Dead Island review

My thoughts on Dead Island:

Finally a game I was waiting for (almost 4 years?!). In many reviews Dead Island is compared to Left for Dead; well I have to admit I haven't played any Left for Dead at all, so I can't tell if it's better or worse (most say worse). First I'll try to describe it:

It's something like a mix of Resident Evil + Crysis + Fallout + Diablo 2. Resident Evil because of the different Zombies; Crysis because of the Island; Fallout because of the freedom in the world and Diablo 2 because of the items and the hacking and slaying + collecting.

You shouldn't search for a deep story - because the story is more like Contra for example - just kill everything. Which means it's more of a Ko-op game. So don't play alone and go get 3 friends.

Besides [playing it for "free" online, is pretty easy].

Now some details:

You can choose from 4 different characters, each of them has his own speciality and a 3 unique skilltrees. There is a huge variaty of weapons and modifications - baseballbat + nails = nailed baseballbat!!!! - from a Katana to a Sledgehammer to a machine gun; there is everything and they have different unique levels.

So if you think a (almost) free world RPG Ko-op Zombie slaying game is something for - it's Dead Island.

But now some disadvantages:

Well as said, there is no real story. The graphics aren't really great (maybe a little bit worse then Far Cry 2?). It somehow can get boring, because you're really just hacking and slaying like a retard the whole game through. Can't think of anything negative right now.

So, I hope I could help you with your decision of playing this game - see you next review.

Next time, I'll try and hack my Wii again (Letterbomb) and I'll try some Wii games (Xenoblade, FatalFrame 4, the calling).

ARMA 2: Free review

My thoughts on Arma2: Free

Sorry for not reviewing anything new, but it'll take some time until there's something worth reviewing (for exmaple Dead Island; A10 Warthog). So for now, I'll just review something older which isn't so well known. Not everyone is aware, that there is a Free Multiplayer Version of Arma 2. First of all that's pretty awesome, but of course there are some disadvantages you should know.

If you don't know Arma2 or Operation Flashpoint or Bohemia Interactive in general, you're most likely female, underage, both or one of those Call of Duty / Battelfield retards who think, that's how real war looks like herp derp - konsols are best! Well Arma 2 is a military-simulator - so not some other FSP. Most likely you'll just die from one shot and you'll probably have no fucking idea were it came from. If you're lucky and survive a hit, you'll probably just bleed and roll around on the ground crying for a medic for the rest of the game.

So the obvious advantage is, it's free! Second, it's pretty fun as a multiplayer game, for example playing a special ops mission with some friends.

But there are some ugly disadvantages. Worst of all, you most likely wont get the graphics and/or performace you'd like to have. My PC is 5 years old, so it's not that surprising for me, but an i7+GTX 560 isn't much of a help either!! + the free version has crappy textures (well it's free).

Secondly, well it's a multiplayer version, so there is only 1 single player mission and 2 benchmarks.

So, that's about it - the mission editor could probably be interesting for you - or at least it's interesting because there are many extra maps/fun maps.

Deux Ex: Human Revolution review

My thoughts on Deus Ex

Well finally I was able to just start playing yesterday (the whole day through). And my very first impression was 'boring'; but it gets better with the time. So now I'm past the first Boss encounter and now the games is becoming real fun.

The whole game feels a little bit like FPS-Mass Effect with some elements of Fallout, Bioshock and Splinter Cell - so it must be fun at some point.

The story isn't bad, but it could be a little bit more thrilling or more dramatic dunno - even though I'm not that type, but I think it lacks some emotions. The gameplay isn't really new, so you get used to it quickly; shoot peoples head or sneak behind them, then trigger 'Q', hide bodys, job done.

That's about the most negative I could find + two bugs (a corpse and a basketball fell through the ground).

What I really like, is the dialog system! You wont believe me, but it's somewhat better than Mass Effect for example. In most situations you can actually controll the conversation and you can't just make good(blue) and bad(red) decisions - you really just make your own decision.

What's almost better is the difficulty! I really love the difficulty - I heard it fits your skills dynamically?! Not sure if that's true, but it feels like it. The first Boss encounter was really difficult but still wasn't frustrating. Maybe he was difficult because he had a gattling-arm and I was specialised on hacking?!

So, I'd say, go get the game - it's not ultra innovative but still pretty fun - and you can't tell that from the last games of this year!

I'm back

Sorry to anyone who follows me, that it took so long for my next post.
Well first of all, I had a lot of studying; second, my Computer is somehow wounded (my CPU becomes 82°C even with my ne huge fan on it); well and third, all the time there were no fucking games worth to review?!
I tried some Witcher 2, but this is the first game, which is just to heavy for my old computer.
I played some Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition - not much to review here, it's somewhat the same as normal SF4, just lots of new Chars.
But hopefully I'll get my hands on the new Deus Ex today or tomorrow and I'll try to give you all one of my honest reviews.

See you tomorrow.

