Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime - My Opinion

So, today I tried out a few trials from the Xbox Live marketplace and to be honest, the first few didn't particularly strike me as being very interesting. Then I got onto Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and to be honest, it did grab my attention.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a new release by Behaviour Interactive, previously known as the developers of WET, Naughty Bear and Doritos Crash Course. Their new release is the latest entry into the Ghostbusters series of games, with Sanctum of Slime being a direct sequel to 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game, both if which have been published by Atari.

The game is a top-down co-op based game, which allows for up to 4 players to connect locally or online. Throughout the game, players will control one of the Ghostbusters new recruits, who are tasked with helping to rid New York City of a recently resurrected demon, while the original Ghostbusters team are busy on other duties.

The game features 12 levels and throughout the game players will be presented with better and more powerful weapons. The different weapons are a key feature in the title's gameplay as ghosts are divided into different types according to the colour of the aura surrounding the ghost. Each weapon is specialised to tackle a different type of ghost.

Outside of that I could see very little else from the trial. It may indeed sound rather basic, but I feel it works rather well. The only aspect that I feel could become dull is the co-op, as that is the only mode. Although Sanctum of Slime can be played in a single player mode, I feel it could be less fun unless it is played with friends.

The trial is roughly 10 minutes long I think it is a fair reflection of the game. Even if you don't wish to buy the full game you could possibly find that the trial is an interesting way to pass a few minutes buy, but I would recommend checking it out. Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is available on the Xbox Live marketplace for 800 Microsoft points, Steam for £6.99 and Playstation store for around the same price. 

I'm sorry that I have been rather short in this post, but a will be posting more about my recent discoveries on the Xbox marketplace in the next few days. I have once again been randomthings and thank you very much for reading. I'll see you again next time.

Why I Get Annoyed By - MAG

Regardless of whether you've heard of MAG or not, I can probably make it sound appealing in a single phrase. 256 player online. Sound like fun? Well, I must say that in truth, it is. It simply annoys me... Rather a lot.

Who anybody who isn't aware, MAG, or Massive Action Game is the most recent title created by Zipper Interactive, the team behind the SOCOM series, so they are pretty well established within the world of first person shooters. Also like SOCOM this is another one of their titles that is Playstation 3 exclusive. Sorry Xbox owners.

Being completely online, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Zipper have created an interesting and individual back-story. The story is set around the year 2025, where the world has fallen into another war, but unlike a typical war scenario with two sites, the MAG story is based around three different industrialised armies which are formed of groups of countries. The first is Raven who are composed of most of the Western European countries along with a majority of South America. Secondly is SVER, who are formed of China, India and Russia. Then finally there is Valor, who are made of the UK, US, Canada and Mexico. This creates three separate campaigns, one respectively for each army. The army the player chooses doesn't effect the gameplay style, but will effect other aspects, such as the weapons that are available to use, and also the soundtrack, which is quite a cool feature with the game having three separate soundtracks.

Beyond all that there is the gameplay itself. It does really run like a regular FPS, but I don't think it has the same feel it it when playing. I personally would compare the style as being a cross between Modern Warfare 2 and Warhawk.

The leveling system is a good feature as well, with the level cap being 60. When a player starts a campaign there will initially be little available to them, but after progressing they unlock various guns, attachments and other equipment. There is also only one game mode available at the start, each mode unlocked will allow for bigger matches, with the largest being Domination, which allows an amazing 256 players to come together in a single match.

After that the campaign for the chosen army is technical finished, but it the player chooses to do so they can select veteran mode, which works in a similar manner to the prestige mode in Call of Duty, although after become a veteran the player will receive a constant 10% XP bonus, which allows the game to have some form of replay ability, even after completing the three campaigns.

What is probably the most unique thing about MAG is it's server structure. Firstly to allow for such large teams, players are divided into smaller groups. When playing players are firstly put into squads, which are composed of eight players. Beyond that four squads form a platoon and four platoons form a company.

 Another aspect that allows the game to be so large, is the way that players respwan. Instead of simply being able to instantly respawn after dying, the servers set out dedicated spawn times, which are every 20 seconds. This doesn't actually sounds too bad, having just a short few seconds to wait before spawning and getting back into the action. For me though, this is where I think a lot of my annoyance lies.

