Left 4 Dead

Well I am back with a game from 2008. A decent year for a few impressive titles. Metal Slug 3, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles, Devil May Cry 4, Silent Hill: Origins and Grand Theft Auto 4. Released in November 17, 2008 bring a co-op first-person shooter developed by Valve Corporation. Following a full on apocalyptic pandemic, four survivors against a scourge of the infected dead. This is Left 4 Dead.

Eh, screw this.  Let's get a beer.

With an outbreak of "Green Flu" in Pennsylvania creating aggression, destruction of the body's cells and the depletion of higher brain function. Two weeks after the first case, four survivors seem to be immune to it being our protagonists. Bill Overbeck, a Vietnam vet, Zoey, a college student, Louis, an IT guy and Francis, a bike gang member...cause nothing says bad ass like the name Francis.

Each character makes his or her way into Fairfield only to find the infection has spread creating bizarre and horribly warped mutations roaming the streets. Hordes of the undead are out and about quite out of their minds. Making one's way to the Mercy Hospital's helipad you narrowly escape on the passing copter only to find your pilot is also infected.

Hmm, this might be a bad idea but...

Surviving the crash you find a slightly battered light armored truck to maneuver through the town of Riverside until the road is clearly blocked, forcing the team to hoof it on foot. With travel problems tended to via small fishing boat they make their way to Newburg to only see the city gone mad and on fire.

Let's talk game play over all. Now I played this on the computer so no idea how it handles on Xbox, Now you assume one of the four survivors and can manage additional players but it can also be played by AI. This game works mostly on teamwork and has more realistic physics but each teammates are visible through the walls and buildings allowing players to stick together and coordinate their movement and attacks. A survivor falls off a ledge, the others can pull them up. A survivor's health meter is empty they can be revived by another.

Firearm muzzle flashes are a bit blinding, melee attacks will bounce enemies back easily. Pistols, SMGs, shotguns, auto assault rifle and hunting rifles are easy enough to find but ammo is scarce with the exception of unlimited ammo for a semi-auto pistol at starting level. Melee attacks are better when the infected are no more than 3 at a time. The sound of gunfire attracts the infected and they do move quickly but zero tactics. High pitched noise attracts them fairly well so adding a beeping noise to a pipe bomb or car bomb ensures a decent body count.

There are five types of infected. The Boomer is a gas filled that can throw up some sort of bile to blind the survivors, attracting infected and explodes loudly spreading the bile in the nearby area. The plucking of a bass guitar hints a Boomer is around. The Hunter can leap and tear at his victim until he is either knocked off, killing his prey or is outright killed. They will emit a screech or roar when you are close by. A high pitched piano cue is your only signal followed by the low pitch snarls when you are in proximity. The Smoker is covered in boils and has six tongues to snag and drag a survivor to him. These things will attack head on, allow a scourge or horde to attack in waves or just leave your survivor suspended over a cliff or rooftop.

The Tank is a huge, built infected that can swipe wide and knock survivors off their feet. They can chuck rocks, knock over cars and other debris into the survivors. Cue by a loud orchestral score. The Witch is always a female infect with claws and starts crying to lure you in. You can avoid her usually but she is easily disturbed by light, loud noises and gunfire. An eerie choir tune plays when she is near.

Instead of the standard fixed spawn points for enemies the game has more roaming creatures as a direct attack and difficulty, the AI is referred as "The Director". It will place creatures and items in various places based on player's situations, status, skill set and locations. It also creating mood and tension with music cues, lighting and character confabing. With four game modes: Campaign, Versus, Survival and single-player. Campaign has up to four human controlled players attempting to make their way around crazed Pennsylvania attempting to get to safe houses and eventually to safety. Versus gives each team of 1 to 4 players to play either as survivor or infected and is point based giving points and bonus points based on health and health items in inventory. Survival consists of timed challenges against swarms of the infected must try to survive as long as possible. Single player is almost identical to Campaign but it can be played offline with the AI bots.

Fast paced, eerie lighting and sounds along with music cues offering a macabre vision of a world gone mad. I was stunned with how scary and fun this game is.

