Velk Reviews! Assassins Creed: Valhalla

I started this game the day it was released for the PS5 back in November 2020. It is weird thinking back that it was that long ago, but there we are!

I have played through the base games and the additional content in Ireland and France, taking me about 180 hours to play through. That is 180 hours of fun filled murderous satisfaction 😁. Let's break it down and discuss some of the key areas.

Gameplay:

The control system took a few hours to get my head around, but once I did it felt pretty natural. Character movement is somewhat different from the AC games of yore, but once I got used to the way Eivor (You!) moves, it felt natural. There are a few combat methods in the game, with sub 'methods' of each. 

Eivor can be set up as an out and out warrior, where they wade into the midst of battle wielding whatever combination of weapons you wish them to wield, one handed, two handed, dual wielding or sword and board. I found dual wielding was particularly fun, especially later in the game dual wielding a two handed weapon in each hand, you can carve your way through the ranks of enemies.

You can take a stealth approach (It IS Assassins Creed after all...) keeping out of sight or above your enemies, creeping about, using cover, and whistling at your enemies to draw them towards your cover and taking them down, sneaking up behind them for a silent takedown, or, death from above! Dropping from outside their line of sight onto them and eliminating them (And as an added bonus, I think with a perk, you can hurl an axe at a nearby enemy that has not noticed you to eliminate them too. Double takedown, heck yeah!)

Finally, you can do some archery. The archery system (especially with the PS5 haptic feedback triggers) is great fun, and there's 3 kinds of bows you can use. Light bow, Hunter bow and Predator bow. 

I thought the light bow sucked and just did not find an area I was happy using it.

The hunter bow was great for mid-ranged picking off of the opponents, lining up headshots for instant takedowns, and making use of the stealth system to maximise the effect.

The predator bow is a sniper rifle. Zoomed in sights, and the ability to use various shots including guiding the arrow in slow motion from first person to navigate around obstacles to try to take down the targets. Great fun!

Combat is interactive, there are ques if you pay attention on what the enemies are doing to react to, and the boss fights offer a good level of challenge but are not crushingly difficult to overcome, especially with practise.

Graphics:

On a high end system, they are gorgeous. The lowest end system I have seen this on is a PS5 in 4k, the details, the terrain, the lighting, all great! I particularly love as you travel around the different counties and areas, the terrain all looks slightly different, and they are in different seasons showing some passage of time, and the plant life that exists there is realistic to the area. I remember a tweet (An X? Whatever) from @MiracleOfSound when he was playing through the Wrath of the Druids expansion that was based in Ireland, that it was like being there, was gorgeous and super immersive! I am from the UK and am well travelled, and many of the areas I have been I would say are very similar to what they are in the game. Again, love it. 

Story:

No spoilers here, but the plot line is great. Starting from Eivors childhood you get an introduction to their past before picking up in Norway to start the game.The wider world events that are happening are relatively historically accurate. If you have ever watched The Last Kingdom, you might recognise some of the locations that are contested. Play the game, meet famous real life vikings and saxons, follow the plot, explore, pillage and raid. It is a sandbox game with a plot weaved through.

If your reading this and you have NOT played it. Go play it. Just, off ya go, go play! :)

-Velk

Unturned - Speed Review of the DayZ / Minecraft game.

I played Unturned for the first time last night, and I have to say, for a game that comprises of the most basic of graphics, it is an excellent and fun game. Taking elements of DayZ, where you start with nothing and have to scrounge everything to survive against the zombie hordes and remain 'unturned', and elements from Minecraft - the styling and crafting, it is a very interesting and rather intense game, at times. The impact and effectiveness of the game was immediate, and it was very simple to play, and better than it's appearance conveys.

Here is how my first few lives went:
My first life I walked into a town, and was promptly zombified in the back of a shop when it turned out that not only can these zombies run indoors, they are also a little faster than you and miss a LOT less than in DayZ... They also hit a LOT harder.

My second life lasted a little longer. I even got a rifle. I ended up being flanked by an un noticed zombie whilst hunting a deer, and was hit from behind for my last 10% health.

My third life seen me accrue a good inventory of weapons, start using the crafting system and the built in XP sytem to upgrade my attributes to better survive and combat the undead hordes. I then went ahead and assaulted the local military base, mowing down zombies left and right with a stolen car, gearing up, grabbing a Hum-Vee and spiriting away into the sunset.

FUN!
I have thus far only played single player. It is a tough little game, but is very thrilling... and gore filled! Let's just say a shotgunned zombie will paint the internal walls of a building liberally.

The game includes a few systems that work well, including crafting (Hang onto that last bullet because you will want to refill the clip using the crafting system!), and experience points. Feel like going on a Katana wielding zombie Murder spree? Go for it - you will get XP to spend on swinging that bad boy better! Whilst lives tend to be somewhat atomicised - when you die you lose everything, you still regain some of your skills that you have invested, and your corpse will litter the landscape somewhere to recover some of your equipment.

Recommended!
My suggestion: Get your asses on Steam and get this game downloaded and try it out. It is Free to Play (At least at the moment) -- I will be commencing a short series let's play shortly to see how well I do in this game before I look to hitting up a server with other players.

Flappy Bird. The Avian rage inducer!

Long time no post folks... thought I would come talk a bit about...

Yes, it's that new hit sensation: Flappy Bird, also known as: Mario Bird - probably due to all the goddamn pipes!

This little game is as simple as simple gets. The graphics are cartoony and pixelated, and remind me very much of Tiny Tower, another game that can be quite addictive. This game however has a crux... it is tough as balls!

Well, actually, it is NOT hard to play, but it requires lots of concentration and any tiny mistakes result in a bird pancake and a great big GAME OVER sign in your face. I first heard about it on the 31st of January by one person raging about the difficulty of it on Facebook. The 1st of Feb seen a half a dozen more people putting up pics of their 'epic 7 point score'! and various other rants. Yes, this game can be that tough. I myself have managed to break the 40 point barrier about 4 times, with the following snap being my highest score to date...

Yeah... I think I got this score whilst sat in a gridlocked traffic jam for 30 minutes, how many times I seen this game over screen is inconceivable!

(Click it... go on, you know you want to!!)

Anyway, this game was released almost a year ago by Vietnam based developer: Nyugen Ha Dong. You control a small bird that flaps its wings with each tap, halting any descent and propelling it in a consistent and predictable arc up into the air then back down. Your task is to Oscillate this little avian clutz through a randomly  generated sequence of Mario-Pipes. Hit one and it is game over. Supposedly there are multiple levels and difficulties, but I have not seen any way to choose to change anything, and have clearly not advanced far enough through the game to unlock anything. It is challenging, it is entertaining, frustrating and is probably one of the most Viral games I have seen.

What made this go Viral? It has been around for the best part of a year now. It may seem obvious, but with the release date on the Android Apps store of the 30th of January - I think this is what got the ball rolling, and social media (Facebook and Twitter, I'm looking at you!) done the rest. It took the podium for most downloads of January 2014, surpassing any Angry Birds or Candy Crush downloads, showing just how quickly this was picked up by the general populous.

I am left wondering how long until the apocalypse occurs, with millions of players indulging in some Flappy Bird (Or 'Fappy Bird' as one infuriated friend of mine called it), and then rage quitting when they are 2 points behind their best score from  flapping into a pipe in an anxious adrenaline fuelled mis-tap. It really is that easy to screw up, it is relentless. I think this effect us surely part of the key to its addictiveness. It is really quick to play a quick game or two, it is simple (My 5 year old son was in hysterics at watching the bird hit a pipe and dive-bomb into the ground with a splat.) and you get REALLY engrossed. Your heart races, your brow sweats, and BAM, you hit the second pipe every third game...

One last thought... I wonder just how much ad-revenue this free to play game generates from that little ad-banner at the top... People dont tend to click ads, despite how safe they are... but with so many people playing, the mis-clicks alone must be worth thousands!

Ok, enough ranting for now. Go download it if you have not already, you will likely regret it, but it will be a fun ride!

-Velk

Thoughts on GTA:V Launch

I posted a few months back >here< I posted some comments on the delay of GTA:V. I made some guesses (some might say attempted predictions) as to the outcome of the delay on GTA:V on the sales numbers.

Well, the figures are in, and the figures are huge. According to The Huffington Post, the game mae over a billion dollars in sales in the first few days, the highest sales figures to date, blowing even World of Warcraft and Call of Duty: Black Op's out of the water.

GTA has always been a popular series with the gaming masses, but I am curious as to just how much having the game delayed and letting the hype build made. The local 'GAME' store here had a midnight launch for the game, and by gawd... people cued for a good hundred meters around the high street. The ultimate irony is there was a Tesco express across the road where some people just walked in after midnight and picked it up immediately. No two hours of queuing for them. Mind you, its the experience I recon people do that for. The pure nerding geekgasm of it all :p

I also noticed claims when browsing from an analyst claiming that the games sales were very front loaded, and that we can expect a sharper than normal decline in the sales figures post release. Whilst this is technically bound to be true, the more of the buying population that have it, the less there are available to purchase it, they forget one thing: New console sales in 2 months time. I don't know about you, but I held off buying in favour of buying it once for the next gen of consoles that will be launched. I done the same thing with GTA IV myself, but my consoles blu ray drive has stopped working.

Anyway, just my little waffle :-)
-V

The Elder Scrolls Online

Soon this game goes to beta... I am not sure what to expect but I am looking forward to the game immensely. If I get into the beta I fully plan to share my experiences (within the conditions of the NDA) here :-)

Interestingly though, the world sounds like it is going to be MASSIVE. As in bigger than WOW massive, including its expansions...

More to come as I dig into what is out there :D

P.S enjoy some in game footage :)

Pay to play, pay to play more. Free to play gone mad...

Had this video linked to me from a friend. I couldn't agree more... I love the Free to play system, especially after working in a games company developing them about the time when the likes of Blacklight Retribution came out, and more recently: Planetside 2.

As for games that use the traditional gaming model, and then charge for additional in game content that sucks. (I'm looking at you Bethesda - Horse Armour?) But as mentioned here... games that you pay for then are pretty much pushed into spending more to get the proper gaming experience... to hell with that. I say just don't pay at all. They are essentially building a game that is broken or incomplete, and then making you pay to fill the holes... OCTAE*... ones that may be worth it, but they wont be core to the gaming experience, just cheap tag on's... but I don't see any.

*Of Course There Are Exceptions.

Xcom: Enemy Unknown Class Guide #1 - The Sniper

Welcome to the first of my Xcom: Enemy Unknown Tutorials! This tutorial will focus on the humble Sniper. Simultaneously one of the weakest and most powerful units in your Xcom arsenal.

