Nov/100
Aqueduct UDK Scene
Well I finished up the UDK project I started last week. I could have been done sooner but both Black Ops and Need for Speed have kept me busy on the gaming front. Basically this scene is made up of static meshes only, there is no BSP in this level. To be honest this level kind of “built itself”, and by that I mean the palette of meshes I used kind of started to take shape in a way which led me to create a scene based around an aqueduct. However, to make things interesting and to tell a bit of a story with the scene, I decided to make the area barren, giving the impression that this aqueduct had run dry. Without water the surrounding area became lifeless and desolate.
So without further delay here are the screens of the level. Enjoy!
Lastly I’d like to show some in editor screens. Below you will find a wire frame and lighting only model of the level.
Now, I need to install my new video card and play some Crysis at ultra high res!
Cheers!
Nov/100
Game Review Roundup:Part 1
Without further delay let’s get this review round up started! This may take while so I’ll do part one now.
Mass Effect 1:
A long time ago when the game came out, I rented it for 360, only to find out the game sucks. (Just my opinion here, don’t get the pitchforks and torches out now…) Basically, I was quite frustrated with the controls in 360 version. Something felt off, not sure what, but it felt wrong and clunky. Also the combat was quite difficult, or perhaps the clunky controls made me die more often than I wanted to.
Then down the road ( a few months ago) I got the game for PC. It was dirt cheap on Steam so I said why the hell not. Mass Effect had some rave reviews and most of my friends said it was a great game, so I gave it a second chance. Well within minutes I fell in love it. The controls on PC felt so much better, I had more precision with my mouse when it came to aiming the guns compared to the analog sticks on the 360. I think within a few days or a total of nine hours (got that stat from Steam…Steam rules) I beat the game. Seriously, I could not let go of the game, the combats were much better on PC and the story was extremely immersive. I rarely say this but, Mass Effect is up there on the echelon of great single player games, alongside Half-Life and Deus Ex.
My only complaint about the game was that level design was a bit bland. In some areas I could clearly see that the entire level was just simple BSP brushes with exact same texture. Kind of a let down for a game that came out in the early days of next gen gaming, but honestly with the amazing story, and character developments the flaws in the level design can be forgiven.
Score 9/10. Seriously go play Mass Effect if you have not done so already, and get if for the PC it’s much better trust me (as good friend of mine told me over and over…. )
Mass Effect 2:
Right after I finished Mass Effect 1, I went to the Steam store and bough Mass Effect 2 and started playing it as soon as the installation was complete! I have to say, playing both games back to back was an amazing experience. One thing that made Mass Effect 2 really cool was the implementation of the character import from Mass Effect 1. Basically, all my actions, decisions, and outcomes from the first game effected how Mass Effect 2 would start! That’s freaking insane! What’s even crazier is I know the guy at Bioware that made that happen, and I salute him and his co-workers for making one of the coolest intros in current gaming history!
Overall, Mass Effect 2 takes all the good things about the first game and makes them better. Additionally the sequel takes away all the bad things about the first game and toss them out the door. And example of a bad feature was the driving sections in Mass Effect 1. They were okay, but frustrating at times, so it seems that designers of the sequel were smart and got rid of feature that was not cool to begin with.
Mass Effect 2 does a better job with character development than the first game, and that’s not an easy feat to accomplish, because the first game had some pretty deep character interactions. But Bioware out did themselves on character and story development. Basically, through out the game you meet new people who eventually become part of your crew. Overtime these characters may request you to help them with certain issues. It’s up to you to help them or not, but in the end your choices lead to you gaining or losing loyalty from your crew members. Word of advice, try to make everyone loyal to your cause and mission, it may save some lives near the end of the game. (minor spoiler, sorry about that)
Lastly, the level design in Mass Effect 2 was amazing! Tons of detail, in all the levels, great atmosphere, flow, etc. Along with the levels, the details of all the characters in game was phenomenal. Bioware really pushed the Unreal Engine to it’s limits to get every ounce of detail into their game!
Score: 10/10. Missing out Mass Effect 2 is like missing out on Deus Ex, seriously you have to play this game to have any cred of being a “hardcore” gamer.
Alan Wake
This game has been in development for years and finally came out a few months ago. However, I was kind of disappointed in the fact that the PC version of the game was cut. Not sure what the exact quote was from devs/publisher but it went something like this. “Our game can only be enjoyed by sitting on comfortable sofa with a surround sound system…” I say bullshit. Games are also quite enjoyable on the PC with a beefy video card, massive monitor, and surround sound system! Anyways, I borrowed the game from a co-worker and figured I give it a shot.
