Friday, December 16, 2011

Lord of the Rings Online

In between deving DooM 2D and playing Terraria I have been trying to get back into LOTRO my all time favorite game. I am having fun with it again and I am really glad that I started to play it again. My kin (guild in most other MMOs) has changed a little as in having alot of new faces. All my old friends are still there having a great time and it was awesome to chill out in game with them all over again.

The last update, Rise of Isengard, changed some of the stats in the way that they function so I find myself changing my play style just a little to follow where those changes brought us. It actually made the game a little more exciting since medium armor now feels more like medium armor. (I play a hunter)

Well more stuff later.

Neuntoter

Friday, December 2, 2011

Nation Red

Well for starters, zombie games are not really my type of game (with only very few exceptions) but I will state that after playing this for about 2 hours or so I finished up all 18 of the challenge/campaign style missions. The game is pretty much set up like so.

You spawn in a small boxed off area and zombie spawns attack, they will drop random power ups and weapons. Fend off all zombies and move onto next area.

Sounds boring but in short play bursts and the fact it is co-op = tons of fun when you need a quick fix of action. The controls are very solid, the weapons are very satisfying and the GFX are well done. The game itself is very inexpensive which makes it a good buy. I picked it up as a Steam special for $2.50.

some more fun stuff soon.....

Neuntoter

Monday, November 28, 2011

RAGE

That's right, I feel meself some RAGE.

Rage is the newest game from legendary ID. It is a futuristic FPS that takes place after a giant meteor hits Earth. So far the story seems OK, Haven't played it long enough to really reveal all that much. Unlike their past titles, this one plays out open worldish with missions assigned to you by NPCs. That portion seems well laid out considering it is their first at a style of game like this. The enemies with their speech and animations when shot and killed seem very life like until they actually fall onto the ground dead. Some stiffness there but over all very believable. Controls are also very responsive.

I will state that I am an ID fanboy (per se) and I buy and usually love all their games. Now as far as this game goes, the engine itself which will power DooM 4 when released is very solid and gorgeous. As far as Rage is concerned, it really is not the first of any kind of genre, so you may feel been there, done that, but as a game goes, I personally am having fun with it and I would recommend this game if you like semi open world FPSs.

I will have more to say about this game after a bit more gameplay but for now, 2 thumbs up.

Neuntoter

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Saturday Update

Hello all, today I am putting finishing touches on Nonulok's and I's game to be released on Monday. Alot of hard work and dedication went into it and we hope that all will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. The Demo will actually be out Monday, the Episode 1 release in about 2 weeks of people playing with the demo. Started the BR Extended Lord of The Rings with my wife last night. Same movie, great audio and great visuals, and as always, the same amazing story with a well put together choice of actors and actresses and special effects crew and all others that helped make it what it became.

Not to many updates from last time. Hunted : Demon Forge is actually a very fun game, so far I have been playing it solo since Nonulok has been playing some other new releases, Battlefield 3 and the new Assassins Creed.

thats it for now..... have a great week end.

Neuntoter

Friday, November 11, 2011

Nothing Special.

Well still playing War in the North a little. Nonulok and I are going through in Co-Op mode little at a time since his PC is running into weird issues with it. We both picked up a copy of Hunted : Demon Forge which is Co-Op for 2 people. Have not yet played it but it looks like a sweet concept.

Have Windows 8 on my Dev machine (which seems like a winner) and on my gaming rig (switching back over tonight). Windows 8 in all is really sweet, it has better performance, a really good flow and feel of things. But gaming wise especially fast paced games that the mouse looks around and you do not have a curser, a very bad combo. The mouse will get stuck on the edge and kinda just leave you either sitting there or take you back to the desktop in the middle of a fight. A couple times and it would not be so bad, but it caused me to die too many times to waive it off. Oh well, so it goes.

Picked up BlueRay Lord of the Rings Extended, that will be fun to watch. I am actually writing down ideas on how I will present my experiences creating a game through all free software. More details on that soon. I am actually going to have alot of fun with that and I hope that you guys (and ladies) will enjoy it also. My plan is too actually walk you all through the creation of the new Ground Zero Engine that I will be working on for one of Nonulok's and I's new projects. It is still a 2D engine but will contain tons of great features. I will not be handing out all the source code but examples of certain parts for all you up and coming game makers.

