Crysis 2 review

My thoughts on Crysis 2

Just started playing Crysis 2 yesterday and I'm somehow disappointed.

First a few things I like:

Well the graphics, design and environment are just amazing (most of the time).

Yeah that's about it.

What I dislike:

The story and the missions are just retarded and sometimes it smells like Call of Duty - press F to pick up this, press win to win the game. You don't even have to listen to anyone talking to you, just open your new vision, which explains you where to go and what to do. I'm sure EA believes its customers only have an average IQ of 70 or something. (We all know it's not the first game EA raped after the first part was a success - see my Dragon Age 2 review)

Well at least I found 2-3 situations where you actually could think for yourself and for example kick a car on some enemys to do it the fast way - but that's it.

As said the graphics are breathtaking once more.. but there are a few flaws. You can only switch your graphics to three different modes (yeah EA thinks you're even to dumb for that). I'm not sure if it's me and/or my PC but on 'hardcore' graphics-mode the motion blur and bloom is just way to much. The motion blur paints somekind of shadow around objects and npcs and the bloom makes even trash shine like the sun. But I have to admit sometimes I almost thought I was watching CGI and not playing a game.

So if mindless shooting and lots of graphics is enough for you, go get it.

Well I'm going to play some more (even though it gets boring after one hour), maybe I'll find something to add in my review.

Don't forget about Japan

Help Japan?

Well as friend and fan of Japan, I was long thinking of helping somehow. But it's hard to find out how it's the best way; certainly praying won't do shit and there are rumors the Red-cross will just put your money in one bag with everything else, maybe landing in some country in Africa.

It's acutally really hard to help Japan, because they're also a very proud nation, so massive support in some way is actually offensive. But as proud a nation you can be, you'll still need food and water, which is getting spare at the moment. So my suggestion is, support those who are gratefull for everything and need it the most - the children. If you want to donate, go to:

SavetheChildren

Unicef

This will probably be the best way.

If you're just as worried as me, about Fukushima-powerplant, keep this site in eye:

Weatherstation Tokyo

This is an online weatherstation in Tokyo. So if you're concerned about Tokyo, don't watch the news; go to this site instead and my your own picture. It shows you wind-direction/speed and most important CPM (counts per minute). After the wind blew some of the radioactivity in the direction of Tokyo, this went up to over 50, since then, it went back to 20, up to 40 again and won't go under 20 again.

If you want to know more about CPM go here: vaughns-1-pagers

As you'll see 50 CPM isn't that dangerous, but at least it shows, that Tokyo in fact is/was affected.

I hope all of this helps you somehow and especially helps Japan. So please donate even if it's just 5€/$; that's allready some water and/or a meals.

3DS Review

My personal thoughts on the 3DS

Well, as said, I tested the 3DS today hands on for about 30 minutes. And well I'm not THAT convinced. It certainly met my expectations, but it's not that overwhelming that you go crazy and really need one.

So about the 3D without glasses:
It definitly is real 3D; but don't expect anything like an Imax-cinema 3D movie jumping in your face. It's more like you're looking into a small box behind the 3DS.. get it somehow?
Make sure your eyes are working and aren't somehow retarded! About 7% of the worlds population are probably unable to see the 3D, because you'll need two working eyes (glasses don't matter).
Sometimes if you're playing and focusing at a certain point you can loose the 3D somehow (at least that's what happend to me).

So much about the 3D vision. So far I played Super Street Fighter 4 and a little bit Pilotwings. As a Street Fighter fan I was especially exited about this one. Well you won't be able to play this at a high level or you're somehow crazy. As an Arcade Stick user playing a Street Fighter titel with my thumbs for the first time after a long pause was pretty much rape. And if you use the 3D view (a special mode), it gets ass-rape. The funniest thing about SSF4 on 3DS is, you can put special moves on a shortcut button on the touchscreen. This means you'll be able to perform Zangiefs Ultra with just one tip of a thump at any time - you can also use any move from any charge Char WITHOUT CHARGE!!! You know what this'll do? Standing-instant-Guile-Fukken-Flashkick out of nowhere!!! So if you thought normal Super Street Fighter 4 couldn't get more imbalanced.. just try this one! If somebody in the world will be able to play Gen properly on 3DS - HE CAN'T BE HUMAN! (Remember you only have 6 Buttons all in all!)

