Friday, May 17, 2013

Darksiders 2 Review

Darksiders 2, like its predecessor, is a grab bag of tried and true game play components. Like a good plate at Thanksgiving dinner, there's a little bit of everything in there. Some combat a la God of War? Check. Climbing/free running a la Prince of Persia? It's in there. Open world exploration, coupled with a multitude of dungeons to explore, reminiscent of theZelda series? There's that too. You can even see bits of Diablo and Portal seasoning the mix. The original used a similar recipe to become one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2010, setting the bar high for the sequel.

In Darksiders, you play as War, one of the Four Horseman, who is manipulated into starting the apocalypse prematurely, effectively wiping out all of humanity before its time. As the first game comes to a close, it is evident that War will be forced to stand trial in the judgment of the Charred Council, a collective tasked with keeping a balance in the never ending war between Heaven and Hell, who have the power to call for War's death as punishment for his crimes. In a last ditch effort to possibly redeem himself, War breaks the seventh seal to call his fellow Horsemen, Death, Strife and Fury. Darksiders 2 follows the story of Death as he seeks a way to redeem his brother.

We open on Death searching for a figure known as the Crowfather, whom Death believes holds the ability to suss out the means to atone for War's sin. After a violent confrontation, Death is hurtled to another plane of existence sick with Corruption, a cancer-like substance intent on the obliteration of all worlds. It soon becomes clear that the key to destroying the Corruption, and the means to restore humanity, effectively erasing War's crime, both lie in the Tree of Life. However, several obstacles lie in his way, and when Death finally lays eyes on the Tree he discovers that it is not the end of his path, but simply the doorway to another beginning.

The combo-based combat is suitably violent and destructive for a game based on the figure of Death, that is dual wielding scythes as big as a horse. Throw in all manner of secondary weapons from axes to arm blades, and the body count rises rapidly. Similar to other hack n' slash action games, different combinations of the X and Y buttons result in one brutally over the top combo after another, and there are several special abilities Death can unleash to significantly increase the damage done.

When not dismembering enemies, Death is usually trying to figure out how to get from here to there, which usually requires some Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed style acrobatics. Often even that's not enough however, requiring Death to put to use special tools and abilities earned along the way, such as a 'hookshot' style gauntlet that grabs onto iron rings and enemies alike, or the 'Voidwalker', which allows Death to open portals on specific surfaces. In the harder dungeons, using these skills in concert with each other will be key if you want to get to the next area.

RPG elements take form in the distribution of skill points, and managing a Diablo-esque loot table, filled with tons of junk to sell, as well as the occasional upgrade. This game also has an alternative method of eliminating the chaff from your inventory by introducing 'possessed' weapons. You can sacrifice your other loot to one of these possessed weapons to raise its stats and add different buffs and effects, bringing in a unique element to the management of all those blue and purple item drops.

For a game that borrows mechanics liberally from other games, it still doesn't get everything right. The camera is not always easy to work with, and can get downright aggravating at times, and some have voiced complaints about the autosave system. Also, while the story itself is suitably epic for a tale that parallels the apocalypse, it's sometimes difficult to get truly invested in it as the characters featured in the tale occasionally fall flat.

Still, there's more to love about Darksiders 2 than there is to hate. Fans of the original should be pleased, and there's enough compelling game play here to hook new gamers to the franchise. If you like delving into Zelda-like dungeons and stabbing bad guys, this game should definitely be on your radar.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Learn How to Win at Roulette With Simple Strategies

Before risking any money at the roulette table, you should know and understand the rules of the roulette game and the odds of the different roulette bets. Every roulette strategy's main goal is to decrease the casino edge over the player and to make luck a less important factor during the game.

Here Are Some Great Roulette Tips; You can insert these tips into Playing Strategies

I recommend the European Roulette Wheel: On the European roulette table there are 36 different numbers and a single zero. The zero represents the casinos long term profit at the roulette tables. This is important because it will increase your odds of winning. Almost every bet on the table offers even odds - when you don't take the zero into calculation. For European roulette, the possible number of outcomes is 37 making the probability of a straight up bet 1/37. The house's edge is decreased to only 2.7% advantage in the European wheel compared to 5.26% advantage in the American roulette wheel.

If you are new to the game select small bet tables first.

Make many small bets instead of one big one.

Be careful at the upper table limit.

Plan Your Bankroll: I recommend to set yourself an amount that you want to win and stick to it. Also set yourself a stop loss limit and stick to that as well.

There are Good Bets and Bad Bets: Good bet is bet that has a payoff that reflects the real odds, meaning the real probability of it turning up. The payout of the 1:1 bets - Red/Black, Low/High and Even/Odd - is very close to the probability of it occurring (1.01:1 on a European Roulette and 1.05:1 on American roulette), which makes them the best bets on the table. So I recommend to bet on outside. Betting on groups is always safer than betting on single number. Similarly, in a bad bet there is a relatively big spread between the payout and the odds.

Online Roulette Play from Online Casinos: Avoid casino bonuses when playing in online casinos. This is because bonuses come with terms and conditions and you won't be able to cash out the money you win. Always play with reputed casinos which publish their payout percentages. Search from internet the reputation and reviews of Casino.

Play only for the amount of money you can afford to lose.

Be patient and do not get greedy in case of winning! Control your betting and don't get carried away if you are on a winning streak.

The most popular casino game in the Casino is Roulette game and it is not surprising that it makes people want to find a way to raise their chances to win while they are playing and having fun.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Medal of Honor Warfighter: Review

Medal of Honor Warfighter is a sequel not a lot of people wanted. But, we got it anyway. To be honest, I was really looking forward to this game, after loving MOH from 2010. MOH is now running on the Frostbite 2 engine and looks better than ever, with graphics on par with Battlefield 3. This is one of the better looking modern shooters out now. But is a new look enough to make you get this? Even when there is a wave of triple A games coming in the next weeks? The answer is a solid yes!

To start off, Im going to get the comparing out of the way. This is a perfect blend between Call of Duty and Battlefield 3 (Multiplayer wise). If your looking for a more realistic fast paced shooter thats very tactical, but played on medium sized maps, look no further. This game feels a lot like Battlefield 3 (and looks like it), which is a good thing!

This is a surprisingly tactical game. I would go as far as saying its more tactical then Battlefield. With the medium sized maps and clear objectives to follow, the game has some great moments. For example the game mode Hotspot is sort of a search and destroy mode. The team defending stays around the base scattered around guarding most points where the enemy can come. If you are attacking, the best way is too split your platoon into two groups and each group try to infitrate a flanking spot. The close quarter spaces and higher player count, call for some truly awesome moments!

If your a fan of killstreaks your in luck. While this isn't tallying up your kills to reward you, it does count up your points. After getting so many points your presented with your kill streak. When you get a streak you have the option to choose from Offensive or Defensive. I really enjoy the option and each of them really help out the team. For example the first streak you earn is the option for a mortar attack (offensive), or a smoke screen(defensive). Both are very useful.

There are a few modes (way more than the last MOH). There are a bunch of guns, with a lot of customizaton options. There are six different classes to chose from, each one having a new look, different kill streaks and stuff like that. I do not know how many ranks there are, but I know there's a ton load.

The campaign seems very fun so far. I enjoyed the hell out of the last MOH campaign. This one seems to be following the same footsteps, giving an emotional journey. This is a highlight for a first person shooter, because most campaigns are horrible. This one is actually worth the play through.

If Medal of Honor Warfighter can have steady updates that fix bugs and other issues, that would be great. Also release a few map packs or other DLC that offers new guns, game modes, or customization options. Things like that keep the community still interested in the game and also brings new players to the game as well. They already have an update right when you start the game, it fixes a lot of things. They also already have a DLC releasing in December, to go along with the new film Zero Dark Thirty. So the next few months look good for the multiplayer aspect of the game.

Medal of Honor is now back in the first person shooter arena and its great. I feel like it has its own identity now and can stand toe to toe with the other big releases this year. I think if your into these kinds of games, you should definitely give it a shot. If not, just skip it. MOH Warfighter doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it sure does add some nice rims to it!