The Witcher Review

My thoughts on the witcher

 First of all, sorry to all my followers for waiting so long, but I had some major changes in life and simply had no time for playing games and therefor no time for blogging.

So, after crapping my pants with Amnesia, I've been searching for something more relaxing - a role-playing game perhaps?! On my search I found the new Trailer and gameplay for 'the witcher 2' and remembered I allways wanted to try this one, just forgot it everytime.

Positive thoughts:

The first thing I like is; the game seems pretty huge - it took me almost 2 days to get to the near end of chapter 2 - and there are like 7 chapters (5 chapters+proloug+ending). The areas/cities are pretty big as well - without becoming similiar. Also very important - even though you have to walk a lot, it's not that annoying.

The story is solid. All quests (primary or side quest) are thought through properly and you even have to THINK sometimes (W T F? thinking???). But all in all the story isn't really ground breaking - but at least not bad.

What I really like - are the minigames and side quests going along with those games. You can win some money pretty easy with boxing some guys in the tavern or you play some dice-poker(yahtzee?!). There are also some hard to find dialogs and quests with (for example) normal looking citizens - most of them ending with sex...

Somehow in the whole game you won't find the normal sensation of allways finding better equip - but it's fun to search for weapon improvements/recipies/trophies/other secrets.

Negative thoughts:

The biggest pile of crap in the game - is the fighting system! You fight, by simply clicking + pressing some spells... that's it. I can't explain why I don't like it (because at some point it's like the Gothic series - which I actually like), but it's really boring and lame (and I'm normally not the Micheal Bay-games type!).

The second worst thing in the game is the skilltree! The options are extremely limited - put some points in strength and some in the sword fighting tree and some points in magic.. done. Absolutely NO combinations or any opportunities for building something unique! Which gets to the next point.

It's NO role-playing game!!!!! You're the goddamn witcher.. that's it!

So for everyone who is waiting for 'the witcher 2' - playing 'the witcher' first probably isn't that bad, somehow it's definitely fun.

Amnesia review

My (scared) thoughts on Amnesia

During my search for a good Horror-game for the Wii (Calling), instead I found Amnesia - The Dark Desent (PC).

Well and I have to say, this is the most intense fu**ed-up Horror-survival I have ever played. I played some Resident Evil parts, Doom 3, the Stalker series, Dead Space 1+2 and I thought all of them (especially Stalker) are pretty much rape. BUT there is one big difference between all those games and Amnesia.. you don't have a fucking gun! It's only human flesh vs. claws!

This means you can only run away. Oh I forgot to mention, you have to solve puzzles AND run away.

Meanwhile your vision will get blurry if you're to long in the dark.. you'll hear steps behind you and lots of other disturbing noises.

That's pretty much everything that counts - there's nothing to complain about the graphics or the gameplay, also it's not completly full of scripted shit like FEAR.

So, if you like screaming alone in your dark room, you'll need Amnesia.

Pro tipp: Play alone - loud - headphones - night - extreme dark. (Turn the Gamma down and the Soundvolume up until your pants start getting warm and smelly!)

Assassins Creed Brotherhood (PC) review

My thoughts on Assassins Creed Brotherhood

Sorry for letting all followers wait so long, but it took me 2 days for the first playthrough (not 48h) and I had some work to do.

So first of all, my expectations were somehow extremely low. I actually thought it's mainly focused on some crappy Multiplayer-mode and wouldn't take part in the actuall story in single-player. Well I'm glad it's the absolute opposite.

It really only is Assassins Creed 2.5 but the story (which for me is the best part of the game) actually is important and worth playing. The story is also incredibly detailed and almost correct - DaVinci was really working in Rome at that time - the whole story around the Borgia is correct (even though the incest is only old gossip). The probably biggest flaw (of course after the whole Assassin stuff) is, that Macchiavelli actually was an admirer of Cesare Borgia and not an enemy.

WARNING - little Spoiler - The game isn't really that long - it's brutally lengthened with Achievements and billion tons of crap to gather and search. The whole game you'll only be around in Rome NO where else!!! The only thing worth gathering is the Brutus Armor - it looks cool and is (I think) the best you can get - also the quests you have to do, to get the Armor are really nice. All in all AC-B has lots of Indiana Jones parts in it somehow, which I really liked. Of course I don't have to add anything to the gameplay, there's really nothing else (or not much)

So guys... if you liked the first two parts, you'll really like this part, the story isn't bad, the quests are nicely thought through (even the small ones); so it's up to you, if 2-3 days of fun are worth the money.

Also thanks to everyone for the suggestion on games I should review - I'll come back to them late, but I allready found 1-2 new games I'd like to review, but first I have to get them somehow (Fatal Frame 4 for Wii - I'll need a working iso + english Patch)

Coming reviews?!

I'm planning on playing a little bit Assassins Creed Brotherhood (even though it's not the newest game right now). So I'll make a review about this one. But after that I'm a little bit thoughtless right now. I'd be glad about any suggestions from my loyal readers.

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.