Starcraft 2 Strategy - Dodging Storms

Pretty classic example of how to play against Protoss.

Dark Souls Review - By LifeHack

 The name is met with so many emotions ranging from love to hate to utter rage. Most gamers pick it up for about 15 minutes and vow to never touch it again. Between its complex leveling system and unforgiving gameplay it’s sure to leave the average gamers in tears and the determined highly rewarded. 

Developed by From Software they set out to make a game that was one of the hardest games on the market. They started by releasing their first game Demon Souls in early 2009, this created a game that is was unlike almost any game out. It jumped straight into the action right from the beginning and didn’t spoon-feed you like all games do now days.

 Dark Souls was released in late 2011 and came packing just as big of a punch. Popular mostly among the pc gamers it remained quiet for some time but quickly gained moment as the years went on. It is currently one of my Top games of all time.

The basic gameplay revolves around a character that is cursed to be an undead. In his quest to regain his humanity he fights through hordes of enemies each more lethal than the last. At no point in this game can you relax and drop your guard because if you’re not paying attention even the first enemies you encounter can kill you relatively quickly. Stunning landscapes, Diverse areas, and original monsters make this game a must have for all serious gamers.

The game allows for a nonlinear play through giving you complete control as to where you want to go and what direction you want to take. The game offers little to no hints as to what to do so you need to pay attention but it also leaves a fair bit of guesswork. At times this can prove frustrating but is equally rewarding when you discover hidden secrets or advancements in the game.

The leveling system in the game is one of its weaker points in my opinion because when mixed with the lack of direction it can confuse even experience gamers. You accrue souls that act as currency when leveling up. The games unforgiving nature makes leveling a bit more difficult by dropping your souls each time you die. Once dead you have only one opportunity to retrieve the souls before they are lost forever and all the time you put in acquiring them is wasted (pro tip. Get a strap for your controller, the urge to hurl them is incredibly strong when this happens). Knowing what each upgrade does is essential to the game because if done improperly can cause you to struggle or fail completely in later stages of the game. This requires either some prior research or a friend who knows what they are doing to coach you. That being said I find this to be one of the only faults of the game and it is overcome once you understand the mechanics of the game thus eliminating it.

The game was designed with the intent of making the player feel secluded and to be honest it can be downright depressing at times. To lift this dark setting just a bit they included a minor multiplayer aspect of the game. They didn’t want to make it co op but in certain area’s you can summon up to 2 npc’s or real characters. The idea was not to have one person do all the work and let you right the tails so connecting with friends proved to be relatively difficult and was a bit of a turn off for many gamers. Pc however quickly published a patch that slightly remedied the issue.

So you have killed all the monsters. You're safe right? You couldn’t be more wrong. The game has a pvp element that allows you to invade other player’s worlds and face off in a mano y mano duel. This can be avoided by playing in offline mode but can be fun once you get the hang of it.

Boss fights can be especially fun and fill you with a sense of accomplishment. They are by no means easy or predictable and you will almost always die the first few times when you are learning the movements and attacks. Each boss is original and has its own strategies for defeat. Bosses reward you will high experience and items that can lead to special weapons later on in the game.

Which leads me to my final topic of weapons. The game caters to almost any playstyle you can think of. From magic builds all the way to healers you can customize your character to fit you individually. I myself am more of a ranged character but I enjoy mixing in bits of stealth. As you progress you find a vast selection of weapons that each have their unique fighting style and move set. The weapons along with the armor you find can be upgraded and is vital to your success against the enemy.

All in all this game is a masterpiece. It is a fantastic mix of risk and reward and doesn’t get repetitive. I have put over 200 hrs. into this game and still go back for more. NG+ and on provide extra challenges for those who are seeking it. This game receives a solid 9.5 out of 10 for me and I think could be echoed by anyone brave enough to complete it in its entirety. Not for the faint of heart or the impatient.

LifeHack

Starcraft II - Terran Eating Storms

"Just Gold Things"

Scan before you run up a ramp kids.

Infamous Second Son Thoughts

So I'm usually pretty late to beating games and I recently finished Infamous Second Son.

First thing I'd like to get out of the way is that there needs to be a Spider-Man game of this quality!

This game is absolutely what a good spider man game should be, the only thing missing from Infamous was web slinging and a spandex costume.

Ok, now onto the game itself. I have to say I am floored by the quality of this game. Every single thing was done with great attention to detail. The game plays perfectly and never had any glitches from what I could tell. The graphics are incredible and the audio is basically perfection. The atmosphere of the game is so wonderful and the city feels alive.

I went the good guy route and spent my time saving pedestrians and beating up drug dealers. I would like to go through again being a bad guy but honestly with the amount of time I have to game and what games I choose to spend on that (Starcraft) I probably won't be able to visit this game again.

Now as for the things I didn't like, which aren't many.

The game did get a bit repetitive after a few sections. I don't like to leave a section without doing every side mission first so those missions got a bit long in the tooth. The dialogue for a few missions only had a few variations and became boring after so many. I like how long the game was but they could have cut out a few sections to reduce the repetitiveness but I think that would have made the game seem incredibly short for those who don't like to 100% each section and just burn through the game.

Trophy wise I was pretty happy to see that I got nearly 70% of trophies just by playing the game in my own style.

Overall I would say absolutely buy this game if you haven't already. Definitely worth the $60 launch price although at time of writing this it can be had on Amazon for $26.

And now for some screenshots.

Final Fantasy XIV Times

For a few weeks we were playing FF XIV every night and I have to say it was a blast. Incredibly fun game, anyone who has considered playing it should absolutely give it a shot. I'm not much of an MMO guy but this game was so much fun and did everything so well. I stopped playing mostly because of Starcraft, I can never get away from it for long.

I was playing a lot with one of my other soon to be contributors Richard, here is his character.

GTA V (PS4) screenshots and why to not take selfies while hunting.

Halo MCC 1/19/15 Patch

Well considering there was a decently sized patch for Halo (700+MB) I decided to jump on again. This started out GREAT! Doing solo on any playlist was working pretty well. All games started in under 2 minutes. However... once I started playing with a few friends it went downhill. Probably got one team game in before I decided to call it quits after waiting so long.

C'mon guys.

I was able to get this clip which is pretty rad though.

Watchdogs screenshots and a graphics comparison video.

I personally have been loving Watchdogs but I came to the game super late once a few patches had been released. Also running with TheWorse graphics mod to make it look that much better.

Graphics comparison video:

Some random gameplay: