It's been about 2 weeks I think since I've ordered a new mouse, my 7 year Razer Viper had served me well- but it was time to put him to sleep. When my new mouse first arrived, it didn't work particulary well. The buttons worked, but the pointer did not. After roughly a week of frustrations, searching for drivers, checking years old forum posts, even re-installing windows I finally thought that perhaps its the mouse. So, I booted up a Linux liveCD and tried the mouse there. Same issue. So, it was either my PC just not liking this particular mouse, or the mouse was faulty. So, my first plan was to contact amazon and just get a monetary refund & save up for a new Razer of some description. That, however, would be too easy. My credit card was refused constantly for 2 days. they just wouldn't pay me back. After the third day of white hot rage I decided I'd just take my chances and replace the mouse- and despite all my rage, it was seemingly washed away. The replacement worked.
I've always been playing quite a lot of Skyrim, I've completed the main story of both the DLC's (I'll need to start another character to experience the Dawnguard fully though) and played around with dumping lots of my gold into Hearthfire. I don't really want to get into to talking about Skyrim as a game at the minute, so I'm just going to say that it's just a fun as I remember it and the new content certainly adds even more stuff to do on top of a game that was already overflowing with ways to waste your time.
Now, with new mouse in hand, I can finally go play some League of Legends.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
So yeah, E3 happened.
I didn't watch E3 this year, or the past two years. I've lost interest in watching a 5 billion hour advert. However I have been unable to avoid all of the news from E3 thanks to about 3 different YouTubers I'm subscribed to have reposted the same videos. I don't think anyone was surprised that the PS4 seemed to be a better deal than the Xbone- that's really not some kind of shocking revelation. The Xbone has all this stupid DRM and pseudo always online, you can't lend your games more than once yada yada. Whereas the PS4, has none of that. Simple really. It also included your usual suspects in terms of sequels, Halo 5: Killing more bad aliens and all that great stuff I'm sure no one is bored of yet. However, Mirrors Edge 2 & Kingdom hearts 3 were confirmed that was a little bit of a shock to be sure.
In other news, my new mouse doesn't like my PC and whilst all the new shiny buttons work- the pointer refuses to do anything like some prankster stuck some clear tape on the bottom. I checked, they didn't. Good thing I bought Skyrim legendary edition then I suppose.
In other news, my new mouse doesn't like my PC and whilst all the new shiny buttons work- the pointer refuses to do anything like some prankster stuck some clear tape on the bottom. I checked, they didn't. Good thing I bought Skyrim legendary edition then I suppose.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Hitman Absolution Review
I'm not finished with Hitman Absolution, I haven't completed it either. I'm about 5 hours in and I don't see the gameplay changing- so I think I'm more or less qualified to talk about the game. The gameplay not changing isn't a dig at Hitman by the way, I think it's great fun. For the most part the gameplay is solid, there's some funny rag dolls now and again, manoeuvring in small places can be a hassle & I feel like some aspects of the game aren't explained very well and I don't much care for certain aspects of the story- particularly the parts that focus on Diana- Agent 47's previous handler. Still, it's pretty good.
Now, Hitman is quirky in places- the animation during the cutscenes can look a little silly in places (everyone looks like a wax model in the rain & 47 always looks cartoonishly mad) and since they're pre-rendered you can open the door dressed as a chief, and walk in 47's trademark suit. Despite this the cutscenes are still well executed, but seem to suffer from what appears to be a stylistic choice I'm not particularly fond of- odd muted colours and seemingly impossible light sources. In places the cutscenes remind me of the style Max Payne 3 used- albeit not to such an extreme degree.
I've ran into no game breaking or annoying bugs to speak of, a few amusing ones have popped up though. For example, one of my targets that I had recently shot in the head & hidden in a dumpster expressed his irritation with my close proximity to him, posthumously of course.
For the most part the controls are solid too, sadly in all their wisdom the dev's decided to include quick time events in places of any real hand-to-hand combat system & to enter precision mode (to aim super hard, opposed to the nearly perfect reticle anyway) you need to hold the trigger "halfway" then press it all the way to take the shot. I can't tell you how many times I've fired before I'm supposed to because I'm trying to use this feature, after a while I just gave up using it in place of trusting the "unfocused" reticle- the difference between the two is negligible to be honest.
Another feature that I disagree with is the checkpoint system. Certain levels, depending on their length have checkpoints. Little symbols on the floor that you can activate that will allow you to respawn there if you die/choose to restart from checkpoint. The idea of these self activated checkpoints is cool because you don't have to use them- I prefer to do a level in a whole run rather in little segments- however, if you do choose to respawn all the enemies will respawn too. I feel like this is a silly choice, it doesn't checkpoint your progress in terms of what you've done in the level or the bodies you've hidden for example. All it does is respawn you in the same location, with everyone & everything you've done undone. If the enemies didn't respawn, I wouldn't be anymore inclined to use this feature- but it would've been better for it.