YOU KIDS KEEP IT DOWN!!!

PS2 Week: Grand Theft Auto III

Hello and on to Day 1 of PS2 Week and I thought I should start us off with a popular game first to get the gamer juices flowing. Boy, did that sound wrong. Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design Ltd) started off a wee bit rocky in the early 80's and by mid-90s it was looking worrisome that they would go under when the creation of the Grand Theft Auto Interactive PC games made the news giving them some breathing room but then demands for the Playstation version was in heaping rows, No sooner did this franchise make waves positively and controversially the creation for the a open world action-adventure made its release in PS2 in 2001 then 2002 for the PC and 2003 for Xbox. This is Grand Theft Auto III.

Meet friendly faces!

After a smooth bank robbery and get away with a team of robbers in Liberty City (fictional New York) our single-player game follows the doings and goings on of Claude, a bank robber who was left for dead by his own girlfriend who blasted him. Left to bleed out on the ground, Claude is arrested and sent up the river for no less than a dime. Sorry, I really get into the lingo. Ten year stretch if you will.

The prison van is destroyed killing the prison guards and devastating the main bridge. Claude and his transport buddy 8-Ball hightail it out of there and make it to a safehouse for a change of clothes, a few weapons and line up some employment to a nightclub/escort service ran by a member of the Leone syndicate. After a few quick car missions, the sky is the limit but always remember if the police see an illegal act they enable a star count. Each star is how much attention you have drawn to yourself. First stint into Liberty City the highest you can get is 3 stars which means S.W.A.T. Has a light armored vehicle and they are packing uzis. Yeah, watch yer butt on your shenanigans and keep a low profile.

Enjoy the sights!

This combines the first person shooter with a driving game giving car jacking rides, races, shoot outs and plenty of primary missions as well as side missions for extra money, armor and newer weapons. Behind the wheel gives you freedom to cruise through neighborhoods and avoid most trouble but every now and then street punks to the Triads will take notice and try to take you out. On foot, you got a bit of street fighting, melee weapons, firearms and even explosives such as Molotov cocktails and hand grenades.

One of the most amusing of carjacking is stealing a police car and then hiding in your safehouse or chop shop to get the man off your back and boom, no one is the wiser. You can toodle around in your newly acquired bacon mobile and have more than a few side quests alone with that like the vigilante option of blowing away dirtbags.

The gaming mechanics via PS2 is simple enough. Your standard pattern of circle is shoot, whack or punch. Triangle is exit/enter cars. X is hitting the gas in the car or sprinting on foot and square is braking for car and jump on foot. Directional buttons are your friend with both vehicle and car. I mean when is the last time it was that easy? Keep in mind, the faster the ride, the more you have to finesse the handling. The light sports cars can zoom but have crap for control. Takes a little practice for each ride so don't go bananas first time out.

Okay now for a teensy bit of controversy. Due to the adult nature of this game it is rated mature from anything eluding to sex, alcohol, drugs, smoking and prostitutes. Yeah this was a big stink about the legitimacy of the game with its lack of morals and scruples. So apparently grudge match games like Quake are fine, Mario Cart can trip up its opponents and we can blast the hell out of zombies via Resident Evil but a crime based video game is the devil. These mooks probably hated the Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface and Casino as well. Bottom line parents, use your own judgement call on whether or not you are introducing your kids to this series.

Yikes, dinged the fender on that last hooker.

PS2 Week

Welcome back readers! Today I was going to go into a volley of a specific film genre when it dawned on me I would rather cover some video games again. I know, I know. I did cover the Free-to-Play not long ago but it got me thinking there are several of a particular console I have not gotten to go into detail on and this week as good as any. I speak of the PS2. Manufactured in 2000, Sony's second installment of the Playstation boasted better graphics, more complex games ranging from racing, RPG, Co-Op, Action, Horror and the introduction to the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games.

I have a need.  A need for... oh, you get it already.

