When I’m stressed, I hit the nicotine. I’ve never been a smoker since my lungs can’t stand it. I’ve also used snus on occation but the potential mouth/tooth rot potential for it scares me. I won’t say vaporizing is harmless, as cigarettes were harmless for a long long time. Perhaps sometime in the future we’ll find all the propolol-glycol we were putting into our lungs had a hidden impact. Out of all the ways to get a bit of calm-down in the day I feel it’s one of the least harmful.
Review: The Crew
This may be a bit delayed for some, but sales made this possible at all. I had no interest in it from the start. It didn’t look right and my gut told me no. My gut was right. It is a bad, bad game. It controls like ridge racer meets… a wall. Originally posted Aug 1st. It is now roughly a month and a week later and I’ve played it again. See bottom for updates! Point of note: I didn’t find the e-brake in my first run through. I was using the controller, tried X, B, and A is apparently…
The Division: Streaming to Twitch: Beta Review
Few screenshots, some 4k, some not. Two EVGA 980ti: 20 to 30fps @ 4k 70fps vsync @ 1080 NVidia doesn’t even have an optimized driver for this one yet. The city looks alive-ish, Multiplayer started out really cool — I had help from real people, we all ran into the fire together. Once I took the base, then I had to go looking for people for each mission. I didn’t discover this until later. They’ve got some reworking to do. You need people all over, fighting for both sides or it might get a little crowded. The cover system could…
SyntheticX Gamleaon: Mad Max – With Commentary
MAD MAX – Cacophony This will be where I’ll have more to say.
Steam Community :: z3rin :: Review for Octodad: Dadliest Catch
So much fun! I had a blast playing this one and it’s even more fun to watch when you’re not struggling with the controls. You will struggle with the controls, especially with a controller — which is the only way to play it. It’s a marvelous challenge, and unbelievably satisfying once you get him to do what you want, in some semblance of the way you intend. The side-effects of the controls is an incredibly silly experience. You will spill things, flip tables, and bonk unsuspectings. I recommend this game to everyone and anyone who wants something different. Source: Steam…
Battlefield Hardline – Beta Review
So I was able to play the alpha — or the alpha beta they put out before. The driving was absolutely awful. The cars were blocks, had nothing underneath, and really added nothing to the game other than transport. This time around that has definitely changed. The driving is better, you can’t turn on a dime and really need to plan… but the physics of it all is still way off. I played the main modes of Bank Heist, Conquest, and Downtown. If you’ve played Payday, you’re familiar with Bank Heist. If you’ve played battlefield, you are familiar with conquest,…
Titanfall not so much of a Titan.
Found this old unpublished post and wanted to get it out there. I did end up getting the full game for,y birthday after it came out because my son wanted to watch me play. ~~~~~~~~ Pre:release thoughts on the beta: I don’t feel like I was as impressed with Titanfall as I should have been. I think people are still going gaga for it, I haven’t checked in again to even see if the beta is still up and running. I played it a bit, I wanted to give it a fair shake but it really felt far too COD…
Review: BioShock Infinite
The world forms around you. You enter a familiar place but it is still very new, dropped into a preloaded consciousness. You had a job, you knew why you were here, simply follow the instruction and the goal will be complete. You’re lifted into this futuristic utopia high in the clouds, where so many are so happy to go about their day but there is a dark brooding, uneasiness to it all. It can’t be that perfect, a distrust. There are sins too foul to wash away. You explore, hearing much about the status quo and the rebellion trying to gain traction. Rights,…
Movie Review: Flight
Hubris. It describes the protagonist, the antagonist, the obstacle and the resolution. Ok – so maybe not the resolution. I was not a fan of the secular point of view, primarily because I could identify with it. I’m familiar with the perspective. The perspective of someone receiving religious comments, even advice. I felt those words as if they were directly to me. They collided inside my head from both sides with a metallic clang, and then to the floor with another. Catharsis is thick, and since that’s one of the only English words I remember… it must be it. “A…
Tomb Raider: Review (Kotaku)
I’m excited for Tomb Raider – but it’s unfortunate that I’m almost done playing through Far Cry 3 – it sounds very very similar. Complete with the very real, visceral agony and endurance needed to be an action hero: Tomb Raider: The Kotaku Review.
