Author - Ripper71

Razer Carcharias Review (PC/XBox 360)

2013/01/21

News, Peripherals News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review, Windows PC News, Xbox 360 News

Literally, as I put the last suitcase in the trunk of my car to head to CES I heard the creak of brakes and the sound of a vehicle settling and turn to see the UPS truck with the driver coming right at me with a package. I thank him, open it up and see the beauty that Cult of Razer followers know all too well: a new green glowing snake product. I think of how much I will have to write during the trip and nod with satisfaction knowing I should be able to test it listening to music and use a recently acquired program to test the mic quality for recording. I toss it in a bag and head off to a week where I get about 7 hours of sleep each night, eat only apples leftover from press lunches for two days straight and meet and greet more people in the business than many people meet in their whole career. Plans are made and remade, I run back to the room periodically to change shirts to lose the sweat stains, and each time I come back to the room I am greeted by a smiling Mrs. Ripper kicking it on her gaming laptop… wearing the new Razer Carcharias. Anyone who knows Mrs. Ripper would not be at all surprised to see her planted in front of a computer playing her favorite MMORPG, but seeing her wear a headset, well I am pretty sure it has been years since I had seen her wear a pair for more than a few minutes. The week flies by in a blur and as she packs her bags to go home before me she asks “can I keep these ones when you are done reviewing them?” With a grin I say, “Sure!” and watched her pack it away in her suitcase knowing she was going to put it to good use before I even made it home and that she had just joined the Cult of Razer.

Tech Specs:

Headphones

Frequency Response: 20 – 20,000 Hz
Impedance: 32 O at 1kHz
Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): 102 ± 4dB at 1 kHz Max
Input Power: 200 mW
Drivers: 40 mm, with Neodymium Magnets
Inner Ear Cup Diameter: 50 mm / 1.97”
Cable Length: 3 m / 9.84 ft

Microphone

Frequency Response: 50 – 16,000 Hz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 50 dB
Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): -37 ± 4dB
Pick-up Pattern: Unidirectional
Cable: 3 meters, Braided Fiber Sheath
Connector: 3.5 mm combined jack (headphone and mic)

Features:

Adjustable voice and game volume balance

Keeping the superior clarity and deep, thumping bass created by using the highest quality drivers available, the Razer Carcharias for Xbox 360/PC now comes with a new in-line remote control to adjust the voice and game volume balance, ideal for Xbox LIVE gaming.

Extended comfort circumaural design

From tank battles on a beachhead to blasting the undead in outer space, the full over-ear coverage ensures a comfortable fit. With a fully adjustable, padded head rail that extends an extra 1.25 in/3.18 cm on either side to accommodate a wide range of head sizes, and with its soft, pliable, removable ear cups, the Razer Carcharias for Xbox 360/PC always allows for a perfect fit.

Connectivity to all Xbox 360 systems

Whether your console is legacy or current-gen and connected to a display via HDMI or component/ composite, the Razer Carcharias for Xbox 360/PC is ready to go right out of the box. All required cables and adapters are included to ensure you can connect to any Xbox 360 within minutes.

Testing Them Out:

First off there is the main reason Mrs. Ripper finally embraced a headset: These are extremely lightweight and comfortable after really long periods of time and, if you feel you need to pull it off an ear to listen to the room, it can be done on a moment’s notice then slipped back into place just as quick. She likes to hear things in headphone stereo as much if not more than the next person, but she hates it when the cups cover the ear too much or start to weigh down on them, pushing her eyeglass arms into the side of her head. Her ears get sore quick from earbuds and she finds it a lot bigger pain in the booty to take them in and out. In contrast none of these have really been a problem for me but those are also the reasons she winds up never using any of my headsets so it was nice to have a set come in that finally appealed to her and displayed a different customer base.

The stereo sound is crisp and clear as you would expect from a Razer product, the sound pickup from the mic is excellent and the boom was very flexible, adjusting to just the right spot for talking but not heavy breathing into a hot boom. It works well with both the XBox 360 old and new (I have both) as well as PCs, both desktop and laptop. Beside being so lightweight that you barely notice they are on, they have extremely soft ear padding and they look damn sexy with glowing green Razer logos on the side. Razer definitely takes the stance that if your paying to play with quality it should look sweet as well and the Carcharias do not disappoint on this condition. You could easily imagine them on everyone from professional gamers at tournaments to a housewife playing an MMORPG while on Ventrilio running a raid.

Last Call:

Reviewing these headsets was a no-brainer partly because Mrs. Ripper is one picky customer and she liked them so I knew I was sliding on what would be some of the most comfortable ones I have ever worn before they even came to rest on my noggin. These are the perfect headset for anyone on your shopping list, including yourself, as they are versatile and lightweight and perfect for all kinds of gamers, I learned that the hard way since I will probably never get to wear them again.

[easyreview title=”Razer CarCharias Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained

AhnLab V3 Click (PC/Tech)

2013/01/21

Ripper71

CES, Mac PC News, News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

So right before I headed to CES I was getting virus pop-ups on my rig left and right. They were driving me crazy but on a tight time crunch I didn’t want to interrupt what I had to get done with a thorough cleaning so I just clicked on the annoying pop-ups as they appeared and figured I would deal with it when I got back. While at ShowStoppers, a CES event where mostly smaller companies get a chance to showcase their innovations I came across AhnLab’s booth that had a simple solution to virus problems: a plug and play button that you hit when you see it flashing red meaning it has detected a virus and then wait for it to turn green meaning it has cleaned it.

Worried it might be infected and not have detected it yet? double hit the button and it turns blue as it does a cleaning. Deeper cleaning is possible by going into the menus and you can click and see what particular viruses are attacking and where or you can just ignore it and not worry about it until it changes to red flashing again. The button goes into one USB port but provides two and whenever you plug a USB into one of the two it checks it for viruses. The button which can be taken and plugged into multiple computers and checks them automatically also has storage space in case there are certain files that you want on all your computers, they can go with you along with virus protection.

