Meelis13

The definition of insanity came from Einstein, Also there have been so many games, movies, tv shows, etc. it's pretty much impossible NOT to say something that hasn't already been said before, you should automatically assume nothing is a reference unless it's an exact quote meh, like i said, gamer brain... not my proudest moment

I haven't played either one, what did I reference? ok, so it was gamer-me understanding them wrong. In this episode, insanity talk reminded me of Far cry 3 Vaas's talk of insanity and in last one (if i remember correctly, too lazy to rewatch it at moment), you seemed referring to GDI commando line "i got a present for ya" (part where 5(?) c4 charges were thrown under gonarch) also, c&c tiberian dawn was the game that boosted RTS games on market (dune 2 invented, c&c perfected... until EA took over). 1995 game, freeware for years now

whoa, that took week and a day or even less! thats speed! real speed! Also, again excellent episode, loved the subtle reference to far cry 3 almost as much as i enjoyed reference to tiberian dawn in last one. so, if my memory doesnt decieve me, you only have caves and big boss battle left. a question though- will you make .5 episode in regards of HL ending choice? i mean eventually

i feel kinda dumb now for not getting Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn (one of my favourite games of all time. at least i think it was reference to it) reference when Gordon was placing C4. "i got a present for ya" (GDI commando/Gordon Freeman. Wait, is Freeman undercover GDI commando? that would explain proficiency in weaponry)

whoa Ross, you are speeding things up real quickly- if i remember correctly this is record release time since last episode. And it was bloody good episode. Kinda makes me thinking how fast you'd have to shoot episodes out to make it by end of the year, since you are apparently taking this deadline very seriously. i mean, you still have quite considerable portion ahead

that was ages ago that episode. Even before Freeman being knocked out i think

This episode- brilliant now, if im not mistaken, didnt he reach this... huge version of headcrab (i still prefer calling it facehugger) with, uhm, sack fight?

Anyone who is interested in RTS, i reccommend Europa Barbarorum (for Rome: total war) & Europa Barbarorum 2 (for Medieval 2 total war) mods. Also, c&c reloaded mod is extremely nice (its for Red Alert 2 Yuri's revenge expansion, which places Tiberian sun and Red alert 2 in same game, so you can do battles like GDI vs soviets or Nod vs allies or even Yuri vs everyone)

For most of us, duke3d was the next big thing after doom, and of course it compares very favorably. Duke has better design with some real variety and a lot of use of color, as opposed to doom's castle castle castle bloody castle bloody castle tilesets. The sounds were crisper and the weapons felt a lot more punchy. The build engine was also much more inclusive of 'little touches', from interactive sprites to special events. well, for me it was first FPS i played (played Wolfenstein 3d later), but i still fail to see all that hype. Duke nukem forever was doomed from start just because of all this hype over duke 3d

minecraft pokemon legend of zelda

My list Pokemon- i might be too "young" to get this (if you consider 21 too young), but i just cant see whats good about it. I mean it might've been revolutionary when it came out, but even as fan of old games, i just dont see it appealing. And its literally everywhere... Assassin's Creed- while start of excellent franchise, i feel Altair and AC1 are getting bit too much credit for what they didnt achieve. I mean Assassin's Creed 1 was horrendous. Controls were bad, combat- while challenging, it was repeditive and stealth, which was supposed to be one of main tools in this game was unusable. Plus lame assassination missions, where you always follow same stuff... collect intel in incredibly boring ways to kill a guy for even more boring way. Then ride long way back to Masyaf to go on in a story. And even story was frankly shallow as hell, but at least it somewhat improved later on and it actually was crucial for understanding further story. In any case, for a game that made me toss it out about halfway trough and watch YT videos of story later, mostly 8/10 and 80% ratings are too generous. AC2 was the game that made AC series good, not AC1, so its overrated. Duke Nukem 3d- Ok, im first to admit i really enjoyed playing it when growing up. But looking back to it, what was special about it? Just duke himself. Back then he was one of the first, if not the first big ego to get his game (and for the record- i have played both duke 1 and 2 as well, i.e pre-3d ones), but by todays standards, his jokes seem childish at best. Call of duty's since ghosts- i know a lot of you would like to list entire franchise or since mw2, but heres the thing- i actually liked previous ones and they even sorta made sense. Anyways, main part anyways was to just have fun in, plus they actually were quite good. Though i admit i was mad when they ditched ww2 setting with bull reason "its been over so many times theres nothing new" (while every single game focuses on 2-3 major battles, not even including all fronts). Anyways, this new direction was final draw- they have gone too far from original roots, trying to impress kids with "awesome" futuristic stuff (Black ops 2 i handled because it had history campaign also... plus it was fun kicking ass in 80's missions with future weapons ). not deserving the hype. Battlefields (with exception of 1942 and possibly vietnam)- what made battlefield good was liberty to be in any role you desire. 1942 still offers you more options than 99 percent of modern fps games (with exception of GTA 5, which aint exactly considered FPS). I mean you had tanks, jeeps, trucks, motorcycles, planes, heck, even prototype choppers, aircraft carriers (drivable!), destroyers (also) and even submarines(!!!), plus lot of stationary weaponry. and this was in vanilla, with tons of mods adding tons of new stuff. Now, vietnam was sequel, offering less options but still satisfactory gameplay. And then we moved to mostly modern era with few exceptions (2142, futuristic- would be good if nto for annoying level system and few returns such as bad company 2 vietnam or 1943 (never on pc and only pacific theatre)) and then... cops and robbers. And EA trying to make story... oh bloody hell, why do you bother? Im not saying its bad franchise, but it definetly aint so hype-worthy. Talk to me again when you have all the options you had in 1942 back. Skyrim- its good, it has large map, but.... i honhestly dont see anything thats NOT been done years before. Sims- ok, fair enough, this one is here only partially. Not many games offer to do such stuff that sims does, but after so many games they released, i just fail to see new stuff in it, plus it gets boring real fast. and, well, not real fan of games without ending anyways. Runescape- i havent heard from it a while, but it was huge deal in around 2006-08. Everyone played it. Level grinding, non-ending, no-purpose bull game.

