alexf0x

Left 4 Dead 2 – Xbox 360.

Ok I am going to make this another quickie review, why? Well normally when I do a review I normally focus on the negative, and well that’s hard to do with this game. Everything is improved, fleshed out and more fun. Again like modern warfare I will do a quickie bullet point review.

-First focusing on the negative though, the bot AI is worse for some reason, or it hasn’t been improved to take some of the new challenges into account. Often bots don’t react or do things like they are meant to, and more often than not it becomes clear that you are guiding them around like a teacher with a class bored school children on a shitty day trip. Certainly a let down after the last game.

- The “multiple path” thing is a con, all it is that some areas are now “wide” with a large obstacle (or obstacles) in the middle. Boo that’s not what I wanted! I wanted full new paths through levels not this shit, not a multiple path that is little more than two short board walks that only take two seconds to cross, not stupid open areas of swampland where you can accidently end up walking around in circles. Boo at you valve for conning me with that one.

-Two of the new special infected (zombies) are too fucking powerful. The charger rams you and drags you miles (often the bots don’t notice or too slow to deal with it, same with human players too I guess), to add insult to injury it will slam you into the ground constantly dealing 15 points in damage each time. The spitter is also too fucking damaging since the area that it sprays is too wide, and the goo again can whittle health down at a constant rate of knots. Hell, shoot her too and she melts into the floor producing yet another damaging puddle of gunk.

-The problems with the AI director and the witch still haven’t really been resolved, even with the wandering witch. At least the wider areas help a bit more now.

-The difficulty is a bit all over the place (compared to the old game which was a constant moderate between chapters) some chapters are only as hard as the first game, others now are by far more difficult or have really stupidly difficult sections. What really grates me, though isn’t that the game is now harder, is the fact that some of the early levels have some very hard moments while latter ones have very easy bits. I think the word is “schizophrenic”. Do note thought that I was playing with bots who’s dumb A.I may have made some of the games moments a lot harder, please do bear that in mind.

-The new weapons are cool and there is a lot more of them, three new ARs, two SMG types, four shotguns, and two flavors of pistol, not to mention the new grenade launcher. The big new addition is the melee weapons like the frying pan (makes an amusing “dong” sound when you hit something), a cricket bat (I don’t know why the southern states are filled with English cricket bats, lame reason to make another tie with “Shaun of the dead” I think), machete, a katana, crowbar (it wouldn’t be a valve game without one), baseball bat (I got as DLC), fire axe, guitar and big mention to the daddy of them all, the chainsaw! Run into a pack of infected with that and just watch the limbs fly!

-And with chainsaw death mentioned it’s worth noting that this game is a lot more bloody than the first. Infected don’t just fall over when they are killed now, instead hit them with enough force and limbs will be torn off! Heads too, with a decent shot or swipe. My personal grizzly fave is shooting the torso or guts, either all the flesh from the skeleton is blown away or sometimes intestines fall out in the infected will walk around for a bit with them dragging along the floor. It’s like George A Romero and Tom Savini got together with valve and had a party, f**king A.

-The levels are more diverse, which is a good thing seeing that the levels in the first game where a bit samey. This time rather than just streets and suburban countryside in mostly the night time, we have to battle through a hotel that’s burning down, a mall (homage to Dawn of the dead), a carnival, swamps, abandoned shanty towns, an up market housing estate, a sugar mill, a bridge, an abandoned plantation mansion to name but a few. It’s almost as if this time round there is something new and exciting around each and every corner. Least we not forget the effects of light, and weather which now feature heavily in the game. Some parts are now in the dark, others in the middle of the day, and some at dusk or dawn, other areas (like the mall) are restricted by ambient light causing shifts in the lighting of some areas. Also one level is set during a tropical storm, and the weather gets worse as the level goes on, starting with a sunny day and ending with a monsoon and flood.

-Level design has changed; there are new challenges in each level. Also the end sections of each level have changed, one level sees you finding gas for a car, another sees you having to cross a bridge within a time limit, lets not forget the rock concert end of the dark carnival level.