Another questionable feature, the "bullet time" kind of thing. Or whatever. It's another feature that is entirely optional, so that's fine- it just feels out of place. It allows you to tag a bunch of enemies as time stops. Then after you've tagged everyone you want, or the timer has ran out you fire. Allowing you take out large groups of enemies with relative ease. This feature feels deeply out of place in a game that is focused mainly on stealth, that being said- when you fail a mission or get detected, it's always the most fun thing in the world to go crazy banana's and kill everyone in a blaze of glory.
I was going to write two parts for thisreview thing where I write about videogames I sometimes play. It ended up being pretty short though, so I've just tacked it into the end of the first post.
Most of my notepad is just full of story related quirks that I don't really want to talk about for fear of spoiling the plot. So, concerning the plot I will say this- It makes little to no sense & it's not a story that really needed to be told, but I LOVE the places it takes me. Put that on the box.
I get the feeling that whenever I'll talk to my friends about this game, it'll be concerning the stupid shit I've pulled off or the ridiculous ways I've killed people. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever, I don't feel the game takes itself too seriously & it is just plain fun. Like this one time, I popped out of a strippers cake and just blew away 5 dudes. It was so fucking sweet. After completing this game, the very first thing I did was try to complete all the different challenges, I'm also planning on playing it on the super hardest mode. So, in short (don't you hate it when people put the TLDR's at the bottom of the post?) Story is retarded, gameplay is solid and it is just the most super fun I've had in awhile.
See ya
Now, Hitman is quirky in places- the animation during the cutscenes can look a little silly in places (everyone looks like a wax model in the rain & 47 always looks cartoonishly mad) and since they're pre-rendered you can open the door dressed as a chief, and walk in 47's trademark suit. Despite this the cutscenes are still well executed, but seem to suffer from what appears to be a stylistic choice I'm not particularly fond of- odd muted colours and seemingly impossible light sources. In places the cutscenes remind me of the style Max Payne 3 used- albeit not to such an extreme degree.
I've ran into no game breaking or annoying bugs to speak of, a few amusing ones have popped up though. For example, one of my targets that I had recently shot in the head & hidden in a dumpster expressed his irritation with my close proximity to him, posthumously of course.
For the most part the controls are solid too, sadly in all their wisdom the dev's decided to include quick time events in places of any real hand-to-hand combat system & to enter precision mode (to aim super hard, opposed to the nearly perfect reticle anyway) you need to hold the trigger "halfway" then press it all the way to take the shot. I can't tell you how many times I've fired before I'm supposed to because I'm trying to use this feature, after a while I just gave up using it in place of trusting the "unfocused" reticle- the difference between the two is negligible to be honest.
Another feature that I disagree with is the checkpoint system. Certain levels, depending on their length have checkpoints. Little symbols on the floor that you can activate that will allow you to respawn there if you die/choose to restart from checkpoint. The idea of these self activated checkpoints is cool because you don't have to use them- I prefer to do a level in a whole run rather in little segments- however, if you do choose to respawn all the enemies will respawn too. I feel like this is a silly choice, it doesn't checkpoint your progress in terms of what you've done in the level or the bodies you've hidden for example. All it does is respawn you in the same location, with everyone & everything you've done undone. If the enemies didn't respawn, I wouldn't be anymore inclined to use this feature- but it would've been better for it.
Another questionable feature, the "bullet time" kind of thing. Or whatever. It's another feature that is entirely optional, so that's fine- it just feels out of place. It allows you to tag a bunch of enemies as time stops. Then after you've tagged everyone you want, or the timer has ran out you fire. Allowing you take out large groups of enemies with relative ease. This feature feels deeply out of place in a game that is focused mainly on stealth, that being said- when you fail a mission or get detected, it's always the most fun thing in the world to go crazy banana's and kill everyone in a blaze of glory.
I was going to write two parts for this
Most of my notepad is just full of story related quirks that I don't really want to talk about for fear of spoiling the plot. So, concerning the plot I will say this- It makes little to no sense & it's not a story that really needed to be told, but I LOVE the places it takes me. Put that on the box.