My intention is to couple this with a YouTube video tutorial to show some of the points I am going to discuss here in a more cinematic and fun fashion. I will link it >Here< when it is completed.

First of all - lets discuss the available abilities! Unlike the original Xcom Defense/UFO Enemy Unknown  game that this is based on - the ranking system is not based on the soldier pool you have, it is experience based. This means that any soldier that survives long enough and does enough good work in the field can quickly earn promotion to the top rank. (Colonel)

Squaddie Abilities: Headshot
A pretty useful ability - it gives the agent an increased critical chance on the shot. Very useful against those armoured aliens that you need to take a chunk of health off of, or whom you would like to kill in one hit.It has a 2 turn cool down. Be careful when selecting when you will use this shot. Take note of the typical damage your rifle will do. If you think you will need more than this to take down the target, then go for it. It works well in conjunction with 'In the zone' and 'double tap' as for best effect the shots from those abilities will kill their chosen target so you can shoot at another straight after.

Corporal Abilities: SnapShot/Squadsight
Both abilities seem to be very good, but in actual fact - if you have a well balanced team, it is rare that Snap Shot will be more useful than Squad sight. Squad sight allows your snipers to sit in safety and pick off targets that your team mates uncover. This ability is particularly good when in overwatch when you expect your team mates to uncover aliens on the move as quite often, a reaction shot will kill an alien in the open before it can get hunkered down in cover. If you need to move your snipers - their pistols dont work with squad sight normally, but they do in Overwatch and depending on the pistol, your foundry upgrades, and wether or not your sniper has 'Gunslinger' (below) - the pistol can pack enough of a punch to kill weaker or weakened enemies, and the 'overwatch' area is seen as more of a dead zone from the AI (Notice how the enemy is less likely to advance when you have troops covering an area with their overwatch.... sometimes its useful to abuse this, even if you know you cant do anything if you were to trigger overwatch - its similar to suppression fire - the alien can waste their tmie doing nothing just to save from being wounded which can be a very important move if you have a weak or exposed trooper in their line of sight.)

There are of course advantages to Snapshot; your agent can move and fire their sniper rifle. This means they can relocate to get better shots at groups of hostiles giving In The Zone the potential to be a little more effective, but in order to do all this - you put your trooper on the front line. If you can see them, they can see you. Your sniper tends to be quite weak at point blank range which many aliens will be in, and they tend to have less health and weaker armour compared to other front line troops, e.g Assault. The best time to have Snapshot would probably be if your kill-team was quite weak and the support cannot be provided from other classes, e.g your sniper is your only surviving veteran, in which case getting in with the powerful gun and taking some names is a good thing. Of course, I still prefer to cower on the back lines and pick the enemy off one at a time.

Sergeant Abilities: Gunslinger/Damn Good Ground
This can be a bit of a tough choice. Gunslinger removes the weakness of close combat from your sniper. A good pistol with foundry upgrades means your pistols will be hitting about as hard as most of your other weapons. Damn good ground gives a little bit more of an edge to your sniping abilities. Especially with Archangel armour. The defensive side will rarely come into play unless your grappling up in the front lines, or your having a bout of last man standing with your sniper against remaining alien forces, in which event - your probably in more trouble than an ability will help with.

Lieutenant Abilities:Disabling Shot/Battle Scanner
Utilitarian abilities. Depending on what your other ability selections are, you may favour one over the other. Disabling shot diarms your opponent for a round - or until they reload. This is a very effective variant of suppressing fire, though it only affects one target it can be used to prevent a vulnerable soldier from taking a fatal hit from a nearbye enemy that is not likely to die this round. The Battle Scanner lets you throw a small object - akin to an electro-flare from days of yore, that will give you a display of the immediate area as if an agent were present. It does not trigger enemy 'spawns', and it can be thrown through doors. On many occasion, this can be very valuable. Both are pretty situational, but in the right situations can be a great utility. Choose wisely. Or do as I do - pack two snipers.

Captain Abilities: Executioner/Opportunist
I always lean towards Opportunist here. I use reaction fire a lot in the early turns or when I am expecting to trigger enemy 'spawns' so that I can get a couple of potential kills in before they break for cover. It becomes less valuable as you get the end-tier abilities of Double Tap or In The Zone but one shot in the open can be worth more than the others in some situations.

Major Abilities: Low Profile
Not really a choice - but if you have a sniper that needs to make use of cover, having any cover provide the full bonus is a nice advantage.

Colonel Abilities: In The Zone/Double Tap
Both of these abilities are AWESOME. I cannot emphasise just how good they are, and neither are a bad choice. Here is the breakdown. Double Tap allows you to take two shots. That's it, end of. If you run out of targets or ammo the second shot is wasted. In The Zone requires a specific set of circumstances to be met, firstly the target must not be in cover (yellow shield = Bingo. Get killing) And secondly the target must be killed with the shot in order to be able to move onto the next. Given the right circumstances it is possible to knock out 4 or 5 kills in a round with this ability. The chances of getting multiple kills are slim though, unless you strategise. I find that the ITZ sniper works best when paired with a Double Tap sniper. If the targets would take more than one shot to kill, two can feasibly be weakened into the ITZ snipers kill zone. Chances are by the time you get this ability your accuracy is going to be near or over 100%, especially if you throw in a scope and high ground/Archangel armour and Damn Good Ground from before. The front-line troops can also help the ITZ sniper out by using explosives to weaken opponents and deny them the cover that would block the shot.