Overall I love left 4 dead 2. Yes I have made a few complaints at the game and I can’t say that I have played it all. I have had a quick go at the new online verses game, and yes I did find it was a bit unbalanced, but I didn’t really buy this game to play against people so I am not going to hold the title back too much on that. It is nice to see that the game has risen above the dumb boycott campaign that started up shortly after it was announced.

Anyway it gets my thumbs up like the first game, speaking of which if you haven’t checked out the first game yet do so. It’s a bit more easy going than this one and it will help you get into the game a bit easier into the flow of the gameplay than this game. Well that and it still rocks.

Verdict

4 and a half piles of carved up zombie guts out of 5.

And for some reason I am at work. For some reason my back and calf mussels (I've got a literal pain in the back side) are aching like crazy, on top of that I am feeling woozy and a little lightheaded.

God knows what I've done to myself, but I am willing to bet that it had something to do with the hammering of those hardboard tiles into place yesterday. At least I should look on the bright side, my room is almost done.

First up went to game to get Left 4 Dead 2 that came out today, only to find out that I had a whopping £7.50 on my game reward card, reducing the price to £32.50.

Then after that I hit the Regal and had a nice, and I mean very nice dark Czech beer that was on draft. I then got back to work just in time for the children in need raffle, where I scored a bottle of wine!

All that needs to happen now is a phone call from my brother to say that he's allowed to leave early. (Ok he just did as I was typing this so I’ll be going home in the next 20mins or so, awesome).

Ok I know I am not going to make a long post here, but I've had an idea buzzing in my head for a while now and I've been pondering on what to do.

Now I used to write a fair bit and I was thinking about having another shot at writing something soon, but here's where I am deciding to do something a little different, and I am going to use LJ to do it.

I am going to write a story in the same way that a web comic is done, i.e. by typing up a chapter, or section at a time and posting it here up on LJ for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Also I could follow up each chapter with a spot of commentary and Q and A feedback, hell I might even be able to get some illustrations in at the same time.

The big question is would any of you read it, or check it out? I would love to do as much of this story as possible over a year or so, and any feedback would be lovely. Who knows maybe this might be a fun way of writing a book, something that I've wanted to try for a long time.

But as I said would any of you read any of it?

Call of duty: modern warfare 2 - Xbox 360

Right I am going to give my verdict on this game now while this shit is still hot and fresh, unlike most of my reviews that are for games that have a bit of time on the clock. If you saw my previous post then you should get the idea that it wasn’t working with me and over 24hours since release it still stands. I was disappointed, and I still certainly feel that the game didn’t live up to the hype that was surrounding it, but to explain why and to keep this short and quick, I am going to use the bullet point system to quickly reel this shit off.

- The gameplay is largely unchanged; there are no real control differences between this one and the last game. The only major changes have been the addition of slow-mo breaching sections, and driving sections. No complaints here, but there are no real improvements, but then did it need improving as it was fine in the first place.

- The breaching sections are alright, in fact they are a good use of the over used slow-mo game mechanic. Once you breach a door or a wall in the game, the gameplay goes into slow-mo for a few seconds and you have that bief moment of time while time is slow to shoot either all the bad guys or as many as possible to make your life a lot easier. It works really well but my only complaint is that why do we only get this feature from past the halfway point and then why do we start with the harder most critical sections (the hostage rescues) first?

- The driving sections are ok, they work and they are short and they certainly don’t get in the way of things too much (it’s certainly an improvement over the Jeep sections in COD3). Again I have a slight complaint though about it’s too easy to receive an unforgiving insta-kill death on the snowmobile jump section, but that’s it.

- The AI has been tweaked, I don’t know if it’s for the better (hence “Tweaked” rather than “improved”). Enemies are smarter and more unpredictable. I don’t know if this is an improvement as it made things a little frustrating in the more complex environments, and that team mate AI doesn’t seem to have been improved to cope (two of my team mates in one mission ran by two soldiers who where only feet away from them and then continued to ignore them as the duo shot me to death, just plain dumb).

