Transformers: War for Cybertron

I know it's been a while since I've added anything to this blog, and I apologise.

Curb stomping, heads being lopped off and slicing folks in half. All of these things would place a game or a movie firmly into the higher age ratings (or in some cases banned) if the victims were people or animals. Since they're all robots this is perfectly fine for most people. This is Transformers: War for Cybertron and I regret not playing through this earlier when I bought it 3 months ago.

I felt compelled to type this review because of how much fun I had with it. Set before the Transformers leave for Earth, the campaign is one long story where you play as both the Autobots and the Decepticons. This is different to most games based on the Transformers universe, where you would normally play through two separate campaigns with two different endings where either side dominates the other, as is usually the case with transformers games. I found the campaign to last a lot longer than most modern shooters, as it felt like I was playing for at least 12 hours. That could just be due to me not being the best of players or due to me playing other games around the same time, but the campaign still felt meaty. The gameplay is your standard third person shooter fare, without the rubbishy cover system that most of them seem to use these days. Enemies will actively try to get around whatever cover you use and some pack rocket launchers that just fly around whatever you use. Much of the level design is based around room sized encounters in which you deal with enemies attacking from multiple angles and having to rely on your agility to not die.

The weapons are your usual assault rifle, SMG, sniper rifle, semi-auto, rocket launcher and grenades, but all given science fiction-ey names like "null ray". The weapons feel like they're big and powerful, especially with your melee weapon which can cleave through foes at close range (spitting out sparks and spilling clear/glowing purple oil onto your screen). Each transformer that you can choose to use before a mission has a small collection of unique abilities. For example, a player who chooses to play as Bumblebee can cloak for limited periods of time while Optimus Prime can "war cry," which decreases both his and his nearby allies' susceptibility to enemy fire for a limited time.

 A lot of the time I did not find much real reason to transform unless I ran out of ammo on my regular weapons, which is unfortunate. Boss battles are a different story. On harder difficulty settings you'd be stupid not to transform into a vehicle to outmaneuver their projectiles that seem to aim just where you'd be if you continued moving on foot. The health system is a hybrid system halfway between regenerating and non-regenerating health, split into four segments that refill if they aren't completely emptied (similar to Resistance 1). I actually prefer this to either of the other solutions, since you're not completely screwed when you're almost dead, but not removing all tension from being damaged.

The visuals of the game are rather dark and muted, fitting the tone of the game. That's not to say that there is no colour at all, the Decepticons stand out from the environment via their bright purple trim and sharp geometric shapes, while the Autobots tended to adopt less threatening, rounder designs with a red trim. The environments seem repetitive but I'm forgiving this because the parts of Cybertron that had been shown in the cartoons and the movies seemed to fit this description.


I haven't really tried the multiplayer for more than 20 minutes, but from what I've seen it seems to be a typical setup for a modern shooter. You gain XP, level up and attain additional weapon options and abilities/perks as you level up. There is some customisation involved, as you can create customised versions of each of the four basic classes and choose the body-type and colour of your Transformer to create a little bit of a sense of ownership. The modes on offer appear to be Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, as well as a cooperative survival mode called Escalation, where waves of enemies attack with ever increasing intensity. A cooperative campaign is available, but I was unable to test this because I have no friends that have both a PS3 and this game. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many players these days, at least for the PS3 version.

I really liked this game, and I hope that the upcoming sequel manages to be as good if not better than this. I recommend this game heartily for those who like giant robots and/or fans of Transformers, as well as people who would like a nice shooter. If you're one of those annoying folks who feels that they need a number at the end of a review to tell them what to think of a game, I give it a 84. Just 84. Make of that what you will.

Serious Sam 3: BFE Review

You exit a secret passage under what used to be the Sphinx, shotgun in hand with a fair amount of shells. Your health isn't looking too bad either at 89%. You notice there is a large amount of extra health, armour and ammo in front of you. You can hear masses of headless fellows, reanimated skeletons and robot walkers teleporting within your vicinity.

This is when Serious Sam 3: BFE really starts. All of those levels set in urban environments were only there to ease in people who weren't used to this breed of shooter, the kind of shooter that could pass as a modern Smash TV or Robotron 2084 if the camera was placed at a top-down perspective. No regenerating health, little cover (that doesn't last long), and swarms of monsters that want you dead.