I'm by no means, the best player in the world for FPS games and I don't believe that I'm the worst either, although it seems to lean more towards being the worst. Maybe I just wasn't dedicated enough or am just a bad player, but to put it into perspective, it took me 29 hours to reach my first prestige on Modern Warfare. I unfortunately can't say what my prestige times were for the other Call of Duty games, as I never reached beyond level 20 on World of War, am currently level 55 on Modern Warfare 2 after 27 hours of gameplay and I don't own Black Ops. For me even though I do like the level systems used in such games I often find them incredibly long-winded and slow. With Modern Warfare being the first game to really implement such I system I think I have really used it a borderline to compare others against, so MAG felt comparatively slow.

 Linking that back to the way the spawingis carried out, this means that I would often die in a match. And considerably mores so than mosrt others, as a result that would mean I would find myself spending a lot of time waiting to spawn. Eventually I would wait to spawn for longer than I would actually be on the battlefield and playing the game.

Beyond that I also become irritated when waiting to get into a match, with the servers waiting for a full lobby before launching the match. With larger game types this can be somewhat slow. Having said that though, the games uses a queueing system whereby players can openly go though the games menus without having to wait in a set lobby menu and allows for all other options and extra to still be accessed while waiting.

You may be thinking that I have actually been rather harsh in my reasons for getting annoyed and as a result I now no longer play MAG and have since gotten rid of it. But I still do appreciate the game that Zipper have created and think that for anyone who is a big, and I do mean big fan of FPS titles, then MAG is a game that you probably want to consider getting. The game has great depth to it, in both gameplay and the story surrounding it, as well as a great scale, currently being the largest game of it's type avalible on a console, although there may well be bigger things out for PC.

So, I hope this has given you a short insight into MAG, or at least an insight as to why it annoys me. As always, I've been randomthings, thanks you very much for reading this and I hope to be posting again soon.

Why I think Android is a great gaming platform

At the moment, gaming on portable devices I growing a great deal. Nintendo still have a great market percentage with the DS and its many versions, Sony have the PSP and will eventually have the NGP out on the market. Then there is other systems, and although they aren't primarily designed as gaming system, the iOS sytems, namely the iPod Touch and the iPad, and then there are the many devices that run on Google's Android platform.

I've owned a few Android devices, in the past few years, the first one being the HTC Hero, which is also branded as the G2 by T-Mobile here in the UK. It was initially running on Android version 1.5, otherwise known as 'Cupcake', until I later ungraded to version 1.6 Donut. At the time of having my HTC Hero, which was throughout most of 2009 and 2010, the Android operating system was still a rather new system, in comparison to Apple's iOS system, which was already favoured amongest many developers.

Because of there was a rather limited number of games that stood out and were actually worth playing. Many of the games, as well as other general applications were made primarily by single people or small development teams.

Since around mid 2010 and the launch of Android version 2.2 Froyo, there has been a dramatic number of developers who have since started producing apps for the platform. There are many big-name developers who now create their apps for both the iOS and Android, such as Rovio Mobile, the creators of Angry Birds.

I eventually got rid of the HTC, and now have a Samsung Galaxy S, as well as a Galaxy Tab. For me, personally, it has been since getting the Tab that even I have come to realise how good portible gaming can be, and more specificly, mobile gaming.

The Galaxy Tab, is with all smart mobile devices, will come with a number of different apps which are preintalled to the device memory. Two these where games. Need for Speed Shift, and NOVA.

Need for Speed Shift is in essence, a simplied version of the game,which has been created for mobile devices. I wouldn't quite want to refer to it as a port, as it doesn't have the same number of cars, tracks, events or as many eperience levels as the main console and PC version. The unique leveling system has been been kept in place, with the player's driving being classed as either agressive or precision, with all aspects of their driving, such as sticking to the racing line, taking corners correctly, driving at high speed and contact with other cars area all split into the two different driving types and experience points are given accordingly. The game's graphics are also incredibly impressive, with the graphics (to my knowledge) being HD. The controls are also suited well for the Tab and other mobile devices, uses gyroscopic controls to allow the car to be controlled by tilting the device to steer.