I get the feeling that whenever I'll talk to my friends about this game, it'll be concerning the stupid shit I've pulled off or the ridiculous ways I've killed people. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever, I don't feel the game takes itself too seriously & it is just plain fun. Like this one time, I popped out of a strippers cake and just blew away 5 dudes. It was so fucking sweet. After completing this game, the very first thing I did was try to complete all the different challenges, I'm also planning on playing it on the super hardest mode. So, in short (don't you hate it when people put the TLDR's at the bottom of the post?) Story is retarded, gameplay is solid and it is just the most super fun I've had in awhile.
See ya
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Hitman Absolution: Bigger, Badder, Balder
Today, a few days before my new mouse & my legendary edition of Skyrim arrive (I caved, I thought I could resist buying it) the latest hitmans found itself on my doorstep. I'm an hour or two into it so far and it's pretty good. Long story short I'm having fun, a lot more than I did with Mirrors Edge. I've got about two pages of my notebook full of ideas and points of interest I want to write about- but I'll save writing about the game proper until I'm either done with it, or I complete it.
So for now I'll just talk about my history with the Hitman series- I don't have one. I've never played a Hitman game to completion. I've played a couple of levels of the most recent one, blood money I think- but that's it. I'm told that the latest one- absolution- is a far cry from what it used to be. So I guess I'm glad I'm not a Hitman purist. This might make for a slightly less bias read, or it might make me look like an idiot for liking a game that is Hitman in name only.
So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say right now. Back to playing more Hitman!
So for now I'll just talk about my history with the Hitman series- I don't have one. I've never played a Hitman game to completion. I've played a couple of levels of the most recent one, blood money I think- but that's it. I'm told that the latest one- absolution- is a far cry from what it used to be. So I guess I'm glad I'm not a Hitman purist. This might make for a slightly less bias read, or it might make me look like an idiot for liking a game that is Hitman in name only.
So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say right now. Back to playing more Hitman!
Monday, 3 June 2013
Mirrors Edge: Dull As Dishwater
I've been playing Mirrors Edge on the 360 to alleviate my boredom whilst I wait for my new mouse to arrive, of course my old mouse has decided that the right click is going to start working again- most of the time anyway. I've still got hitman on my list, so I figure I might as well give that another bash before I start trying to play LoL again- if I can handle it.
Anyway, Mirrors Edge- I didn't get that far in before I just got flat out bored of it. The only story element I really ran into was something called "Icarus" some big bad secret something or other. It's right here, when I hear that word that I start to lose interest in the story. The cutscenes are gorgeous & the voice acting is fine and everything. Thing is, I've just got beef with using Icarus as code for any kind of plan or technology or whatever. Human Revolution did it too & it was stupid, but at least not a part of the plot.
For everyone that doesn't know Icarus is a story from Greek mythology about some guy that wanted to escape from Crete by using wings made of feathers and wax, he flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, he fell into the ocean and drowned- the end. So in it's most basic form- he failed.
I get why video game devs use this word, it's from Greek mythology so it's inherently cool & it's a story or at least a name everyone has heard of. Thing is, Icarus failed. Not only did he fail, he died- so you're basically condemning your plan to fail or your technology to have some stupid flaw. It's like naming your new super cool water based technology the Titanic.
Mirrors Edge has a very limited colour scheme & most of it is red, white & blue. With objects of interest being red/blue thanks to "runners vision" a visual aid to show you objects of interest like platforms to jump from/onto, this mode is disabled on hard mode- so I dread to think how dull the game would look without runners vision. I suppose DICE tried to do something interesting with the visuals here, and there's merit in that- sadly I feel like it failed.
The game, at least on the 360, is riddled with Half-life 2 circa 2004 mid level loading screens & Mass Effect loading elevators. This makes dying so much of a chore that I'd often give up playing after one death and go play TES: Oblivion instead. The free running & platforming mechanics are pretty good, for the most part they flow well & are fun to use. However, the combat system is so janky that I found myself avoiding combat not because it was safer, but because running away allowed me to not have to use the awful fighting controls. It was certainly refreshing to have a female lead & I do wish I had the will to play more just so I could be exposed to more of Faiths life.
So for me, Mirrors Edge basically sucked. I had fun for an hour or so, but I wasn't interested in the story & the only themes the game really seemed to be portraying were about freedom and dystopias. I've seen that so many times that it honestly didn't hold my interest.
Lets hope Hitman can keep me from trying to game on my PC with an unreliable mouse.
Edit: It totally didn't stop me, It was a ranked game of League of Legends. Logic.
Anyway, Mirrors Edge- I didn't get that far in before I just got flat out bored of it. The only story element I really ran into was something called "Icarus" some big bad secret something or other. It's right here, when I hear that word that I start to lose interest in the story. The cutscenes are gorgeous & the voice acting is fine and everything. Thing is, I've just got beef with using Icarus as code for any kind of plan or technology or whatever. Human Revolution did it too & it was stupid, but at least not a part of the plot.