Testing:

I knew what viruses were infecting my computer and the root virus that kept causing them. Another virus detector had located the root virus for me but removal was an extremely lengthy task that I kept checking to see the best course for all the time getting hit by the viruses reinstating themselves. Each time they came back the V3 Click was the first detection system to detect them and enable me to click on it and prevent a single popup. Unfortunately not only could it not remove the root virus it didn’t detect it on standard scans. So I went through the process of cleaning out the root virus but put it on an USB drive to test detection further later. After cleaning the system I plugged in the USB and the virus was immediately detected and destroyed by the V3 Click. It wasn’t until after this test that I discovered that there were two types of sweeps by the V3 Click, the button hit is just a quick sweep while there is a “deep clean” option in it’s bar functions that may have detected it. This has to be left a question because I have no desire to put such a deep virus into my computer’s core again but it is possible it would detect it.

Last Call:

It is difficult to test a virus detector in general because you have to be willing to subject your system to one. I do know that AhnLab V3 Click did an excellent job catching the launched viruses as soon as they were planted, it worked faster than several others on the market and knocked them down with an easy hit of a big shiny button. It’s standard scan doesn’t detect deep rooters but it might have gotten caught by it’s Deep Clean had I not already gotten rid of it, though this particular virus manage to avoid detection by a few other virus detectors so even if it did miss it it would be in good company. The fact that it is plug and play on any computer, automatically checks USBs on it’s own safe system and stops the insanely annoying popups all make it worth it’s money. I hope that AhnLab continues to build it’s software detection strength because this button is a surprisingly handy virus protection system.

[easyreview title=”AhnLab V3 Click Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″] Our Rating Scores Explained

The trailer below does a great job describing it’s functions, it gets a bit dry in the middle but the end precautions are hilarious and worth the wait!

Trailer:

Fieldrunners 2 Review (PC/Steam)

2013/01/21

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

There are plenty of tower defense games out there with just about as many styles and themes as there are well, styles and themes in gaming. They tend to attract a certain type of player that loves real time strategy and has a mind that loves building a better mousetrap. At its core, every tower defense game is a mousetrap building machine, you try to build a defense that catches an enemy while trying to go between point A and B using the tools at your disposal. Whether it is a freeway or a field, whether your enemy are orcs or tanks, you are building a maze the enemy is meant to never escape. So when it comes down to it a good tower defense has to have solid mechanics, fun theme and the ability to catch that mouse if you have the mind for it. Fieldrunners managed to do that and do it well, bringing along a sequel, but that doesn’t mean the sequel holds up to the original.

Storyline:

The fieldrunners are back! With legions of soldiers and a gaggle of new tricks, they’re ready to conquer the globe. Or so they think! Our top scientists at SubaLabs have built a bleeding-edge arsenal of devastating weapons for any heroes willing to stop these dastardly invaders. Help your people by taking action – DEFEND THE WORLD!

Maybe it is not the strongest storyline in the world but really who cares? When it comes to storylines, tower defense games don’t require them so in this case to have a fun, cutscene driven one is a great reason to watch the loading screens between levels.

Features:

25 unique, hand painted levels spanning 4 distinct zones across Fieldrunners Island
Over 20 weapons to choose from at the start of each level
Face waves of fieldrunners that navigate the battlefield with unparalleled realistic swarming behavior
Multi-storied maps route enemies over bridges, under tunnels, and into trenches
Revolutionary “Hybrid Maps” combine the fun of designing mazes with the challenges of fixed path layouts
Sudden Death maps pit players against never ending hordes of enemies in an all new, action packed levels
Puzzle Maps are bonus levels that put players’ understanding of enemy behaviors to the test
Over 30 different enemy types, including elite enemy units with special attacks and rewards
Powerful items allow players to perform precision based attacks like never before

Graphics And Sound:

The graphics are colorful and cartoonish and definitely lend themselves to the playful atmosphere the game tries to promote. The towers each have their own feel and character as do the enemy troops that storm wave after wave. The sound effects are fun and a bit silly adding to the overall addictive atmosphere of the game.

Gameplay:

No matter how fun a game looks if the gameplay isn’t solid you aren’t going to stick with it. The makers also have to run the balance between a challenging game and an impossible play. Luckily the makers of Fieldrunners 2 had a very solid understanding of walking this line that they developed in the first game and carried over into this one. Every map has it’s own terrain with challenges and strengths as does each enemy making picking the right tower and the right placement vital. You can build a meat grinder line of gun turrets but if the runner is too fast and you don’t have glue guns to slow them down or turnbacks to keep them in range they will be across the field and damaging your headquarters in no time. Your funding to build towers comes from taking down runners so you also have to manage your resources extremely carefully. You’ll start the level with enough money to put down a couple towers but only a couple and placement at the beginning sets your patterns so you are constantly trying to improve and develop your maze and your tower. You can get special limited use weapons that range from turning back time three rounds to spreading plagues among the foot runners but you have to purchase them with credits earned during the levels.

The game starts you in easy with a learning level but you soon find yourself in harder and harder maps with 70 waves of enemies testing your defensive skills. With so many waves a single level can take you quite a while so you either want to put some decent time aside for it or play on a computer you can leave paused and come back to. The enemies start with foot soldiers but soon work up to motorcycles, tanks, planes, even zeppelins that cruise right across you maze in a straight line and as a player you need to keep putting up more expensive towers and upgrading them as quick as you can. There are three levels of difficulty though I think it could have done with a level between easy and tough because there is a big difference between them, especially on higher levels.

