a bit has happened since my last update...I went to Nottingham with a few gamers from the Gamerscoreaddicts forum for a bit of a meet up, and in the end there was just 4 of us, but was such a laugh! Luckily my hotel overlooked the club we went to so was a short stumble back to hotel :)

I'm also in the process of moving house and will be in my new place on June 20th (Yay..Can't wait!!) but here's a run down of what I've been up to since my last post

Trials Evolution: I've been playing quite a bit of this whilst chatting online to Minkey Monkey and its been a laugh, we've both been ranting and raving over certain levels we get stuck on, but its such good fun!

Battlefield 3: Been playing this quite a bit and I must say I love it... Its so much fun when you have a couple of mates online as part of your squad, and it gets so intense... Nothing makes you jump more than hiding in a bush trying to pick off an enemy sniper, only for that sniper to see you and fires a shot that literally whizzes past your ear and the surround sound does a superb job of trying to portray realism.. my heart was pounding as I lined up a perfect headshot.. only for one of the enemy infantry to find me and slit my throat from behind. Bugger!

Sniper Elite v2: In my previous update I posted about the demo of this, well I now have the full game and I love it to bits. I can snipe away to my hearts content without worrying about being stabbed from behind (Well, not yet anyway! haha) Super fun game, and is a contender for one of my favourite games of the year!

Thats it for now folks, if you wanna contribute something to the blog let me know :)

Stu

My top 10 favourite gaming characters

2012-04-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

This topic was suggested by Ted, so thought I'd have a think and here is who I have. In no particular order:

Jansen Friedh - "Lost Odyssey"
Jansen starts out being a bit of a dick but as the game goes on (all 100+ hours of it) you come to like him, as he embarks on a journey to become the partner of Ming Numara (who is the queen) and he ends up hapless, but in the end he finally gets his woman!

The Undertaker - Various WWE games
Lets face it, the Undertaker has been one of the most well known wrestling characters ever, so this is a no brainer

Batman - "Arkham Asylum" & "Arkham City"
Batman was never a favourite of mine, however when Arkham Asylum came out, it just made Batman seem ace.. The voice acting was spot on, and the combat was ace, Batman from then on, became awesome, as you progressed through the story, really endearing yourself to the fate of Bruce Wayne

The Joker - "Arkham Asylum" & "Arkham City"
If I thought Batman was ace in these 2 games, he's matched, and possibly overshadowed by the amazing character that is the joker. Mark Hammil (He from Star Wars fame) does the voice of Joker, and Oh my god, he plays it so well.. Joker for me is the standout character from these 2 games. You have to play them and experience it for yourself!

Claptrap - "Borderlands"
Claptrap is the little robot that you see numerous times throughout the game, and he comes out with some funny stuff ("I don't like this... this is making me nervous. Take a deep breath- I can't breathe! This is just a recording of someone breathing! It's not real! It's just making me more nervous!") Although he does turn evil in the DLC "Claptraps new robot revolution" in which he makes all the bosses from the main game into robot versions of themselves..

Niko Belic - "GTA IV"
Niko gets brought to what is essentially New York, by his cousin, on the promise of wealth and bitches.. Within the first 5 minutes he realises this, and then struggles to become someone, and there are times you feel sorry for him and he is just an all round good guy mixed up in the wrong things..

Unnamed man - "Saints Row 1/2/3"
The character we play in Saints row, is unnamed, but is one of the best characters from any game.. The stuff he comes out with during the course of the 3 games is hilarious - Especially the meeting with Burt Reynolds, and me and my brother have spent many an hour laughing at the stuff that comes out of his mouth through all 3 games...

Commander Shepherd - "Mass Effect 1/2/3"
Shepherd is a great character, and over the course of all 3 games, we get to shape him into the kind of person we want him to be..Want him to be nice, empathetic and polite, fine.. Want him to be a total cock and be rude, arrogant and a knobhead, then also fine!

Tommy Vercetti - "GTA Vice City"
Tommy does a bit of time for the Mafia and when he gets out, they repay him by sending him down south to manage things there, however he becomes too big for them to handle so try to bring him down to size. Voiced by Ray Liota, Tommy is a character not to be understimated and comes out with some funny stuff!

Cole Phelps - "LA Noire"
On the surface, Cole seems like a normal person.. Career minded, kind hearted person with a loving wife at home, but actually turns into a bit of a knob and in the end makes the ultimate sacrifice.. His journey through the various cases we control him, you grow to like him and stuff that happens surprises you!