Whichever you choose it is not a bad choice, but bear in mind that ITZ is much more strategic. If you are going to have a solo sniper - Double Tap is probably a better ability because 75% of the time you wont be able to get more than one shot from an ITZ sniper unless you set up the kill zone or get lucky - but that 25% of the time, your talking 3-5 easy kills if the targets are weak or softened. I think on average, I get more kills with my 'In The Zone' soldier, but this is purely due to the way I like to stack and domino the enemies with my snipers. In 27 missions, 68 kills compared to my more experienced 'Double Tap' sniper who has seen 49 missions for 109 kills.

Other important points:
Ghost Armour: Don't give this to your snipers - give it to fast-moving support units, and send them to scout ahead before the rest of your forces move. They can spot many groups of enemies without triggering their 'spawn' reaction (taking cover) meaning that your snipers can make short work of them before they become a threat. They also help your team prioritise targets, e.g that Sectopod just behind that squad of harmless Sectoids that MUST GO DOWN. (plasma pistols v chest-plasma cannon, plasma rifle AND a multi-missile launch pack? Gimmie a break :p )

In conclusion - Snipers are awesome support for your front line troops. The ability to shoot anything they see that they can draw a line of fire to, to Overwatch and shoot the enemy before they can dive for cover, or the ability to pick off weak or weakened enemies - or even fire enough damage into tougher ones so they go down is invaluable. They can be weak if poorly equipped or supported, but given the right abilities and thought they can be 'Angels of Death' - much like the achievement denotes. Snipers work great in teams with cross-over abilities to help them cover each other as well as maximise the kill potential from them. I have had missions where there have been close to 20 aliens, and the snipers have mowed the majority of them down in two turns with the rest of the team only getting as far as spotting them and taking cover. Rare, but a beautiful sight ^.^

Check out my 'Sniper Reel' Video >Here< To see my Let's Play sniper team in action.

-V

Xcom Enemy Unknown and the original :-)

It has been a quiet couple of weeks here at the LandOGeekery. My time has been spent either sorting some personal things at home, or creating let's plays on my YouTube channel.

I have finally pre-ordered XCOM which is released here in the UK on Friday. In anticipation for this I started an XCOM: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown speed-play which I have been recording and putting on YouTube, with the intention of completing the game before release of the new game. FYI: I will start a let's play from the start of me nubbing it up in the new XCOM game, so come by and check it out :D

Other than this I have been playing Minecraft, and recording my Let's play & Let's build series, which can also be found on my channel - and playing on the MissMoonica minecraft server, which has a pretty awesome batch of folks playing there :-) Griefing is a problem, but in general the regulars are quite pleasant.

Oh, and lastly - Star Wars Roleplay... Have been having epic fun with friends playing this, I am thinking of posting some stories or session encounters here - but not sure how I would go about it considering we have clocked in excess of 50 hours so far playing.

More to come
-V

Skyrim: Hearthfire DLC

Being released on the Xbox 360 next week, this piece of DLC for TES:V Skyrim is something a little different...

Land ownership, Home building, Adoptions, and protecting your property...

I am not sure about implementation, but it sounds like a fantastic way to draw in more players who like Sims type games, as well as Role players who would jump at the opportunity to build their own home and expand on the activities they can do.

Players can buy plots of land, upon which they can design and build a home. This at first glance sounds like a good idea. You can find a location you like, and make something to your own tastes. The reality of it however I suspect will be a little different... Having no experience with the Construction Kits for the likes of Morrowind, I am not the best to speak on the matter, but I imagine choosing size, shape, design, appearance, and all the other features that will be required is going to be more than a little tricky and time consuming. The alternative would be a 'plug and play' system, but then the player is not really designing their own  home... just picking the modular layout. I would like to get my hands on it to take a look in more detail, but unfortunately I have no Xbox 360. Checking out the video does make it appear to be a 'modular' type set up, and I even think furniture is automatically places ala house furnishings for in-city housing.

As an aside, I think this game would be excellent if they were to implement some Minecraftian features... let players gather the materials and build the house from the floors and walls up, placing sections as they wish. Also, being able to turn their game into a 'server' for friends and family to come join them on for some co-op or role play goodness could work very well. It need not exactly be balanced, just optional.

In addition to building your house, you can get NPC's on board. Bards, servants, adoptions, etc. This should all add up to make it feel much richer, and I think it will be very good to see in action :-) Fingers crossed there is a lot of detail to it, as it would be kinda poopy to build the home, move in your partner adopt some kids, fight to keep away the beasties only for there to be nothing to do when you are there. Player housing just now for me is a case of 'nip in, drop stuff in a chest, nip back out again' affair. Rather boring, its just storage.

If you plan to download this game next week, it would be great to learn more :-) I will be keeping an eye out for Let's plays and reviews!

-V

CSR Racing Review and thoughts.

My Tier 1 Ford Focus. 

CSR Racing is an iOS game that was released at the end of June. Since its inception, it has been a relatively big hit, and has also proven to be a huge cash cow for NaturalMotion Games.

I aim for this lengthly post to count as both a review and as a bit of a guide for new players of the game. I am by far an expert for the game, but by this point I have cleared the First Tier content, and am approximately half way through the second tier. All the waffle below is my opinon, but I will link in other sources where possible… Grab a cup of tea, sit back and relax… this is not going to be short…

So far, the game has proved to be very immersing, with excellent quality graphics and audio. It reminds me strongly of Need for Speed and Burnout, and is essentially a game where you customise and upgrade your car and take to the streets to compete in drag races which return coin which you reinvest in further upgrades or new vehicles to do better at the drag races. I find that you can take a great sense of pride and ownership of your vehicle… The game makes you want to pick a vehicle you like (in this case I picked a ford focus which is in the title image, as I drive the same car.) which you then customise the looks of (which also provides bonus $’s at the end of each race) and upgrade to make it the best drag racer it can be. Every vehicle also behaves differently, with different levels of traction, speed bands and gear ratios which mean you have to adapt to the car.

