The Secret World

Remember my previous posts about World of Warcraft and my related adventures? Well if you do I received a much more recent and less heard of online game called The Secret World. I would call this an ordinary MMO in fact it's so atypical that it almost deserves a genre of it's own. Maybe I'm going to far but I'll let you form your own opinion in the next page or so.

What makes it so different?
A truly crucial question that one must ask them self before purchasing or playing a game. What makes this one stick out? Well here is the answer. The Secret World is set in today's world the only twist is that any urban legend or modern fairy tale is real. Anything from zombies to evil deitys  are present in this wonder of a world, and where there is turmoil there is conflict and where there is conflict there is an opposing force. In this case it is three different organizations that the player can choose from when creating their character. Those factions would be. The Illuminati, The Templar, and The Dragons. Based on who you choose to side with you will find yourself in New York, London, or Seoul, China.

If this isn't different enough there is an obvious horror factor to the game which can make you take this game more seriously. A interesting concept they've used in this game is the choice not to use levels. That's right! everyone is the same level from start to end game. Instead you spend ability points in any weapon classes you like from magic to swords to guns. Then you build what they call a deck of skills and abilities, to make a character that best suits your play style. Also unusual to MMOs there are many research quests in game that require you to search the web for clues and information to solve riddles and puzzles. Luckily the game provides an in game browser, however for personal experience the riddles are extremely hard, and 9 times out of 10 you will need to consult someone who has beaten it to solve it. If your stubborn the satisfaction of solving it yourself is definitely worth it as the puzzles and  riddles are extremely well written and allow the player to immerse them self into the game. Since immersion was brought up you won't find a problem getting into it here. You finding yourself creating a character with an actual first and last name and follow a riveting story line with cut scenes and intriguing dialogue. If that isn't enough the game is gorgeous, and the music is well written. I can only describe this game as believably unbelievable a contradiction in itself, but here you are faced with a modern world sickened by the presence of evil, and darkness.

The fate of the World is in your hands.

If you aren't a fan of the concept of an MMO that actually makes you think this isn't for you. If you want something refreshing and are tired of the typical fantasy genre take this for a spin it won't disappoint.

Halo 4

Halo 4 was a highly anticipated game that came out in november of 2012 I believe. After the previous trilogy this game had extremely big shoes to fill. Creating a game halo fans would like, while bringing something new and unfamiliar to the table, to let the players know it wouldn't be just another halo game.

It indeed was the start of something very new I found myself in awe of the storyline and gameplay. It was just a wonder to play through. Although I played on the highest difficulty from the get go I still had little problem with enjoying the story. A problem I've encountered in previous games is that the harder the difficulty the less you enjoy the story. You tend to get distracted with the frustration of dying once every five minutes or so depending on the mission, and lose sight of the story or objective as a whole. While I may be over-exaggerating how hard the game actually is, it's something to keep in mind when approaching the halo franchise.

What was so refreshing about the story?
Well for starter the covenant are back with a full head of steam, elites that were once allies come back into the fight as your enemy for the first time since halo 2. (Of course halo reach included elites but it is technically a prequel so I will treat it as such.) To make things even more interesting a new form of enemy all together called the forerunners has appeared. While being mentioned many times in the previous games they have never made their appearance until now, and they are a sight to see. The forerunners contain three different types of enemies which can work as a team using different strategies based on how many of which units they have. It provides an enjoyable challenge that requires players to have both skill, and a well thought out plan to take on.

To top it all off bungie who was originally at the head of the halo franchise was bought out by microsoft I believe ( don't quote me on that.) leaving 343 the developing company to fend for themselves. They did just that. A graphic overhaul redoing many of the games guns, vehicles, and even master chief ( the protagonist's) battle suit.

This game has alot of elements of a really good movie in it's cutscenes the beginning of the game was believably life like and a joy to watch. It gave you goosebumps as you anticipated getting to play, while enticed by the story it's throwing you into. I'll link the opening scene at the end of the review.

A final mention to the score of this game. The music is absolutely gorgeous and extremely well composed to suit the specific scenes and invoke appropriate emotions and reactions from the players. While it isn't my favourite soundtrack from the franchise I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it assuming you've played a few of the other games. If your curious my favourite soundtrack was from Halo 3 even if you aren't a gamer check it out, it's more than worth a listen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKanxNE-FT4
Thanks for your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKanxNE-FT4

Bear blog

Here are somethings to expect in the near future. A blog about bears, a review on Halo 4, an actual review of vanilla WoW and of course something random to entertain us both. I love bears, and as any bear lover would I have my bear license. No this is not a license to hunt a bear it is a license to be a certified bear. The only thing you can really do with the license is tell people your a bear. So now that you know how I feel about bears I will tell you a bit about them. Bears are bashful creatures, they never go to a party without a mask. If you see a bear without a mask at a party he's either the prime minster of Russia, or having some family issues. Bears are independent and prefer dealing with their problems alone so be sure not to ask if a bear is okay because he will have you square dancing by the end of the night. If there is one thing bears love more than square dancing  it's trees. In Winnie the Poo you can see Poo-bear enjoying his honey. This is false bears simply love the trees honey is contained in. If you want to go talk to a bear that is up in a tree be sure he is wearing sunglasses first. Bears wear sunglasses because it's bright at the top of trees and they enjoy looking at the scenery. If the bear does not have sunglasses offer him some other wise he may become clinically depressed. This is the fate of most bears as people do not often offer bears sunglasses. You have to be aware of more animated bears because they are unpredictable and often dangerous at times. When you encounter an animated bear do not play dead. They will most likely think your sleeping and wait for you to wake up. The only thing you can do is make eye contact and walk away slowly. If you go too fast the bear will be angry so be sure to be polite when making an escape. Thats all on bears for today. Just be mindful, and remember that bears are not a toy.