The second game on the Tab was NOVA. The game's title stands for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, which at first may seem like a rather confusing name, although it does make sence after playing the game. The NOVA are basiclly the guardians of Earth, being like world-police they are a team who are meant to protect the planet from various extra-terrestrial attacks, much in a similar way to the UNSC in the Halo games.

Rather ironicly, the design of the NOVA marines, bares a extreme likeness to Halo's spartan's. NOVA's developer, Gamesloft have said that they wanted to take inspiration both in gameplay and visually from the Halo series to compare it to how such gaming is possible on mobile systems. This is true as the game revolves around the main protaganist having to help to protect the world from aliens known as the Xenos, in comparison to the Covenant in Halo. Besides that the gameplay is also an FPS style, which includes a mixture of both human and alien weapons that can be used.


Both of those, to me are the best games avalible on Android. I am aware that they are also avalible on the iOS, but I think they do show that Android is currently equally as powerful for gaming. With the planned release of Android 3.0 Gingerbread, Google's system could potentially become an incredibly powerful thing. The 3.0 update is specificly meant to be an update to allow for far greater gaming capabilites on the Android tabs, whilst also having an updated and fresh interface. Sony have even announced the Experia Play, a mobile which is a partial combination of a mobile phone and a PSP, which will be launched with Android 2.3, but is thought to later be given the 3.0 boost.

So, that's my thoughts on gaming for Android. Unlike most other posts, I don't think you should simply go out and buy an Android device. This would of course be rather expensive. Maybe trying out a friend's mobile or tab, or trying a demo version in a shop could give you a quick sample of Android. You may even like the system and decide to get a new tab or phone.

Either way, I want to thank you for reading another increasingly long post. As always, randomthings, and I hope that you will be reading another post again soon.

A Look At - Crysis 2 Multiplayer Beta

Hello again everybody. I had planned on also including a number of various games from Steam onto the list of things I wish to post about, although after attempting to download Moonbase Alpha, my system evidently crashed. So, I've scrapped that idea and am going to move swiftly onward to what is already on the list, beginning with the Crysis 2 multiplayer beta.

The beta has been out for around a month on the Xbox 360 and around the same for PC. Sadly the Playstation beta was withdrawn yesterday (March 18th) due to server issues, which I believe will leave PS3 owners rather disheartened, but it is of course crutial for Crytek to ammend any of the game's bugs before next week's release.

Anyway, as you can most likely guess, Crysis 2 is the sequel to Crysis, a title that came out in 2008 for the PC. The basis for the game being that an elite team of soldiers are sent to the fictional Lingshan Islands to help extract a team of scientists who have uncovered an ancient alien structure, bringing with it hoards of extra-terrestrial beings.Playing as Delta Force operator 'Normad' the player has to fight their way around the island, which are, in essence a large jungle.

Having their previous game, Far Cry also set in a jungle environment, Crytek wanted to move away from having a similar background for Crysis 2 and have instead based the game in New York City, which the developers have described as an 'urban jungle'. In Crysis 2 the player assumes the role of Alcatraz, who is the successor to Normad in the first game.

As many fans of the series, and possibly many others may know, one of the key features of Crysis was the suit of armour worn by the player, the 'Nanosuit'. The Nanosuit is basically a powered suit that can perform certain abilities. I would elaborate upon that, but I haven't played Crysis, so I can't say.

As far as the multiplayer beta is concerned, the Nanosuit 2, is what creates an experience that's a bit different from some other FPS games, but I'll mention more on that later.

So, onto the actual beta. The beta begins with a video introducing the beta and outlining what the player can expect. What can be expected is two game modes. The first is Team Instant Action, which is a team deathmatch mode. As with both game types players will either be part of the Marine team, or a member of the C.E.L.L. team. The objective is for the team to reach 50 kills to win, or be the team with the most kills when the timers hits zero. The second mode is Crash Site. There's a clue in the title, as this mode requires the teams to fight over alien crash sites, which act as control points. The aim is to keep possession of these CPs to gain points towards the team's score and effectively winning. Within both of these there is also killstreak rewards,  with the unlockable rewards being a UAV system, an airstrike and a form of helicopter attack, which are avalible at 3,5 and 7 kills repectively, in a similar manner to those unlocked within Call of Duty, although the unlock amounts are set and cannot be changed, unlike the changable killstreak system in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.