With more than 3,000 titles this sixth-gen console was competing with Nintendo Gamecube and Xbox for popularity churning out more than 150 million units during its release and worldwide sales of the console up to 1 billion. Even with its successor PS3, the PS2 is still one of the most preferred game consoles and units were still being created up until 2013. With that in mind, I wanted to discuss what I thought were some of the most definitive games throughout its inception, cover the pros and cons of gameplay for each and try to give the back story on each title.

So please enjoy the gamer geek's ideal entertainment of the PS2 and its most impressive array of games of various genre and I hope this will be fun for us all. Those of you that are sick of game blogs, hey I am sorry but gotta break away from the movies and TV now and then.

BMGs sure do clear a path!

Free to Play Week: Counter-Strike Zombies

Hello and welcome back to Day 2 of Free to Play Week and of course a good round of gaming isn't complete without at least one zombie game. Since 1992 with Alone in the Dark and in 1996 with Resident Evil, zombies have been the default enemy for FPS and TPS for survival horror. With this creation on October falling under Massive Multiple Online First Person Shooter giving a Player Vs Player and Player Vs Everyone. This is Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies.

Get in position, men!

A spin-off of Counter-Strike after four incarnations, this MMOFPS offers a free-for-all bloodbath action that can easily be causal to a full coordinated assault. Counter-Strike is one of the more popular online games to date. From the pitting of terrorists vs counter-terrorists play face off to their objective in round-based combat.

With the option of being the tactical human squad member to being a rampaging zombie rendering flesh and creating exponentially more zombies, the graphics run fairly smooth, give multiple levels or mapped regions to play in. Make no mistake, this is purely team effort, free range games of racking up kill counts and solo journeys. With a wide variety of weapons and ground to choose from, the roaming undead are not slumping along Romero style but actually very quick, aggressive and dangerous as all get out. After six violent deaths I know of what I speak. It's the gluing fingers back on part that annoys me.

Due for a mani, Carl.

Zombie experience aside this version has all the standard modes like Hostage Rescue and Bomb Diffusion giving the team a split-second decision making all the while up in their necks in the enemy. From spectator, good guys and bad guys this Counter-Strike differs in only the introduction of zombies to this FPS franchise.

A few comments about the overall game play.

Keyboard directional is standard WASD and third button mouse to select weapons or the hot keyed F1 and on. Comes with a TeamSpeak or Ventrilo option for chating with your team. Standard FPS and TPS view can be swapped out during play or downtime between events as usual. The downsides are also abundant. The complex levels of menus, craftung system, the enormous inventory to keep track of and the server browser. Throughout the game time, pop-ups will occur on every menu screen to try and tempt you to play for the day. You haven't completed the weekly challenge. Are you sure you want to quit? You have unclaimed prizes! Are you sure you want to quit?

Meanwhile, the poor slob just wants lunch or maybe to go for a walk. Aside from the nagging of stay demands, the most problem you have is the zombie swarms book at an impressive rate so have a SAW (Squad Assault Weapon) at the ready. Other than an occasional jump scare the worst thing will happen is a finger cramp for the trigger button.

Zombie mime!!  Get it!!!

Free To Play Week

Howdy all and welcome to the week. Well given the level of nostalgia I have had for the last couple of weeks has been Movies and TV and once again I have been neglecting video gaming. So to make up for this oversight I have decided to tackle some of these freebie games and see if even half of them are worth what they are cracked up to be.

Get the feeling we are cannon fodder, Rob?

Ranging from point and click to MMORPG, these games can be promos, beta tests and introductions bringing a wide range of gaming and for all ages overall. Most of these games tend to offer a pay as you play or even a monthly charge to a credit or debit card. Puzzles, strategy and fps and survival games in genre of action, adventure, horror and science fiction bring different levels of enjoyment and provide some much needed fun.

To what end of each game is to find out how much money can be dropped past the basic campaign or initial quests is still remains to be seen at this time but we will research each title and different classes of game. Well I think it will pass on the Goat Simulator. Oh yes it exists and frankly it looks more mind numbing than a documentary on Pokemon Vs Dragon Ball Z.

Two horrors awaited Ensign Ricky.  A Borg attack and assigned under Captain Crusher.

