It's now been two days since GTA V has released and after messing around with it for a few hours I'd like to give it a "worth it or not?" rundown. Upon my first launch it booted up, the rockstar logo appeared (for those of you who don't know they're the studio responsible for this game) and then it got caught in an infinite loop making me force quit the game, the same thing happened about 2-3 more times before I got it to load into the main menu. Fortunately that's where my trouble with the game ended and the fun began, The game opens with you in control of one of three bank robbers who refer to each other only by their initials. After herding the panicked civilians into the tellers room you make your way to the vault and bag a couple million in cold hard cash, a guard grabs you pulls off your mask and points a gun at your head. At this point the game prompts you to press a button causing your control to switch over to one of the other robbers who then shoots the guard freeing up "T". The trio fights their way out of the bank and through a couple car fulls of cops before you make your getaway in a car by the road. The next sequence has you drive down a snowy road avoiding the cop cruisers trying to run you off the road until a scripted sequence in which a train hits your car forces you to continue on foot until "M" and "B" are shot while "T" manages to evade the police. That was just the opening sequence to GTA V and the action to the point that I've played has not yet let up.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Killing Floor Review
Killing Floor is a cooperative survival horror first person shooter by Tripwire Interactive. It was released May 14th, 2009 and ever since has remained an very popular game in the pc world.
Killing Floor takes place in England where a Biotechnology company in London called Horzine Biotech was contracted by the military to do experimentation on cloning and genetic modification. The experiments fail becoming horridly mutated and extremely aggressive. As you can probably guess something goes wrong causing all of the experiments to escape and attack the population. The police try holding them off but it does no good and soon the mutant clones overrun the city and the military is called in to help deal with the outbreak.
The player is given a choice between a couple different classes each one offering different perks like increased accuracy or improved healing. The players start the level with a knife a pistol a medical syringe and a welding tool and can find extra ammo and even some of the less expensive weapons scattered throughout the map. Other weapons can be bought from a trader along with armor and other items with the money accumulated from killing mutants. The syringe can be used to heal other players (and yourself if you play as the medic class) and is an excellent tool for getting players to not stray to far from each other and promotes teamwork. The welding tool is used to barricade doors and fix electronics.
The game plays out in a wave form meaning that a set number of enemies will spawn, once they are killed there is downtime before the next round to stock up and the next wave of enemies spawn usually increasing in difficulty until the final wave which spawns mostly lower level enemies and a boss mutant. The boss mutants are incredibly powerful and require much more coordination and skill to kill compared to the other mutants. As you would expect from a game like this all the maps bring a heavy post apocalyptic atmosphere with them. Be it the blood splattered walls of a dimly lit ravaged underground laboratory, crumbling bombed out apartment complexes or an eerie farmhouse tucked away in the woods.
Despite being a game about England on its last leg trying to fight off the mutants it manages to stay very lighthearted. On certain holidays (Halloween, Christmas etc) the game gets a little visual change that makes the mutants look more appropriately themed (such as looking like ginger bread men or dressed as Santa for the Christmas event). And even if you don't have the privilege of playing during a holiday event you can still enjoy the quips of the soldiers as they call they poke fun at the mutants or jokingly jeer at each other. Killing floor is a really fun game and an excellent way to pass the time with your friends or strangers alike (although it is more fun to play with your friends as most multiplayer games are).
Killing Floor takes place in England where a Biotechnology company in London called Horzine Biotech was contracted by the military to do experimentation on cloning and genetic modification. The experiments fail becoming horridly mutated and extremely aggressive. As you can probably guess something goes wrong causing all of the experiments to escape and attack the population. The police try holding them off but it does no good and soon the mutant clones overrun the city and the military is called in to help deal with the outbreak.