Both game types are set across two maps, Skyline and Pier 17. Skyline is a rooftop setting, featuring greenhouses, a helicopter landing pad and a gym as well as many other points of interest, including a destroyed watertower. The water flowing from it and the graphical effects of it show off what Crytek have bben able to achieve with Crysis 2 even on consoles. The second map is Pier 17, and is a waterfront location which includes a small shopping mall, other various shops and small building and a partially destroyed boat near the map's center, which allows for great sniping opportunities.

The actually gameplay is pretty much standard FPS gameplay, although as I mentioned earlier, the Nanosuit gives the gameplay a bit of a twist. Obviously the player has a health level, but with the Nanosuit, there is also a suit energy level. This does would in a similar way to the shielding on Halo: Reach, although the actual health level is virtually non-existant as the player is most likely to die by the time their energy level is taken down.

Also, the suit being like an exoskeleton the suit's power is drained by performing simpler actions, such as sprinting and jumping, so simply jumping to a higher point can become a tactical decision. The suit also has two other features, stealth mode and maximum armour. Stealth mode will turn the player invisible and unlike most other games the player will still appear as a hazy figure, stealth mode does turn the player invisible, allowing for sneaky kills and a way of getting away from opponents. Maximum armour is the almost complete inverse of stealth mode and allows the nanosuit to stiffen up, making sure the player takes considerably less damage, but allowing more restricted and far slower movement. Both modes are another way of draining the Nanosuit's armour, and both drain it far more than jumping or sprinting. Although as with health, the suit's energy will recharge over time if not used. These combined elements become crutial when in combat and do ultimately show the player's style, with most people favouring either stealth or more protection.

With all of this combined the beta also has a leveling system to show how the rank system works. Getting kills with either armour or stealth mode will contribute towards their respective rank. As far as I am aware, the levels for upgrading the nanosuit, armour mode and stealth mode are capped off at five. There is also a general level, to show the player's overall progression, which is capped at level 10.

As the player climbs through these levels there are also a small number of unlockable variables. The main one being the fact that the crash site game mode can only be unlocked at level 6. There is also the chance to customise the weapon loadout, being able to change the gun, it's scope and change the exact modifcation to the Nanosuit's armour ans stealth modes.


So, I believe that's everything covered for the Crysis 2 Multiplayer Beta. I hope that I've covered everything there is to and as always I hope that you will consider trying the beta and posssibly buy the full title upon it's release next week. I hope to also be posting about the campaign as soon as I get it.

So, as always, thank you for reading, I've been randomthings, and I'll see you next time.

Recent Events and Upcoming Ones Too

Hello to all.

Ok, I'm going to start by saying sorry for not posting the last few days, but I've been busy trying to get some stuff sorted out for the Youtube channel as well as trying to simply sit down and play games for awhile, rather than talking about them.

As far as the Youtube stuff is concerned I've actually got a few different things happening. I still want to stick mainly to console gaming, but have come to the conclusion I can easily branch out to PC by playing a few lower-spec online MMOs, namely Dead Frontier and possibly Runescape.

I know that these probably don't appear to be the greatest choices, or even the most entertaining, but these games still mean a lot to me and were at one point the titles I would set out to play pretty much all of the time.

If I do decide to try out videos of these games I would be teaming up with a guy who likes to call himself BlackVyprr. You can view his channel here. That is also where those videos would be posted, on his channel.

Another guy I may possibly be tagging along is a guy named zearsenalboy. We thought we would maybe attempt to try out various games from Steam, with the main one being Magika. And we have also considered Minecraft as another option. All of these videos would be uploaded via his channel.

Lastly I'd like mention the fact that I, of course, still wish to center most of my attention around console based projects. For my Xbox related videos I will be joining my great friend Secret Dino. We are still undecided as to exactly which games we wish to focus on, if any, but these videos to look extremely likely,with or without Secret Dino. And as with everyone else, you can view Secret Dino's channel via this link here.