Last Call:

Fieldrunners 2 is exceptionally fun and addictive even for its genre. I kept planning to take a break from the game for a while finding myself going just one more level, which means just 70 more waves. Mixing and matching the towers to fit the enemies and terrain is a blast, sometimes literally and though it can be frustrating on wave 52 to have a new enemy arrive that blows past your defenses like they weren’t there you start over again with wave one planning on how to stop that sucker at 52. This game isn’t for everyone, tower defense games in general tend to attract a certain mindset, but if you like this kind of strategy game you will love Fieldrunners 2 which is a shining example of what these games can be.
[easyreview title=”Fieldrunners 2 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″] Our Rating Scores Explained

Trailer:

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013 Plus Review (PC/Steam)

2013/01/14

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Tech News, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

So, once upon a time I used to make my own DVDs and I worked in television as a director and was trained on the state of the art, non-linear video editing systems. Those days have come to an end but I have, in recent years, wished I had an editing program that was user friendly enough for quick-edit projects but also robust enough to have some depth for when I have some time to really detail a project. The people at Magix seem to have had this goal foremost in their minds when developing Movie Edit Pro 2013 Plus. Recently, they put the program on Steam, which makes it more affordable to distribute and easier to use on the go.

Quick Editing:

To test the application’s quick editing features, I just opened up the program, went to open file and highlighted about 20 pictures and hit open. The program loaded them in a timeline based on the pictures’ order in the previous file in a line on the timeline bar. Moving them around is as easy as click and drag. Between each image is an A/B section representing the wipe/fade that has been chosen with a cut being the default. Clicking and scrolling down the effects section offers dozens of possibilities for transitions and all you have to do is click on the one you like and drag it down to the transition you want to use it on. To add audio just open it and it automatically drops it down to a track. From there, you just decide if you want to lengthen or shorten your pictures with different transition times or screen time or whether to edit off the end of the music and have a nice fade transition for the music and video at the end.

Probably one of the most important thing to do is to “save as” after each step, using different names regularly. One of the things I found at this point is that the version currently on Steam has some glitches and crashing errors. I thought I had finished one project and went to upload it to YouTube and the program crashed and didn’t recognize it had crashed when I went to restart it. I had to restart the computer and then was able to load up the video only to find the audio was missing. I went back to check the most previous versions of the edit and the audio was no longer present. I tried to add it again but the project appeared corrupted. Luckily, the audio was secondary to the point of the project so I didn’t worry about it. Had I been on deadline with a project, this would have been really frustrating. In the two worst case crashes it did send a crash report so, hopefully, those issues will be taken care of soon.

Detailed Editing:

Starting your project is very similar to above but then you can do more detailed work if you want. One of the greatest features of this particular editing program is that just about every action button has a video instruction button attached to it so that all you have to do is click and you get to watch a step by step instruction and explanation of its use. This isn’t just a great editing program – it is an instructional course that teaches the things you need to learn. If you understand the basics, you can skip their videos. If later on you aren’t sure about how to edit the time of a transition, for example, you just hover your mouse over it in the pull-down menu and you will be offered a video instruction. This program is worth it just for the editing instruction clips. I have taken multiple editing classes and working with this program was better than most and far more affordable.

Movie Edit Pro 2013 Plus (also shows as Movie Edit Pro MX Plus in some locations) gives you just about every advanced feature you could want, such as adjusting the length and location of mixes, multi-track video and audio editing, video and sound cleanup and stabilization, filters, really just about anything you want to do with a video or audio project. Then, when you are done, you can save it down into any format, burn it down to disc or even save it directly to YouTube Facebook, and other online sources. I was able to use three different video sources of three different qualities and the system was able to adjust quality and, using transitions, make the videos work together nicely. The “Pro” in the name is accurate, so don’t let the surprisingly reasonable price make you think otherwise, you can get professional, broadcast quality editing done with this program. Just save often to be prepared for glitching and crashes while the bugs get worked out.

The Benefits of Steam:

I would like to point out the versatility of having applications like this on Steam. If you have your account on multiple computers, you can log in, download the program, and start editing. That is so important with this kind of program since I will be able to be out on the road, start an editing project on my laptop then pick it back up and finish it on my desktop. I can then post it online in any format I want and show people the work from pretty much any online device. Video editing is a notoriously localized and closed system – thanks to Steam, the versatility of use is greatly increased plus the program is digitally distributed and advertised giving the publisher savings they can pass on to the customer.

Last Call:

If you are an amateur video maker wanting to make a slide show for a family get together, a cat lover who wants to edit and upload their latest meow mix, or someone who makes a living editing videos from weddings this program will do what you need. If you don’t know how to do something in this mostly intuitive program then there is a full class worth of video tutorials to teach you in a step by step process that will make you feel like a pro. Just remember to save often until they get the bugs worked out!

[easyreview title=”Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013 Plus Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″] Our Rating Scores Explained

Quick Edit Examples:

Project Blackout Review (PC)

2013/01/14

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

The only thing I love more than a good first-person shooter is a free first-person shooter. A truly free first person shooter is near impossible to find because just about everyone of them is actually “free to play, pay to win” meaning they have micro-transactions that use real-world money to give you an edge over your opponent or help you level faster. After wanting to fight the idea initially, I have grown to accept it for what it is: A necessary evil that gives people with money to spend an advantage but helps support development, expansion, maintenance and cheating countermeasures for the game and community. The true test of a F2P FPS is whether or not the game is fun to play without investing money and, if that isn’t the case, how much before it is fun?

Storyline

As is often the case more and more with online shooters, the storyline really doesn’t matter (if they even bother to put one in). In this case you either play for the red team or the blue team and you have mission objectives – that is all the story you need.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics are very nice for a free to play game, particularly a first-person shooter. There is a lot of detail in the characters and, particularly, the numerous game maps. Character outfits come off as a little cartoonish but otherwise things are rendered very well with excellent detail. Each weapon has its own sound effects so you know the difference between a shotgun and a Desert Eagle being fired and the sounds of map damage and near misses clanging off the helmet definitely add to the experience.

Gameplay

Gameplay: The meat and potatoes of any game. A game can look amazing and have dozens of maps but if it plays like a turd, it is still a turd. Thankfully, Project Blackout has addictive gameplay and has taken steps that, if continually implemented, will keep the game going for a long time.

