I recently got Civ5 off of steam on sale for 75% off. I had always been interested in the game and I had played the demo in the past and was really intrigued by its fun, yet slow gameplay that lasted, in most cases, hours. So I bought it for my friends (for their birthdays) and myself, and I invited them to play multiplayer with me. So we started the game, and since we were both "newbs" we selected the easiest difficulty and played.
I'll try to give my best summary of the game.
SLOW.
But it makes up for it in the fact that it's addicting. We both teamed up with eachother because we were facing computers and it didn't matter what happened. I'm not sure if you can set the difficulty of the computers, but we slowly took the leader scorewise in the first twenty turns, and then the lead multiplied after fifty and soon we could just toss them around like ragdolls. The goal of the game itself is to create a large civilization while having to deal with production, food, and technological evolution while being constantly threatened from opposing civilizations. There are several ways to win, but I think most people go for a Domination Victory, where you slowly invade and conquer every civilization. The others include a Social Victory, an Economic Victory, a Technological Victory, and an Exploration Victory. These take a long time to attain.
All in all, Civ 5 may be a bit slow, but me and my friend are still playing it, and with another friend that is about to start playing, I don't see an end to this anytime soon, as it is fun and intriguing to play and will obviously provide us with countless hours of gameplay.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Hitman: Absolution
I've never been one for the Hitman series as in past games it turned out to be extremely difficult as one small mistake could alert an entire level of enemies of your whereabouts. Not only that but these enemies are also extremely accurate when firing at you and you of course are the weakest guy on earth even though you are a hardened assassin. But this new Hitman shows promise as it is more reactive in terms of detection by the enemy than past "game over" mentalities.
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| All I can think of is "Wow, who tailors that man's suit!?" |
Hitman: Absolution puts you in the same shoes as the previous games in the series and you continue on your quest to eliminate those that wanted you dead. From watching the small amounts of gameplay that they have released so far, I can ascertain that the game engine is very in-depth and that you can choose multiple pathways of getting out alive, some less bloody than others of course.
The gameplay for Hitman shows that it is extremely well developed in many areas of gameplay, whether you want to go through guns blazing, or without hurting anyone at all. This new release is suppose to have a more "personal" plotline for the emotionless clone killer we call Agent 47.
The gameplay for Hitman shows that it is extremely well developed in many areas of gameplay, whether you want to go through guns blazing, or without hurting anyone at all. This new release is suppose to have a more "personal" plotline for the emotionless clone killer we call Agent 47.
Talon: Dead before you know realize it
Totally not a ripoff from Assassin's Creed... Totally.
Talon
The Blade's Shadow
Although I believe there is no real place for an Assassin in the current "meta," Talon is a very powerful character. Not only can he run in, gank, and run out in matter of seconds but he has game changing abilities that synergize with even the most awkward characters. I haven't really found a place for Talon to go, but I have seen them do very well as solo-top or as AD Carry bot. Although I do not recommend playing him bot because melee AD carries usually are a lot less powerful than many tend to believe. Now onto the build. I usually start a Brutalizer with a Sword at the start and then make sure I get a pair of those terrific Boots of Mobility. Speed is very effective on Talon as he needs to get around quickly in order to escape or gank. Then I want to finish my Brutalizer, and start on an Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancers. Those will give me a ton more damage for late game and right after that I want to get a Last Whisper. Now the last item is sort of up to you. But I like to get a Warmogs for the added tankiness so I don't die if I'm focused by a second guy who was lucky enough to be near his teammate when I landed on them. Normally if you do good early game then you snowball and are nigh unstoppable at the end and you can easily crush the enemy AP Carry and any AD Carry on which you get the drop on because you'll be doing about 2000-3000 burst damage on a single target, if they have more health then you will easily be able to take them down as they are trying to flee with your speed and further AD attacks.
Noxian Diplomacy
Very powerful not only against Champions but turrets. This skill can easily take down a turret in a few hits. When I use Cutthroat I usually wait till I land on the guy first and hit him once with a normal attack, then activate this, as it refreshes your attack and you hit again almost instantly.
Rake
Rake is very good for clearing out minion waves and giving that extra bit of damage and slow to a fleeing enemy. The damage for this is decent as you level it up but it quickly falls off due to a low AD Scaling. Very good though for slows which you get a 10% bonus to AD with.
Cutthroat
This is how you gank. If there was any skill made for burst damage ganking then it would be this. You get damage amplification, a silence, and a blink all in the same spell. Anyone who is unlucky enough to be hit by this will surely succumb to your attacks right after they are hit by this.