- The Graphics are pretty much the same, nice to see some more colorful environments (like the afghan desert and Rio favals), but the sudden jump to the pitch black latter in the game is a bit off putting. Don’t be surprised that you reach for options to up the gamma correction latter on.

- The story is the single player games true weak point, it starts out a bit muddily and confusing but gels together at the end. However there are big plot holes (enough to sail a aircraft carrier through at points). Other bits that seem unresolved, and it also Jumps the shark while firing an atomic mortar at a nearby fridge, not once but fucking twice (I am not kidding here). Oh and the big twist toward the end was a little obvious from the start of the game.

- Speaking of which the characters aren’t as good, none of the supporting cast felt as strong, or as interesting as the first title. Oh and you jump between five or so people in this game (rather than just two in the previous title), at times I started to forget who I was and what I was doing. Not to mention some of the jumps where a bit schizophrenic.

- The ending, it’s a little cliché, a little too similar to the previous game and certainly left too much of a bittersweet taste in my mouth to feel too.

- The biggest flaw? It was all over in just over 7 hours! I started playing at 1am got most of the way through before turning in at 5:30am, slept until 9:40am started playing again at 10:30am was watching rolling credits by 12:40 midday! And that was on the medium difficulty setting! Too short! Portal on the first play took me longer.

- The extra quick play missions are ok but not amazing. Fun little diversions but I can’t write home and say that it’s original and stuff though. Oh and up yours for making a few of them multi-player only, although the gesture of CO-OP play is welcome.

- The multiplayer death match is the crown of the game, the first game got the online game right and the second follows up on that well by improving on the formula. Fun, fast and fair stuff, addictive and absorbing as ever.

Well that’s it the newest biggest game around in bullet point format, it’s not the best game out at the moment and while it’s had the biggest most high profile release, it’s not game of the year stuff. The solo campaign is a bit off compared to the first game, the quick missions are welcome but weren’t a necessity, while the online death match is as fun as ever if not an outright improvement. Overall the game has fallen victim of the HALO virus, a big billed single player game with a multiplayer element where the single player game takes a back seat, is lower quality, or generally over shadowed by the multiplayer sideshow.

Anyway it’s still a good game worth a look see at the very least, just don’t expect it to blow your socks off like the hype’s been make out. In fact check out the previous game first, because personally it’s better.

Verdict

3 spent bullet casings out of 5

Dosn't live up to the hype (seeing the months of build up) weaker characters, lamer missions, slightly messy story.

I love COD4:MW but from what I've played of COD:MW2 so far, this isn't as good.

( Spoiler Alert, of the most controversial momment in the game and how I felt!!! )

Just to let everyone know that I am ok, I am in work, and that I am doing fine, well sort of.

Yes I did have an allergy attack from nowhere last night, my eyes went swollen (to the point that I was blind for a few minuets, my lips puffed up, my throat was sore and I had a few respiratory problems. All of these have subsided although my eye’s are still a little bloodshot, and the medication that I took last night and this morning was drowsy (so I am wandering about in a drugged up sleepy state despite getting 9 hours of sleep last night).

I have still no idea what caused it (although I am pinning the blame on the plaster dust from my new rooms reworking), and yes I have called the doctor and booked an appointment for tomorrow.

I am not sure that I will be doing cadets tonight given my current state, as I am sure that I shouldn’t even really be at work currently.

I've just suffered a major allergy attack! And thats never happend before!!

Well that came without warning. Looks like the London trip that I was planning now isn't going ahead due to me not realising that the event was the sort that would sell out (and originally intending to not get tickets until my rather over used credit card of recent had ticked over into the next statement (something that didn't happen until the 25th).

Now I am not crying over this, Eurogamer looked fun but it was unnecessary it would of been nice to have seen a few games ahead of time but most of the games on show have already been realised. I mean what's the point of going all the way to see Beatles rock band when we have it downstairs on my bros PS3.

Now there was Mass effect 2 and L4D2, but to be frank while taking a sneak peak would of been cool one is best left unspoiled until February and the other I know will be a bit short so seeing or playing any of it would only ruin a good chunk of the experience.