First off maps are all decently sized, even the smallest giving a bit of running room with the biggest actually giving players the opportunity to get lost and secondly there are lots of them so getting bored with them isn’t likely to happen anytime soon and they seem to keep releasing new ones already. I spent my first couple of days playing just trying to try out and get a feel for as many maps as possible. I didn’t even get into the weapon choice much to start with, I used the loaded one and picked up one I liked slightly better. This actually works pretty good though a diversity of weapons when I gave them a try was a lot more fun because certain maps lend themselves to certain weapons and tactics.

Something that at first didn’t make much sense to me but did after a while is that except the weapons you get at load out you don’t own any of them, you only rent them. The thought that people pay real money for a weapon they don’t get to keep seemed a bit hard to believe but it evens things out eventually because they lose access to the nicer weapons unless they buy them again evening the playing field or they pay and do a bit better at the matches for a while while paying for you to play for free. For the most part the bonuses from weapons and character items only aid a bit in the match but they aid a lot in keeping the game going. The fact that they can’t just be purchased once guarantees a continual revenue stream to support the game. Rather clever actually. Even if you want to pick up other people’s weapons that are dropped you have to pay for that privilege because it gives an advantage.

Besides these facts the game has the fairly standard mechanics and gameplay of a FPS, those familiar with the damage level of any of the biggies will be very satisfied with the damage structure. To keep the game interesting ranking up is done in a little different way too. For you to earn a rank you have to complete letters to form the word “POINTBLANK” and each letter is earned by completing missions for it, averaging four missions each letter. The average mission is “achieve victory: o/1” or “assault rifle kills: o/2” so some maps and weapons work better than others for missions. So ranking up is slow but not boring because it keeps mixing it up, once again keeping life and interest in the game.

Players are allowed to express their individuality by purchasing a mask that has creative looks to them as well as useful stats and they can also express them through their choice in dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs. There is a map mode where you have to keep dinosaurs from escaping first from an inclosure and secondly from a couple city blocks. Either you are the dinos or the dino hunters and it is one heck of a battle!

Hacks:

I normally don’t bring this part of the game community up because there are plenty of upstanding gamers but despite efforts by use of anti-hacking software, there is a massive hacking community. The non-hackers tend to get together and invite each other into games but the hackers can be found everywhere, many of them not only not denying their hacking but acting proud of it, boasting how many they use. The GMs are trying really hard to ban and get them under control but at this point they are rampant. It is one of the only drawback in the game, one of the only frustrations which have driven me to take a few minutes break. I am sure they will get control of it but just forewarned so you can be prepared for some ridiculous levels of cheating.

Last Call:

Project Blackout is a free to play, pay to win first person shooter but winning isn’t the whole battle or even the whole game. In this case you feel like you are getting their monies worth with content and quality and a well built game. Even with hackers I had marathon sessions on the game before spending any credits and even more after spending them. As long as they keep up the great work I see myself continuing to have such sessions for the foreseeable future. Do yourself a favor and give it a play, it’s free at first and worth it if you pay.

Trailers

Gallery

Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick Review (PC)

2012/12/17

Ripper71

News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Back in my earlier days of PC gaming, one of my best friends and I would fly flight simulators and try to rescue POWs or take out SAM sites while having a couple drinks and falling behind on our class reports. To make this as much fun as possible, my buddy had a sweet flight stick that cost him a small fortune. We switched off between gunner and pilot, pilot always on the keyboard riding the speed and finger poised on the chaff, gunner moving the target around on the screen and pulling the trigger for the guns or pushing the other button on the stick to fire the missiles. Two buttons total on it. How far we have come and how low the price did go, with today’s market you can get an excellent quality, completely-programmable joystick with lots of buttons and even a thrust knob for under $3o. One of the finest examples of this is the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, a flight stick at an entry level price.

Official Features:

Advanced Controls: You’ll experience superior response and control with 12 conveniently-placed action buttons, eight-way rubberized hat switch, twist handle, and rapid-fire trigger.
Twist Handle Rudder: A twist of the wrist lets you turn on a dime or zero in on your target with deadly accurate direction control.
Logitech Gaming Software: Advanced button customization, multiple controller configurations, and printable gaming profiles let you get serious about your game.

System Requirements:

Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows® Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
Pentium (or compatible) processor
64 MB RAM
20 MB available hard disk space
CD-ROM drive
USB port

Hands On:

Let’s face it, a flight stick can be as affordable as can be but won’t be any more than a paperweight if it isn’t comfortable and user friendly. While there are some hardcore flight sims that I play, most are a balance between ground and aerial combat and so I often find myself going back and forth between the keyboard and the flight stick. There are enough buttons on the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro to make it so that you could program most of your game actions into it for ground foot combat as well but I found myself most comfortable using it strictly for vehicle ground or air combat, mostly air. I could move around in tanks and armored carriers pretty well with it but turning a turret while driving seemed easier with the keyboard and mouse. What I generally found myself doing was running on foot with the keyboard and mouse, approaching an aircraft and once entering it shifting my hands over to the joystick. I used it both on my desk and in my lap and found it comfortable both ways, though I think I personally preferred it on the desk in case I needed to exit the vehicle quickly it was easier to shift my hands. Being nicely weighted, it rested comfortably and solidly wherever I put it without sliding around.

Long flights are not a worry because the flight stick features a very ergonomic grip. Your hand rests comfortably on the grip’s platform allowing your hands to naturally hit the trigger and secondary thumb button. I assigned chaff to the buttons next to the mini stick on the top of the handle and in the case of ground vehicles I also assigned the other vehicle positions here. This left 6 buttons on the base next to the throttle knob which on more advanced simulators gave a great location for extra views or group commands. The throttle knob is located at the base of the stick in the back and was where I rested my left hand a majority of the time unless the game didn’t require much throttle riding at which point I would adjust the throttle and place my left hand back as WASD in case I needed to bail out and pop my chute. Rudder control was just a slight twist of the wrist one way or the other giving quick and satisfying response. What surprised me was how quickly this became natural, moving my right hand only a majority of the game to go from controlling the mouse to controlling the stick. I think the ergonomic design helped this.