Kangaroo Urban Camo

Just like this little guy wants to be a snowman.

Woot two years in a row champions. I thought I'd let you know but that is not what todays topic is... well I'm not sure does it really matter? Has it ever really mattered before? On a related note when is Dream Theater's next album out? Probably 2013? I don't know. On another related note when is Animals as Leaders next album out? As you have guessed I hate waiting for new albums. I'm a drummer and I do lots of covers of songs and I have a few favourites I play and practice quite a lot. I'm always open to new material that goes somewhere. That's why I love progressional metal. It most often has a purpose and a destination within the song, and if it doesn't then the album will most likely take you on a journey. I just love when songs and albums tell a story using lyrical ambiguousness, changing keys, time signatures, and genres of playing. Enough about my life tell me about yours. Whats that? You don't want to? Well fine. I'm kind of addicted to WoW now... On the bright side it's free because it's a private server, but it's still kind of time consuming. Scratch that extremely time consuming. I just can't stop and the worst part of it is that I keep making new characters so I never get anywhere. I feel like this can be related to life. Let me take you on a bit of a stretch but a believable one. More often than not people are good at a lot of things. People enjoy doing many different things because of variety, and it appeals to different aspects of their lives and personalities. For example I act, play musical instruments, play football, and also enjoy working with computers. None of these things are even close to related to each other, and yet I like them all. Now imagine if you will if I had focused on a single thing for this example we will use drumming. I would without a doubt be at least 3x better on drums and I'm not half bad as it is so thats a pretty large number. What I'm trying to get at here is that it's nice to do a whole lot of things you like, but if you can focus on one earlier in life you might just make a career out of it in your future. There would honestly be no better feeling than doing what you love because you worked hard at it, and stayed focused as a viable job opportunity. So just remember be who you want to be even if it means letting some of the things you like go. That just means you will have a higher chance of doing what you love instead. Thanks.

An adventure for the ages

Haven't done anything random for awhile so stop gabbing about the oysters and let's get cracking jack.
That's right he's as excited as you will be when I start flooding your mind with nothingness, according to auto correct that's a word sweetness, that's also a word. Alright as Jack stares into you soul I will tell you a story and every time I say partay in the story you just look at him and feel the magnitude of his raw vigour. Okay here we go.
Jack the man Johnson was heading to a partay. He had never been to a partay before because he wasn't cool but ever since he made friends with Bob "jamaicanmecrazy" Sanders, he got a little more popular. He's been able to go to more social events. So he jumped in Bob's swag mobile and headed for the partay!
They pulled up to the partay and it was beautiful he hadn't see so much hustle and bustle in one place before every one was jamming to the jive beat of nickelback and smoking their beers.
Jack shed a single tear as he was overwhelmed by the righteousness of the party, and let the music consume him he began his dance thrusting through the air as beads of sweat glistened in the dark sky with the fire ablaze. The glowing pulse of the flames began a tribal beat and they danced until the moonlight dissipated. Jack woke up beside a bottle of club soda and a box of half eaten tootsie rolls. He threw his head down in silence and disappointment it had all been a dream. He got up from his desk and as he turned to his fridge to eat the big pink cookie he had saved for later, he heard a honk from outside. And who could that honk belong to but our good friend Bob "jamaicanmecrazy" sanders, and his swag mobile. Paul "ugandabekiddingme" turner was in the back seat urging jack to hurry up. Jack really was going to a partay! but the real partay! was inside him all along...

My Review of NS2

There is no introduction...

This weekend I obtained a new game from the steam store. This game is called Natural Selection 2.

I've played about 4 hours of it and I can say other than some obvious balancing that needs to be done it's and excellent concept for a game, and a lot of fun to play. The premise of the game is that two opposing forces battle it out in a variety of  indoor facilities typically with a lot of twists, turns and tight spaces. Humans use guns from a first person perspective, and the Kharaa have a variety of different species to play from large rhino like  creatures to flying spike shooting creatures also from a first person perspective. What really makes the game interesting though is that one person from each team plays from a real time strategy point of view. It's basically a birds eye view in which you manage infrastructure, and the soldiers who are fighting. Only this time the soldiers, and aliens are real people. Which puts two very different kinds of games together. From what I've seen and the effort I assume will be applied to updating and making the game better, I give this game a current 7.5/10 but as I expect it will be a 9/10 by the time it's polished. The only thing that takes away from this game for me is the obvious rip off of Starcraft, and the current connection issues I'm experiencing with the servers I've been joining. Other wise check it out, it's 25$ on steam, or 75$ for a four pack of the game for you and your friends. Enjoy.

Not actually on a quest for goat roast

Following the rules I have laid down for myself, I will now attempt to seriously blog about a game I have recently played. I had mentioned before that I played vanilla World of Warcraft not too long ago. What I haven't mentioned is yesterday I started playing on a private Cataclysm server (it's an expansion for WoW). My reason for this sometimes easier is better... yes, I know what you're thinking and my rant still applies, however there are some cases when you just have to trust the game developers to have made a more interesting experience for you. For example I've been playing vanilla for about 4 days now and I'm level 13, I played Cataclysm for an hour and reached level 6, and had much more money than my higher level character, but there's a reason for this. Blizzard (The game company) has decided that nobody wants to stay a low purposeless level so they rush you through it but they keep a good story throughout it. In conclusion sometimes games can being easier, doesn't mean they are less fun, the story just has too be good, and you have to feel like you're in control. Finally the reason original WoW is so hard is because of all the inconveniences that blizzard hasn't worked out yet. Thanks.