Final Score: 8.4

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Halo Reach Winter Contingency Walkthrough on Legendary, Alone

Part 1: Noble Team
You begin this level with a 600 ammo assault rifle and a 70 ammo magnum. You are riding in a falcon with Carter and Jun and land on top of a hill to investigate a distress beacon below. This distress beacon is fake, created by covenant forces as a trap. If you sprint down the hill, you will find an invisible Elite spec ops escaping the scene, most likely the one who created the trap. It will not attack you even if shot at, and will disappear after crossing the bridge. If you kill this Elite, it will drop a data pad which contains information about covenant glassing.

After reaching the distress beacon and possibly killing the Elite spec ops, move forward down the path to the right. Follow the path through a building, where you will come to another building with three farmers. Jorge will talk to these farmers, and they will warn you of "something in the fields." Continue following the path to the right, where you will eventually come to a farming building with covenant outside. This area is the "Outlook" firefight mission. You will find a Skirmisher major with a needle rifle on top of the building to the left. As soon as it sees you, the Skirmisher calls for backup. This triggers seven normal Grunts, one Grunt ultra, and three Skirmisher minors with needlers to move in and attack. The three Skirmisher minors run into the basement underneath you, but the Grunts and the lookout stay outside. Kill the Skirmisher major and the Grunts through the window with your magnum while using the wall next to the windows as cover. Next, move down the stairs into the basement to finish off the Skirmishers. As soon as you exit the building, two banshees will attack Jun's falcon, but they do not pose a threat to you. Swap your assault rifle for one of the Grunt's plasma pistols before leaving.

Move forward into the farm and out the gates, where you will find a Grunt minor and a Grunt ultra whom you should kill with magnum headshots. Once you reach the bridge, a phantom will drop six normal Grunts, one Grunt ultra, and three Skirmisher majors in the rocks on the other side of the bridge. Wait for the phantom to leave, then cross the bridge and use one of the large rocks as cover. Kill all of the enemies with magnum headshots, moving up to new rocks as cover if necessary.

Once you kill these enemies and cross the river, you will find four Grunts, and Elite major, three Elite ultras, and an Elite general with a concussion rifle. First kill the Grunts with your magnum by using the large rock in front of the tree as cover. Then, move backwards and into the building to your left. This building will provide you good cover from the Elites. While most of the Elites are focusing on the other Spartans, walk out of the building and remove one of the Elite's shields with an overcharged plasma pistol shot. Quickly kill them with a magnum headshot before their allies injure you, then immediately step back into the building to avoid enemy fire. Repeat this tactic to kill all of the Elites, including the general. After killing the last Elite, grab a fresh plasma pistol from one of the Grunts bodies, move forward towards the small cliff to your left, and jump down to enter the next rally point.

Part 2: Rebels don't leave plasma burns
At the bottom of the cliff, you will find a truck and health kit. Restock on health if necessary. If you enter the truck, carter will ride in the passenger's seat and Jorge will ride on the back. Because Jorge carries a turret, this provides the truck with the equivalent firepower of a standard warthog. However, there is an achievement for completing this level without entering any vehicles, so utilize sprint instead if you do not have this achievement yet.

Partway down the path, you will find two Skirmisher majors, one with a needle rifle. Whether you are in a truck or on foot, kill these Skirmishers and swap your magnum for the needle rifle. The path will then take you across a small bridge to a fork in the road. The right path will lead you into a small settlement filled with covenant. However, clearing this settlement is not part of your objective, so I suggest taking the left path to bypass it.

If you take the right path: You will almost immediately come to a courtyard surrounded by buildings where you will find four Grunts and an Elite minor. Move into the building too your left and kill the Grunts, then the Elite. Exit through the large garage door in the middle of the building. If you have the truck, you can drive right by this fight without killing the enemies. Inside the buildings, you will find an assault rifle, a 16 ammo magnum, a grenade, and two health kits.

Both of the paths combine at a large open area with a covenant antenna off to the left. If you came here quickly, you will find two Skirmishers, one with a needle rifle. Kill them both and add the needle rifle ammo to your needle rifle. Continue down the path, where you will come to a river. Depending on how quickly you got here, you will find a variety of enemies. There are usually at least five Grunts in the river, but there can also be more Grunts, Skirmishers, and even a spirit. Use the rocks on your side of the river as cover to kill all of the light infantry you can see with needle rifle headshots. Cross the river to the buildings on the other side. Here you will find three or four more Grunts and an Elite major. Kill the Grunts first, then the Elite, which triggers a distress signal from Corporal Travis. He and a group of marines are attempting to defend themselves from covenant in another settlement, so Carter instructs you to rescue them.