Well there we have it.. my favourite gaming characters... You may agree or disagree with these of course, but leave comments with your favourite characters and why!

Thanks to Ted for suggesting this topic!

Stu

Its been a while but here's an update!

2012-04-29T12:45:00.003-07:00

Well its been nearly 2 months but a lot of things have been going on in those 2 months.. I had a trip to Prague which I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as a trip of a lifetime to Barcelona to watch FC Barcelona play a game at the Nou Camp, which I went to with Rob, my brother. Totally awesome!

Anyway, on a gaming front, here's an update on what I've been playing lately!

I've been playing a lot of Fifa Ultimate team, and even recently, the new DLC: Euro 2012, Specifically Expedition mode.. In Expedition mode, you start off with a random team of players, generally around the level 55-65 and you have to play each of the 53 teams available in the DLC. For the first time you beat a team, you get given a random "Reserve" player from that country who can you either keep or discard, based on his stats. The 2nd time you beat a time, you get given a random "Substitute" player to keep or discard, and when you beat that team a 3rd time, you get a random "First team" player and eventually you will have a decent team. I quite like the concept of it, so I'll keep playing it!

Trials Evolution has also come out, and I must admit, I've spent far too much time on it. Its the sequel to the hugely successful "Trials HD" but this time you move out of the warehouse of Trials HD and into the open world. The tracks are tricky, look good and overall, its massively massively addictive. The multiplayer side of it is hugely fun too.. I've even created a couple of tracks and uploaded them so check them out :D

I managed to get my hands on Battlefield 3 pretty cheap yesterday so I've been playing that a bit, and surprisingly, I dont suck at it.. Granted I had to pay a few quid to buy an online pass as it was a preowned copy but its worth it.. I can't believe I've not bought it until now!!

Today I discovered the delights of the demo "Sniper Elite V2".. You play a WWII sniper and the demo has you working your way down a few streets to plant explosives on the route of an armoured convoy. The thing that sets this apart from other shooters is that if you score a kill shot with a snipe, you will see the bullet leave your gun and in slow motion will show you exactly where it hits... You will generally get an X-Ray image of the body and see what damage the bullet does.. I've had quite a few shots where its gone straight through the eye socket and out the back of the skull... Nothing makes you go "OHHHH" like a good shot to the brain! haha... Definitely will be lovefilming this as I cant get enough of the kill cam :D

Over the next few months I imagine it will be more of the same for what I've been playing as I am hopefully going to be moving to a new place.... so fingers crossed!

See you all soon!! Also, still looking for more guest articles so let me know :D

Stu

What I've played (Saturday 3rd March)

2012-03-04T01:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick round-up of what I've played for Saturday 3rd March:

Fifa2012
Again, I've been doing some more "Be a pro" mode, which is going pretty well... My pro is at Chelsea and we are 9 points clear at the top of the league.. Will be interesting to see who wants my services at the end of my 4th Season as a pro, after stints at Basel and PSG & now Chelsea.. Maybe Barcelona bound, who knows?? You can tell this game isn't realistic though, because Fernando *I couldn't even score in a brothel* Torres is 2nd highest scorer in the league.. Pffft!

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
This came from Lovefilm today, I hate assassins creed with a passion and it wasn't until I was getting nagged constantly by Minkey Monkey (only kidding minks, it wasn't constant...) that I thought about getting it, to give the online multi-player a go as I've seen various video's on YouTube with on-line gameplay footage, and I'd never been able to figure out how they could tell who was after who... So I gave it ago, and although I did shockingly bad, I still managed to get up to rank 7... Not sure if its one I'd buy, but for a rental its not *too* bad... Always satisfying when you stalk your target and plunge a knife into the back of their neck... Or if you are Minkey, walking past (me usually) and dropping what could of been a silent but deadly fart and poisoning me to death... Overall I'd say its worth a rental, but wont be doing the single player!

Driver: San Francisco
I'll be honest, I really hated the demo of this game. I loved Driver 1 on the old PlayStation, was a fab game... but when I played the demo of this, Ugh, it was horrible... The main USP of this is that you can "shift" between different cars whilst driving, to teleport into their car and control the driver, I thought was a horrible premise and I thought the demo was awful... This is another one of my Lovefilm rentals, and I have to admit, the demo really didn't do it justice because the game feels a totally different experience, the shifting premise actually works, and I love the handling of the cars! It also gives you the ability to have car chases reminiscent of the ultimate all time best car chase - "Bullit" starring Steve McQueen, which was actually set in San Francisco... I've only played this for an hour or so, but I'm really really enjoying it, and will certainly consider purchasing this :)

Will no doubt be doing more gaming Sunday, so watch this space :)

Guest article......