As far as my upcoming blog post are concerned I hope to be putting across my thoughts on the Crysis 2 multiplay beta, Minecraft, Kinect, Playstation Move, Shift 2, gaming on Android, why I get annoyed by both Super Meat Boy and MAG, more LBP 2 level reviews as well as topping that all of with my opinion on the Infinity Ward and EA vs Activision case.

That's it for today. I am incredibly sorry I haven't posted in the last few days and hope to return with everything I've put above. Thanks as always for reading, I'm still randomthings and I'll see you all again soon.

S2: Project Velocity - My opinion of the PlayStation Home closed beta

Regardless of whether you own a PlayStation 3 or not, I'm sure you have most probably heard of PlayStation Home. It's basically an online social hub where players can connect, chat and play various games whilst also being able to create their own avatar and personal Home space. It's all in a similar light to other simulation games, such as The Sims and Second Life.

Within Home, one of it's biggest and most popular spaces is a MMO named Sodium. Sodium is based around a game named Salt Shooter, that invloves a tripod like hovering craft, which the player controls whilst moving across salt plains and destroying various enemies and defeating waves.

Apart from that, the rest of Sodium, or S1 and it is otherwise known as, consists of various other mini-games. All of which will contribute to a player's Sodium credit amount. The collected credits can them be exchanged for a number of special items for both the player's avatar and personal space.

S1 was launched on 17th December 2009 in both North America and in Europe, followed by the Asian launch in June 2010. It seems a little odd to me that the very next day after the NA and EU launch, that the game's developer, Outso decided to announce S1's sequel, Sodium 2: Project Velocity.

To made thing's more odd, after checking my e-mail inbox a few weeks back, I had received an e-mail from Sony, inviting me to the S2 closed beta. It took me by surprise, as I had, up until that point never even played S1. Never the less, I redeemed my beta code felt rather humbled to discover that I could access the S2 space via a teleporter that I could place within my apartment. Lovely.

I was rather taken back once I entered S2. What I came across was a space that seems incredibly cutting edge and more exciting than most other space already launched.

I found out, that as with S1, it's successor will again be vehicular based. This time, it will be focused around a game named Project Velocity (hence the game's full title), which seems to me, to be similar to WipEout in the respect that the crafts are a similar style and the track design is also similar. Outside of that, the game still keeps the craft modification system from Salt Shooter in S1, where you would acquire craft upgrades by collecting them throughout the levels by destroying enemies. It also bares similar traits to Wipeout as the crafts travel at truly breakneck... well... break everything speeds, well in excess of 100mph.

I have since gone back and actually played S1, and I must say that if number 2 does also have other mini-games and a great hub system, then I have no idea why it can't become a great title, hopefully having an interesting mix of other smaller games, like S1's Scorpion Stomp mini-game and maybe a newer version of VICKIE, whick could include a new addition to the Sodium credit system. Although at the moment, the only feature in the beta is the main Project Velocity game, so I am unaware as to whether the other features will also come along.

It could also not be along wait until the full and open verison of S2 is released onto the Home servers, as Sony plan to have S2 released along with their ground-breaking Home 1.5 update, which they promise will bring major changes to Home's graphics and physics.

I would also like to point out now that anything I've said in this post is purely my own opinionand not that expressed by Sony or any other developers and that the other features I have spoken of are purely  what I suspect could be later in place. I'd just like to state this before Sony, Outso or Lockwood Publishing believe that I have broken the confidentiallity agreement of the beta. All of the factual things I have writen about is information already avalible to the general public and in the public dormain.

So, I guess that is Sodium 2: Project Velocity. As always I would say that you should go and try it, but for the moment, we'll all have to wait for the full version. But as I always do, I want to thank you for reading, I've been randomthings, and until next time, goodbye.

Avatar Adventurers Online - My Opinion

Today I decided that I really need to knuckle down and just look at a few different games so I could post about something other that LBP.

One of the games I tried out was an indie title called Avatar Adventure online. It's developed by a guy who goes by the name of Squarebananas, and basically, it's a massively multiplayer online role-playing-game, or MMORPG for short.

If you are familiar with games such as Runescape, or even to some extent Minecraft, then you will understand the game's basic mechanics. The basis of the game being that you start at level one, and acquire XP by killing various different enemies, then leveling up and eventually being able to kill yet bigger enemies to get more XP, whilst also gaining new and more powerful items to help aid you. In essence it does become a cycle of gameplay, but I do think it's one that does prove to be entertaining as it follows the same formula as any basic MMO game.