The player is given a choice between a couple different classes each one offering different perks like increased accuracy or improved healing. The players start the level with a knife a pistol a medical syringe and a welding tool and can find extra ammo and even some of the less expensive weapons scattered throughout the map. Other weapons can be bought from a trader along with armor and other items with the money accumulated from killing mutants. The syringe can be used to heal other players (and yourself if you play as the medic class) and is an excellent tool for getting players to not stray to far from each other and promotes teamwork. The welding tool is used to barricade doors and fix electronics.
The game plays out in a wave form meaning that a set number of enemies will spawn, once they are killed there is downtime before the next round to stock up and the next wave of enemies spawn usually increasing in difficulty until the final wave which spawns mostly lower level enemies and a boss mutant. The boss mutants are incredibly powerful and require much more coordination and skill to kill compared to the other mutants. As you would expect from a game like this all the maps bring a heavy post apocalyptic atmosphere with them. Be it the blood splattered walls of a dimly lit ravaged underground laboratory, crumbling bombed out apartment complexes or an eerie farmhouse tucked away in the woods.
Despite being a game about England on its last leg trying to fight off the mutants it manages to stay very lighthearted. On certain holidays (Halloween, Christmas etc) the game gets a little visual change that makes the mutants look more appropriately themed (such as looking like ginger bread men or dressed as Santa for the Christmas event). And even if you don't have the privilege of playing during a holiday event you can still enjoy the quips of the soldiers as they call they poke fun at the mutants or jokingly jeer at each other. Killing floor is a really fun game and an excellent way to pass the time with your friends or strangers alike (although it is more fun to play with your friends as most multiplayer games are).
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Payday 2 Car Shop Heist
The Payday 2 car shop heist was a free unique heist update released last week. As you've probably guessed from the name the heist has you sneak your way into a faux-Lamborghini dealership and stealing their finest vehicles.
The mission can only be played in a stealth play style (you can't have cops shooting up cars you want to steal) so try to have at least 2 people with stealth oriented skill sets in your crew. The mission starts with you having to locate the manager of the store to get a key card for access to the car keys. Afterwards you have to hack the security and blow a hole above a tunnel leading to your escape zone. Once the C-4 blows you have around 2:30 minutes to drive the cars into shipping containers and escape.
In the escape sequence you actually get to drive the cars you're stealing. This part was actually more enjoyable than i thought it would be, Overkill managed to make the cars control and handle fairly well and while the road you drive on isn't all that exciting it's still fun to drive due to its challenging route.
Overall this was a fun little heist and I certainly can't complain for it being free and all
The mission can only be played in a stealth play style (you can't have cops shooting up cars you want to steal) so try to have at least 2 people with stealth oriented skill sets in your crew. The mission starts with you having to locate the manager of the store to get a key card for access to the car keys. Afterwards you have to hack the security and blow a hole above a tunnel leading to your escape zone. Once the C-4 blows you have around 2:30 minutes to drive the cars into shipping containers and escape.
In the escape sequence you actually get to drive the cars you're stealing. This part was actually more enjoyable than i thought it would be, Overkill managed to make the cars control and handle fairly well and while the road you drive on isn't all that exciting it's still fun to drive due to its challenging route.
Overall this was a fun little heist and I certainly can't complain for it being free and all
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Hotline Miami 2 Review
I've now played through the entire story of Hotline Miami 2 since my previous post and this one will go more in depth about the game. Warning this article contains major spoilers to Hotline Miami 1 & 2
HM2 takes everything people liked about Hotline Miami like its psychedelic soundtrack and high octane game play that left you shaking with adrenaline after countless failures finally morph themselves into the perfect run of the level.
The Hotline Miami universe takes place in an alternate timeline where Russia fills the role as the great super power due to a large arsenal of nukes. The U.S. eventually goes to war with the Russia on the Russian controlled Hawaiian islands. Thanks to the help of an elite group of soldiers known as the "Wolf Squad" the U.S. drives Russian presence out of Hawaii. Later on April 3rd 1986 a catastrophic event happens destroying San Francisco (don't want to mention it as its a major spoiler) which causes the 50 blessing organization to form. Flash forward 3 more years and the events of Hotline Miami take place.