In each race you have the ‘start’ where you need to balance the rev limiter to get the perfect start without too much wheel spin or power loss, and then you control the timings of the Gear changes or NOs injections. It is a battle of timing and efficiency, and whilst it can be a bit samey, does not detract from the game play in the slightest.

At Tier 1 you can participate in the Regulation Races (Easy races which provide easy income, but only in small chunks), the Ladder system (progressively more difficult races with good rewards), Challenges (periodic challenges which can be tough, but give good rewards), Daily Races (drags where you are ‘loaned’ a vehicle and are given good rewards, that get progressively higher if you play daily. These are fairly easy races and a good way out of a cash bottleneck.) and the all important Crew Battles, where you take your car and compete against the local race circuit/gangs. Said gangs provide a lot of smack talk and generally succeed in making you want to crush their racers into the road, and it feels oh-so-good when you upgrade your vehicle enough and ace the race. When you defeat the gang leader, you can progress to the next tier. 

Each tier requires an equivalently Tiered car in order to race. This is where things can get tricky for the free player. You can try to win the Gang leaders car at the risk of the Gold Coins you win by defeating them, or you can go on the hunt for a new vehicle. I was sad at this point as I really liked the Ford Focus and had grown to love it, and was not going to be able to use it in Tier 2! Unfortunately I never re raced the gang leader for his car as I don’t like the new Mini, and did not want to risk the coin... so I continued to do the Ladder and Regulation races in Tier 1 until the assistant gal in the game turned up with a special deal for a half-price car, in this case a Chevrolet Camaro. 

My Tier 2 Camaro. (I know, not a great paint job but still!)

I thought that it looked decent, and had good stats but I was $2000 shy for it (I always seem to be a little short to take up one of these offers) so I forked out 15 of the 16 Gold Coins I had earned through races and leveling, and spent the $30,000 on upgrades, then took to tier 2. 

Tier 2 is somewhat similar but the cars you race against are better equipped, and Restriction Races are introduced. I have not really toyed about with these as my car is too light, and too fast to meet the restricted criteria…

Generally the player will play through races, earn cash, spend it on upgrade (and eventually vehicles) and win their way through each tier. I am not sure what happens when you reach the end of Tier 5 – but I get the feeling this is going to be a fairly long game, but so far after a week of play I am enjoying it! As there is a reasonable conversion rate of real money to gold coins players that are willing to spend real money on in-game purchases should not feel as ripped off as many other games. With a player base of around 2.5 Million at present, announcements of the huge revenue pulled from it can attest to how many players enjoy the game enough to valiate spending money. Plus, every spend is optional. For myself, the items I would be most willing to spend money on would be for a really nice car and some custom decals to make it look good. I am happy to wait for the delivery of more advanced parts and cars, but these can be sped up with gold coins too.

An aside on the Freemium system:

The Freemium system is a method of game delivery that allows players to get and play the game for free, and which usually includes purchasable in game content or advertising. Many people look upon the freemium system with distain, as many developers approach the freemium market with the mindset of milking players for as much money as possible. Whilst in many cases *cough Zynga cough* this is true, the costs of many in game items is prohibitive to all but the most avid and fat-pursed gamer. Many of these games have ‘choke points’ where the player is forced to spend their in-game credit to bypass, which in turn means spending money. Players can usually horde just enough of the in-game credit to get through these places, or are able to ‘beg it’ from their friends if they are determined not to pay anything, but it can be very slow. Some games are highly profitable without giving players the feeling that they are being ‘Nickel and dimed’ – a good example of a game that gets the balance right, or at least in favor of the customer being Tiny Tower (Android & iOS). 

In this game the user is given a range of sources of the in game currency ‘Bux’ and if they play regularly, are constantly being bombarded with it via tips from the occasional elevator passenger, or for helping locate ‘Bitizens’ within the tower. This may have dented the revenue stream for the company, but for a two man development team, a couple of million $ a year cannot be frowned upon, and best of all the game is perfectly playable for those that don’t want to spend the coin. In my opinion – freemium gaming is actually very good. If you would not have bought the game normally, you get to play it at no cost. In my case, if I would be willing to buy the game in a shop, then I would attribute a cash value to the game and use it as my limit for in game spends. The other upside is that with the software market the way it is today with piracy and the likes, it can prove a stable source of income for the developer meaning that they can continue to make good games. Without the freemium system I would not have played: DC Universe Online, Blacklight Retribution, CSR Racing, Lord Of The Rings online and more… all games I really enjoy(ed) playing.

In Conclusion:

The game is free. Try it! you wont be disappointed if you are in any way a fan of racing games, or car customisation games. It provides a quality experience, and is indeed a game that could have gone to market with a reasonable price tag. Try it, dont be afraid to spend a few bob for your own special ride, and enjoy! 

GFX: 9/10

Audio: 8/10

Addiction: 8.5/10

Value: 8/10

Fun: 9/10

Overall: 8.5/10

Next generation consoles, Xbox 720, PS4, Wii-U

Having a bit of a geek out and looking into the next gen consoles.