Shadow Assault
His only real way of escaping a mess, this not only does awesome amounts of damage, but it makes you invisible for a good amount of time and it also gives movespeed bonus. Not exactly the best ultimate in the game, it is extremely useful for a champion like Talon
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| Stab Stab Stab |
The Blade's Shadow
Although I believe there is no real place for an Assassin in the current "meta," Talon is a very powerful character. Not only can he run in, gank, and run out in matter of seconds but he has game changing abilities that synergize with even the most awkward characters. I haven't really found a place for Talon to go, but I have seen them do very well as solo-top or as AD Carry bot. Although I do not recommend playing him bot because melee AD carries usually are a lot less powerful than many tend to believe. Now onto the build. I usually start a Brutalizer with a Sword at the start and then make sure I get a pair of those terrific Boots of Mobility. Speed is very effective on Talon as he needs to get around quickly in order to escape or gank. Then I want to finish my Brutalizer, and start on an Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancers. Those will give me a ton more damage for late game and right after that I want to get a Last Whisper. Now the last item is sort of up to you. But I like to get a Warmogs for the added tankiness so I don't die if I'm focused by a second guy who was lucky enough to be near his teammate when I landed on them. Normally if you do good early game then you snowball and are nigh unstoppable at the end and you can easily crush the enemy AP Carry and any AD Carry on which you get the drop on because you'll be doing about 2000-3000 burst damage on a single target, if they have more health then you will easily be able to take them down as they are trying to flee with your speed and further AD attacks.
Noxian Diplomacy
Very powerful not only against Champions but turrets. This skill can easily take down a turret in a few hits. When I use Cutthroat I usually wait till I land on the guy first and hit him once with a normal attack, then activate this, as it refreshes your attack and you hit again almost instantly.
Rake
Rake is very good for clearing out minion waves and giving that extra bit of damage and slow to a fleeing enemy. The damage for this is decent as you level it up but it quickly falls off due to a low AD Scaling. Very good though for slows which you get a 10% bonus to AD with.
Cutthroat
This is how you gank. If there was any skill made for burst damage ganking then it would be this. You get damage amplification, a silence, and a blink all in the same spell. Anyone who is unlucky enough to be hit by this will surely succumb to your attacks right after they are hit by this.
Shadow Assault
His only real way of escaping a mess, this not only does awesome amounts of damage, but it makes you invisible for a good amount of time and it also gives movespeed bonus. Not exactly the best ultimate in the game, it is extremely useful for a champion like Talon
Monday, May 14, 2012
Kongregate
The King of online minigames, Kongregate is a repository for user-made games. The amount of games they have on the site is stunning to say the least, as you could easily find enough games to play to last you a year. They have a wide variety of genres that could interest even the most picky gamer.
Some of my favorite games include:
Creeper World, an RTS with a very basic graphical style, the story behind it is that you are a floating city and you have to fend off a flood of "creep" as you try to power up enough generators to get away. It gets very tricky in some levels and you have to think smart and build a good infrastructure and slowly push out to win. There are multiple games in the series and there are quite a few features that have been added to the sequel. I just recently started to play the sequel and it takes on a whole new approach to the game, as it makes it more of a 2D version. Many new features were implemented, like player controlled Creeper Spawners, which fire toxic creep that kills the enemy creep. There is a whole new resource and research system. And now you can make shields to keep the Creeper at bay. So all in all, you can't go wrong with this if you want to play a quick RTS game on Kong.
Bubble Tank, it is basically a top-down shooter where you take the place of a tank consisting of bubbles (who would have known!?). You level up through clearing bubbles and there are many paths you can take in upgrading your tank. The paths differ in the fact there is a more powerful, accurate one, and then there is one where you just shoot tons of bullets and crush your enemies through constant fire. Then there is a "balanced" path which combines parts of each and I think that might be the least interesting, as you never get any good skills or guns, just a bland mixture of normal weapons and speed.
Pandemic, CURSE YOU MADAGASCAR!!!!! Pandemic is about spreading you, the virus. You have to make many decisions that affect how your disease is spread, or how your victims are effected. I remember that they made a "reverse" Pandemic, in which you have to defend the U.S. from a deadly virus. Most of the time there is maybe one nation that seals off everything and you can't get in and win, but sometimes, just sometimes, you can sneak into every nation and slowly kill off everyone.