Aside from the fans the player are given control of other characters with their own stories and motives. Manny Pardo is a Miami police detective who doesn't follow the rules and abuses his badge, he plays fairly basically but starts his levels with access to a shotgun. There is also the mobster who works for the Russian mafia doing their dirty work even though he just wants out of it all. along with them you get to play as a member of Wolf squad during the Hawaiian islands conflict, Richter who's in the 50 blessings program, Jake another 50 blessings member (and the original owner of the Jake mask Jacket finds in the first game) Evan a freelance writer doing a story on the "masked vigilantes of Miami" and a friend of Manny Pardo and you even get to play as the leader of the Russian mob.
The game is split up into 6 acts plus an intro and outro level at the beginning/end of the game. Each act is about 4-6 levels and the game is in a anachronistic form which means in order to fully get the plot you'll have to piece the timeline together yourself using the time stamp at the beginning of each level to put them in chronological order.
Hotline Miami 2 really lived up to expectations of the series fans and was definitely the perfect way to close off the series. For now there isn't much to do with the game after beating it except improving scores and achievement hunting but that will certainly change when they release the level editor (which was planned as a way for players to start creating their own stories and essentially their very own Hotline Miami game.)
HM2 takes everything people liked about Hotline Miami like its psychedelic soundtrack and high octane game play that left you shaking with adrenaline after countless failures finally morph themselves into the perfect run of the level.
The Hotline Miami universe takes place in an alternate timeline where Russia fills the role as the great super power due to a large arsenal of nukes. The U.S. eventually goes to war with the Russia on the Russian controlled Hawaiian islands. Thanks to the help of an elite group of soldiers known as the "Wolf Squad" the U.S. drives Russian presence out of Hawaii. Later on April 3rd 1986 a catastrophic event happens destroying San Francisco (don't want to mention it as its a major spoiler) which causes the 50 blessing organization to form. Flash forward 3 more years and the events of Hotline Miami take place.
Aside from the fans the player are given control of other characters with their own stories and motives. Manny Pardo is a Miami police detective who doesn't follow the rules and abuses his badge, he plays fairly basically but starts his levels with access to a shotgun. There is also the mobster who works for the Russian mafia doing their dirty work even though he just wants out of it all. along with them you get to play as a member of Wolf squad during the Hawaiian islands conflict, Richter who's in the 50 blessings program, Jake another 50 blessings member (and the original owner of the Jake mask Jacket finds in the first game) Evan a freelance writer doing a story on the "masked vigilantes of Miami" and a friend of Manny Pardo and you even get to play as the leader of the Russian mob.
The game is split up into 6 acts plus an intro and outro level at the beginning/end of the game. Each act is about 4-6 levels and the game is in a anachronistic form which means in order to fully get the plot you'll have to piece the timeline together yourself using the time stamp at the beginning of each level to put them in chronological order.
Hotline Miami 2 really lived up to expectations of the series fans and was definitely the perfect way to close off the series. For now there isn't much to do with the game after beating it except improving scores and achievement hunting but that will certainly change when they release the level editor (which was planned as a way for players to start creating their own stories and essentially their very own Hotline Miami game.)
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number First Impressions
It's finally out, the sequel to one of my most loved games has finally been released! And after having a few hours to explore the new story Dennaton Games have masterfully created and also to soak in the synthey bassey soundtrack that always seems to sync up perfectly with you playing.
HM2 opens up with the opening to a slasher flick called "Midnight Animal". After a short cutscene you're given control of the Pig Butcher (he's based off of Jacket from Hotline Miami 1 and the movie is based on the events of the first game) and rampage through a house killing everyone, enemy or not, while you learn the controls of the game.
After learning the basics and starting your game after being dropped into the main menu you get your first look at the fans. The fans are a group of "vigilante" types who want to follow Jackets example and kill Russian mobsters for the 50 blessings project. After a bit of chatting they settle for patrolling around looking for random thugs to kill.