Presently I have an old Xbox that I never use, a Wii that I rarely use and a PS3 that has needed the optical lense replaced in the Blu-Ray drive. That aside, I have an interest in the upcoming consoles... Will I get one? Unlikely... unless I happen upon some decent work and clear off some debts!

PS4
Rumoured for a Christmas 2013 release date, the PS4 looks like it is going to pack i some awesome improvements compared to the current console. Considering the problems with the PS3 launch (Taking so long to get to market they lost a lot of the game release reservations that the usually get, e.g Final Fantasy series, to other market sectors meaning there was not really anything worthwhile and unique on release. In addition, the loss of backwards compatibility really hindered things. PS4 is not even going to attempt backwards compatibility!) my fingers are crossed that this console is shipped ASAP and that it comes with some good games!

I have a few concerns about this console I must admit...

From what I read, the components already seem selected, and are not the best to date... yet they are not planning to release for nearly a year and a half?? This will surely mean the released console that will cost as much as a decent desktop pc will be outdated already... Loss of backwards compatibility is an ouchie, and it seems they are going the Steam route, so no second hand games.... Oh my.

Hype factor dropped for me, but we will keep tabs on things...

Xbox 720
Alrighty then, the 360 was the first next-gen console I tried of the current bunch, but I got it early and resold it on Ebay to people much more eager for a hefty profit (dont look at me like that! It was an auction cos I couldn't afford to keep it!) but my initial impressions were pretty positive. The next gen console, which looks to be called 'Inifinity' (Yeah, were just gonna call it 720 aren't we :p) is looking to improve in many areas compared to the PS3. firstly, it is bringing Blu-Ray to the forefront. The HD-DVD and BR wars were lost for the 360, so this move makes perfect sense.

The 720 also looks to be packed with AMD components. Normally there is a bit of a components war that goes on with consoles, but this time it looks like AMD is sweeping the field.

The 720 also seems ahead of the PS4 in that developers are already toying with prototype consoles for developing games. Again, said games look like they will be released steam-style.

A note from research; the consoles look like they have much lower price costs than I expectd... <£200 for the 720 and PS4... Hard to believe, but if it is, bring it!

Wii-U
Also known as the nintendo police siren... I currently have a Wii - and it is used almost exclusively for Wii Fit. We borrowed a few games off a friend but never play them. some of the social games can be a  giggle, but its usually just something that happens at family events.

First thing about the Wii-U - It beings HD to the field. I felt the lack of HD on the Wii was a killer, I would have played it so much more and bought games if I felt like it was even remotely competition for the PS3 for the luscious high defenition TV we were using for gaming on. Wii-U gets a mighty big tick for this change. The catch is, reports are that the graphics will only equal the PS3 or 360 but not the new consoles, but hopefully the price label will make the difference (Though at expectations of £400 - I wont be investing!).

A nice bonus, it has a screen on the controller, which could have many awesome functions.

Lacking Blu-Ray player... Oh dear... But it looks like games will use the traditional method, and that there is a vast number of games, as well as backwards compatability.

One thing the siren has going for it is that it will be early to market, hitting the shelves for this christmas.

Anyway, rant over - I just wanted to put a post that had info on all the consoles in the one place and have a think on what is coming. My verdict: I dont intend to invest in any. I think I will stick to PC gaming as it is much more up my alley :p

Here are some links to Tech Radar;s posts on the next-gen consoles.

Xbox 720
Wii-U
PS4

-V

Minecraft V 1.3.1 - my thoughts & let's play linky

So, Minecraft 1.3.1 came out at the beginning of the month. I have spent a fair amount of time playing it, I have also been doing a let's play of it. I must say I am thoroughly enjoying doing this let's play. I had been doing one for Hardcore minecraft before it, but the videos started bugging out and glitching and I lost a chunk of it so have paused it in favour of this for now. I have also been doing one for XCOM and periodic Portal and Blacklight Retribution videos, as well as a more recent series for Skyrim - with Dawnguard. All good fun :D

Now, I dont know what it is about Minecraft, but its hella addictive. When I first started playing it, it was creepy, jumpy but at the same time very simple (especially if you have the wiki page open! :p)

I learned to play whilst watching Tobuscus play that and Skyrim, and also watching the epic videos from The Yogscast. I think these helped to feed the addiction just a little... haha!

So, in 1.3.1 - a butt ton of new features have been implemented, from Enchanting enhancements (see what I did there?!) and Experience sources to new items and features such as gem trading (which as Gamechap and Bertie would have you believe - is not great yet...). So far my experiences have all been positive. The game runs just fine and dandy, and the only thing that seems to have changed is the amount of creepers. Dang creepers! dont just take my word for it tough, go check it out! :-) 

I have linked part 1 of my let's play below, I hope it amuses you!

-V

Ultramarine V's Tyranids, 6th Edition Battle - preamble.

Dawn.

The Ultramarine forces touch down on the planet Pablos I, an abandoned industrial mining world. Intel informs command of two artifacts that must not fall into enemy hands in the area... An old contruction crane that sits atop a deep vein mining shaft, and an unusual Tomb, likely of Xenos origin.

There has been rumours that some Tyranid spore pods were seen entering the atmosphere recently, so the marines stalk in on foot, opting to take in vehicles with support weaponry and speeders in the hopes of gunning down any aliens that they come across in short order. Two librarians and two units of sternguard bolster the core of the army as they advance towards the old construction crane - with an abundance of Hellfire rounds, they feel confident in their abilities, and the troops selected to come with them.