2012-02-29T09:41:00.002-08:00

Ok, so I asked the other day if some people could write a short article for the blog.. Anything, as long as its gaming related, and today I had my first submission... So, without further faffing about, Please say Hi to Minkey Monkey....

Why I game.

Hey folks, I'm Minkey Monkey or Minks... but I'll pretty much respond to anything lol. Stu asked if I'd write a little piece on gaming. Now I'm not really any good at reviewing etc so I try to stay clear of that as a general rule but I thought I'd have a crack at something. After a little thought I have decided to let you know why I game.

I could say it started from an early age and that I was hooked instantly, but I'd be lying. Yes I did have a sega way back when and did spend alot of time on Alex Kidd but it wasn't essential, I preferred reading a good book. It wasn't until I discovered RPG's that I REALLY got into gaming. The first was FF9. It hooked me in straight away. It was like having a book on my screen that I could interact with and to top it off it looked amazing! I know people gripe at the length of cut scenes but I love them! I don't care if it's 20 seconds or 20 minutes! It seemed I finally found a game I could get into! Full on submersion, escapism... and that's exactly what I'm after when I game, now I have branched out and will play FPS, puzzles, arcades etc but RPG's are what started me off. I love getting lost in a back street, jumping across buildings, killing Templar knights, hunting for cogs, trying to sneak past the witch (left 4 dead... those witches seriously freak me out!). For some people gaming is about being the best, getting those achievements or trophy's, completion etc, but for me it's all about escaping the real world, even if it's only for half an hour. It's as simple as that.

I'd try to write more but at the moment I'm full of cold and it makes being coherent a challenge so I'll leave it there and maybe, some time I'll try my hand at writing again.

Toodles.

Massive thanks to Minkey for stepping up to write a little article on why she games. I'm sure this kind of thing is similar to many of you...?

Stu

What I've been playing

2012-02-28T23:05:00.001-08:00

Last night I had an unexpectedly free night so thought I'd catch up on a little bit of gaming..

Thought I'd start off by doing a couple of matches with my "Be a pro" character on Fifa 2012, nothing significant... Then thought I'd do a bit of the "Ultimate Team" mode.. Now this has been my favourite addition to the last few carnations of Fifa. Its basically a mode where your team is built up of player cards that you have won via the in-game auction house, or buying packs of cards.. There are big numbers of each player, and each card has a formation that the player works best in. My team is always a good old fashioned 4-4-2 formation, so naturally I only keep/play players who have a 4-4-2 formation.

I decided to do an online game with my 4-4-2 team, and I was amazed that I won 2-1 (As I'm crap at it, and hardly ever win! hahaha) but the goal my opponent scored (around 90th min) was the same kind of goal that I always concede since Fifa 2010 and thats where the opposition player runs with the ball into the box, and then does a skill trick, to cut inside and always, always uses a finesse shot (a placed, curled shot, instead of power) and it annoys me! This is one of the reasons I like Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (PES2012) better as there is no finesse shot, and for me, it just plays better.

After my win, I decided to have a go on Battlefield 3 that the lovely people at Lovefilm had sent me.. Wanted to have a go on the online side of things but first there was a big 167mb update, and then it wanted me to install the HD content, and then there was another 2gb update... And then it wanted my online pass code details (Which I didn't have as its a rental) and I wasn't going to pay like £10 to get one.. so that was short lived! back to Lovefilm you go!

Then played a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops with my brother, on a Combat Training mission, which pitted me and my brother against 9 AI controlled enemies. For a laugh we decided to go all "Gangsta" and roll with Uzi's with the rapid fire attachment. This was fun, although the iron sights on those guns are shocking and we couldn't see bugger all while aiming down the sights! We ended up tomahawking people which is always fun!

Moved onto PES and I must say, this is the game I spend most of my "online time" on. The best thing in my view about PES is the fact I can do co-op with my brother against an AI controlled team. You cannot do this online on FIFA where its just 2 human v 11 AI, and this for me is a shame. Anway, I digress.. Barcelona vs Bayern Munich was the fixture, and seeing as they inflicted a 3-2 loss on us last time, we needed revenge. Did we get it..?? Pfffft, did we hell! I got Puyol sent off after 15 mins for a silly challenge and we ended up losing 2-1, to the most stupid goal ever! Ribery crossed the ball in from a corner and Gomez headed the ball.. Luckily we had a man on the post so he blocked it, but the ball dropped and bounced twice on the keepers back, he got up and smashed the ball into one of our players faces (unintentionally of course!) and it flew off him into the net! Bah!