Last Call:

I’m not sure why it took me so long to getting around to getting a joystick for my computer, especially when such a solid and comfortable one as the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro could be had for under $30. There are a lot of games I have played with the mouse making my life far more difficult than it needed to be, probably due to memories of early flight sims and prohibitive prices. If you play any PC game where you fly for even the slightest amount of time do yourself a favor and go out and pick up one of these beauties.

Forge Review (PC/Steam)

2012/12/09

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Once upon a time, most games featured a single player campaign or storyline and possibly some sort of multiplayer. These days, it is becoming more and more common to have games that are pure PvP, with no single player mode at all (exceptions possibly being a tutorial). It is understandable that some developers do this when considering how much more time it takes to program quality AI and create a storyline. With a PvP-only game, you really don’t need any storyline at all, just a premise in which to fight. This freedom has allowed for a wide variety of indie-developed games to reach players through Kickstarter funded development and Steam Greenlight distribution which otherwise would never seen the light of digital day. Forge is one of those PvP games which has used both of these avenues to release a beautiful-looking game at an extremely reasonable price.

Storyline:

A malicious being named The Devourer has swallowed the great pantheon of gods. Seeking escape, the trapped gods have deceived great warriors, zealous adherents and placed them on a faceless world called FORGE, designed to sacrifice the weakest of these warriors in order to grow their own power. Choosing one of five unique warrior classes, the player must battle head-to-head with other players in a bid to free their god from the clutches of The Devourer. Armed with a set of powerful and unique abilities as well as a powerful and deadly ally, each warrior must overcome the varied challenges of FORGE where every kill is a sacrifice and every sacrifice brings them one step closer to freedom.

Features:

No Subscription Fee and No “Pay to Win”

Deep Steam integration: Launch features: Valve Anti-Cheat, VoIP and the Steam Overlay. Coming soon: Stats, Achievements, Skill based matchmaking and much much more!

Class based gameplay: At launch, choose from the Assassin, the Pathfinder, the Pyromancer, the Shaman or the Warden. Each with their own unique role to fill.

No grind!: Unlike other titles with RPG style abilities, Forge offers a level playing field for all players regardless of their time spent playing. Though you unlock options as you progress, you’re as powerful when you start playing Forge as you will be years from now.

Customize your characters: Though Forge does not offer any power increases as you level, you will unlock new options, abilities and armor as you play.

Ever expanding: While Forge has the accessibility and low time requirements of a first person shooter, it is constantly updated with new content including but not limited to: Factions, maps, gameplay modes and even massive features that continue to expand the persistent elements of Forge.

Graphics And Sound:

The graphics are a very obvious sign that this game is a labor of love because they are beautiful and rich, whether it is the ruins of an ancient Mayan type civilization or the jungle growth on a map that looks suspiciously like Endor, the detail in environment are AAA quality all the way. There are also a lot of details in the armor for each class and there are promises of more detail to come with the possibility of customizations. The ambient sound in each location is so nice I put my headset on just for more submersion. The attack/spell effects are good too, though they can make it a little hard to tell what is going on if, say, you are taking fire damage from the pyromancer and the fire completely obscures the assassin who is sticking it to you within the fire effect area. Also, if you are too close to someone else taking damage it can look like you are taking the damage aw well when you are not.

Gameplay:

You start as one of five classes, then each time you die you can load a new one. Wardens are tanks, Shaman are healers, pathfinders are hunters (no animal companions available yet), assassin is assassin/rogue and pyromancer is a fire mage. Once you have that basic breakdown you can follow the roles that have always worked best for you or if you like playing with versatility you can allow the map to dictate your choice. For example a map with small rooms and no long hallways isn’t necessarily the best place for a pathfinder due to them primarily being range, you may want to go assassin and get in close. Forest maps with high perches are great for pathfinders but take a bit of work for pyromancers. Each class is designed to be able to either work with range or close the distance quickly to maintain a balance.

There is tutorial time to practice your skills but when it really comes down to it there is no replacement for practical “jump right in” experience. The rough part is quite a few of the regular player base are people who donated to the Kickstarter program and have been in the game since Alpha and Beta stage. Basically you need to get comfortable with the fact that you are going to get pwned while you figure out what you are doing and what works best in actual combat and other classes. You will probably get laughed at, maybe even griefed a bit but there really is no substitute, particularly in this game, for applied learning. The good news is that once you work through the learning curve you will find that the absence of grinding helps a new player immensely. You are fighting against experience not levels so as soon as you find your groove your body count will start to include even the people playing since Alpha. It will probably take a while before it feels like even ground but it will come.

Last Call:

People who like their gameplay pure PvP and want to be able to just jump into a game, learn the ins and outs and start being able to rack up a body count will love this game. There is a backstory but it doesn’t really play into anything, this is just about choosing from the classes then playing a standard Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Tower Control, etc. PvP battle game. It has some very nicely detailed environments that were an obvious sign that this game is a labor of love and some of the skills are fairly unique or original feeling which I can appreciate as well as great ambient sound. In the end though it is a pretty straight forward third person player versus player and there is nothing wrong with that. Especially since at time of publication Steam is having a deal where you buy one copy for $19.99 and get a second copy for a buddy for free. So go in on it with a friend, fork out only $10 each and you can be killing each other or beside each other in no time. The game is still in development at release so there is no telling what it can wind up being like in the long run.