Just as day is about to break, the Librarians feel a change in the flow of the Warp... Strange shapes can be seen sillhoueted in the distance, near a strangly glowing skull and pillar tomb. Shrouded by the low light numerous building sized creatures hone into sight, heading directly towards the construction site the marines now hold.

++ CONTACT! ++

Librarian Endradus: 'Ultramarines, ADVANCE! No quarter, we kill every gribbly that moves! They do not take these objectives while we draw breath. FOR THE EMPEROR!'

... To be continued.

GTA V: Due in march, anticipation rising!

I hope I dont need a new GFX card... :( \o/

GTA V: Excitement rising! :-)

I went looking for games due to be released later on this year as I was curious as to what was coming up... and I happened across this little gem - GTA V. I think IV was released in 2008 (In fact, I know it was because I got a PS3 for its release, which was about the time my son was born, so Ha!) So, if it is released March 2013 as announced - that means 5 years development time!

Look at that screenie above. This is one of the two officially released in-game screen shots from RockStar. I dont think I have seen an in-game screen shot look so realistic... I am really keen to see this game hit the shelves! 

Enough waffling from me about how much I want this game. You know I want it. You know you want it! Gief! Below are some info pieces I managed to find that might keep yall happy for a bit :D. 8 months feels a long time...

Big features mentioned in news releases from RockStar are that the game world is going to be the biggest to date (San Andreas felt huge, but kinda empty outside the cities, it will be interesting to see what they come up with!). In addition to this, there will be a much greater aircraft aspect of the game. This is likely due to the game area being so big players will want to have quick ways to get around, and this is better than fast travel I think! :D

The other screenie :p

examiner.com - article I nabbed the screenies from

whatculture.com - speculating on some of the potential characters that players might meet in the game. I'm not so confident many if any of these will creep up, but it is an interesting article none the less :)

VR-zone - discussing the large game world, and including the game trailer. Watch.It.Now!

Enough for now though :-) hopefully more news articles will be released soon! And remember - there is no beta test. If you get an invite, its a phishing scam.

-V

P.S... FIRST PERSON VIEW OPTION!! :)

Warhammer 40k 6th edition Battles: Upcoming battle

If all goes according to plan - I should be taking my Marines back to the battle field this coming Thursday with an imperial guard Vanguard at my back... charging into the fight against the nemesis of the Ultramarine. The Tyranids.

Expect a detailed battle report by the weekend with many delicious photos of my Marines being dissected by Xenos claw, maw and psychic strike, whilst guardsmen pound the ground.  and a detailed battle report by the weekend!

-V

Oh my! Angry Birds Trilogy revealed for PS3, 360 and 3DS

I'm sure die hard Angry Birds fans will like this fact... I think?

Angry Birds was one of those games that hit a couple of years ago that was an awesome time-killer game on the mobile / tab. I know I was dying to get my hands on it, and missed the free download when it first came out. When I eventually got it, it amused me for a little while, but I got bored of it pretty fast (In no small part because I had a crappy HTC Hero). I think that it was basically not my kind of game aswell. I tend to find other things to do when I want to kill a few minutes, I need to sit down with at least a half hour set aside to play a game to get into it. I did play it though. I still sometimes fire it up now if I have the wifes tab in my hands and nothing else to do.

Now, I have no doubt that this release is going to be a success... but I cant help but think who they are going to attract to spend another wad of cash on the release... That is unless they have some good new features implemented...

The new features mentioned seem to all be graphical in nature. New backgrounds, lighting and reactive backgrounds (Im going to guess that you might have some thing like an underwater level and as you launch said Chaffinch at the hunkered down piggywinks, they will leave a trail / current in the water as they fly. Funky, but no game changer.)

I think the demographic that will most likely adopt the new game are the younger generation. Those that don't have a smart phone or tab to play on, and might not be allowed on their parents PC's. Here they get a version accessible from console. Aside from that you are looking at die-hard fans, or those that had not previously been interested.

Time will tell, but it sure is not going to hit 100M+ buyers like the App version, in fact I'm betting 10M will be about its Cap. I hope I am proven wrong though, I like seeing gaming companies be successful :)

Also... I am keen to check it out, I admit :p it is still a sexy game so the new changes pique my Geektrest.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/357353/angry-birds-trilogy-revealed-for-ps3-360-and-3ds/#

Oh, and since you are here, I guess you have an  interest in Angry Birds... Did you know they are making a cartoon?

Aye, thats right. Check this out:

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/18726-angry-birds-cartoon-in-the-works-spans-52-short-episodes/

I cant help but think it is going to be awesome... or DIRE. (With very irritating high pitched voices to boot!)

-V

Sunday Sessions: Star Wars Roleplay - Introduction

As I have done in the past (to an extent, for my D&D campaign) - I intend to bring my Sunday night gaming groups gaming sessions to life on paper (pixel!). Assuming everything is cool with the Game's Master of the Star Wars game my mate Chris (yes, the same one I play Warhammer 40k with) then I should be able to bring the epic tales of the journey of the groups characters to life.

The Game: Star Wars
Time Setting: Around the same time as the original Star Wars games (Second galactic empire?)

The rules set for this game is a hybrid between the new star wars games, and the old D6 system. The game will run using the D6 system for determining the results of actions, and the character sheet I think is from the newer version of the game.