Well thats it for now....

Neuntoter

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Review

Before I sat down to write my review (still have not yet finished game but I did put about 30 hours of game play into it) I read other reviews and wanted to see what their pros and cons were. So in doing this I will point out the bad stuff first. At heart it is a Hack N’ Slash action game. This will equal out to be TONS of fighting. Please expect this and not solving puzzles and adventuring throughout a peaceful land of daisies. This type of game play could be considered repetitive to some, but then again all games repeat something over and over again. (Racing, first person shooters etc.)

I even read a review saying that the story was a basic hack n’ slash story. They must have missed something because the game I played showed that the story writer and entire dev team did some impressive research of Middle Earth. Although they do tell of a lot of back story, they definitely do not lack from the story they are telling of these three heroes taking on this conquest. I will say, I love Tolkien’s work and I consider this to be a very nice attachment to the stories I already know and love. They do have some faults in how they used Tolkien’s lore but over all I am very impressed.

The controls are simple and straight forward but the combat is more than just button mashing. Trust me, I button mashed at first and died a bunch, I then learned how to play and it was way better and played out sweet in my opinion. I my self like the more simple control scheme because it allows me to sit down and play and me as a player as to watch for patterns and dodge at correct times instead of having counter buttons for every other attack. The camera over all plays nice with you, I think I have died a few times from crap camera but after all the hours I put in to playing, a few times to me just enforces the concept that nothing is perfect.

The Gfx are beyond gorgeous, and I say that in more than just stating that they are well rendered. The environments are very detailed, in between fights you do get to explore a little and enjoy the world. I say one thing. Very impressed. They did take a lot of time and effort into making it feel like what they believe Middle Earth is . Some items (stage décor) does get repetitive but over all I will say it is more than a mass copy and paste world. The characters are also very detailed. One complaint for me was that the NPCs (quest givers and merchants) did feel kinda stiff. The over all animations looked well done.

The sounds were pretty well done, not all the voice acting was award winning material, but I would say that it was not enough to make me say, this game is crap. Battle sounds were very fulfilling. Crunches, squishy, clanking and clanging. It did sound like a battle each time. (and so did the over all visuals for combat, very fulfilling).

Now lets get to the multiplayer. Stated earlier I love LOTR Online. This game almost plays out like a 3 man instance except lasts a lot longer. This is possibly why I love this game so much. It is very easy to get multiple friends involved in a game. The game itself keeps all players very well in-sync. Each character has a special ability to find secrets so that is an added bonus that you can take advantage of during muliplayer. For instance, the ranger can see footsteps, the loremaster can collect mushrooms for crafting potions and finding false walls, and the champion can find weak walls to bash through. At heart, this is the way the game is meant to be played. And if you run solo the AI kicks in and takes control of the other two characters for you or or however many are not being controlled my humans. It does have some faults however such as when you get to the “head back to town” check points when you go back to the mission I had some bad cases where my team mate loaded at the beginning of the level. Just a few times. But nothing I would call game breaking. A simple future patch may fix this but for now it is the only big thing that can be considered a multiplayer glitch that I noticed.

I love all that is Tolkien (my most favorite game is Lord of the Rings Online) and feel that this does do the LOTR Franchise justice, and even as a game is fun. Although it over all plays like any other action hack n’ slash so this is nothing new for the market nor may it be the best. But a fun game I will say this game is. I like it that much more because of my love for Tolkien’s work.

So my quick wrap up.

Game Play: A typical well done Hack N’ Slash

Controls: Easy to learn, Very responsive

Story: Evil Mounting a war against good. (this is the part that is typical of this
type of game) The amazing part is how well they kept it to Tolkien’s Work.

Action: Very intense, in your face battles, very brutal

Replay: If you like how different all three characters play, (each finds their own types of secrets) then you may want to play though once with all three. I would put this at the eye of the beholder. I would play this many time over since I love Tolkien. If you are playing cause of the style of game it could be rather low.

Co-Op: Now this is what it is about and is the real bread and butter for this title. (Although Tolkien story and world do make this just that much more amazing lol)

Well I hope this review proved somewhat informative, it is the actual first full review I have ever written.