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The Darkness II Review (PC/OnLive)

2012/12/09

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

So a while back I asked to review a game for OnLive and they generously said “sure, have a couple” so I picked a second game called The Darkness II simply because I loved the trailer with a twitchy guy standing in the dark babbling about the game. Don’t get me wrong I had heard of The Darkness and it’s acclaim for both being an extremely solid video game and its rich storyline which it had mostly borrowed from the comic book whose staff included my favorite comic writer, Garth Ennis, so it was on my to play/read list. The trailer just sold me on playing the sequel first while I had a chance.

Storyline:

This is a hard part to describe without giving away too much of the game and the first volume of the comic book. In The Darkness II you play Jackie Estacado two years after the events of the first game. You have become the Don of a crime family and after what happened to you in the first game you have decided to keep The Darkness locked up for everyone’s sake and safety. The problem is an organization called The Brotherhood has targeted you to try and claim your powers and has no problem taking down both your family and the familia to get it. This awakens The Darkness within you that talks you into unleashing it to help solve all your problems. This all happens in the beginning of the game which offers a deeper story of hard choices and questionable reality. There is a big twist in the story which, while not necessarily my favorite, did lend even more depth to the game, ties to the franchise more and created an alternate ending.

Graphics And Sound:

The gameplay graphics are done using cel-shading which is very reminiscent of the Borderlands franchise but also creates a comic book art style which fits nicely into the comics it is based on. This graphic style even kind of ties into the subplot of the game making it not just look good but surprisingly fitting. The cutscenes are done in a style more like standard animated cutscenes for video games which normally might seem mismatched with the artwork of the rest of the game but when taken into consideration with the subplot makes sense too. The sound and graphics are put to great use in the game because when Jackie is subjected to brighter lights he loses his supernatural Darkness abilities and this is represented by a brightening, whiting out of the screen with a high pitch annoying ringing which makes you want to get out of or destroy that light source as soon as possible. Because light plays such an important part of the game the graphics for lighting do too, giving you an idea of what areas of lighting source will give you problems. It isn’t very often that the graphics and their representations play such a heavy role in a game. The sound work is excellent and helps aid the atmosphere as well as give cues of danger and the soundtrack is excellent giving a terrific selection of KROQ standards from Jane’s Addiction to Offspring.

Gameplay:

I played a bit of The Darkness so I would be able to properly compare the two games, enough to know that point of view and gameplay are very similar with just a few slight improvements which works fine since the first game played so well, no need to fix what isn’t broke. In the first game you had your guns and your Darkness tendrils at the side of your vision and you could dual wield guns or dual wield tentacles where in this game you can do both at the same time. This allows for some fantastic and intense gameplay as you can be doing such things as dual wielding a pistol and machine gun while one Darkness tendril picks up a pipe and throws it impaling an enemy and the other Darkness tendril rips the heart out of a dead man’s chest and eats it. You can also shoot an enemy to the point of weakness then use the Darkness tendrils to rip their bodies apart earning such bonuses as “Wish Bone,” “Daisy Pop” and “Anaconda Kill.” The tendrils themselves look like snakes with piranha heads and are extremely satisfying and gory to put into action. In general the game has an over the top gore factor which helps keep the heaviness of the storyline from getting oppressive and while you get moments of to catch your breath and prepare for the next section the waves of onslaught can be pretty crazy.

Along with The Darkness yelling at you in your head you have a little companion darkling dressed only in a British flag t shirt and a cat skin cap that not only helps you get through rough fights but that you can possess to get around obstacles or freed from capture. The game chooses when you can use him but he can be handy in a fight or scouting capacity as well so whenever you get the opportunity to inhabit him be sure to look around and kill anything you can, it will make things easier for you when you get back to your own body. The darkling is also remarkably entertaining to interact with or even just watch as he urinates green piss on corpses, lets out huge green farts and behaves in other undignified imp-like fashion.

There is an extensive wheel of unlock-able abilities which branch into other abilities and power ups which can truly turn the battle. In the first game you get Darkness shooting weapons later in play whereas in this game you don’t get them at all unless you choose to unlock that section of the wheel and work up it’s tree. My first playthrough I went with a swarm attack instead that caused one of the Darkness tendrils to cough up a green cloud of bee like insects that attack enemies distracting, stunning and even damaging them giving a huge advantage in battle. I also unlocked and upgraded my Black Hole so that I could through a vortex out that would suck in and kill all enemies in the vicinity giving me an essence bonus. Essence is collected by killing enemies, finding relics and eating hearts, the last of which also replenishes health. The essence is collected and used to purchase unlocks on the ability wheel. Some pre-planning is involved if you want a particular ability higher up on the tree because you will need to save up essences and work up that particular ability tree instead of just picking up any ability you can afford at lower sections of the wheel.

Once you beat the game you have the opportunity to play it again with all the abilities you unlocked the first playthrough still unlocked and all the hidden treasure you found the first time around still found. This gives the player a chance to either tear through at the same difficulty destroying everything in sight or up the game difficulty and have an advantage to help survive it. All the levels are unlocked once you beat the game too allowing you to replay them again with or without your unlocks.

Co-Op:

In most games’ multiplayer you wind up playing another version of the main character or you wind up playing side characters from the storyline. In The Darkness II you go on Vendetta missions where you have hired a squad of hitmen imbued with Darkness powers to attack the Brotherhood back. This is a great departure from the standard co-op play giving new storyline and makes sens since as The Don you really shouldn’t be running around doing all the dirty work. Each character has a strength, weapon style and personality which are unique to them and are different from Jackie. My personal favorite when it comes to style is the Creole voodoo doctor Dumond but when it came down to fighting I was a bit more of a fan of the Scotsman Jimmy Wilson with his axe and darkling (darklings are just so much fun!). There are four different characters for the four man hit squad and if you are having a hard time finding someone to play with who has a pleasant disposition (ie. not an asshat), you can play the Vendetta missions solo as well.