You all may not know it, but i really like writing game reviews (only ones i tried so far, but might try other stuff as well). I've been posting them mainly on TWC site (total war center, a community based on total war series), but i sorta figured you might want to see this one. I made this back in the june and as i was reading it today, i noticed that i had put lot of references to Freeman's mind in it without me even noticing until now (sorry Ross, didnt mean to copy you here). Do also note, if you read this, that this was still one of my early reviews, i have improved in many ways Its exact copy-paste what i posted in TWC (cept formating, it uses different one there). Half-Life By Meelis13 Where is your hazard suit? You cant progress without it! Too dangerous! Well, at least you have a crowbar... Very well, carry on. As you probably have guessed, i will review Half-Life, one of most well-known FPS games in history. Basic introduction A Dam. MP5. Mortars. Have fun Half-Life is first-person shooter game developed by Valve company (its also their very first game. Founded by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington) that was released in 19th November 1998 for PC and 11th November for Playstation 2. It was re-released as source version in 1st June 2004 with improved graphics and sound. For first game of the company, i'd say this was pretty much a jackpot. System requirements for Source version (from Steam page): PC: Minimum: 1.2 GHz Processor, 256MB RAM, DirectX 7 level graphics card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection Recommended: 2.4 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX 9 level graphics card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection MAC: Minimum: OS:OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3 Memory: 1GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher Network: Internet Connection Other: Mouse, Keyboard Linux: Minimum: OS: Ubuntu 12.04 Processor: Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1 Network: Broadband Internet connection Hard Drive: 8 GB available space Sound Card: OpenAL Compatible Sound Card System requirements for original: Minimum: 500 mhz processor, 96mb ram, 16mb video card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection Recommended: 800 mhz processor, 128mb ram, 32mb+ video card, Windows XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection Story Just another usual day at test chamber The game places you in shoes of dr. Gordon Freeman, 28-year old theoretical physicist working in Black Mesa research facility in New Mexico. Game is supposed to take place in near future (or alternate late 80-s, depends on source). At start of the game, you just ride the train as you have done hundreds of times before to your work site.... And you are late again.. So you get to your hazard suit and of course because you are late you have been given manual labour part of the test (or is it because of that? i let you figure it out yourself)... You progress with the test but suddenly your only concern is to get out of Black Mesa alive. You are suddenly hunted by both the aliens and the military. Only ones on your side are overwhelmed security guards and scientists working in Black Mesa. So you get to escape countless safety hazards, see the spectacular box-smashing room, start ww3 and do a lot of other fun stuff. Story-wise there is not much to add without turning to real spoiler-fest, but i can say one thing- Gordon doesnt speak in this game. At all. Story is told by NPC-s (mostly scientists, but also intercom and even (presuming you dont blast them or alert them) soldiers chatting with eachother). This is one day Gordon probably wishes he'd stayed in bed... Gameplay Ingame view of the battle situation Gameplay is quite typical for FPS games at the time- you had to do a lot of battle, but you didnt have regenerative health (i know some people think "how did you finish