Some of my favorite games include:
Creeper World, an RTS with a very basic graphical style, the story behind it is that you are a floating city and you have to fend off a flood of "creep" as you try to power up enough generators to get away. It gets very tricky in some levels and you have to think smart and build a good infrastructure and slowly push out to win. There are multiple games in the series and there are quite a few features that have been added to the sequel. I just recently started to play the sequel and it takes on a whole new approach to the game, as it makes it more of a 2D version. Many new features were implemented, like player controlled Creeper Spawners, which fire toxic creep that kills the enemy creep. There is a whole new resource and research system. And now you can make shields to keep the Creeper at bay. So all in all, you can't go wrong with this if you want to play a quick RTS game on Kong.
Bubble Tank, it is basically a top-down shooter where you take the place of a tank consisting of bubbles (who would have known!?). You level up through clearing bubbles and there are many paths you can take in upgrading your tank. The paths differ in the fact there is a more powerful, accurate one, and then there is one where you just shoot tons of bullets and crush your enemies through constant fire. Then there is a "balanced" path which combines parts of each and I think that might be the least interesting, as you never get any good skills or guns, just a bland mixture of normal weapons and speed.
Pandemic, CURSE YOU MADAGASCAR!!!!! Pandemic is about spreading you, the virus. You have to make many decisions that affect how your disease is spread, or how your victims are effected. I remember that they made a "reverse" Pandemic, in which you have to defend the U.S. from a deadly virus. Most of the time there is maybe one nation that seals off everything and you can't get in and win, but sometimes, just sometimes, you can sneak into every nation and slowly kill off everyone.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Pokemon
I hate to admit it, but I started playing Pokemon Leaf Green again. This reminds me how interesting and fun to play the Pokemon series were. Looking back I realize how complicated things really were even though when I was a kid I just spammed attack abilities.
What made this game great was that even though you could go through the entire game just spamming one specific attack, there was tons of strategy behind it. Whether you were a small child who barely knew what he was doing to a teenager who was looking back at the game, there was always a challenge and a skill level equivalent way to beat the game. It just requires you to try somethnig different. If my friends hadn't given me this challenge and I was made to play another Pokemon game, I wouldn't have used the same things that I use today, as I wouldn't have focused on staying alive or using skill buffs or debuffs at all.
Currently I'm doing a challenge one of my friends has proposed to me that has these rules:
You can only use the items you find.
Once a Pokemon faints you MUST release it.
You can only use Poke'Centers once every five battles.
You cannot use a Poke-Mart at all.
As you can see, this is a pretty tough feat. It requires a lot of saving (YOU WANT TO SAVE... YOU ALWAYS WANT TO SAVE!!!), and it requires a good amount of skill to make it through a battle without losing any of your Pokemon. Plus, it makes catching Pokemon a thousand times harder because you are limited in Pokeballs and you have to redo the entire thing every time you waste one. I've had to retry taking on a Snorlax over ten times just because my one Ultra Ball didn't work... It was so infuriating because it caused my game to stall progress-wise. This brings me to my next point... GARY F****** OAK.. He's always popping in at the worst times, with his condescending statements about my personality. I HATE YOU GARY!!!! GAHHHHHH. I'M NOT SNOBBY AND NARCISSISTIC, I SWEAR!
What made this game great was that even though you could go through the entire game just spamming one specific attack, there was tons of strategy behind it. Whether you were a small child who barely knew what he was doing to a teenager who was looking back at the game, there was always a challenge and a skill level equivalent way to beat the game. It just requires you to try somethnig different. If my friends hadn't given me this challenge and I was made to play another Pokemon game, I wouldn't have used the same things that I use today, as I wouldn't have focused on staying alive or using skill buffs or debuffs at all.
Currently I'm doing a challenge one of my friends has proposed to me that has these rules:
You can only use the items you find.
Once a Pokemon faints you MUST release it.
You can only use Poke'Centers once every five battles.
You cannot use a Poke-Mart at all.
As you can see, this is a pretty tough feat. It requires a lot of saving (YOU WANT TO SAVE... YOU ALWAYS WANT TO SAVE!!!), and it requires a good amount of skill to make it through a battle without losing any of your Pokemon. Plus, it makes catching Pokemon a thousand times harder because you are limited in Pokeballs and you have to redo the entire thing every time you waste one. I've had to retry taking on a Snorlax over ten times just because my one Ultra Ball didn't work... It was so infuriating because it caused my game to stall progress-wise. This brings me to my next point... GARY F****** OAK.. He's always popping in at the worst times, with his condescending statements about my personality. I HATE YOU GARY!!!! GAHHHHHH. I'M NOT SNOBBY AND NARCISSISTIC, I SWEAR!