For everyone that doesn't know Icarus is a story from Greek mythology about some guy that wanted to escape from Crete by using wings made of feathers and wax, he flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, he fell into the ocean and drowned- the end. So in it's most basic form- he failed.
I get why video game devs use this word, it's from Greek mythology so it's inherently cool & it's a story or at least a name everyone has heard of. Thing is, Icarus failed. Not only did he fail, he died- so you're basically condemning your plan to fail or your technology to have some stupid flaw. It's like naming your new super cool water based technology the Titanic.
Mirrors Edge has a very limited colour scheme & most of it is red, white & blue. With objects of interest being red/blue thanks to "runners vision" a visual aid to show you objects of interest like platforms to jump from/onto, this mode is disabled on hard mode- so I dread to think how dull the game would look without runners vision. I suppose DICE tried to do something interesting with the visuals here, and there's merit in that- sadly I feel like it failed.
The game, at least on the 360, is riddled with Half-life 2 circa 2004 mid level loading screens & Mass Effect loading elevators. This makes dying so much of a chore that I'd often give up playing after one death and go play TES: Oblivion instead. The free running & platforming mechanics are pretty good, for the most part they flow well & are fun to use. However, the combat system is so janky that I found myself avoiding combat not because it was safer, but because running away allowed me to not have to use the awful fighting controls. It was certainly refreshing to have a female lead & I do wish I had the will to play more just so I could be exposed to more of Faiths life.
So for me, Mirrors Edge basically sucked. I had fun for an hour or so, but I wasn't interested in the story & the only themes the game really seemed to be portraying were about freedom and dystopias. I've seen that so many times that it honestly didn't hold my interest.
Lets hope Hitman can keep me from trying to game on my PC with an unreliable mouse.
Edit: It totally didn't stop me, It was a ranked game of League of Legends. Logic.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
We can rebuild him, we have the technology.
As you may of noticed, the blog has changed a little, the header has changed- I removed the stock ass photo of a controller and embiggened the Joypad Athletics logo. My YouTube channel also managed to swing it so it could have a nice button too. I've also linked to my twitter, so you can hear my inane thoughts whenever I have them. I've also added some scripts to my template to make the blog a little bit easier to navigate- the blog archive is now collapsed by default & the blog also has infinite scroll, akin to how Facebook or the Reddit Enhancement Suite works. To the right there's also some info about various streamers I'm affiliated with, and my own stream (not yet up & running) I've felt that these small, albeit important changes have been a long time coming. I hope it makes the blog feel a little bit easier to use.
In other news (those of you that've seen my fancy new twitter widget may know this so bare with me) my right mouse button has entirely stopped working. My current one click mouse was a hand me down from a friend that had bought a new one, and I received that gift about 5-6ish years ago. I'm surprised its survived this long. Alas, a new one is on its way so I've had to spend my spare time catching up with Spider-Man (dear God FUCK brand new day) & playing console games. Sadly, for the time being I've become a filthy console peasant. I bought a couple of cheap games for my 360- whilst you can still buy pre-owned games without being scanned into the matrix, or being peeped on by the kinect 2 or whatever. I got hold of Hitman Absolution, that I've yet to play & Mirrors edge. Mirrors edge is an interesting game, in that it has that special ability to make me refuse to admit something was my fault & blame it entirely on the game. Despite that though, it's fun- i'd of been pissed if I paid £40 for it, but it's fun. I'll talk about both these games in their own posts when I've completed/smashed the shit out of them.
Wish me luck.
In other news (those of you that've seen my fancy new twitter widget may know this so bare with me) my right mouse button has entirely stopped working. My current one click mouse was a hand me down from a friend that had bought a new one, and I received that gift about 5-6ish years ago. I'm surprised its survived this long. Alas, a new one is on its way so I've had to spend my spare time catching up with Spider-Man (dear God FUCK brand new day) & playing console games. Sadly, for the time being I've become a filthy console peasant. I bought a couple of cheap games for my 360- whilst you can still buy pre-owned games without being scanned into the matrix, or being peeped on by the kinect 2 or whatever. I got hold of Hitman Absolution, that I've yet to play & Mirrors edge. Mirrors edge is an interesting game, in that it has that special ability to make me refuse to admit something was my fault & blame it entirely on the game. Despite that though, it's fun- i'd of been pissed if I paid £40 for it, but it's fun. I'll talk about both these games in their own posts when I've completed/smashed the shit out of them.
Wish me luck.
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