At the same time you're given a fighting chance with a variety of weapons such as the stock standard pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher and assault rifle, as well as less conventional weapons like a sledgehammer (great when surrounded by lesser enemies in close range), the devastator (a kind of sniper grenade launcher that is fun to use) and the almighty cannon. This cannon isn't some sort of science fiction-ey cannon, this is the kind of that would look at home on a pirate ship. The satisfaction gained from firing this bastard of a thing through a herd of Kleers is immense. Another great thing about these weapons is that you can carry all of these at once, as opposed to two or three in most shooters these days.

While the gameplay is similar to the Serious Sam gameplay that you’re familiar with, hordes and  guns and all, the game has made some concessions to modern shooter gameplay. Some weapons have been given a function that allows you to aim down the sights (like the pistol and assault rifle, which can be used to snipe a little bit). Sprinting has been implemented, but Sam never has to stop for breath. Some prebaked melee animations have also been added (with a prompt telling you to press E when you’re able to do them). These attacks are fairly effective on lone enemies and small groups but they’re balanced so that you can still take damage while you’re executing them, reducing their convenience in particularly hairy battles. Croteam seems to have taken particular care to make sure that these new features do not make the game any easier.

The sound design is mostly appropriate for the game. It probably wouldn’t win any awards but it is very functional. Every enemy has a specific sound to alert you to their presence, so that you know what uglies are out of your sight without having to guess. The weapons sound nice and powerful. The music is also very fitting to this type of game, with ambient percussion through most of the levels as well as lighter conflicts, and when shit hits the fan the metal kicks in, made by the Croatian band Undercode.

Graphics in video games have jumped leaps and bound since the earlier games in the series, and Croteam have paid attention. While the environments are mostly shades of brown, being in the desert and all, the textures seem rather detailed, with all of those lovely texture effects that you would expect to see in today’s modern games. Levels are generally bright due to it being in middle of a hot desert. Of particular note is the amount of settings one can change in this game. While most of the graphics settings in PC games are limited to vague brackets like “high,” “low” or “medium”, Serious Sam 3: BFE allows you tweak the settings to a level that you’re comfortable with. You can change the amount of bodies that stay before older ones start disappearing, you can choose the type of and degree of anti-aliasing, the rendering LOD bias (how far away objects have to be before they change to their lower-quality versions), among other settings.

All shall tremble in fear before the lowness of these settings

If you’re looking for a game that makes you think about the meaning of life or how to organise your infantry the most effectively, this is not the game for you. If you’re looking for a game where you can regain all of your health by hiding behind a chest-high wall, this is not the game for you (unless you play on Tourist difficulty). If you’re looking for a game that tells you what to do every three seconds, there are other shooters for you. This is a game that remembers that it is a game and not a movie, and I applaud it for that. I give it an 8. You can give it a 6 or a 0 if the previous points I mentioned in this paragraph apply to you. What that score is out of is up to you, as usual.

m0tch tries to review this game properly. (Modern Warfare 3)

Alright, let's look at this as a game on it's own, and not as part of a series. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's single player campaign plays like a movie, with little emphasis on exploration or tackling objectives in your own fashion. Behind all of the explosions and mayhem is a glorified set of corridors in which you do exactly as you're told, or else you cannot progress. Shoot the helicopter with this conveniently placed RPG, jump here, bomb these red squares here, follow this guy, and so forth. One part of the game attempted to make me feel something, but it didn't. Anyone else who played through the campaign knows what I'm talking about (it involves a van).
The gunplay in the singleplayer seems to be a lot like whack a mole, with you trying to shoot the bad guys before they pop into cover, without much variation. 
For a lot of people, the main meat of the game is in it's multiplayer. This mode contains your standard modes of play such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and so on. You get perks, which are like attributes that improve your abilities in certain areas, like sleight of hand which makes you reload faster. You also get certain "streaks" which are rewards for doing well. An example would be killing three people in a row and receiving a "UAV", and this UAV grants you the ability to check a minimap for the location of your foes. You can also get "streaks" for doing various teamwork related actions. 
A third mode is the "Spec Ops" mode where you can attempt a few challenges either alone or with one friend. There is survival mode within this mode, where you fight wave after wave of enemies for as long as you can, while being able to buy upgrades and other weapons between and during waves to heighten your chances of survival. It's basically like the game Killing Floor with some more running. The other chunk of spec ops is a bunch of varied challenges, like "kill these targets within a certain time to receive stars" or "collect these samples". The stars you receive allow you to unlock more challenges, and playing the challenges on higher difficulties rewards you with even more stars. 
Now, I can't give this game two ratings, but I'd like to. If this is your first time playing a game in the Call of Duty series, I'd give it an 8. If you have played games in this series before, 6, because it is very similar to the earlier ones.