Why there will be no TF3
For someone who has a reasonable amount of time spent on TF2, I have come to the conclusion that there will be no TF3, at least for the foreseeable future, and by that I mean like... 5-10 years. The reason for this is because TF2 is already a great game, and there isn't much to be improved upon in terms of graphical quality. Sure, it can moved to a new engine when that comes out, but the Source Engine is evolving all the time and it will slowly evolve into a better, bigger engine. When I say graphical quality, I mean character models. Since each and every character has their own extensive lore, you would basically have to make the same characters and have them look exactly the same. While you can kinda tweak them, you can't make it look more "cartoony" than it does now. Think about it, you can always make things look more realistic, but you can't change something that wasn't really suppose to look any different.
There is also the aspect of trading. People have sunk thousands upon thousands of dollars into TF2, if there is a TF3, which I doubt there will be, then the people who are buying 50-100 keys per year are now suddenly thrown into an environment where they have absolutely nothing! This will make so many people rage, and there will be a lot of frowns as people are forced to TF3, losing all of their cool items like the Fancy Fedora, or their Buds, or maybe even their ten unusuals that they worked so hard to acquire.
It's always about profits to a company, and Valve can make much more money off of the Mann Co. Store than they could ever from having a TF3. This is because they already have a vested playerbase and that playerbase wants more TF2 wealth. This prompts them to buy more things from the Store and it makes Valve a lot of money.
So all in all, TF3 is probably not coming, at least until TF2 dies. This most likely won't be coming anytime soon, as TF2 is still a thriving community of hat traders and new FTP players mindlessly killing eachother in 2Fort.
There is also the aspect of trading. People have sunk thousands upon thousands of dollars into TF2, if there is a TF3, which I doubt there will be, then the people who are buying 50-100 keys per year are now suddenly thrown into an environment where they have absolutely nothing! This will make so many people rage, and there will be a lot of frowns as people are forced to TF3, losing all of their cool items like the Fancy Fedora, or their Buds, or maybe even their ten unusuals that they worked so hard to acquire.
It's always about profits to a company, and Valve can make much more money off of the Mann Co. Store than they could ever from having a TF3. This is because they already have a vested playerbase and that playerbase wants more TF2 wealth. This prompts them to buy more things from the Store and it makes Valve a lot of money.
So all in all, TF3 is probably not coming, at least until TF2 dies. This most likely won't be coming anytime soon, as TF2 is still a thriving community of hat traders and new FTP players mindlessly killing eachother in 2Fort.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
The Sims
Maxis, best known for their numerous different simulators all with a similar name of "Sims" (such as Sim City and The Sims, and many, many more) have created quite an empire of simulation games, and are still going at it, as they are releasing a new Sim City next year that is even online!
Anyway, The Sims challenges you in a unique way by making you control the daily lives of the Sims in your household. The activities you have to make them do include eating, sleeping, regulating their bowels [aka taking a poo]. It's a very challenging game to do without cheats, as I can only recall my own games where I gave myself tons of money and made the most lavish house possible. The newer games allow you to change even more with cheats and you can even change NPC's looks, appearances, and affiliations.
Enough with cheating though, I don't want to be a bad role model :D. So in recent games Maxis has added a system where you pick different traits for your character, like athlete, lazy, or kleptomaniac. Each trait provides a specific boost, which can help you a lot when trying to keep your Sim healthy. I prefer the Evil and Klepto traits, as that makes the game more entertaining, since I don't have to worry about keeping him alive.
What I find new and innovative is that they are now introducing things like astronomy, exploration, and collecting that don't neccessarily increase your skills, but they do provide incentive to play the game and find out more about your environment. In the past sims games, things got boring because you could only travel to small business lots and other Sim's houses, which easily made the game boring.
Anyway, The Sims challenges you in a unique way by making you control the daily lives of the Sims in your household. The activities you have to make them do include eating, sleeping, regulating their bowels [aka taking a poo]. It's a very challenging game to do without cheats, as I can only recall my own games where I gave myself tons of money and made the most lavish house possible. The newer games allow you to change even more with cheats and you can even change NPC's looks, appearances, and affiliations.
Enough with cheating though, I don't want to be a bad role model :D. So in recent games Maxis has added a system where you pick different traits for your character, like athlete, lazy, or kleptomaniac. Each trait provides a specific boost, which can help you a lot when trying to keep your Sim healthy. I prefer the Evil and Klepto traits, as that makes the game more entertaining, since I don't have to worry about keeping him alive.
What I find new and innovative is that they are now introducing things like astronomy, exploration, and collecting that don't neccessarily increase your skills, but they do provide incentive to play the game and find out more about your environment. In the past sims games, things got boring because you could only travel to small business lots and other Sim's houses, which easily made the game boring.
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