Exit the settlement you are currently in and take the left path up the hill. Take the second right into the building with the marines. On the lower story of the left building, there is a 30 ammo DMR in the center of the garage, marked with the ordinance symbol. Swap your needle rifle for the DMR and move outside the garage. If you did not kill the two Skirmishers at the crossroads earlier, you will find them here outside of the garage. Kill them if you see the, then take cover behind the stack of four barrels. A spirit will arrive to drop seven Grunts. Kill them with your DMR from your cover.

As soon as you kill these Grunts, run forward and then turn left onto the dirt path. Move behind the hill with the tree on top for cover. To use this hill as cover, hug the cliff wall to your right and walk to the top of the hill to shoot the enemies while they are focused on Jorge and the other marines. If you become hurt or see a threat heading towards you, walk back down the hill, where you will be safe from enemy fire. About twenty seconds after you kill the last Grunts from the previous drop ship, another spirit will drop seven more Grunts and an Elite major. Pick off the Grunts from your position with your DMR, and wait for the Elite to come to you. If it starts moving towards you, back down the cliff while charging your plasma pistol. Therefore, you can remove its shields and kill it as soon as it walks over the crest of the hill. Soon after the first spirit leaves, another drop ship will deliver four Grunt majors, three Grunt ultras, and an Elite ultra with a needle rifle. Use the strategy described above kill them.

After you have completely cleared the area, the UNSC pilot can safely land his falcon. Get into the falcon so the pilot can transport you, Carter, and Jorge to the relay outpost. You will land in the courtyard of outpost. Noble team is trying to enter the facility, but the door has been locked by the covenant inside. Kat is currently cutting through the door, and you must survive while she does this. When you first land, you will find Emile engaging four Grunts and five Jackals. Kill them all with DMR headshots while using any of the larger items in the courtyard as cover, then swap your plasma pistol for a fresh one from the dead Grunts or Jackals. Restock on DMR ammo and health from the case inside the room in which Kat is cutting open the door.

The covenant will now send many drop ships in order to stop Noble Team from entering the facility. The other Spartans will move into the room to protect Kat, but you should move to the area off to the left. From this position, you can pick off the Grunts, Skirmishers, and Jackals that will arrive with your DMR while taking cover behind the large storage block to your left. Wait for any Elites to come to you, and hide behind the storage block when the start charging. Remove their shields with your plasma pistol once they come around the block and follow through with a headshot before they injure you.

A spirit will soon arrive to deploy the first wave of enemies, consisting of seven Grunt majors and an Elite major. Peek around the storage box to pick off the Grunts as soon as possible. The Elite usually attacks the rest of Nobel team, so only engage him if he approaches your position. As soon as the first spirit leaves, the second will arrive, dropping seven Grunt majors, four Jackals, three Skirmisher majors with needle rifles, and an Elite major. Continue to pick off all of the light infantry from this position. You do not need to watch your back because the covenant infantry are not intelligent enough to sneak behind you. The second spirit will continue to stay and provide air support, so step back behind the storage block when you see concussion projectiles flying towards you.

After a little while, the third and final spirit will deploy four Grunt majors, four Jackals, three Skirmishers, three Elite spec ops, and an Elite general with an energy sword. At this time, two banshees will also arrive, but they will not attack you if you stay in your position. Kat will finish opening the door soon after this spirit leaves, so you will not need to fight this entire group of enemies. Sprint into the safety of the room to join the rest of noble team once Carter instructs you to. Shoot any enemies that try to enter through the door, though the constant stream of bullets from Emile and Jorge usually keep back the covenant forces.

Kat will soon close the first door and open the second, allowing you to travel inside the relay station. Here you will find a health kit, but you will soon gain full health anyways. You will come to a dead civilian face down on the floor, which will trigger a cut scene in which Noble Team is attacked by two Elite Zealots and an Elite Field Marshall. One of these Elites takes a civilian as a hostage, the Field Marshall escapes, and Carter sends you to peruse the Zealots, ending this rally point of Winter Contingency.