What the rating is out of is completely up to you, as usual.

Modern Warfare 3 review

Same stuff as last year, and the year before, and the year before, and the year before that. To it's credit, the campaign seems to last longer than 6 hours. The multiplayer is what you'd expect. The graphics are of a similar quality to its predecessors as it has been running on the same engine for the past 4 or so instalments. The multiplayer is also rather similar.

Killzone 3 review

In the bleak, grim future there is only red and blue. Or is it green? This is a review of Killzone 3, a game that makes me wonder if I’m colour-blind.

Killzone 3, much like the previous entries in the series, makes use of a very monochromatic palette in most of its environments. They mostly explain this away as the planet being formerly inhospitable. The colours also lend to the mood of the game, so I guess you can’t put too much fault to it. The lack of colour actually makes the few colours that you do see seem much more distinct, like the reds of the eyes of your enemy, or the bright-blue-green that you see on the uniforms of your allies. There are a few moments where you see a little bit more colour, like in the jungle level where you can see some of the wildlife of Helghan.

Lenovo Thinkpad E520: First Impressions

The first thing I noticed obviously was the box. It's simple, it's mostly uncoloured and it was just a box. The packaging stresses how it is made out of  recycled materials. I have no idea of what percentage of the material is recycled, however.

The keyboard feels very, very comfortable to type on. The keys didn't give much resistance and they're indented slightly so that my fingers almost feel like they're melting into them while I'm typing this.

The finish isn't glossy anywhere except for the spaces between the keys, which is a bit odd. I am glad that the screen is anti-glare because I hate glare. How the hell shiny screens became popular I'll never know. The back of the screen has a bit of a rubbery feel to it, perhaps to minimise fingerprints.

One thing that concerns me at the moment is the real lack of indicators on the laptop. There is a little light to dot the 'i' on the Thinkpad logo that turns on whenever the laptop is turned on, and a charging light on the side, but aside from that there really isn't anything to tell you of the hard drive activity or whether caps/numlock is on.

I bought the version that normally costs $649.00, with a little discount. It has an Intel Core i5-2410m CPU with 4GB of ram and a AMD Radeon HD 6630m discrete graphics card, so it is possible to do some decent gaming on this thing.

I may do a fuller review later, because when I was looking for reviews of this thing after I bought it (stupid I know) I couldn't really find any that were in English.

Logitech Gamepad F310

I bought this at Dick Smith Electronics for about AU$40 if I remember correctly. You could probably find it cheaper if you looked elsewhere online.

Bought on a whim, I thought I'd use it to play some older games and some PC shooters for shits n giggles. It lets me do that rather nicely, but there are a few niggling little problems I have with it.

The first of these problems would be the triggers at the back of the controller. They work, but they don't really try to hold your finger in that much. They're not uncomfortable, but they're not that comfortable either, especially when compared with the triggers that the controller the Nintendo Gamecube controller had.

The thumbsticks are generally pretty functional but they don't seem to detect your minor movements. When I tried playing on an emulator they only started to register when I had the sticks moved in about half a direction. I'm not sure whether it's because of some settings I'm unaware of or because of the game I was playing, but other controllers I've used were a little more responsive. I suppose if I played more I wouldn't have this problem. I generally use mouse and keyboard to play games.

The face buttons and the shoulder buttons are fine. You press them and shit happens on the screen. My only gripe is with the placement of the "mode" button which lets you switch the functions of the left thumbstick and the d-pad. I kept pressing it whenever I intended to press the select button, which caused me to make further mistakes. Again, this may just be due to me not using controllers much.

The dpad is very similar to the buttons. Shit happens on the screen when I press the dpad, like I expect it to. I  guess I'd have more to say about it if I played more 2d fighting games, which involve heavier use of the dpad than the platformers I played with it.

As you can see from the picture it borrows some very obvious design cues from some modern console controllers, such as the colour scheme (and lettering, no numbers like most traditional PC game controllers) of the face buttons from Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller, and the thumbstick placement from the Playstation's line of DualShock controllers. It even has a home button. I have no idea what it does.

The handgrips feel comfortable enough to me and all of the components of the controller are within easy reach for my fingers and/or thumbs.

Since this is my first review here I'm not sure if I want to be the type of reviewer that gives out numbers as a rating or just gives you something to read. I guess I'll give you a number, but I might not next time.
8

There. Now it's up to you to decide what that number is out of. 8/10? 8/5? 8/100? 8/40? Completely up to you.