The OnLive Advantage:

It’s becoming harder and harder to find someone who hasn’t heard of OnLive but most of people are still in the dark about it (ok, slight pun intended). Onlive is pure cloud gaming, meaning you only have to have a small launcher on your computer and the entire game is played remotely by internet on servers in another part of the country, much like Netflix streaming. So you don’t need hard drive space for the games or a strong computer, all you need is a decent internet connection and you can play the games through your computer, micro-console or a couple newer devices on the market such as OUYA, VIZIO Plus, newer VIZIO blu-ray players and newer LG televisions. Many of the games also support touch screen play and are available for play on Android tablets. Just like with Netflix you can start playing a game on one device then continue it on another giving a lot of diversity and mobility of play. There is also an interesting feature called Arena that allows you to watch other players playing their games, cheer or jeer them and ask them to be your friends so that they can easily play titles they own, rent or are part of the subscription package with you. This is particularly handy with The Darkness II co-op mode where while I was playing the game spectators joined to check it out or if they owned the game they friended me so I wouldn’t have to search for another player to co-op with. With the free activation of an OnLive account you can even demo the game for a certain time limit so you aren’t playing a demo but the actual game for a period of time rather than a certain amount of a level.

Last Call:

It is really easy to recommend this game and suggest that it may be be your first OnLive purchase. The gameplay is great, has a decently long campaign mode, nice graphics, and excellent replayability. Add to that the diversity of the co-op play and the option to play alone or with the ever growing OnLive community and this game is worth the money. I wasn’t a huge fan of the game’s subplot, probably because of how long I have been in the gaming and entertainment community in general and seen how it is used but they did handle it better than most and I always love an alternate ending.

Trailer:

Gallery:

Miasmata Review (PC/Steam)

2012/12/01

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Screenshots / Photos, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

I have always been fascinated with plague doctors. Growing up, I was a Spy Vs. Spy fan and learned at a fairly young age that the look of the spies was based on plague doctors – both in dress and choice of bags. I even recently received a mask based after the plague doctors original design that matched right down to the style of buckle. So when I heard the name of the game that popped up for review I jumped at it because what few people may know is that Miasmata is the poisonous atmosphere or mist from decomposing bodies originally thought to be the distribution vector for the Black Plague. Miasmata has been used in other descriptions over the years since, but just my luck it was the one I was thinking of.

Storyline:

You play as Robert Hughes, a plague-stricken scientist on a journey to discover a cure. Your adventure begins on the shores of a remote and mysterious island. Long ago the island was inhabited by a group of indigenous people, whose extant monuments still decorate the island landscape. The island is now home to a scientific research outpost and it is your hope to reunite with your colleagues working there. Unfortunately, you’ll soon discover that something has gone terribly wrong. During your adventure, you will encounter a mysterious and deadly creature. This creature can stalk you for miles, lurking behind grasses and vegetative cover. By treading carefully and with stealth, you may be able to elude the creature. If you are careless however, you will be forced to confront the creature head-on.

Official Key Features:

Experience: An engine built from the ground up, featuring voxel-based volumetric clouds, advanced water reflection and refraction, volumetric light-shafts and atmospheric scattering simulations.
Explore: A lush and incredibly detailed natural word. The island landscape is covered by forests with lush canopies. The terrain surfaces are blanketed by tufts of moss and grass. The forest floors have thick undergrowth and are littered with fallen leaves, rotting logs, stumps and sticks.
Discover: Dozens of camps, outposts and ruins. Find maps, notes and clues that lead you on your adventure.
Survive: A deadly world. Discover plants and fungi and synthesize them into life-saving medicines. Find water and shelter to stave off fever, dehydration and exhaustion. Use stealth and cunning to escape the deadly creature.
Create: A map of the island using an innovative cartography mechanic. Use a true-to-life triangulation system to pinpoint your location on the island and construct a map of the its boundaries, contours and landmarks.

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Graphics And Sound:

The physics behind the graphics are immediately impressive because the scenery is not just luscious and detailed but so is every shadow, every cloud, every reflection on the water. The environment seems alive as you pass through it with plenty of creatures from cockroaches to seagulls just there to breath life into the environment and each one individually reacting to your presence. The sound is sharp and clear, no sound in the game is wasted. Someone walked in the room while I was playing and said “wow, that game is quiet” right before I fell off a cliff and watched the detailed environment flip end over end in front of me as my character cracks his head on a rock, all quite loudly. As mentioned above, stealth plays into the game and it is quiet when you try to be, though it is never really silent because it is a forest teaming with life and you hear the flutter of wings from birds and insects and the call of creatures. The only truly silent and still part of the environment is the the Easter Island-like stone monoliths that stare off mysteriously ever into the distance.

Gameplay:

The background story is told in the game’s opening then fades in from black on your first person view of the beach. You glance at your hands, which look like they are covered in blood but heck we aren’t experts on this alternate world, that could be a sign of the plague there. Within a couple minutes into the game you have reason to question what is on your hands and from there the game develops not just into a survival game but a mystery one as well. In traditional mystery/survival game fashion you have to solve puzzles, in this case chemistry/botany based. Don’t worry if you don’t know a tulip from a trumpet, you mainly walk around and pick any plant it will let you while trying not to get lost. There is a cartography skill that can be utilized and I highly recommend you do since the map doesn’t open up when you enter an area, it only shows if a piece is found or a landmark charted. There are two ways for you to show up on the map, making a potion or triangulating your position. The reason I recommend mapping is the first few hours I played I tried to just run around and find things without mapping and found myself more turned around than the Blair Witch kids with something just as nasty on my heels.

So you pick and study plants, collect notes and research, and hopefully discover a cure for The Plague before you expire. As the protagonist, you too are infected – you have a fever and more cowbell ain’t gonna fix it. You are weak, and by weak I mean if you run down a hill too fast you fall down it and your plague gets the better of you. You are too weak to swim more than a couple strokes and will find yourself drowning in no time. You have to keep health and strong health potions around if you don’t want to fall over dead from a fever. The catch to this is that you can only hold one at at time, so keep track of what the health flowers look like so you can brew up a few more hours of life. This dynamic leaves you constantly racing the clock, picking new varieties of flowers and avoiding the creature. That creature and something or someone else that might be stalking the island make up the “survival” aspect of the gameplay experience.

Last Call:

It was surprising just how addictive potion making and plant picking can be – Miasmata’s environment playing heavily into it with the richness of the ground you are traversing and, also, the biological clock you are constantly under. Add in the mystery solving aspect of finding a cure and it is a fun and intense time. I just kept going, picking up clues and coming up with new combinations of potions to help me through the adventure. If you like first person survival games or good puzzle solving, this is definitely worth picking up. At time of this publication, the game is marked at $14.99 with a sale price of $13.49 and provides hours upon hours of gameplay with replay necessary to get all of the Steam achievements – most of which are pretty darn humorous, as well as giving you a chance to play it differently next time around.

Trailers:

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Tropico 4 Gold Edition Review (PC/Xbox 360)

2012/11/23

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 360 Review

Maxis turns 25 years old next year and one of their most influential titles of all time SimCity is just a year younger. That’s give you an idea just how long city sims have been around, the title that put them on the map was sharing computers with mostly educational games such as Oregon Trails. Computers were supposed to be for work or typing, in some cases both. I remember being in high school and how cutting edge it was to be writing our senior year school paper on computers, and how one day a friend brought in SimCity changing how we looked at computers forever. So to bring this waxing nostalgic story to an abrupt conclusion, I was playing SimCity in 1989 when it came out and I am pretty sure there hasn’t been a year that has passed since then that I haven’t been playing one sim title or another. Certain titles become mainstay and certain companies, like Kalypso, become ones you associate with solidly built fun sims. If you are a fan of this genre at all you should have heard of the Haemimont and Kalypso collaborated title Tropico and it’s various installments and DLCs. If you have played them but not gotten to installment four in the series there is no better time than now and if by some misfortune you have not played them at all go out right now and get Tropico 4 Gold Edition and you can read the rest of the review while you are waiting for it to finishing installing and updating.

Storyline:

As the president of a tiny Caribbean island, it’s up to you to lead your country to greatness! Will you be a benevolent and tolerant leader, or a power-mad dictator? Will your economy rely on tourism, farming, big business or cheap sweatshops? The decisions you make will shape the future of your island, and more importantly, the size of your off-shore bank account.

However, time waits for no-one, not even El Presidente. The world is changing and Tropico is moving up with the times: geopolitical powers rise and fall and the world market is dominated by new players with new demands and offers – and you, as El Presidente, face a whole new set of challenges. If you are to triumph over your naysayers you will need to gain as much support from your people as possible – whether with the carrot or the stick is your choice.

Features:

Tropico 4 Gold Edition is the ultimate city building experience, including: Tropico 4 and the “Modern Times” expansion.

Become the heroic leader, or a despicable despot as your customized El Presidente avatar makes decisions for the good or ill of the people
Two extensive campaigns consisting of more than 30 unique missions including the new “Modern Times” campaign
More than 100 buildings in total, including the stock exchange, shopping mall, aqua park, car factories and shuttle launch pad
Face interactive real-time disasters including volcanoes, droughts and tornadoes
Council of Ministers – Elevate citizens to government positions to help push through your more controversial decisions
National Agenda – Receive objectives from Tropican factions, foreign powers and secret societies
Sandbox mode for custom games, with improved map and scenario editor for endless replayability

Hands On:

This is not my first Tropico game and not my first hand at Tropico 4 though this is my first time to play “Modern Times.” When it comes to a gold edition of a game it is really important to consider whether or not to include all the content associated with the game to date or concentrate on the one that gives the most dynamic story. “Modern Times” seemed the perfect choice to go with because it keeps the original storyline concept and just advances it into an extended timeline whereas most other DLCs were more of tangents or just extra content. If the two campaigns aren’t enough all of the other DLCs are available but this combination gives a nice linear play.

If you are familiar with city sims in general you have an idea of certain things that need to happen and buildings that need to rise in order to get a functioning city started, Tropico is no different in this basic way. It is how you build your political, social and economic that make this sim unique. Basically you have been given the chance to build a better Cuba, and what would make Cuba better is really up to the player. You may believe Castro was too lenient or should have gone towards capitalism instead of communism or should have turned the island into Club Cuba with resorts and water slides. Or maybe you feel Cuba should have gone for another geographically isolated location, like the moon? You find yourself trying to please the people, interest groups, foreign lobbyists and other nation’s agendas while deciding whether or not you need better healthcare for your people or a new lumber mill to boost the economy first. Then just when you think all your plans are in order and your future looks perfect you discover a dormant volcano is no longer feeling so dormant or the tropical storm off your coast just turned into a hurricane. There goes Si World, Cuba’s first aqua park on the beach.

You can also decide how in depth you want to manage your people. At any time you can select any individual in the game and get vital statistics on them or you can mostly rely on the Almanac, a much more broad summary for your information, you can build only what missions ask for or you can try to be pre-emptive and anticipate the next concern or just see what else you can accomplish while working within the mission parameters.

The great thing about the Tropico sims and Tropico 4 Gold in particular is the variety of choices of how to play so that it truly is never the same game twice whether you are playing through the missions trying to fulfill agendas and overcome obstacles or playing the game in sandbox mode where you customize your game and make your own mission plans. There is even a map and scenery editor so you can make your own missions and lands so that maybe you decide you want to know what would happen if a dictator took over Hawaii and tried to build itself into a succeeded nuclear country? (someone build that one for me! I would do it myself but you see how many games I play!).

Last Call:

The sky isn’t even the limit on in Tropico 4 Gold because you can make your island home part of the space race. The variety of gameplay and leeway with missions and scenarios make it a keeper game for plenty of replay and when you throw in sandbox mode and map and scenario editor then the only limits to this game, particularly this Gold Edition, is your mind. You are El Presidente, the world of Tropico is yours.

Trailers:

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