A band that I continue to enjoy years after hearing their first album is Linkin Park.
Linkin Park is an American nu-metal/rap metal band from Agoura Hills California formed in 1996.
As LP have released new albums they have experimented with genres quite a bit, starting with nu-metal into rap-metal and mixing somewhat with electronica and alt rock. Their later albums are a lot gentler and orchestral to an extend while still maintaining their original sound and composition.
I find that with each album they release they try a completely new style, they are constantly evolving something a good band tends to do. LP get a lot of flak for the style of music (and more specifically this song) while people don't often praise them for the fluid nature of their music.
In the end LP have not been apologetic for writing songs about personal issues, political controversies or their unique style of music. And for this I have a huge amount of respect for them.
Three songs (other than the above) that I particularly enjoy are Hands Held High, Bleed It Out and Breaking The Habit.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Monday Night is right for fighting...
Monday Night Combat is a bit of a play on Monday Night Football. It is a third person FPS/Tower Defense game with some aspects of a MOBA game.
MNC is set in a game show style. You are part of a team of contestants that are fighting for cash prizes. This can be either against another team of "pros" where you attempt to destroy the other teams "moneyball" or in a co-op mode where you fight waves of mobs culminating in a battle with a final"jackbot" boss wave. There are a couple of commentators who now and again have some fantastic funny lines too.
The concept of the game is very good, there has never really been a game like this before. The nice thing about it is depending on what type of game you prefer you can play differently. If you are an FPS fan you can just go around using your weapons and ignoring the other elements and the same applies to the Tower Defense aspect.
However there are some issues, as this is supposed to be played primarily as a multi-player game
the single-player aspect is severely lacking. There is no option to use "bots" so you can't play the team vs team maps or get support in the co-op mode. The same issues apply to multi-player, often times teams will be unbalanced until enough people join to fill all the slots. There is also no match making system so you can find that highly skilled players will be facing new players lessening the enjoyment of both. There are also a couple of maps where if you can reach a certain spot you are untouchable while still being able to kill the opposing team.
Despite these few issues I really enjoyed playing MNC and I liked the concept. The game can be picked up for a fairly cheap price and would be worth the cost. However the developers are currently working on a new title called Super Monday Night Combat which will be a more well developed game and should hopefully iron out any of the issues from the first. In my opinion at this stage it would probably be more worthwhile waiting for SMNC to come out.
MNC is set in a game show style. You are part of a team of contestants that are fighting for cash prizes. This can be either against another team of "pros" where you attempt to destroy the other teams "moneyball" or in a co-op mode where you fight waves of mobs culminating in a battle with a final"jackbot" boss wave. There are a couple of commentators who now and again have some fantastic funny lines too.
The concept of the game is very good, there has never really been a game like this before. The nice thing about it is depending on what type of game you prefer you can play differently. If you are an FPS fan you can just go around using your weapons and ignoring the other elements and the same applies to the Tower Defense aspect.
However there are some issues, as this is supposed to be played primarily as a multi-player game
the single-player aspect is severely lacking. There is no option to use "bots" so you can't play the team vs team maps or get support in the co-op mode. The same issues apply to multi-player, often times teams will be unbalanced until enough people join to fill all the slots. There is also no match making system so you can find that highly skilled players will be facing new players lessening the enjoyment of both. There are also a couple of maps where if you can reach a certain spot you are untouchable while still being able to kill the opposing team.
Despite these few issues I really enjoyed playing MNC and I liked the concept. The game can be picked up for a fairly cheap price and would be worth the cost. However the developers are currently working on a new title called Super Monday Night Combat which will be a more well developed game and should hopefully iron out any of the issues from the first. In my opinion at this stage it would probably be more worthwhile waiting for SMNC to come out.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A Game of Fancy Chairs!
A Game Of Thrones: Genesis is (another) adaptation of the Ice and Fire series.
The game focuses a lot more on the underhanded diplomacy and political intrigue of kingdoms rather than the martial strength or entrenched castle sieges.
The concept creates a constantly shifting environment, you are never quite sure if that town or that unit are working for you or if they have been compromised. It means you constantly have to create new units to check on the old ones. It stops people from holing up and sitting back while building a military force like you can in other RTS as all of your units might have been bought off and when you attempt to attack another player you might find yourself on the wrong end of the sword.
The campaign follows the story of Warrior Queen Nymeria as she lands in Westeros and builds her empire. It introduces you to several characters that are a huge part of the history of Westeros. If you have read the books, this game will fill in some of the lore from beforehand.
This is a fantastic game for people who like to do things a little bit differently than conventional RTS games. You can't just batter down the doors of all your enemies, you have to think about your strategy, but not for too long or you might get caught out...