Now, I should probably point out that I did only try out the trial and that does run on a set time limit, but I think I was able to get a good feel for what the game is like.

The game can be played as single player, but it is primarily intended to played as multiplayer, which can be up to 16 people on one server.

The trial did only offer 5 different areas to explore and had a level cap of 5, but the full version, which costs only a mere 240 Microsoft Points contains (I believe) 35 different areas, as well as a total level cap of 99, which would provide a great load of gameplay. To give an example, in the trial which only lasts for 5 minutes, I was only able to become level 2. I wasn't solely battling enemies, but it does give a rough idea.

Also having 'Avatar' in the title you get to play as your own Xbox avatar, which does actually make it more enjoyable, compared to having a pre-created character.
Another thing I think I should point out is that game has been developed by a single person, so the textures and renders aren't that great, but it is far better than some other games I've previously seen.

Overall I think this is a great indie game and most definitely one worth getting. I recommend that you first get the trail. If it doesn't grab your attention, then you most probably won't like the full game, although if you do, then I believe that those 240 Microsoft Points will be very well spent.

So, that's what I think and I hope you guys will possibly agree and definitely go and have a go on the trial. I've been randomthings and as always, thank you for reading.

LBP 2 Level Review - A Patchwork World

I'm back again with yet another LittleBigPlanet 2 creation and this time I'd like to look at A Patchwork World. It's created by a someone who guess by the ID of 'Malhat06', who's .me prfile you can see via this link. If you're looking something that's maybe a little bit different to a lot of other levels out there, I'd remcommend looking at his (I always presume it's a 'he') stuff.

A Patchwork World, is as Malhat06 describes, "a soft and cuddly adverture through a patchwork world." As you can see from the picture above, this is exactly what the level actually is. The level is made up of various random different soft materials, which are mostly spongy and can be grabbed.
As for the aim of the level, it consists of a mix of different puzzles, the one which is pictured I found the most challenging. Some of the different parts of the Patchworld World include going through a 'jump tunnel' and spinning on wheels.

I suspect this level may have been created using the first LBP, although I don't know this for a fact, but I didn't notice any of the new mechanics in place. But the mechanics I did see used, were used incredibly well. And also, the general feel of the level was something I loved. It's soft, it's squidgy and kind of cuddly. I know, this all probably makes me sound like a seven year old, so that would mean that the game would be directed at my age group, but I'm one to honestly believe that LBP is a "platform for games", just as the game's tagline suggests. I think that with a little bit of imagination and a load of patients, anyone can create interesting levels.

I'd also personally like to thank Malhat06 for actually creating this level, as this is exactly the kind of thing I've been expecting and wanted for LBP since the first one. Even if it is silly and stupid, it proves that Media Molecule have been able to create a game that can grab the attention of every age group and people from all walks of life. Whole groups of people and families could be sitting on the sofa together or even join each other from the other side of the world and become part of an amazing community, where the best part is they make it what they want it be. Literally.

Anyway, I think I drifted off slightly in the last part of that paragraph. And here is also .me link to A Patchwork World.

As with every post, I've been randomthings, this has been just another part of my weird and wonderful virtual word, thank you very much for reading and I'll post again soon.

Medal of Honor - Ooh Rah!

Since it's release in October last year, Medal of Honor has received rather mixed views, with critics highly praising the game, but most gamers waiting for Black Ops to launch in the following month.  I'm fairly sure I've made by disapproval for Call of Duty clear by now and to me the new Medal of Honor games game the genre a slight breath of new life.

Firstly the campaign wasn't claiming to be something loud and epic, nor was the rest of the game really. The the campaign the player would take on the position of various Tier 1 Operators. The Tier 1 are an elite group high above most others who would end up stepping onto the battlefield, going undercover and deep into enemy territory to do the toughest missions and take out the highest priority targets.
For me, the story was something different and not so 'in-your-face' as what I would expect from such a game. Instead, to fit in with the Tier 1 concept it was a rather stealthy offering.