Anyway, I have a few people interested in writing a couple of articles for you lovely people, so keep checking back soon!

Cheers
Stu

Borderlands 2

2012-02-27T12:22:00.003-08:00

I've recently been playing Borderlands with a few mates from work, and also over the last year or 2 with my friend Rachael.. Currently got a level 65 character and on playthrough 2 of all the DLC content for it, and its an absolute blast.

You can imagine my excitement when I saw this the other day:

Now normally I **Hate** dubstep music, as it annoys me and reminds me of Chavs on a bus, playing their music out loud, however, I love the music in this video, I went out and bought it on Itunes seconds after the video finished playing. I think the music fits in with the video and it really really adds to the whole thing, making it pretty much a perfect trailer in terms of what it aims to do.... Nice :)

I think this video has got me more excited for a game than any video I can remember in the last few years.

It shows that Gearbox and 2k software have really spent the last 3 years improving on what was already a fab game, and I for one, cannot wait for this to come out in September!

Do you guys agree..?

Stu

Relaunch time...

2012-02-26T03:56:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog but I thought I'd get back into it... I'm hoping to get some guest contributors to write an article or two, so watch this space More to follow later

What I've been up to lately...

2011-05-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Been gaming quite a bit in the last couple of months since my last blog, also been on a trip to Chicago to see one of my oldest friends which was amazing.

In terms of gaming, I have picked up the following - Shift 2, Dynasty Warriors 7, Brink, Lego Star Wars III and in the next couple of days I will have LA Noire! should be fun..

My thoughts on the mentioned games:

Shift 2 - Has some improvements over Shift 1, however, the level cap is set way too low at 20, which I achieved within maybe 8 hours of playing, and I was only 24% through the game. Also, mastering corners used to be a challenge in Shift 1, now you can do it, just by creeping round the corners at 5mph and as long as you stick to the racing line, it gives you the mastery for that corner. Apart from that, its a solid racer!

Dynasty Warriors 7 - A good button bashing hack n slash game, lots of customisation options, and all in all a good game you can pick up and play for half an hour

Lego Star Wars III - I love the Lego star wars games, but thats because I'm a star wars fan anyway, and this game was the last one I reviewed over at www.gsaddicts.co.uk. Plenty of levels (60) Plenty of Characters (100+) and quite a bit to do, that will take well over 30-40 hours to complete it 100%. A great game and a must for Lego games of movies

Brink - I am currently writing a review for this and as it stands, I am enjoying it.. There are some issues with it, but overall I think it is not a bad game

LA Noire - This will be epic if the hype is to be believed, and Rockstar didnt let me down with Grand Theft Auto IV, or Red Dead Redemption so I have high hopes for this!

Thats all from me, bye for now

Homefront

2011-03-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

After playing homefront for a few hours, I thought I'd post my thoughts on it. The story line is awesome, the opening intro to the story really immerses you into the game, with a plausible plot concept (N & S Korea unite into the Great Korean Republic) and get Japan to join them before occupying the USA

I enjoy multiplayer although I've only managed 5 games online in total as its broken (but a patch is on the way) and overall I think its a good game and I will be doing a review of it over at www.gamerscoreaddicts.co.uk in the coming couple of weeks so keep an eye out for it there.

Also, I am enjoying Black Ops with my brother, I seem to be getting really good at this, and am tempted to buy a HD PVR recorder, to put the games up. Watch this space!

Teebs

The return of T-Bo's gaming updates

2011-03-17T00:20:00.000-07:00

I know its been nearly 4 months since my last post but I've decided to come back to the whole blogging thing, as I decided I quite enjoyed it.

I guess the one thing that I've realised since my last blog is that I dont seem to be enjoying my gaming as much as I used to, and even though I've donated 16 games to the guys over at www.gamerscoreaddicts.co.uk I've still managed to end up with the same amount and there's a small pile of games that I've bought, but not even scratched the surface of:

Blur
Crackdown 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Far Cry 2
Vanquish
Castlevania
Bulletstorm

I tend to find myself playing the same few games (Call of Duty: Black Ops & Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, both in the company of my brother) and I buy more games to try to rekindle my interest but nothing seems to work at the moment. I'm hoping the imminent arrival of "Homefront" in my hands, any day now will help.