Neuntoter


::::EDIT::::
I did finish the game and the story wraps up really well and I am going to play through it again cause I enjoyed the game so freakin much.....

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Trine = Uber Awesome

Finally finished the game and all I can say is wow. Amazing fiery tale like story told through a narrative style in between levels. The GFX are better than any Disney movie ever once again giving a very enchanted/fairy tale feeling. The controls are straight forward and easy to learn and use. The sounds are spot on as far as sound can go. Music is just awesome and feels like it should be there. This is something I usually turn off in games but in this game it was such a pleasant blend. The puzzles involved and straight on platforming action was just the right mix to keep you intrigued.

For story and some better game description just click here.

Neuntoter

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Fable III = Amazing

I am going to make this one short because there is just too much involvement in what this game is to cover everything in great detail. Lets start off first by saying. NEVER played Fable I or Fable II so I can not compare how this is to those. I am solely judging this game by my experience with this game.

1. Action RPG. Third person sword/axe battles, can get a glove to cast spells, and can get a gun (rifle/pistol) for ranged. Can upgrade weapons from tokens you get from being nice to people, doing deeds/quests.

2. You can interact with town residents and villagers that remember your interactions with them. In return they will bring you gifts and stuff if they are your friend. You can improve your interaction options the same way you upgrade weapons with the tokens. You can even marry and have kids in this game/buy a home for them etc.

3. You can purchase real estate to rent to villagers or to have for yourself. You can Make money through renting out to people, working (as bard, pie maker, or blacksmith.. these are done as mini games) and by just questing and finding treasure.

4. The main quest line itself in kinda short for a RPG but all in all with all the different things you can do, there is a lot of time to spend and alot of different types of fun to be had in this game.

5. Controls. Overall they are very good. some commands did not make much sense at first but once you get used to them, they are very easy to use. GFX are excellent and the sounds are very rich.

Over all I really do not like to rate games because everyone finds the same thing to be of total opposite values, so I find it pointless. But I will say that I myself am having a blast with this game and would recommend it to adventurers, possibly even The Sims lovers because of the character interaction pieces. I do not believe this game to be a hardcore RPG or to the caliber of Gothic or any of the Elder Scrolls but like I said earlier, a fun game with lots to keep you busy. Check it out here.

Neuntoter

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Trine Review

Short telling of an awesome game called Trine.

It's Indie, it's light on PC requirements, it's GFX are amazing, the controls are rock solid, an excellent puzzle physics based platformer with tons of good action and puzzles. The story is great. The over all feel of the game is enchanted and fresh. The game itself isn't too long but long enough to get a really good game play out of it. I would guesstamate between 5 - 8 hours depending on how good you are at an average game. Also this game can be found on Steam with some really good deals from time to time. It is $20 with out specials which is very worth the cost. check it out here

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Yesterday and This Morning

Today I have a few PCs to work on.., first 1... Blown motherboard, very old PC.... I then heard funeral march.... Eh, it happens. The other big one is installing new hard drive, re-install Windows XP. Overall it is a very nice PC. (YAY)

Lesser Geek Talk :: Video Games

Terraria
This game is amazing, super sweet and endless in fun filled possible things to do. First of all, it is like the old school 2D platformers from the late 80's / early 90's era. You start off with a wooden sword I think and a pickaxe and another tool that I forget since it has been a while since I started a new character in that game. You then go out exploring, digging for different ores and fighting things like little blob creatures and such depending on what type of area you are in. It explores kinda like Metroid and Castlevania 2 except the giant world you are in gets randomly built when you first start the game. The way you dig ... mine... is kinda like minecraft, but I do say that loosely because overall they both are not even alike enough to say "clone" of any sort. The ore you mine allows you to upgrade you weapons, armor, and make things for your house after you build it.

Anyway, the point is. Great game, $10, endless old school fun, always being updated with new stuff = Awesome game. check it out here. Watch the video, it shows better than I can explain.

Have also been playing this lately, Avadon: The Black Fortress. A cool old school style RPG kinda like Icewind Dale. More on that later.

Will post something new a little later. leave comments and tell me how this was and how I can make it better... THX

Neuntoter

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

First Post

I have typed so many for the game (DooM 2D) that I thought I would actually dedicate one that is other stuff non dev related. so here it is and more on this later

Neuntoter