As for the online, it does bare resemblance to Call of Duty, as it has 'scorechains', which are basically a variation of 'killstreaks'. With that aside, Medal of Honor's online is incredibly similar to Battlefield: Bad Company's online as it uses the same Frostbite 1.5 engine that Dice use and was even developed by then, whereas the single-player portion of the game was created by Danger Close and used a heavily modded version of the Unread 3 Engine.

To me, the online is currently one of my favourite gaming pastimes. I love the different game modes and feel they all work well, each one working better depending on the person's playing style. I personally prefer 'Objective Raid', which is a cross between 'Search and Destroy' and 'Demolision'.
Another fun aspect is the game's leveling system, which is composed of three different classes, 'Rifleman', 'Special Ops' and 'Sniper'. Each class can be leveled up to a maximum of level 15, and the player will of course unlock various different weapons, scopes and other items to increase your advantage on the batte field.

Again, comparing the game to Call of Duty (which I must say is annoying, but I am unsure as to what other games to relate it to, apart from Battlefield), Medal of Honor appears to have dedicated servers, although I am unsure as to weither this is actually the case. Assuming it does, this would explain, in part why some tasks, like 'quick-sniping' is something you can't do (as well as the fact that the game physics are different). This boosts my confidence in the online, as coming across snipers on Call of Duty did eventually become both demoralising and outright annoying.

As always, this is another game I would recommend you try. For an added insentive, if you purchase either the Special Edition or Tier One Edition of the game, as well as recieve extra in game bonuses, you will be able to become part of the Battlefield 3 beta, which is due to be avalible within a year of Medal of Honor's launch, which was between the 12th and 15th of October 2010 in all of the various regions.

Once again, thank you for reading, I hope you'll revisit again soon, I've been randomthings and I'll post again soon.

LBP 2 Level Review - Zombie Mansion Survival!

Hello, again it's me, randomthings.

Today, I'll like to show a level, which must be one of LBP's most popular levels at the moment, and possibly of all time. It's made by a guy who goes by the ID of 'cekmeout', who's profile you can view here. And if you're a avid Youtuber you may understand what I mean when I say that 'cekmeout' is the LBP equivalent of Jay William Johnson.
He's otherwise known as the "the zombie guy", and for good reason, after his level, Zombie Mansion Survival! hit over 60,000 plays and nearly 10,000 hearts.

Zombie Mansion Survival! is in a way, a LittleBigPlanet version of Call of Duty's Zombie mode. And yes, I do know what I said previously about Zombies, but I feel this must be an exception.

The basic list of the level is that the player, along with pontentially up to four others must first their way around the map while fighting off endless hoards of zombies, while trying to accumulate enough points to unlock greater and more powerful weapons. Now here's the twist... Some of the guns included are a plasma gun and the strawberry gun. None of the weapons featured are based upon real life firearms. And to throw in an extra aspect to make the experience a bit more competitive, there is of course a time limit.

I can only sum it up as the single best level I've yet to have played on any LBP game, and I must say that the 'Avalonia' level set in the second game's story is bloody fun.

I've have to recommend this more-so than LBP PAC MAN, so just go and give it a try along with the rest of levels crafted by 'cekmeout'.

As with every LBP Lever Review, here's the link to the its lbp.me page.

I hope you all have a good time out there whatever you're playing. I've been randomthings, and I thanks for reading.

LBP 2 Level Review - LBP PAC MAN

I've decided that it's possible to have a few different ''series'' of blog posts running, so alongside 'Why I Get Annoyed By...' I am also going to begin the 'LBP 2 Level Review' series. I hope to later expand this to feature these levels on my Youtube account as and when it's set up, which at the moment won't be any time soon.


Anyway, on the the LittleBigPlantet review and today I'd like to dicuss LBP PAC MAN [JPN], created by 'gurichan'. I played this level yesterday, and I must say it grabbed my attention straight away. Partly because it's Pac-Man, which is my favourite retro game, and also becuase it's simply a great creation.

The level is pretty much a double of  the original game, apart from the extra 'LBP' part in the title and the trademark LBP tree featuring as a fruit type. I also came across a level which as a LittleBigPlanet take on Donkey Kong, which I didn't feel wasn't as enjoyable.