Each playable character in HM2 is defined by a unique trait. For example, the fans consists of 5 members; Corey who wears a zebra mask and is incredibly agile allowing them to roll and dodge attacks and gunfire, Tony who wears Jackets own Tony the tiger mask (how he got it is unknown, also not the cereal tony the tiger) and can't use guns but throws lethal punches, Alex & Ash a twin team Alex (the sister) leads the two with a chainsaw while Ash (the brother) follows closely with a firearm, and finally Mark who wears a bear mask and starts the level dual wielding sub machine guns and carrying spare ammo for it and can shoot in front or directly to both his sides.
The game is really fun and manages to feel like a completely new experience compared to the original hotline Miami. The levels have way more open space and incorporates gun play a whole lot more which leads to a more varied and interesting experience when you play. I don't want to say too much about the game now as its still very new and I don't want to spoil too much, but I will do a more in depth review later on.
*I'll upload a short clip of me playing when I've got some time to record*
HM2 opens up with the opening to a slasher flick called "Midnight Animal". After a short cutscene you're given control of the Pig Butcher (he's based off of Jacket from Hotline Miami 1 and the movie is based on the events of the first game) and rampage through a house killing everyone, enemy or not, while you learn the controls of the game.
After learning the basics and starting your game after being dropped into the main menu you get your first look at the fans. The fans are a group of "vigilante" types who want to follow Jackets example and kill Russian mobsters for the 50 blessings project. After a bit of chatting they settle for patrolling around looking for random thugs to kill.
Each playable character in HM2 is defined by a unique trait. For example, the fans consists of 5 members; Corey who wears a zebra mask and is incredibly agile allowing them to roll and dodge attacks and gunfire, Tony who wears Jackets own Tony the tiger mask (how he got it is unknown, also not the cereal tony the tiger) and can't use guns but throws lethal punches, Alex & Ash a twin team Alex (the sister) leads the two with a chainsaw while Ash (the brother) follows closely with a firearm, and finally Mark who wears a bear mask and starts the level dual wielding sub machine guns and carrying spare ammo for it and can shoot in front or directly to both his sides.
The game is really fun and manages to feel like a completely new experience compared to the original hotline Miami. The levels have way more open space and incorporates gun play a whole lot more which leads to a more varied and interesting experience when you play. I don't want to say too much about the game now as its still very new and I don't want to spoil too much, but I will do a more in depth review later on.
*I'll upload a short clip of me playing when I've got some time to record*
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Upcoming content
I wasn't able to find anything I wanted to write a review on this week so I decided to talk about some things coming out soon that I'll be taking a look at.
First off coming out next week is Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, I'm really excited for this as it's the sequel to one of my favorite games and I have nothing but high hopes for this one. It follows the aftermath of HM1's main protagonist jacket, the game seems to be more of the same with general improvements and new game play elements to freshen it up. (they've released a series of web comics detailing the background of the different characters of HM2 you can download off of steam.)
First off coming out next week is Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, I'm really excited for this as it's the sequel to one of my favorite games and I have nothing but high hopes for this one. It follows the aftermath of HM1's main protagonist jacket, the game seems to be more of the same with general improvements and new game play elements to freshen it up. (they've released a series of web comics detailing the background of the different characters of HM2 you can download off of steam.)