PC Games I am Playing Week: Hitman: Blood Money

Welcome back for Day 4 of PC Games I am Playing Week and thought we would go with something a bit darker than we have previously been.  Imagine a world where assassins are created to do the dirty deed with extreme prejudice, a world that molds and sculpts ordinary men and women into effective killing machines that know stealth, hand-to-hand, melee and firearms.   This bizarre FPS/action adventure by  IO Interactive and allows the game to go from first person view and third person, free range with tactics, weapons and funds used to complete a contract.  The man known only as 47 is been used as a fluid assassin through his handler Diana Burnwood but only after he broke out of an asylum.  Comforting he is not but he is your character for destruction.  This is Hitman: Blood Money.

Hmm, I have mixed feelings on the killing of a clown.

Alexander Leland Cayne: The name “Agent 47” is just a whisper on the lips of the dead… because if he comes calling for you…you will never even know…until it’s too late.  Then, like a spoiler, he’ll disappear.  A phantom. A legend. 

Released in November 19, 2000 the Hitman series began with explanation of a secret cloning experiment that created malicious and cold men and women as assassins with almost flawless records.  The project had ended thanks to the man known only as 47.   Today we talk about the fourth of the six part series known as Hitman: Blood Money (2006).

47 is been placed in high demand with his exceptional kill record that the morally corrupt elitists and those born in wealth find him to be a useful tool every time.  Now not unlike its predecessors the obstacles and boundaries of each mission stacks the deck against you and you have to think on your feet, pre-plan your escape routes and weapons needed for the gigs.  Rending non-combatants unconscious must be done from the shadows with all the surveillance cameras in high end areas.  Body disposal decisions must be made on the fly.  Can you drop it down a sewer grate or toss him in a dumpster?  The lower key you are, the greater rewards you get.   Also you will get deductions from the contract if you have made a spectacle of yourself.  Remember this is not Grand Theft Auto 9000 but an elegant and effective killer than does not want to draw attention to himself or his clients. 

Next contract.

Your environment has more improvised weapon availability such as NPC bullet shield.  That’s right you can use a defenseless person to soak up rounds coming out at you.   Kitchen knives were a touch I liked as he could use them as throwing weapons or a simple device to slit a throat.  Nail guns, screwdrivers even a sword cane.  Non-conventional weapons for a change.   My personal favorite was tampering with a cooking grill’s propane line.  Got a great vantage point to view the impending explosion and cackled.  Reintroduction to sedatives to know people out in close combat is difficult but not impossible.  A common claw hammer has two purposes, throwing weapon and melee weapon and the only throwing weapon you can retrieve.

With bribery, cunning on each kill, evading guards, cameras and security systems you cannot help but get a good feel how to handle the contracts that the experience will improve your lateral thinking.  

The violence level is probably not one for the kiddies and plus I do not want to give career options of this magnitude but most kids are starting to think for themselves.  I cannot imagine a video game will corrupt them to the level that most politicians claim but a bit of censorship may not be a bad idea.

Geez, no one has friended me on Facebook.

PC Games I am Playing Week: Shadowrun Returns

Hey there all and welcome to PC Games Week.   As you know I do reference more than a few console based games and that has been fun but at the end of the day I admit I would rather be behind the screen on the keyboard slaughtering villagers, having FPS gunfights and solving a few brain teasers.  Today’s game hails from the realm of table top based role-playing games from as far back as 1989 from FASA Corporation. Bringing technology of cybernetics and virtual reality hackers in mixed with sorcery, dragons and metahuman creatures to the world.  In 1993, Super Nintendo brought us the first story arc based on the cyberpunk fantasy RPG involving character Jake Armitage, a man suffering amnesia, wounded by assassins trying to figure out who wants him dead and completes his overall mission.  

Your swinging bachelor/bachelorette pad...definitely a fire hazard.

1994 Sega Genesis created a third person based game of both combat and exploration with Real Time standings along with the cause and effects of each battle. 