I have also re-found my enjoyment of writing game reviews and have done 4 since my last blog, including: Fight Night Champion, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Bros Wii, and Mario Kart Wii, and am currently doing "TNT Racers" on Xbox live arcade which will be up soon.

So I'm back!

Teebs

Fable 2

2010-12-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

I know I know, Fable 2 came out nearly 3 years ago so I'm a little behind.. I quite like the look of Fable 3 so I thought before I take the plunge with that, I best start on number 2...

Well, I am thoroughly enjoying it at the moment, I've married some woman who jilted someone years ago, I have a kid, I'm working my way up the woodcutting job (woohoo) and I'm on the road to find some heroes

The random sayings from strangers are quite funny, and it was quite a bit freaky having some guy "love me" while I was trying to chat up the woman next to him! lol

Worth a look and I'm looking forward to playing this some more!

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit - Full Review

2010-11-21T05:03:00.000-08:00

As most gamers who play racing games know, the last 7 years have been rather turbulent for the NFS series. The NFS “Underground” series put the franchise on a high, then, along came “Most Wanted” which pushed the franchise even higher, and since then, it’s gone downhill with “Carbon”, “Pro Street”, and “Undercover” with only “Shift” bringing some respect back into a failing franchise… EA knew they had to do something, so what did they do..? They decided to go back to what NFS was all about (Cops and Racers) and oh yes, they brought Criterion (of Burnout fame) so has it worked..? Let’s take a look.

The graphics in NFS: Hot Pursuit look pretty good, although it’s hard to admire the scenery when your buzzing past at 180mph, but lest we forget, Criterion are the masters at making things look great even at that speed! The cars look gorgeous, the tracks are well laid out with plenty of shortcuts on most tracks (even though some of them are intended NOT to be shortcuts, so you’ll need to be careful) and the crash replays are also well done, with your car taking damage based on how beat up it is. All in all its what you’d expect from a racing game

Sound in any racer shouldn’t be too difficult to do, and NFS is no exception, the cars sound superb and as they do in real life which people come to expect so that’s not a surprise. The sounds during the race are pretty good; you can hear a screeching noise when you scrape down the side of a rival car. Not sure what could be improved so it’s a thumbs up for me

Gameplay wise, I think this is the most fun since Most Wanted…The core of the gameplay centres around the career mode, where you be a Cop or a Racer but it’s not as simple as that. If you are a racer, the events are Duel (1 v 1, cops), Time trial (no cops), Race (no cops), Gauntlet (you vs. cops) and then Hot Pursuit where it’s you and the racers vs the cops…You have 4 weapons at your disposal that you gradually unlock – Spike Strip, EMP, Jammer and Turbo. As you progress through the Racer events you get upgrades to the weapons (spike strips become wider and longer, and eventually drop 2 in 1 go etc.) The cops are brutally difficult to shake off and in some of the later challenges, it can feel like the most frustrating thing in the world, but it’s not something that puts you off the game. The Cop mode features Interceptor (You trying to bust the racers), Rapid Response (Like racer time trial but any collisions cost you 2 seconds each onto your time) and Hard target (The racers have “wingmen” you need to get past before you can go for the main targets). Career also features autolog that is banded about as a “Facebook” addition to the game where any time you set on a track, is uploaded to autolog where friends can take on your time and try to beat it. It makes a good addition I feel.. The online mode is cops vs racers, and can be any combination… 7 cops, 1 racer, or even 1 cop 7 racers… the choice is yours!

Here is a short video explaining autolog:

People who like to whore achievement points will enjoy this game. I’ve been playing for about 15 hours in total, just doing the racer side of things and I’ve unlocked 480 points, and the full 1000 are easily achievable albeit with a bit of grinding, but autolog challenges of friends beating your times will keep you coming back for more which gives you more XP to level up, so 1000 points are well within the majority of peoples grasp!

My thoughts on this game are that I really enjoyed the racer side of things and have just scratched the surface of cop mode. If its anything like racer mode, I will love it.. Some of the racer mode challenges were quite tough in terms of getting the gold medals in each event, but worth it. The cops are persistent and there are times you feel like they are not bothering any other racer, just you… I would say this is more than a rental, and if you’re a fan of the old need for speed games, then this is a must buy. Hopefully some good DLC will be released to make this great game better! I think the only thing a lot of people will not like is the fact there is no car customisation at all, but to me, it doesn’t detract from it at all!