Jacket Character/mask pack for payday 2: In another collaboration with Dennaton games (creators of Hotline Miami 1/2) overkill has made 2 Hotline Miami 2 themed dlc packs that can be obtained through buying the regular and special editions of Hotline Miami 2. Buying the standard edition of HM2 gets you a mask pack themed off of HM1 and 2 character masks and even the infamous Biker helmet.The real interesting bonus comes from the special edition which gets you the Jacket character pack, this allows you to play as the rooster mask wearing, varsity jacket donning mute killer and gives you access to a themed gun and melee weapon and a skill pack themed around Jackets sociopath tendencies this dlc and the mask pack both unlock on march 10th along with the release of Hotline Miami 2
Grand Theft Auto V: This game is in a sort of pc release limbo where it keeps getting delayed and that pisses everyone off but then they say its to add more features and polish the game so it makes everyone happy. Anyway GTAV is on most pc gamers top anticipated releases which unfortunately got pushed back again from a March 23 release date to April 13. along with the pushed back date rockstar has promised players who've pre ordered an extra $200,000 in game cash and the inclusion of the most recent online update which adds a handful of new game modes and a wealth of new activities to the online mode to revitalize it.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Thief Review
Thief was published in 2014 by Square Enix and developed by Eidos Montreal. Thief was the recent reboot of the Thief series, in Thief you play as Garret a master thief who gallivants around a fictional steam punk like Victorian era city stealing valuables and keeping to the shadows to avoid confrontation from guards.
Thief was an interesting game to play, since you aren't playing the usual gun toting meat head of shooter games the player has to take a lot of precautions and carefully plan how to get around a patrol of guards or find a path from the street up to a third story window left open that could open up to a room of loot ripe for the taking. To help Garret move around the city he has a special claw-like device that helps him quickly climb certain surfaces (usually outlined in blue) and a bow with special arrows like ones meant to put out fire or ones with rope attached to access an otherwise out of reach area.
The stealth mechanics in Thief are nothing new but they are done well. The shadows are your greatest asset in staying hidden as it greatly reduces the chances of being spotted but if an enemy is reasonably close they'll still be able to see you. Noise and movement are the other two main stealth factors that you need to focus on to stay hidden, obviously its easier to see a moving object and this is certainly the case with Garret and staying crouched usually keeps the player quiet enough but occasional surfaces make too much noise when walked across normally (i.e. walking across a creek) so you have to carefully walk across it by holding down a specific key
While the character Garret prefers to avoid confrontation sometimes it's inevitable, when that's the case Garret prefers using non-lethal take downs instead of killing which he views as thoughtless violence. The player can do this numerous ways like sneaking up behind a guard and knocking them out with a swift strike from Garrets blackjack, or shooting an arrow filled with choking powder near a group of guards causing them to pass out or just incapacitating them long enough to let you slip by unnoticed.
Thief is a fairly fun and interesting stealth game with an interesting story rich universe to explore that I'd recommend playing but it's not something you should run out and buy right away
A few screenshots I took:
Thief was an interesting game to play, since you aren't playing the usual gun toting meat head of shooter games the player has to take a lot of precautions and carefully plan how to get around a patrol of guards or find a path from the street up to a third story window left open that could open up to a room of loot ripe for the taking. To help Garret move around the city he has a special claw-like device that helps him quickly climb certain surfaces (usually outlined in blue) and a bow with special arrows like ones meant to put out fire or ones with rope attached to access an otherwise out of reach area.
The stealth mechanics in Thief are nothing new but they are done well. The shadows are your greatest asset in staying hidden as it greatly reduces the chances of being spotted but if an enemy is reasonably close they'll still be able to see you. Noise and movement are the other two main stealth factors that you need to focus on to stay hidden, obviously its easier to see a moving object and this is certainly the case with Garret and staying crouched usually keeps the player quiet enough but occasional surfaces make too much noise when walked across normally (i.e. walking across a creek) so you have to carefully walk across it by holding down a specific key
While the character Garret prefers to avoid confrontation sometimes it's inevitable, when that's the case Garret prefers using non-lethal take downs instead of killing which he views as thoughtless violence. The player can do this numerous ways like sneaking up behind a guard and knocking them out with a swift strike from Garrets blackjack, or shooting an arrow filled with choking powder near a group of guards causing them to pass out or just incapacitating them long enough to let you slip by unnoticed.
Thief is a fairly fun and interesting stealth game with an interesting story rich universe to explore that I'd recommend playing but it's not something you should run out and buy right away
A few screenshots I took:
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