If you are a true fan of RTS you will appreciate this game and its complexities and it is well worth a look. If you are a fan of A Game Of Thrones then again, even just for lore, it is a good purchase.
The game focuses a lot more on the underhanded diplomacy and political intrigue of kingdoms rather than the martial strength or entrenched castle sieges.
The concept creates a constantly shifting environment, you are never quite sure if that town or that unit are working for you or if they have been compromised. It means you constantly have to create new units to check on the old ones. It stops people from holing up and sitting back while building a military force like you can in other RTS as all of your units might have been bought off and when you attempt to attack another player you might find yourself on the wrong end of the sword.
The campaign follows the story of Warrior Queen Nymeria as she lands in Westeros and builds her empire. It introduces you to several characters that are a huge part of the history of Westeros. If you have read the books, this game will fill in some of the lore from beforehand.
This is a fantastic game for people who like to do things a little bit differently than conventional RTS games. You can't just batter down the doors of all your enemies, you have to think about your strategy, but not for too long or you might get caught out...
If you are a true fan of RTS you will appreciate this game and its complexities and it is well worth a look. If you are a fan of A Game Of Thrones then again, even just for lore, it is a good purchase.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Safety Word Is Bananner!
I recently bought all the DLC for a fantastic(-ally successful) indie game called Magicka.
The story of the game is narrated by Vlad (Who is definitely NOT a vampire...) and the player character is lead through the world by him. You travel through all kinds are environments and encounter a huge variety of enemies (even a vampire!) in order to stop an ancient wizard from destroying the world.
You use a selection of elements, rather than a mana bar or spellbook, and these can be combined to produce a huge range of effects. You can collect books in the game that provide you with "Magicks" which are specific element combinations that have certain catastrophic effects.
You can have up to four players working co-operatively (Or more accurately TRY to work together) and there are also a few PVP maps where you can work out your frustration on each other. Friendly fire is always active throughout the game so it is quite easy to injure/kill your friends, or even yourself! Sometimes this is the best part of the game...
The game itself has a lot of references to other games, movies and general memes and the humour is fairly funny throughout. If you haven't played this game yet there is a demo available and I would advise playing that if nothing else. I feel that this game is worth the purchase but you will get the most enjoyment out of it if you have a few friends to play with.
The story of the game is narrated by Vlad (Who is definitely NOT a vampire...) and the player character is lead through the world by him. You travel through all kinds are environments and encounter a huge variety of enemies (even a vampire!) in order to stop an ancient wizard from destroying the world.
You use a selection of elements, rather than a mana bar or spellbook, and these can be combined to produce a huge range of effects. You can collect books in the game that provide you with "Magicks" which are specific element combinations that have certain catastrophic effects.
You can have up to four players working co-operatively (Or more accurately TRY to work together) and there are also a few PVP maps where you can work out your frustration on each other. Friendly fire is always active throughout the game so it is quite easy to injure/kill your friends, or even yourself! Sometimes this is the best part of the game...
The game itself has a lot of references to other games, movies and general memes and the humour is fairly funny throughout. If you haven't played this game yet there is a demo available and I would advise playing that if nothing else. I feel that this game is worth the purchase but you will get the most enjoyment out of it if you have a few friends to play with.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Living Island
A game I have played a lot of recently is Dead Island, it is a FPS/RPG hack and slash game.
You wake up after a rough night of partying to find that a zombie apocalypse has broken out on the island while you slept. You try to escape and run into a bunch of other survivors, they ask you to complete tasks (as you are the only person capable of... blah blah blah) in order to get off the island.
There are four main characters that you can play as, each with their own skills and weapon sets. A Throwing, Firearms, Blunt and Sharp expert.
The main draw of the game is the hack and slash elements. You can pick up most items and use them as melee weapons, now and again you enter firearm sections but the main focus is on the melee combat.
The game is quite enjoyable in short periods but the game is very very repetitive. I can only play it for about an hour at a time due to this. All the quests are very similar, the areas are only slightly different and the enemies, once encountered are constant from then on out.
You wake up after a rough night of partying to find that a zombie apocalypse has broken out on the island while you slept. You try to escape and run into a bunch of other survivors, they ask you to complete tasks (as you are the only person capable of... blah blah blah) in order to get off the island.
There are four main characters that you can play as, each with their own skills and weapon sets. A Throwing, Firearms, Blunt and Sharp expert.
The main draw of the game is the hack and slash elements. You can pick up most items and use them as melee weapons, now and again you enter firearm sections but the main focus is on the melee combat.
The game is quite enjoyable in short periods but the game is very very repetitive. I can only play it for about an hour at a time due to this. All the quests are very similar, the areas are only slightly different and the enemies, once encountered are constant from then on out.
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