Who is in the party? As the game progresses players are introduced, or disappear, but here is a list of characters to date:

Velk (myself, naturally) - A human bounty hunter. Specialist skills include finding things, and killing things. Force Sensitive. Formerly working for the empire, eventually switched allegiances and is now attempting to gain entry to the Rebellion.

Padme (the Mrs) - A human smuggler, good with roguey type things and fighter ship piloting. She is basically a cross between Han solo and Mal from FireFly. Not Force Sensitive. She is brought to the fold with the rest of the group in an attempt to gain entry to the Rebellion

Evic - A human techy type. Very good with the technical skills and specialises in Capital ship Piloting. Force Sensitive.

Spikes McGee - Human explosives expert. Very good at blowing things up. Force Sensitive.


Amme - Human Jedi Force Sensitive (duh). Amme is a Jedi that has not undergone complete training. Her master was slain before it was possible to complete her training, and as such, she only knows a limited amount about being a Jedi, she is however a very good swordsman and brandishes her defeated masters faulty light sabre in the defence of those around her, and those that she can assist. She seeks access to the rebellion in hopes of gaining their protection, and continuing her training with or without a Jedi Master.

And so the journey begins... at a Hyperspace gateway into the Cardonir sector...

A luxury cruise liner hyperspaces into the system, laying claims to the Imperial Star Destroyer at this outpost that it is returning rich dignitaries to their home worlds. Issuing some aged pass codes, it is allowed to pass. the cruise liner alters its course to hyperspace deeper into the system and re-enters hyperspace.

A couple of hours into the jump, the ship rocks violently to a halt, its primary Hyper Drives tortured screams echoing through the ship as it is ripped from hyperspace by a large gravity well directly in its path.

Aboard the bridge, Evic and the ship commander look out upon a large asteroid, and a Marauder Corvette that looms overhead that latches on a tractor beam and haules the cruise liner into its hold for the inhabitants to claim the ships booty...

More to come
-V

Warhammer 40k 6th edition resources / recommended sites.

With the arrival of 6th edition - many many people are out hunting for information to try to keep up with their A-game. You aint going to find a whole lot of useful information directly from me... I will post what I can when it comes to me, or I find it - but what I would like to do is provide a little list of links to sources and other blogs that I think are really on the Ball and useful :-) I'm fairly sure that most people that happen to stumble upon this page already know of most - but in case you don't. check them out!

The Bolter and Chainsword - A forum that many avid gamers use to air their problems and seek advice. Primarily aimed towards Marine players, but it has info useful for all :-)

Warseer - Another forum packed with useful information.

DakkaDakka - Yet another forum! (Hey, your best resource is the rest of the gaming community...)

The Beasts of War - YouTube channel that covers quite a lot on 40k and other Tabletop gaming.

Way of saim hann
Fritz was always a good resource for me, providing strategies and tactics, battle reports and fun information for various armies. The information I followed most was the Space Marine and Eldar stuff, but he also is a big player of Necrons, Tyranids and Grey Knights. At this point in time he has YouTube videos up on Necrons, Eldar and Tyranids - and how the game changes effect them, and how units can be adapted to work in 6th ed, or if they should just be dropped. Check it out!
Necrons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=bNqm0AcmnsY
Tyranids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=BLqLWaaK9bw
Eldar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=BLqLWaaK9bw
Fritz's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WayOfSaimHann

I have a few more that I may add in later, they dont seem to be active at the minute...

I hope this helps, if you know of any other good resources, fire them into the comments - Ill be happy to check them out and add them in.

A new you tube let's play by... me!

Hey folks, welcome all.

In addition to my minecraft let's play - I now have one for UFO Enemy unknown / XCOM: UFO Defense. I decided it might be interesting, and fun to try to play this game in a superhuman challenge. I have completed the game on all difficulty settings in the past, but I invariably finish the game with a vast squadron of super soldiers - half of whom were there at the start due to the ability to reload and reload and reload after every mistake. Well, not this time! Come see how long I can last against the vastly more advanced, numerous and more powerful alien forces as they seek to Harvest our organs, turn the governments of cities against us and generally try to destroy life as we know it.

As with the Minecraft let's play - I shall attempt to upload videos daily although I only really do the recordings at the weekends, so if I have short sessions - I apologise if the end of the week is a little stagnant ^.^

>Linky<

Let's play videos...

It has been tough finding time to play games over the last few months what with working on my honours degree, and having two jobs. To this end, I started watching a LOT of Let's play videos. Below is a rundown of some of my favorite YouTuber's :-)

• TobyGames (Toby Turner... silly to the max, and very entertaining to watch anything he does.)
• The Yogcast (BlueXephos  mainly at the moment - though there are many people who upload videos from here, especially for the Survival Games videos ^.^)
• Kikoskia (My first Let's Player - always amuses me.)

The games that I have been enjoying the most are Skyrim play throughs, Minecraft games and UFO Enemy Unknown... To this end, I have decided to start trying to make my own!

I have already done one session of recording for my Minecraft playthrough, >Linky< - it's good fun, though I clearly need to get more practice at commentary and video editing. I hate the box window view, and I think this is something I have sorted now though, so later let's play videos should be of a much better visual quality.

To this end - I also intend to start a UFO: Enemy unknown (Xcom - UFO defence)Lat's play - on Superhuman mode, following Hardcore methodology... The load button shall only be used in the event of technical issues... Yeah, Im crazy - but I am confident I can give it a good shot!

More later

-V