I'm not really so sure, what else I can actually say without belittling you and assuming that you haven't actually played Pac-Man. Apart from that I'd recommend you do try out this level. And if you haven't even't got a copy of LittleBigPlanet 2, then why not? And if you haven't got a Playstation 3, then get one for the sake of this game.

Like I said earlier in the post, this is just the first LBP 2 level I wish to show you all, so I'll eventually show how much variation there is in the in the level creation.

And before I forget you can also check out the level's info here, which is part of the game's lbp.me service, which is an online encyclopedia of all of the level which have been created. From there you can create a 'queue' or playlist of levels you wish to try.

So, that's LBP PAC MAN [JPN], I've been randomthings, and thanks for reading.

Why I Get Annoyed By - Resistance 2

In my opinion Resistance has to be one of the greatest series to appear on Playstation since Ratchet and Clank, or maybe Insomniac Games have a knack for creating something amazing.

I absolutely loved Resistance: Fall of Man and thought that it was  original in comparison to many other Sci-fi first person shooters. The story was imaginative and well thought out and the online was great. Partly because it was the first PS3 game I'd played online and also because as I later began to play more and more games online Fall of Man stood out as being a little different. For anyone out there who has played the game, might understand what I mean when I say that a 3 hour match of breach on the Nottingham 40 player map was incredibly fun.

So, eventually along comes Resistance 2, and again, the campaign was great and gripping. I could say that the online was still as fun, but there was a few flaws.

Firstly, the online components of the game were divided between competitive, which is the standard online stuff, such as team deathmatch and meltdown and then there was the other part, which was cooperative, where up to eight players could work as a team in a number of different co-op campaign missions.

The way the two online components had been created meant there was various different rank systems for each part. The competitive section had one leveling system, the co-op had three leveling systems, one for each character class and those would all be combined and added to make your main profile level. This meant if a play wanted to progress into the higher ranks and effectively 100% the game, they would have to play through each online game mode. This would become rather annoying if you only liked either co-op or competitive and not both.

Then the more annoying aspects for me came from within the cometivive parts. Firstly one of the games trophies, "Killing Machine" was and still is, put simply possibly the most annoying trophy ever. To unlock this beast of a gold trophy the player would have to total up 10,000 kills in ranked competitive matches. I've had the game since christmas 2008 and I've yet to get the trophy. And the fastest I've known anyone to get it in is 2 days and 22 hours of playtime. That's a rather lot of time on one game.
Having said about that though, I must respect Insomniac Games for now admitting that it was a rather over ambitious trophy to put into the game. 

Another annoying part is one particular weapon called the Hvap Wraith. The Wraith is basiclly a chain machine gun with a deployable shield as its secondary fire. It sounds great, but is bloody annoying then playing against a load of people using it whilst trying to get the "Killing Machine" trophy. When using a carbine, or pretty much any other weapon against the Wraith you'd have a fairly slime chance of taking the other player down.



Overall though as I stated earlier I don't dislike Resistance 2, or Insomniac Games in any way. This is just the first in a series of 'Why I Get Annoyed By...' posts.

The Best There Is - other places you really should check out

There was much more I wished to mention in my opening post that I didn't and I feel that it would make sense to state that now before I begin posting things of interest.

As well as what I already mentioned for some of my reasons for doing this I have wanted to do so after seeing other people doing great games reviewing and podcasting.

The first person I would like to mention is TotalBiscuit, the Cynical Brit. Having been part of one of the original World of Warcraft fansites, TotalBiscuit has since begun to review games as well as continuing to give regular coverage of all things WoW. He offers his own unique twist to showing games, including his WTF is... videos, in which he will show some of the laest indie games, often games that prove to be more original and diverse than mainstream titles.
If you want to find out more or listen to one of his many shows, it's all avalible at his site Cynical Brit or you can check out his Youtube channel, TotalHalibut.

The second that I'd like to mention are two people who can often be found playing through various adventure levels on Minecraft. Simon and Lewis of the Yogscast. Aswell as their usual Minecraft outings, they also cover a wider variety of games including a recent play of Saint Row 2, featuring a ride in the 'Yogsmobile'. If you want to find out more about the dynamic duo, look at their site for the Yogscast or their Youtube channel, BlueXephos.