Would of been cool but oh well, and yes this means that I couldn't make a Japanese restaurant trip that I was planing (sorry little_wolf1985 about that).

I could still go to RBW but at £25 minimum for one day (on top of all the other costs) it's a bit $'pensive for something where I am going to do not much more than go the bar and occasionally see the few and I mean few people that know me. With all the other costs I've got coming like having to pay a builder, xmas and of course the badly timed holiday that I am starting to fucking regret saying that I would go on.

In short need to find other plans for this long weekend now or cancel it.

Any ideas?

This just gets funnier and funnier the more I see of it. Come on it's US 80's children's TV icon Pee Wee Herman in a US PSA talking to us in a dead serious tone about crack cocaine. How the fuck are you supposed to take this seriously (and even more so if you've ever seen the opening to Pee Wee's Playhouse).

Also what makes this even more ironically funny was that this started to air in the states only one week before Paul Reubens (the actor who plays Pee Wee) was busted for publicly masturbating in an adult cinema (an event that would sink the character and his career for over a decade). Oh the hilarity.

Now back to nursing this cold.

Nick Griffin has compared the head of our armed forces to Nazi war criminals, wow! That’s bloody hypocritical coming from someone who had to be forced by the courts recently to allow people of different ethnic races into his retarded political party, and would happily revoke equality laws (practically civil partnerships), or better yet turn me (and a lot of other people I know) in to criminals just for what and who we are.

As the saying goes “Pot called the kettle black” should be applied here.

Oh and fuck you to the BBC for allowing this douche airtime on question time. I know there is free speech and all, but this is nothing but bad press that’s doing him a world of good.

Anyone here on my list who's at RBW on the Friday interested in meeting up for a spot of dinner at a Japanese place in London’s china town on the 30th of Oct. The time would be roughly for a meet up at 7:30PM (place to be decided, although I may just travel to near to the RBW con site), with dinner at about 8:00P to 8:30pm (travel pending).

Now I won't be at RBW, but I will be at the Eurogamer Expo that day, gawping over titles like left 4 dead 2, AvP and Mass Effect 2. Anyone that's going to RBW (or Eurogamer Expo for that matter) and wants to come I will PM my mobile phone details to you, and I keep you informed here and via Email.

Now despite the big deal that was made over it yesterday, that this was a all new post-humourous song by the late prince of pop, I did find it odd that I didn’t get to hear it until this morning. I would of thought that something of this magnitude would get more airtime, I mean more than one playing first thing in the morning.

But now after having herd it on the radio on the drive to work today; I can see why the excitement over this event suddenly died right the fuck down.

This song is bland, boring and cruddy. It goes no ware and never and I mean never gets anymore exciting. The melody is drab, the tempo is drab, and the singing even for Michel Jackson is well drab.

Now this song was originally billed as a new song that Jackson was working on at the time of his untimely demise for the then upcoming shows at the O2 arena (which shared the same name), and finished by the rest of the Jacksons. But allegedly the truth came out within 24 hours. Apparently the song wasn’t something that he was working on at the time of his death, but apparently a archived recording from the 1980’s that was found in while going though the late mans effects. This I can believe as there was a lot of material that was cut from the albums “Thriller” and “Bad” (Jackson wrote or was working on roughly 40 songs for each album but only 12/15 or so made the cut). It wasn’t written by Michel Jackson but by some other guy who’s claimed for credit and royalties (apparently this has been settled already, I guess with MJ’s debts still looming over the family they decided to cave than to fight it out). Also it was apparently little more than a rough recording too, just MJ singing with a piano as instrumentation in the background (everything you hear on top has been very recently added).

So this is why “This is it” is such shit, it’s a lump of crap that was cut from “Thriller” or “Bad” with some shitty redone music shoved on top and passed off as a better more recent work. It’s a quick cash in turd from the Jackson family, shoved out to promote the new album and tribute movie that are coming out at the end of the month. In a move to hopefully clear the monster debt that he left them with.