Part 3: Skeleton crew
At the end of the cut scene, your loadout is automatically reset. Therefore, you will always begin this rally point with full health, sprint, two grenades, a 27 ammo magnum, and a 288 ammo assault rifle. Directly to your right of where you start is a DMR crate. Swap your magnum for a DMR and turn on your night vision by pressing left on the D-pad.

In front of you is a hallway with three Grunts and three Jackals. In addition, an Elite Zealot with a concussion rifle will stand at the end of the hallway and shoot a few shots at you before retreating. Jorge will slowly walk up the center of the hallway, constantly firing at the Grunts and Jackals. To the left of Jorge is a raised hallway that will provide you better cover than moving up with Jorge. Walk part of the way down this hallway and kill all of the Grunts and Jackals with your DMR, but allow the Elite Zealot to retreat.

Move the rest of the way up the hallway, and you will see a second hallway filled with four Grunts and two Jackals to your right. Kill them all with your DMR, using the last bit of wall from the hallway you are in as cover. After killing most of them, four more Grunts will spawn around the corner. Wait for them to come to you so you can kill them from the same cover. Swap your assault rifle for one of their plasma pistols.

Follow the hallway onto a platform overlooking the computer database. Inside the computer database, there are four Grunt majors and the two Elite Zealots seen in the cut scene, one with an energy sword and one with a concussion rifle. Move down the hallway to the right and try to spot the energy sword Zealot as soon as possible. Once you have spotted him, begin DMR sniping the Grunts while using the wall as cover, but keep a close eye on the Elite Zealot. As soon as it begins to charge, switch to your plasma pistol and begin charging it. Simultaneously begin backing down the hallway, and once you lock-on to the Zealot, stun him with your plasma pistol. This will temporarily cause him to stop charging, providing you the time required to switch to your DMR and kill him with a headshot.

DMR snipe the remaining Grunts, then swap to your plasma pistol. The last Zealot will be in the computer terminal attempting to hack it, but will come out to kill you once you come near. Begin charging your plasma pistol as you approach the room and stun the Zealot just as it comes out of the door, then finish him with a headshot. Carter will order you to reset the computer, so walk over to the green square and hold x. This will trigger a cut scene, concluding the mission Winter Contingency.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Practical Advice When Improving Your Skyrim Skills

From the beginning you should try to raise your Skyrim skills in short steady bursts and level up naturally. You should not try and attempt to cheat or exploit easy to get skills such as making iron daggers at the Blacksmith to increase your Smithing quickly. Just because its easy and very tempting to level up quickly, doesn't necessarily mean you should.

The fact is rapidly increasing skills and levelling up in Skyrim too quickly has a negative effect overall in your Skyrim game-play. Imagine meeting level 20 beasts with rubbish leather armour and a sword with minimum hits points, you will constantly lose and be reloading from a previously saved game which isn't a practical idea.

Levelling in the Skyrim game does not have an upper limit for example level 50, so you can continue upping levels as long as you are increasing Skyrim skills. Gaining those higher levels however gets increasingly difficult as your Skyrim skill levels increase and the amount of experience points to level up gets higher.

If you were to raise all your Skyrim skills to their maximum levels of 100, you would be a relatively invincible adventurer at level 81. You will also notice each time you level up you have the ability to choose one perk from each of the different Skyrim skill attributes. As there are well over 200 skill perks, you should not waste your time trying to obtain every one and should instead concentrate on selecting perks which are valuable to your own individual game-play.

Skill Books Can Help In Raising Skyrim Skills

There are a large collection of Skyrim skill books spread across the Skyrim landscape to buy, find, win or steal. You should try to save all these skill books until the higher levels of the game, when either the cost of gold for training increases or the amount of experience points to level increases.

This sound advice cannot always be followed since you read books you pick up automatically, without necessarily knowing the book contains a vital Skyrim skill. There is no real need to worry on this though, due to the fact that most skill books are obtained from merchants often with a high price tag and any books found and read with skills do aid in raising levels.

Paying Gold For Training Increases Skyrim Skills

Another good tip for levelling especially when you're near to gaining the next level, is to pay gold and use the various trainers around Skyrim for training. You will find three levels of trainers to aid in rising a particular Skyrim skill, these are journeyman, expert and master which correspond to training dependent on current level in that skill.