Mech Games – The Next Generation
The closest mechs came to making a comeback was Steel Battalion. That didn’t seem to help. The controller was huge, and many thought it a titch unnecessary. however, if you’re driving a mech — you’ve got a cockpit ready to go. It was exactly what enthusiasts wanted. It’s been a long time since Mech Warrior was purchased by Microsoft, and even longer since it was popular. The laser designation and light-saber lines merging on your target from either side of the cockpit just never felt that visceral. MechWarrior Online – Death's Knell – YouTube. HAWKEN – Story Teaser – YouTube.…
Review: The Sims Medieval
I’ve played Sims 3 in the past. I enjoyed building the character up for a while, establishing relationships and such, but I quickly grew tired of the annoying need to eat, pee and sleep. Of course, I was pregnant with twins at the time, so this was probably more troublesome to me than the average player – too much like reality! So why did I try this game in the first place? Well, honestly because there is an expansion pack called Pirates and Nobles. I’m a sucker for pirates so it caught my interest. Throw in the fact that reviewers…
Review: Max Payne 3
Whew. That’s a rush. I just got done playing through my first hour of Max Payne 3 and I feel… stimulated, enthralled, and defeated. I had to stop playing though. There is only so many times you can replay the same section after repeatedly accidentally bullet-time-ing off the side of a building. I’ll revisit another night. I’m sad that I didn’t get any good screenshots or video, however. I must say it plays brilliantly – there wasn’t a skip a start, a stutter at max settings. The people are well modeled, move realistically (the trailers made them look a little…
Review: Dirt Showdown
Dirt started as a rally racing game, hence the name. It had a really good model… no turbo, relatively realistic driving physics, and decent graphics. They kept expanding into the other genres, such as Gymkhana, stadium, and others. Dirt 2 was a pretty good success, and Dirt 3 came out relatively quietly – most received their copy as an afterthought when buying a new ATI video card. I thought they’ve been good the whole way, they really didn’t add too much craziness, which is refreshing. Simulation racing is hard to come by, and Shift 2 didn’t do it any favors.…
Review: Call of Juarez: The Cartel
It’s really as bad as you’ve heard. From the very first screen you are alerted to its crappiness. The text itself is circa Mortal Kombat – giant and pixellated. It looks so dated. It really feels like a modern Sega CD – it hardly even looks 3D. I barely got through the first level. I bought it for $5 – shipped from the UK for the amazing price of $2.49 – gotta love Amazon. I figured there must be at least SOME saving grace, story, anything. From what i saw the story tries really hard to be in depth (remember,…
My 3D Aventure in Digitopia
I was accused of trolling for posting what I found while testing a few games with 3D Vision. I don’t take umbrage but it reminded me that this is the first time round for some people. The History Before I address the fad aspect of 3D let me say I am no stranger. It has come a long way since the geForce 3 I had about 10 years ago. It worked, and I guess it never went away, even the test screen for the glasses is the same today as it used to be with a couple extra dynamic lights…
Review: Jurassic Park (2011)
Wow, it’s pretty impressive how lame they were able to make this game. If they made it a traditional first person puzzle / battle game that would have been ideal… but they didn’t. Everything is WASD on PC and I’m sure ABYX on XBOX. They turned a promising concept into a lame press the button at the right time, twitchy, too slow? die” lump of blech. I’m very disappointed in this title. I see a ton of blocky translucent vegitation, medium detail character models – blocky with giant eyes. The dinosaurs look good, until they move… which apparently the running…
Review: FlatOut3 Chaos and Destruction… of a Francise