it! impossible!"). You had to look out for health packs/medical cabinets and also, for extra protection you also had to look out for batteries and H.E.V charger packs. And naturally ammo. Probably biggest deal was that it had really good mouse aiming, something of real rarity in 1990-s. Big difference compared to modern games was also that Half-Life allows you to pick up (and keep!) every weapon you get your hands on ingame that isnt mounted. Also for darker areas you had flashlight which helped you navigate, but it had limited durability so keep it off when you dont need it! More about weapons- as you can see from screenshot you have 5 categories for weapons (14 weapons overall): 1- melee weapons- crowbar only. Most iconic weapon of the game, good for destroying something close-range, especially enviroment, if needed. 2- handguns. 2 weapons in this category 3- anti-personell weapons, 3 weapons here 4- Heavy weapons. 4 weapons (including 3 completely fictional ones) 5- disposable weapons (grenades). 4 weapons (inc. alive one) I tought about detailing weapons further, but it would kill the fun of discovering them yourself, wouldnt it? Ok, back to gameplay. Large portion of gameplay also involves puzzles, which is quite typical for 90-s game. It doesnt, however, involve keycards so its much more bearable than lets say Duke nukem 3d (i seriously hated when most enemies are dead but i had still one keycard to look for in older games). Puzzles vary a lot, which is definetly a great sight- from simple finding a way trough tracks to crossing a minefield, i found puzzles really entertaining and challenging enough to provide lots of fun. This game does not, however, have traditional levels, but its basically same level (with loading spots) entire game, which is interesting touch, providing more gameplay and makes you feel more ingame. There are also chapters on screen showing how far you have come in story. Should some part be too difficult, you can quit to main menu and restart chapter you got stuck with lower difficulty (yes, there are difficulties, that made difference. at the time it was usual, but nowadays too rare..). You can also get gameplay basics in special training mission. Some of the game events are also scripted, such as you have to kill some creatures using enviroment, some aliens do pop up certain way, etc. For its time it was quite interesting and it still is. While you do know its coming, its done so well i dont see anything bad in it. Music and graphics Comparison of Headcrab in Half-life 1 (original version) vs Half-life 2 For 90-s game, graphics were quite good. I may be too kind with rating, but if i like graphics, they are good. Same can be said for music (where there is music)- really nice battle music at bigger action scenes, though i cant recall any of music outside of bigger battle scenes. There is one thing sound-wise i honhestly dont like and frankly this is only bad thing about HL i can think of- voice acting. Its horrible for scientists and security guards. For rest its ok, but scientists are awful, like robots. Summary Half-Life is good game with lots of action in it and also nice puzzles, which are nice change for usual shooting as puzzles arent too hard. Gordon Freeman also makes unusual video game hero as he isnt some crook or cop or soldier, that are usually FPS heroes. It also has great story, though it may seem little bit bland and unlogical at first. Only real issue with it is voice acting for scientists, which is bad. As for me, i have to admit i first played it last autumn (bought it after watching Freeman's mind), but i enjoyed every moment of it. Half-life also has great expansions (opposing force, where you play as soldier and blue shift, where you play as Barney Calhoun, security guard) and sequels (Half-life 2+episodes), not to mention remakes (Half-life source and Black Mesa mod). So all in all, its perfect debute for Valve My rating: 10/10