Overall the game was good fun and had a solid core mechanic to drive the game forward. Basically, the premise of Alan Wake is that, Alan the main protagonist, is a struggling writer who decides to take a break from the big city to a small mountain town. However, shit hits the fan, as his wife goes missing and things go hay wire as Alan’s horror novel comes to life.
As I mentioned, the game had a good core mechanic, which was based around fighting darkness with light. As Alan’s horror novel comes to life, the towns people start to go crazy as they are consumed by a “Dark Shadow”. The only way to defeat the darkness is with light. Thus, you as the player use your flashlight, fuel cans, flares, flashbangs, etc to create light where there is none. With the light, the AI enemies weaken, and then when they are weak enough, you use your pistol or shotgun to deal the final blow to AI enemies.
The game had some good ‘scare’ moments where crazy AI enemies would jump out from the trees and catch you off guard, but overall the game was not too difficult. Also it was quite short, as I finished the game in one sitting.
Score: 7/10. I am being a little biased as the game was not on PC. I am totally fine with console exclusives but freaking say it is a console only game. Putting out some bullshit lie about gaming is better on sofa is just not cool. Also the game was short and not too hard. Overall, it is a good game I recommend renting it or borrowing it from a friend, like I did, as it is not worth $60.
Red Dead Redemption
I am a big fan of western movies such as, ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’, ‘Hang’em High’, ‘For a Few Dollars More’, ‘The Quick and the Dead’, and ’3:10 to Yuma’ to name a few . I also enjoy Grand Theft Auto(though I was not too happy with GTA 4, it was fun but it had some issues…long story for another day) Put those two together you get Red Dead Redemption, GTA in the wild wild west!
Like most GTA games, Red Dead Redemption (RDR) puts you into the shoes of a main character who is out on mission. In this game you are John Marston, a man who used to be a fiendish outlaw turned good. The basic premise here is that law wants you to find your old gang and bring them to justice. If you do it you get to see your family again. Pretty simple story which spans onto a quest through most of south west America and into Mexico.
Rockstar Games, really delivered the feel and style of being in that time period. The guns, the clothes, the cities, etc, all felt right. Though something about this game really set it apart from GTA. Not sure if it was a good thing or bad, but RDR really pushed you into the direction of being the hero, rather than and being a homicidal maniac let loose in a sandbox world to do whatever the hell you wanted to like most GTA games. Though as with most sandbox games, RDR allows you to go out and do various side missions, some of which involve helping other people or put you into a situation where you need to kill a bunch of bandits.
To be honest the game does have a slow start, and this turned some people off. However, being a fan of westerns, that did not bother me one bit. Most western movies have a slow start before things get crazy and gun fights start taking place in various towns and bars!
As I mentioned the game really pushes you in the direction to be the hero. It’s kind of hard to take the path of being an outlaw, but it can be done. You just have to do some really mean things to the people of land. For example you can be ‘dastardly’ and do this:
Seriously that horse has some freaking balls, to dodge a train like that!
Score: 9/10. If you like westerns and GTA get this game now if you don’t own it already!
Next time I’ll do quick reviews of: StarCraft 2, Transformers:War for Cybetron, Halo: Reach, and Call of Duty Black Ops.
Cheers!
Nov/100
Black Ops: First Impressions
Long story short, it’s better than Modern Warfare 2. As some of you may recall, I tore that game apart. I really was not happy with it both as gamer and as a developer. However, Black Ops has won me over for many reasons. First and foremost it has dedicated servers which is an instant win in my book as PC gamer. Matchmaking is the console way of finding online games, and honestly that does not work in the PC department. Secondly, the game has a freaking crossbow! The last game I played that had a crossbow was Half-Life (1 and 2). You may think what’s the big deal about a crossbow? Nothing, really, except for the fact that it is a bad ass weapon to shoot people in the face with! Totally gives off a Rambo 2 vibe!
So far I have played a bit of MP and SP and I keep going back for more, even at 1:30 in the morning! MP is fun, though to be honest I kind of suck. Months of playing Spy in TF2 have weakened my “twitch” skills, which are required to succeed in competitive online games. The MP levels are pretty good in terms of design and layout, though I do kind of think that Nuketown is a bit too small for the amount of players the game allows at maximum capacity. Though I do have to give serious credit to the level designer(s) of Nuketown for pimping the double rainbow in the sky box! What does it mean?!!