My score 8.5 out of 10

Fifa 2011 FULL Review

2010-11-13T03:38:00.000-08:00

Every year come October you can guarantee 2 things… Shops will start putting out all their Christmas stock, including some of them breaking out all the Christmas CD’s that end up driving everyone insane, and the latest war of attrition between Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer will start up again, reviving the age old debate of which is better… In this review, I will talk about the usual (graphics, sound, game modes etc.) and I will wax lyrical about my likes/dislikes… So where to begin…. Let’s start with the graphics

You get the sense of feeling that you are looking at Fifa 2010 as there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference, so although it looks all nice and shiny, there haven’t been any REAL innovations graphically for the last couple of years. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t look good because boy it does, and it gives you what you know and expect from an EA sports game. You can instantly recognise a lot of your favourites, like Rooney, Drogba & Ronaldo. My dad even thought he was watching a live game on TV he thought they looked that realistic which is high praise indeed from someone who has no interest in gaming so it just goes to show that EA have the graphics bang on but I wish there was something…. more… but I can’t quite put my finger on what.

Again like the graphics the sound could well have been lifted straight from Fifa 2010 but having said that, there isn’t really much they can improve on so I’ll let them off on this occasion. You have the usual commentary team of Andy Gray & Martin Tyler (which is probably what made my dad think it was on TV…) and they do a good job of keeping up with the action but they do sometimes start rambling on about stories, and when you have an attempt on goal during the story, they don’t even acknowledge it. but that’s a minor issue and not game breaking. There is a new feature this year though, and that is the ability to customise the music and chants you hear. This enables you to make changes to what music your team comes out onto the pitch to, and if you have music stored on your hard drive, you can use these (I would be tempted for a laugh, to get my team coming out to the song “Gay Bar”) and you can customise the chants too. I’ve not had a chance to delve too deep into this but it is a nice little feature.

The gameplay has changed from Fifa 2010, in terms of the new “Personality plus” system which basically displays a players unique emotions on the field and some great and unique shooting, dribbling and passing skills. This feature works only for the stars players of course, because they couldn’t have done that for thousands of anonymous players. Ronaldo/Messi have great ball control, Scholes will be good at long passes etc. It makes things like passing/shooting/tackling much more interesting as you suddenly think “Hang on, xxxx isn’t that good shooting from distance in real life, so I’ll try to pass it”. Also, the AI now joins in, during celebrations which make things a bit more realistic. Simple things like that please me! The following video is from the Fifa team, showing you what personality plus is all about.

In terms of modes, you have the standard choices (Exhibition, tournament etc.) but EA have really pushed the bar this year as for the first time in a next gen Fifa/PES game, you can be a goalkeeper. You can practice doing this in the arena mode and it doesn’t seem that bad, but take it into a 15 season career… Be prepared for a shock. It’s really not easy and takes some real time and effort to start to become good. Also be prepared (depending on the difficulty) to not do a lot during the games as the AI seems to battle it out in midfield for the most part. One positive thing is with the inclusion of goalkeepers, you can now do a full 11 v 11 online team play which can lead to some pretty high scores if you have someone in goal that is rubbish…. Be a pro: Seasons from Fifa 2010 has returned but it has been merged with Manager mode where you can partake in a 15 year career mode, as a player, manager, or player manager (you can even become player manager by becoming a club legend as a player) and is pretty similar to last year’s manager mode albeit with different menu’s. Ultimate Team makes a return for its 3rd appearance and this time… It’s Free. Yes... Free. This is virtually the same as last year’s offering (all the menus are the same and in the same order) however, this time you can play a friend and his ultimate team, against yours so let the bragging begin!

As for achievements available, you can get around 160 for a few hours’ work of just playing the game normally (Score from inside the box with a player with the Poacher Speciality, that kind of thing) but a few of the achievements can take a lot of grinding and to get the final 100 points, you need to play for 50 hours… So the achievements are do-able as they seem very similar apart from a few, from last year’s effort.

There are a few things that really bug me about this game: My surname (Cowie) isn’t available as a commentary name for my virtual pro, yet there is a player for Watford (Don Cowie) and they say Cowie when he gets the ball so I know the name is on there, so why can’t I use it….? The AI team-mates if you are doing a virtual pro career as a player are awful. They attempt to take on every player, with a skill move and 8 times out of 10 they will lose the ball. They don’t always pass, even if you are in the clear, and end up losing the ball so that’s a BIG let-down for me. Also along the career mode (if you are just a player) if you get promoted, your AI team will remain the same so as an example if you got Exeter City into the Premiership from League 2, the AI will never buy any new players so you are playing Premiership teams with league 2 players. This was the same in Fifa 2010 and I’m surprised that this has not been addressed.