This sure sounds negative, but the 3DS for sure is fun. You can make 3D pictures. You can watch 3D movies and pictures with a SD-card - ooooh SD-card!! You know what this means right? It's the unofficial invitation from Nintendo to hack the shit out the 3DS and rape all 3rd party game publishers.
As a poorfag, I have to admit the 3DS currently isn't worth 222€ / 249$ at the moment. Just wait until it's hacked for sure / there are some good games (Zelda) / it's available in a cheap bundle or something.

Hope this was a help somehow.

Next, I'm up to Japan and the catastrophe - and then back to games.

Coming 3DS review

Nothing special today, but I'm going to test the new Nintendo 3DS sooner or later, which is out over here since yesterday.
I became very carefull with Nintendo since I bought the Wii without thinking through and I realised it was a utter (not complete) fail.
Really hoping it's not just for oldschool fanboys who'd play anything without complayning.

So.. I hope you're looking forward

I'm thinking of also making some posts tomorrow about Libya and the role of Europe. And as a big Japan fan, maybe about the earthquake/tsunami/nucular catastrophy and what's the best way to help somehow.

Shogun 2 review

 

My thoughts on TW Shogun 2:

As a huge Total War fan and a total Japan fan, I couldn't wait for this game. Especially because the only Total war game I never played was the first Shogun. The graphics are very similar to Empire TW.. well probably because it's the same engine; but the units seem much more detailed and more individualistic.

At first I wanted to start the campaign with the Oda clan, but this gets pretty hardcore, as you start in the middle of the map surrounded by enemies. So I switched to the Shimazu and became Shogun in 110 Rounds. Oldschool Total War gamers should start with difficulty hard, as the enemies are just to weak, even if they combine their powers against you.

Likes:
- Huge map (even though it's only Japan)
- Generals/Agents have a reasonable skilltree
- As allways very tactical (terrain has a bigger role now)
- Everything is very detailed and historically correct (as far as I can tell)

Dislikes:
- The variety of units isn't as big (as Rome for example; but well it's only medievil Japan)
- It's hard to use all diplomatic methods in some helpful way (other clans aren't very talkative)

All in all, this is a great new part in the Total War series; even though I haven't played the new and probably better online mode. If this review was somehow helpfull or simply interesting - feel free to follow

Dragon Age 2 review

My thoughts on Dragon Age 2:

First of all, it was fun enough for 2 playthroughs. But it simply isn't as good as Origins. You can actually feel the rape performed by EA (probably). There is much more action and it got alot simpler - so I believe you could say it was mainstreamed. The Elves and Qunari got a strange makeover (which I actually like, but it's still retarded somehow), a little bit like the Drenai in World of Warcraft (If you know the Drenai in WC3).
The gameplay has much more action, better fighting animation, nice spells, nice gore; the fighting simply makes more fun. But that's it allready. Most of the time you're only in Kirkwall. The story isn't deep at all. The characters have no real personality and not the Origins (or Mass Effect) depth. You can still make alot of different choices during the game, but you'll never get the feeling of really changing anything.
At first I played a male warrior, which is pretty much hack n slay fun. But as mentioned I was dissapointed by the game. So on the second playthrough I chose a female rouge and put the difficulty on hard. Keeping an eye open for achievements, setbonus armor and special side quests pushes the motivation alot. Setting the difficulty on hard or nightmare forces you to pause more often and think about tactics, the enemy, and possible class combinations.
I'm hoping for really good DLC and/or Addon.