As for single player gameplay, simply I can say it’s awesome. Not to give away any spoilers but the presentation of the game is great. Basically every mission is presented as memory from the main protagonist, from his past as member of an elite Black Ops team. Overall, the combat is much better than MW2, in my opinion, with many more moments of “fun” compared to MW2. By “fun” I mean the game really empowers the player to be a bad ass. I think, if I recall correctly, I have used some sort of chaingun/minigun two or three times in the game to gratuitously mow down “dumb” AI who pretty much walk into the line of fire! Now, one can debate that an experience like that is cheap, or too easy, but honestly giving the player a chance to be a badass always prevails over long drawn out, die and try combat scenarios against brutally hard and extremely accurate AI. Hopefully, BlackOps will have more of these badass moments in the next few missions!
Lastly, the RC car in MP is just crazy! If you get to use one it’s awesome, because more often than not, other players are not looking at ground and rarely suspect a small car to come and own them. If by chance you are on the other end of the explosive RC car, I have one word of advice. Run! That thing will hunt you down! As example, this guy here manages to own the entire opposing team with one RC car! BAM!
Aside from all the good stuff about Black Ops, there are some bad things as well, mainly for those like me who play on PC. Basically, the game suffers from some frame rate issues during the single player game and lag issues during MP. Though, there have been some helpful tweak guides online to increase the frame rate in both SP and MP gameplay. Hopefully, a patch will come online down the road to make this fun game even better!
And yes, I have not forgotten about doing the game reviews post. Just things keep coming up, like Black Ops… Till next time, Cheers!
Oct/100
Lazy…
I really need to update my blog with some fresh content. I have finished quite a few of games in the last few months; so perhaps next week (though highly unlikely) I’ll try to update the ol’ blog with some game reviews. Off the top of my head I have played:
- Mass Effect 1 and 2
- Alan Wake
- Star Craft 2
- Red Dead Redemption
- Transformers: War for Cybertron
- Halo:Reach
Currently I am playing through Split/Second and Singularity on my 360 and on PC I am still playing TF2, and getting through Borderlands DLC 3.
Speaking of Borderlands, DCL 4: Claptrap’s Robot Revolution is out! If you own Borderlands you should get it! If by chance you don’t own Borderlands, go grab the Game of the Year Edition, which includes the full game plus all four DLC packs!
Well, that’s all I got for now. I’ll do my best to share my thoughts on all those games I have finished.
Cheers!
Sep/100
Mike Portnoy Quits Dream Theater!!!
As you may have read from my latest twitter update, Mike Portnoy has quit Dream Theater!
The full statement from one of the best drummers in the world can be found here: http://bit.ly/9JvGRu
To be honest I did not know who Mike Portnoy was or Dream Theater for that matter, when I was learning to play drums. However, near the end of my college years I was introduced to Dream Theater and ever since then I have been a fan of Portnoy’s work! I have always to paid attention to his drumming technique and enjoyed his educational DVDs showcasing his unique drumming style.
Mr. Portnoy, you will be missed! Please come back to Dream Theater soon!To close, check out these great videos featuring the man doing what he does best!
Last but not least, yours truly with the one and only Mike Portnoy!
Jun/100
New UDK Level Released
Just finished my new UDK level entitled Reclamation. Basically, nature has reclaimed this factory as it has not been used in many years. For those who are familiar with my levels, this seems fairly close to a map I did for UT3 entitled, DM-Iron Maiden 2, wherein a factory was consumed by natural elements. In a sense it is similar but, different mainly in the scale of the level and lighting schemes.
As with Solitude, which I released not to long ago, this another visual level to practice some of the new features within the UDK.
Anyways, here is a short video showcasing sections of the level as well some screens for you all to enjoy. For additional screens head on over to the level design page.
Till next time, cheers!
Jun/100
You got the touch…
…You got the Power! One of Game Stop’s better ads for showcasing pre-order exclusives.
Looking forward to playing this game is it really seems to do justice towards the Transformers franchise.
May/100
Jockey Riders
So it’s like a three legged race… but you have two legs and a jockey on your back.
More details here.
Apr/100
Need a Sentry Here
Sometimes bugs make cool things happen. Not sure if Valve patched this yet, but I’d like it to hang around for a bit just for the humor value.