Overall, I feel this is Fifa 2010 with an expansion pack on it, with nothing major that is new (with the goalkeepers being the one main exception) and the flaws that I have mentioned, for me, spoil things for me, and although it is a good game, it has the potential to be better than what it is.

I am going to award Fifa 2011 a Score of 7 / 10

PES2011

2010-10-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

I played PES2010 only on co-op with my brother and we thought we'd take the plunge and get 2011 when it came out..

I havent done any single player yet, just co-op, and here are my initial thoughts...

First thing to notice on this is the passing.. it takes some getting used to, because its so easy to just pass the ball to no-one and then get frustrated because its almost impossible to pressure the opponent off the ball.. yet, they can do it to you so easily!! Also, the shooting is so random... Since when, in real life, has Jermaine Defoe been 8 yards from goal, and hammered it miles over the top with only the keeper to beat... ? it happens a lot in PES, even if you just tap the shoot button... I guess its something that needs getting used to, but at the moment, I'd rather stick with Fifa and the crap teammates!!! lol

Saying that, however, it is a step up in terms of graphics and gameplay from the previous pes's so I'd say definately a rental and see how you get on...

Fallout: New Vegas

2010-10-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Fallout 3 consumed nearly 100 hours of my life without me doing everything there was to do, but thats fine, I loved it... So along comes a side game, Fallout: New Vegas..

It's set alongside Fallout 3, but in a different part of the US (as the name suggests, Vegas) instead of Washington DC.

You start off watching a cutscene which ends up with someone getting shot in the head.. turns out it's us... We wake up in Doc Mitchells office who takes us through the character creation and points distribution stages of the game.. then your off into the world...

Only put an hour or so into this at the moment, but loving it... Its basically fallout 3, but with additions (mods for weapons, different bullet types for each weapon, workbenches to create various items (way more than in F3)

Get it if you loved Fallout 3....

Mafia 2

2010-10-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

I went back to this the other day because my brother was visiting and had never played it.. From the minute he put it in, he loved it...

Mafia is set back in the 40's and 50's.. You play italian-american Vito Scaletta and the intro starts off with you being a bit of a rebel, with your friend Joe in your early life and you get caught doing a petty robbery.... You end up being sent to Italy during the war, and you take control of a little level from there....

you end up coming back to the United states, and need a job...this is where Joe makes a return who sets you up with all manner of things to do

The story is great, the conversations between characters are good and downright funny at times...

Its like GTA in the 50's and its really well done... I know it got mixed reviews but I thoroughly loved it.. Its possible to get over 700 of the 1000 gamerscore available, by completing the game, and getting the bonus objectives for the missions...

Well worth a look I would say!!!

World of Tanks

2010-10-24T02:15:00.000-07:00

Recommended this by a friend at work.. basically, world of tanks is a free to play MMO but is currently in Beta testing (which I managed to get involved with)

Basically, the premise of world of tanks is to take your tank onto the battlefield and either destroy all the enemy players, or capture their base.. at the moment the only game mode is standard 15 v 15 battle (destroy or capture) and currently there are numerous tanks you can choose from, and in the full game there will be over 150 tanks to choose..

Each battle you gain experience points, that you can use to research upgrades to your tank (bigger gun, better engine, suspension etc) and your crew also level up in terms of how well they do their jobs..

World of tanks will be available to all by end of the year.. Have a look!

Fallout 3

2010-10-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

In preparation for Fallout: New Vegas that comes out 22nd Oct, I thought I'd finish one of the DLC's for Fallout 3... Operation Anchorage..

The premise of this DLC is that its a training simulation, and the communist republic of China have invaded the USA through Alaska, and your set different objectives.. Destroy fuel depot, disable pulse field etc... When you kill people, they disappear, and they dont drop weapons, but thats fine cos its a simulation and there are ammo and health dispensers dotted about the place..

Upon completing the missions, a nice 40g Achievement popped up.. yay.. so I am currently running at around 1000 out of 1500 gamerscore for fallout but not sure I will get the other 500... as its all to do with Karma etc..

Loving this game spent nearly 100 hours on it altogether so far :)

Guitar Hero: Metallica

2010-10-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

I was waiting for GH: Metallica like an excited kid at Xmas for 8 months before release, and played a few tracks here and there from March 2009 to now.. but today, I thought that I would finish off career mode..