If you find yourself short of gold coins then it is best to try and locate a trainer and train skills that you have not used as much. This does save quite a bit in gold coins but does have its limits when applying the method in higher levels, due to lower skills not contributing as much experience points towards levelling.

Improve Skyrim Skills checklist for lower levels:

Do you have skill books you haven't read?

Are there flowers, plants, or other ingredients you haven't sampled?

Do you have a lot of ingredients that you can mix into potions?

Do you have ore or ingots than can be used in smithing weapons or armour?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Do Any Games Come With the New Wii U Games System?

The new Wii U games system is released a full six years after the original Wii hit the market, but many say it was worth the wait. There are two different versions of the Wii U. The basic set comes in white and features 8 GB of internal memory for storage. It will be available for $249.99. The deluxe set comes in black and features 32 GB of internal memory for storage and will sell for $349.99. The basic set does not come with any games but the deluxe set does include a copy of Nintendo Land.

The basic set will include the following:

  • 8 GB internal memory for storage
  • Wii U Console in White
  • Wii U GamePad in White
  • Wii U AC Adapter
  • Wii U GamePad AC Adapter
  • High Speed HDMI Cable
  • Sensor Bar

The deluxe set will include:

  • 32 GB internal memory for storage
  • Wii U Console in Black
  • Wii U GamePad in Black
  • Wii U AC Adapter
  • Wii U GamePad AC Adapter
  • High Speed HDMI Cable
  • Sensor Bar
  • Wii U GamePad Cradle
  • Wii U GamePad Stand
  • Wii U Console Stand
  • A copy of Nintendo Land

What is Nintendo Land all about? Nintendo Land is a game that is set in a theme park/carnival type atmosphere and will allow gamers to play 12 different mini games that are based on some of the most popular games that Nintendo has released over the years Mario, Luigi, Metroid, Pikmin, F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and more. Many of the mini games in Nintendo Land support up to five players by utilizing 4 Wii remotes, the Nunchucks, and the game pad.

Playing these mini games will effectively demonstrate the functionality of the Wii U system, remote, and accessories and will also introduce people who have not played Nintendo games to some of the more popular game franchises Nintendo has in its collection. Nintendo Land can also be purchased separately.

For people who are familiar with Nintendo games and people who have the original Wii system, both versions of the Wii U game system will be compatible with all of your original Wii games. Both the basic set and the deluxe version will also be compatible with most of the accessories for the original Wii console.

Third party support has also been strong for the introduction of the new Wii U and many of your favorites and a few new ones will be part of the Wii U games arsenal.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Accelerate Your Way Through Online Car Games

Screeching tyres, breakneck speed, honking of horns, crisscrossing across the roads in a bid to win the race; all this seems to be as real as if you were actually driving the car. Yet it is only an online car game that you are playing. These car games online are not only addictive they give the player a rush of adrenaline which he rarely gets to experience in real life.

Car games available online have a lot of challenges incorporated in them and are hence able to hold the attention of the player from starting to the end. These challenges not only stimulate the mind of the player, they also increase alertness of mind and enable them to take quick decisions in real life. The basic concept of these games is to overcome all obstacles and challenges faced by the player on his way towards the ultimate goal of winning the game by defeating all other opponents.

Games online reward winners by displaying their names among the toppers of the games. This acts as an incentive for the players who keep playing these games constantly in an effort to improve their ranking and see their names among the top 10 players or achievers. This achievement gives rise to a triumphant feeling which stays with the player for days on end.

In fact the biggest advantage of these online car games is that the player has no need to either have a license or a vehicle nor does he have to be 18 years old. The only requirement is an internet connection and a computer and you can simply zoom your way through a selection of racing cars, bikes, bicycles, 18 wheelers, trucks and many more such vehicles. This appeals to young and old alike thereby creating a fan following across all ages for these games.

The fact that all these games have to be played online and there is no need to download the same onto your personal computer or laptop, enables you to play them with a clear conscience since it not only alleviates the threat of a virus attack on your system, it also does not block space in your hard disk. With numerous games of different kinds available as well as with new games being added online occasionally, you will never be bored playing the same game. The thrill of discovering new games that have been recently added and the need to master it quickly will invariable guide you towards your computer for a session of incredible thrills, passionate driving and mind boggling challenges which will keep you occupied for a long time to come.