I think that I will give it a miss and listen to “Bad” again, rather than pick over the corpse of the man for more crap songs.

A really ugly old lady or a unconvincing transvestite, in a terribly over done pink outfit (Cruella de Vil's long lost sister maybe?)

David Attenborough.

And a woman with super-sized and I mean SUPER-SIZED! boobs.

Now I wish I could have lunch brakes without the weirdo's, freaks or Celebrity cameo's

Just went out the local shop for something to go with this mornings tea when I read this headline...


"The suicide of the Royal Mail."

Fitting, as that's the way things are going, dumb posties asking for a greedy rise when the rest of us don't get shit. In fact they should be just thankful currently to have somewhat secure jobs.

However if the RM is going to sink? Then who the fuck is going to deliver my mail.

The most recent set of articles on The Escapist website might be of some interest to some of you lot on my friends list.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/apps/features/

Personally though what do I think of all of this as the Bisexual gamer?

Well on this "online gaming abuse" issue, just grow a fucking spine OK? Look Xbox live is full and I mean full of people trading insults at each other, most of the time it's just macho banter. Yes occasionally some people step over the line and act like arseholes in games too, I've experienced it at least once, and a very straight friend of mine got the same treatment too recently. however at the end of the day it's up to you to decide if it's worth playing along with them. Better yet if your in control of the game or server, then fuck em' your god and you have the "kick" button. Why sit there take it and cry?

Also if it's just the macho frat boy taunt of "fag" during your halo 3 session, they are using it to cuss out another gamer who they think is straight. Trust me there is no better way than taunting a straight guy than questioning their sexual preferences.

Don't get stroppy with it, just toss back a better remark, like... I don't know, maybe something like "Oh how did you know? Maybe you want my hot steamy load in your mouth!". Then frag the little bitch. Besides the guy that said it is only 13, and you don't want to be brought to tears by a 13 year old now do you, that's just sad.

Anyway as I was saying, just go and get some spine "fag".

Well October is almost here, season, or should I say a month for spooky scary stuff, you know with Halloween coming up and all. Now personally, and this is a British thing I guess, Halloween isn’t really celebrated that much over here, but whatever it’s a month long excuse to have one long back to back horror movie fest.

Now to celebrate this excuse for mass geekery, I’ve decided to run a little horror trivia (focusing mostly on movies, games and books) compo between now and the end of next month with questions appearing in my LJ every Wednesday and Friday (afternoon or evening GMT), and answers appearing the following day (midday GMT). The person that scores the most right answers will win a free full colour (copic ink) A4 one or two character commission from me, I will even mail it to you (yes even internationally).

To answer just comment in the entry (they will be screened so people just can’t pick the most popular answer) with the choice correct choice of answer.

One other thing…… no looking up Wikipedia and other sources! I will find out if you are, and it’s a fate worse than death if you do!

(Oh and stay tuned you don’t want to miss any questions as not answering will count against you!)

Now to the first question

“What is the link between the 1980’s slasher flick series ‘A nightmare on Elm Street’ and the U2 spy plane?”

Was it?

A) Wes Craven the director of the first film and the series creator was a U2 pilot before leaving the USAF to become a film director.

B) During filming the first film in the franchise a U2 crashed close to a outdoor location needed for the film delaying filming for a week.

C) One U2 was named “Freddy” after the title character Fred Kruger, because of the red and black markings (like the said characters jumper and pop culture status).

D) Robert Englund’s (who played Fred Kruger) father helped to design the plane with Clarence “Kelly” Johnson.

Apparently he's retiring* today, and I only found out via the radio, not via the universities press or other news outlets. Oh how amazing the uni works eh?

Anyway to 30 years of baffling mathematics, and astrophysics at the uni!




*This means that he will be still in the Mathematics department for a further year or two working, and will be forever back as a speaker. Academics don't retire they just fade away.

Anyone know if there is a meet LF meet on that weekend? As I will be about London for the Eurogamer Expo on the friday.

Actually I think that's when RBW is on, so there might not be.