Video: Video has Bloom turned off, motion blur turned off First impression: ugh. I am shaking my head in disappointment. I would have put the first and second FlatOut as two of my favorite games. I’m a huge racing fan, and a bigger car crashing fan. This game really was the best of both worlds. However number 3 is Jack’s utter lack of surprise. They’ve taken well made race tracks, nicely finished cars and damage models, impressive AI and boiled it down to an impossible arcade fiery mess. Not to say it’s difficult, it’s just bad; a blurry, cluttered mess. Monster trucks,…
Review: Mafia II
Screenshots: Video: I had originally played this on Onlive, I gave it the 30 minute trial. I don’t exactly remember it starting how it did. I seemed to be going through many more story points then before, but I bet I skipped them in the interest of time the first time around. I was really pleasantly surprised. I got this game after all the holiday game download sale hooplah. I had seen it on Steam, Onlive, Amazon – all had it on major sale, but saw them come and go. However, upon checking up on it on Amazon, the price…
Review: Driver San Francisco
Ok, I loved the original driver. It was an entirely new genre at the time. Sure you had a driving around car game, but once GTA III hit anything where you drove and crashed was “just another GTA”. They’ve always been one to spin a story but this latest one is entirely out of the box. It was not what I expected at all. Sure, plainclothes policeman in a muscle car, but there’s a big twist to this one. After a crash attempting to apprehend an escaped convict you’re jumping from body to body. Think Quantum leap meets Messiah (if…
LA Noire PC – Review
Video: It’s a port, a straight port but with an extra tidbit or two of settings and smoothing for the graphics. You have ansiotropic settings, and FXAA (x1, 2, or 3). The textures do appear scaled, as in they look as good at 2560×1600 as I remember them being on PS3 but many of the facial textures appear a bit more blurry. The view distance is still very low – you see the fog and blur on anything further then a block away so you don’t quite get the full immersive city feel as GTA. I like the time period…
Video Review: NFS The Run
Here is the intro / first levels of gameplay. It’s interesting because (like many NFS games) it’s nothing like its predecessor. Cars control more realistically. It’s still not a simulation feeling, and you’re restricted to bumper, hood, and behind view. I prefer far behind or windshield view (a la SHIFT) but the hood works well enough. 360 controller worked out of the box. It controlled more like the older games, which is a good thing compared to the latest Hot Pursuit. You can’t go full speed into the corner counting on a powerslide to save you, but it’s still nowhere…
Elder Scrolls Skyrim: Review, Screenshots, Gameplay Video
I wasn’t expecting too much from the latest Elder Scrolls: V Skyrim (Sky-rim) and I was pleasantly surprised. At first I noticed a big degredation in quality… as in half the textures were up to par for the full resolution of 2560×1600 – many were not, most notibly the objects and inner textures. I swear they took some right from oblivion (Elder Scrolls: IV). However, if you put on 8X AA it fixes it. 2X and even 4X was stretching it, and FAXX didn’t seem to do much at all, shadows and transparent textures (fences, brush and greenery) were the…
RAGE – First Impressions and Review
First impressions: Setting – Fallout 3 Story – Fallout 3 Jumpsuit – Fallout 3 Enemies – Fallout 3 Hunters – Fallout 3 Mutants – Fallout 3 Textures – Fallout 3 Wasteland – Fallout 3 Vehicles – a plus FPS Mechanics – a plus Control – a plus So just hopping into it briefly I get much the same feeling as I got with Fallout. Everything is a mess, and there are many reused textures. It’s hard to make a post-apocalyptic world. I don’t deny that. However – the mechanics of the shooting was uniquely id. It felt like no other…
Game Review: Off-Road Drive **updated**
Don’t get me wrong, I love driving games. I love offroad, I loved Dirt and all its successors, they finally made Rally racing fun for me. Off-Road Drive on the other hand is the most frustrating “racing” game I’ve ever played. I got stuck in the mud repeatedly, and not like “oh, just spin your wheels and get out…”. No, it’s a “simulation” so I’m going to simulate getting my truck stuck in the mud. Thereby, I need to make sure I’m in low gear and I have the right combination of differential and slip on which tires and… It…