I had 14 songs left to do, so I decided to suck it up and nail them all... Took about an hour or so to do, and got 80 achievement points from it today, which was quite cool

Now I have guitar hero syndrome (seems like the tv is moving and its quite trippy! lol)

F1

2010-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my last post, I signed up to the F1 championship on Ruffians of gaming, and the first round of the championship is a time trial around Canada's Montreal venue, with the participants getting 1 week to put in their fastest lap time.. I must of done easily over 100 laps trying to get my time in.

The benchmark was set at 1:13.3 and after the days racing, I was sitting pretty at 1:11:589 which has me at number 93 in the world, and so far, ahead of the rest of the ruffian crew... so I'm quite happy with that.. I know I can beat it, as my fastest lap did include a bit of sloppyness around a couple of corners so I can get it under 1:11.5 I think... so thats my aim for the next few days...

I will keep you posted :o)

More F1 2010

2010-10-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

After watching today's Japanese grand prix, I decided to jump on the game.. Thinking I'd do practice/qualifying for the next GP in my season, Catalunya, but I forgot I hadn't done the Shanghai race, with qualifying out of the way, and I was on pole...

So the lights went red one by one, and then I put pedal to the floor as the 56 lap race got underway... by the first corner, I had been overtaken by one of the Red Bull's... but I stuck to him for a few laps and he ran wide on the 2nd to last corner, which allowed me to overtake him, and I never looked back.. Had a couple of hairy moments where I spun, but luckily I was far enough ahead to recover, and I went on to finish the race, 1st with a time of 1hr 33m...

A good hour and a half of racing methinks... I've also signed up to a F1 racing season, on http://ruffiansofgaming.forumotion.com/forum.htm so we'll see how that one goes...

Modern Warfare 2

2010-10-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I like to do a lot of co-op stuff with my brother, and we thought we'd do some more special ops on MW2.. We've previously done a lot of them, but we needed more stars to unlock Echo class challenges..

First off on the list was Wardriving... We had to breach 3 houses and basically steal info from a laptop, in each house.. with an armoured anti personnel troop carrier going down the middle of the road to support us.. but it can only attack what we tell it to... Surely the people shooting at us would dictate that..? and its hard to lase a target when people are trying to cap our arses! anyway, after numerous infuriating attempts (on regular....) we finally managed to do it.. 1 star out of 3.. yay! lol

2nd on the agenda was Overwatch.. We had done it on regular so decided to try it on hardened.. My brother was in the AC130 and was raining death on the baddies... last time we tried the mission, we did regular in 41 seconds which was quite impressive.. so on hardended, after a few attempts, getting to know the route etc, I managed it in 1 min 30 seconds... so we tried on veteran... it took a few attempts because I was getting sloppy when clearing building interiors... but.. after about 10 attempts, managed it in just under 3 mins which I'm quite happy with.. We now only need 6 more * to unluck echo... only taken a year since MW2 came out to get this far but never mind!! hahaha

Proof that co-op is fun!

Stu

T-Bo has a bit of a rant...

2010-10-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

Ok so you've probably read my initial thoughts on Fifa 2011 so after playing half a season in career mode, and a few games of other modes, I have a couple of things to say about it.

One thing that really bugs me about this game: There is a player for Watford called Don Cowie. The commentators say "Cowie" when he is on the ball etc, proving its on the game, SO WHY CAN I NOT SELECT "COWIE" AS THE NAME COMMENTATORS CALL MY CREATED PLAYER BY?!?!? It was the same on Fifa 2010. Fifa 2010 Word Cup on the other hand, allowed me to choose Cowie as a name... so I don't understand why I can't on Fifa 2011.

The AI is still appalling whilst doing career mode..They dont often pass it, instead trying to run or trick the player heading straight for them... who inevitably wins the ball 8/10 times.. Even when I'm free in space and hammering the pass button like its going out of fashion, they still attempt to imitate Messi.... FAIL

Another thing I have noticed.. Because my created player is now considered a "Key" part of the team, I get selected for every match, which is not a problem normally, but it is an issue considering you have stamina/fatigue levels to contend with... I have seen it numerous times that my player is totally knackered after a game, and before the start of the next game, it shows my stamina/fatigue level as red... the manager says " I know your fitness level is really low but we need you for this game" and by the first 20 mins of the game, my player is virtually on his arse with no energy, which means I can't run past players, I cant find open space to get away from my marker, and yet the manager still is set on playing me... and by the next game, I'm knackered within 5 mins of the match starting...Come on Mr Manager, no-one is stupid enough to do it in real life, so don't do it in a game!!

Ok rant over for now!