It was nice of you to give Freeman good ending as well (i mean, i sorta hope you still do Half-life 2+episodes, but thats entirely up to you). It was nice of you

well, ASM is made by sony not marvel studios- thats main issue here

I have strong feeling Age of Ultron will be epic on so many levels. I really enjoyed Ultron storylines in comics (i mean i loved but hated him as villain), though first encounter came to suprisingly anti-climatic solution. Oh and geek in me and huge Stargate franchise fan loves to see James Spader (known to SG fans as Daniel Jackson from 1994 movie) is playing Ultron. from geek to villain (warning, possible spoilers ahead of previous marvel movies and comics, so read at your own risk) i am geniuenly interested, how many connections they plan to make with actual comics. I mean, all we know to date is that Ultron is made by Iron man, not by Hank Pym (also known as Goliath at time of Ultron 1 creation, other more famous aliases include ant-man, giant-man, yellowjacket). I mean Pym (or Janet "winsome wasp" van Dyne) doesnt apparently appear here, which is actually bit sad, but then again, 2 huge brains in same movie (Stark and Pym) would probably be not so good idea, especially as Pym adds more drama. Still, does Stark uses his brainwaves (as Pym did) to map Ultron's brain? Speaking of changes in roster, compared to first encounter with Ultron (Ultron-5) in comics, Hulk is on roster. Bruce Banner's hulk (i.e not counting Red hulk) was part of avengers only for 3 first issues for years and also Black widow is in team. What makes this avengers more interesting is that S.H.I.E.L.D disbanded in Captain America: The winter soldier, which should mean that Avengers are now their own team rather than goverment agency, which is quite interesting as in comics it was other way around: Avengers came together after defeating Loki and they were basically independent for certain time. And now we reach probably one of most interesting parts for me personally- Vision. In comics, Vision was made from body of original Human Torch (not to be confused with Jhonny Storm- Fantastic Four's human torch)- the one that was android. Brain waves used to make Vision's mind were the ones of Simon Williams, power man, who was made as weapon by masters of evil (baron Zemo, enchantress and executioner (latter 2 are asgardians)) to kill avengers, but he had last minute change of heart and saved avengers and died in progress. he was later revived though. Question here is that since neither android human torch or power man arent even hinted to exist in marvel cinematic universe as of now and if they arent hinted in movie, yet Vision would act same as in comics i.e join avengers against Ultron, it wouldnt be good if it isnt replaced with anything similar. I mean reason why Vision turned to its apparent creator, Ultron (whom he believed created him) was that Vision had brain patterns of power man and some leftover ones of android human torch. Its also interesting to think wheter or not will Scarlet witch and Vision fall in love in cinematic universe too. descriptions also hint that we may see early hints of Scarlet Witch losing her mind before Avengers disassembled equivelant In any case, this movie will be interesting.

As i know there is at least one other marvel fan here and its quite high chance there are more, i decided to make this topic to discuss all related to marvel. So, since there are quite few months to go until Avengers: Age of ultron movie, they released trailer few days ago, which is quite epic: i will make post right below here to tell my toughts on trailer or rather- on connection to comics

seemed like some weird inside-alien version of Stargate's gatetravel sequence (probably bit of it with dark filter or something)

Ross, i dont have money, but do you accept games as Stronghold: Crusader (original one) and Dead island: epidemic beta gift as bet? (total value of what i have offer is about 8 euros+??? euros)

best. review. ever.

Agreed, but it doesn't seem to me from Ross's comments that he's overworking - more just reaching his full potential. well, i hope thats the case

bloody hell, mate. Extremely nice episode and by looks of it very fast tempo, but dont overwork- i think most fans find quick episodes nice, but none wants it by cost of your health

However, Freeman's comments on the layout of Black Mesa are wonderful, and the teleportation chamber can be a good source for that kind of rant. Besides that, a good player can do the teleportation chamber in under 15 minutes. Freeman can just jump into the "correct" chambers and chalk it up to "they all go to the same place, anyway." The guess/check is what really takes up the most of the time. Edit: I am going to time myself to see how I do. Edit 2: 3 minutes, 19 seconds, and 372 milliseconds from where Freeman was when he went to Uplink, to the entrance to the Level A floor. Edit 3: I actually want to see how far I can take this. Current time: 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 14 milliseconds. Edit 4: 1 minute, 7 seconds and 10 milliseconds. I was not expecting that. I'm done, obviously. That was fun! Damn, dude! Thats fast!

my toughts exactly- "i can always count on you guys to stay terrible. Simple and terrible."

Don't worry. Poland can into democracy! Can into EU/NATO! Seriously though, any country that dons communism, willingly or not, basically gets labeled as a former communist country for the rest of their existence. I was afraid of that. And Poland is a country in the middle of Europe. Saying that Poland is eastern (and therefore, more post communist ;p ) Europe always makes me irritated. There's nothing eastern about Poland, except some regional accents maybe. This could be a blooming country, but we're constantly being taken apart (Polish financial assets and companies being bought out by Germany, for example, and other countries) and treated like a cheap labor Western taxes, eastern wages, this is how it is. Meh... I read a few years ago that Poland is also the biggest drug smuggling track in Europe This makes me smile, for some reason... small fact- geographical center of Europe, if you include islands that are considered to be part of Europe is in Saaremaa, Estonia. if you exclude islands, its located in Lithuania though. So yes, Poland is actually quite center of Europe.

well, in areas that were under communist rule for 50 or so years, school systems havs [have] generally less fucking around to [to what or too??] but it blunt [it's blunt?? what???] than in areas that werent under communist rule. This goes even against the rules of Polish language, maybe yours has a crazy hell of a syntax like this? It must be fun to talk I normally don't care about stuff like that but I had to bleh XD first was obviously mixup of letters. 2nd mistake was purely made by my sleepiness and 3rd- again letter mixup D: and while estonian may sound weird, imho polish seems weirder and while i understand none of you wont understand estonian, especially its (whats the word here) regional versions (i really cant recall correct word here- i will send spiderdog to eat you if you laugh at this mistake) but here is good video about topic ow9zh0N-sQY