 13 years go by and we had not seen hide or hair of one for the newer consoles or PC until 2007’s abysmal failure that worked solely on Windows Vista which was a glorified verse of Quake.  Heartbroken were so many fans that 6 years later we had heard rumors of a company called Harebrained Schemes were raising money on Kickstarter to finance their own cyberpunk fantasy game under the title Shadowrun Returns.  So grab your trauma patches, call out the doc wagon and lock and load. This is Shadowrun Returns.

That is one seriously bizarre elf.

Spoilers are the Wiz, man.

Following under tactical RPG, this single-player game has all the bells and whistles the chummers have been scanning for. Character generation starts with the five races running the streets: humans, orcs, trolls, elves and dwarves.  Each species has its pros and cons so choose the archetype that works best for what you want to do.  And if that isn’t enough to make you happy how about classes as well?  Ranging from all the greats: Street Samurai (fighter), Mage, Decker (electronic and cyber thief), Shaman (cleric or holy person), Rigger (robot drone master) or Physical Adept (magically strengthened).   Our story opens with your character looking around a slum lord’s wet dream of an apartment.  The rats and cockroaches are fighting over who gets to leave first and your vidphone gives you a call from a fellow Shadowrunner (fellow illegal adventurer or privateer) tells you he has passed away and this payment plan is set up as insurance to find out who killed him and why.  The natural loyalty of the runners is pretty sound and you begin your investigation.  Our hero even runs into Super NES’s hero Jake Armitage as a NPC as you discover a new spin on an old classic Ripper case.  

I have just a few comments at this point to be made.  The combat is turn based; you fan out your fellow runners in any formation you so choose and there is a bit of problem solving to be had.  Best advice, chummer is to diversify your character to decking (computer skills), healing and lots of etiquette (Corporation, Security, Gang and Street speak) The storyline also hails from the same timeline as the Super NES and Sega Genesis games so that includes the lingo, gritty look of the streets and alleys and while it lacks a voice cast it returns us back to traditional RPG turn based formats of the like of: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout and Planescape: Torment.   I found it entertaining, warped and everything the game systems have been aspiring to reach and finally made.  Dead Man’s Switch is just the first installment as this is linked to Steam Workshop for newer campaigns.   My only nitpicks is the loading time from mission to mission and we don’t get to play with any vehicles.

Gunfight in the nut house...a tad odd admittedly.

PC Games I am Playing Week!

Hey gang!  So thought I would shy away from movies and TV shows for a change and get back into another aspect of my reviews which is: video games!   Yeah I know I did the 1997 PC games not long ago but at the end the day...it's my friggin' blog so lump it.   That in mind I would also point out what games may have slipped past your notice or just didn't get nearly enough airtime and advertisement.  

Travelin' the wild wasteland!

Christmas and birthday provided me with just a bit of gaming fun to try out so why the heck not give my opinion of its playing style, the graphics, whither or not it had a decent story or voice cast.   Only seems fair to give back some love from a hobby that brought me hours of entertainment.  So these games are not in a chronological order but more of an order of what I found to be fun that particular time.  Keep in mind I am tackling all these games due to their replay ability.

1997 PC Games

Well I was dusting off my shelves and felt we would tackle some video games as it has been some time since I have done any games.  Yes shame on me.  I must be whipped, purged and flogged no doubt.   We could also just go over some classic and fun games of 1997 which gave us the first of many different graphics and complex story lines.

From RPG(Role Playing Game), FPS(First Person Shooter), RTS ( Real-Time Strategy), TBS (Turn- Based Strategy) and of course Point and Click bringing us conflicting emotions of amazement and annoyance.  So time consuming were these games that we didn't even realize how late into the night it could be or almost miss classes for it but by God we were entertained.

Hmm this cannon has some recoil.

Nintendo N64 Week

I have taken an inventory on my reviews and realized I have not done anything on video games in months.  I thought now was an opportune time to dust off the video game system and give a shot at an old profession.  Video Game reviews and I missed doing it.  Checking in my array of game systems I thought it might be fun to see these games and see what we can find as a level of amusement.  So this week we look at these antiquated titles of our childhood and breathe some life into the nostalgia that is Nintendo N64.

Meh I only get one game and Mario has over 20.