Call of Duty: Ghosts - I've earned my mask

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first title from Activision's multi-billion dollar franchise that I have played. I'd read a few reviews saying that the single player campaign would take approximately six hours to complete on the regular difficulty setting. A little sceptical that the campaign would be that short, I started playing Ghosts late Friday evening. Most of Saturday was spent out of the house, but I managed to progress about two-thirds of the way through the storyline by Saturday night. On Sunday morning I managed to 'earn my mask.' 

I didn't take note of how many actual hours I'd spent playing Ghosts, but I managed to complete the campaign during three relatively short sessions, which also had a few rounds of Extinction thrown in for some variety. So the single player campaign really is quite short.

Regardless, I still enjoyed playing the game, which is the whole point of playing the game isn't it? Yes, the graphics aren't quite as good as all those screen shots being thrown around of the game being played on next-generation consoles, but at least I got to play it at 1080p. All that 'resolutiongate' stuff doesn't really matter though, because the action is so fast-paced there will be very little time to stop and clip the foliage.

The constant on going action was actually an aspect that I didn't particularly like about the game. I found it difficult to follow the dialogues, and concentrate on where enemy gunfire was coming from simultaneously. I guess this is since Ghosts is based around missions which make up standalone levels, as opposed to the free-roam type of shooter (e.g. Tomb Raider and Borderlands) that I am used to. This non-stop action definitely adds to the intensity of the game experience.

I now need to sit down and organise a proper internet connection for my console. Then I'll be able to get stuck into playing some online multiplayer, and experience the real reason the Call of Duty franchise is so popular first-hand. That said, my inability to follow dialogue, and enemies at the same time may mean that I wont make a particularly successful online soldier, but I wont know until I've given it a go. This might be a good excuse to get that head set I've been eyeing out for the past few weeks though. Either way, I'm especially looking forward to playing Extinction with someone else to help me take out all those damn zerglings, as well as seeing my customised soldier in action.

Overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts hasn't been my favourite first person shooter title (that would be Borderlands), but I did enjoy playing through the single player campaign. I thought that the games ending was absolutely brilliant. I had just breathed a sigh of relief, as the credits rolled, and then back to another cut scene. I was left thinking, 'did that just happen?' Without spoiling the ending too much, this was an obvious way to leave the door open for the development of a sequel.

Given the shortness of the campaign, I will likely play through Ghosts at least once more on a higher difficulty setting in order to try find the remaining Rorke Files, and unlock a few more trophies. But before I do so, I want to spend some more time exploring the intricate worlds of Sanctuary and Pandora.

Stasis - A South African indie game

Stasis is a 2-D, 'point and click' adventure game, created by Chris Bischoff, and presented in an isometric view. The story is set in the not too distant future, and follows John Maracheck as he explores the derelict research vessel, Groomlake, which appears to be mostly abandoned. 

For a game being put together by an independent developer only during his spare time in the evenings and over weekends, the visuals for Stasis look absolutely astounding. You can tell that Bischoff, and the the rest of The Brotherhood are passionate about the project. The Brotherhood has launched a Kickstarter project in order to raise sufficient funds to make this sci-fi horror game a reality. Stasis has been under development for three years already, which probably accounts for why it looks so damn good. 

If you're still not convinced, and want to see more, you can download the alpha demo for yourself and give it a go. I downloaded it last night, and only spent about 15 minutes wandering around the Groomlake, accessing the odd computer terminal, and reading some of the background information.

I was quite blown away by just how good this looks, and it is evident from several interviews (scroll down for links) with Bischoff that he has a clear vision for how the storyline will pan out. Apparently the alpha demo will take between 1 to 2 hours to complete, depending on your familiarity with 'point and click' style games. I'll spend more time exploring the Groomlake during the next week, and depending on the experience will depend on how much I pledge to the project. The sculpture looks great, but at $449, the Definitive Edition reward is a little out of my league. Even the $78 Classic Edition is a bit much, so I may just settle for the Digital or Expanded Editions, even though I do like physical copies over digital downloads. Alternatively I could wait to see if a post-Kickstarter physical package of the game is released.

Gaming goals for the rest of the year

I seem to be amassing quite a backlog of games to play. At present I have around seven titles that I either haven't started, or intend to restart because I didn't make much progress with them in the first place. These include God of War III, Far Cry 3, The Resistance Trilogy, and Call of Duty: Ghosts, which arrived yesterday evening. 

I'm still in two minds whether to try restarting Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Need for Speed: Most Wanted, or just carry on where I left off a couple of months ago. I never really felt comfortable with the default controls for either, which is why I stopped enjoying the games, and thus stopped playing them.

I am currently spreading my gaming time between three titles; Mortal Kombat, Borderlands, and Diablo III. I'm having some difficulty defeating Shao Kahn, the final boss in Mortal Kombat. I've tried reading a couple of walk-through guides for advice, but none of the tactics discussed in these have worked for me. I haven't given up on defeating him, and completing the story mode yet, I'm just putting it off until later. 

I've managed to finish the main story, and the first DLC, The Zombie Island of Dr. Zed in Borderlands. I played a bit of the second DLC, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, but since no experience is gained, and no loot is dropped while playing these levels, it got pretty tedious playing it on my own very quickly. I dropped the Underdome DLC in favour of the third DLC, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. This has actually been my favourite addition to the main title so far. I've managed completed the main story arc of the DLC, but still have a few of the side missions to to finish, including the 'Secret Final Boss,' which I plan to leave until my character has reached at least Level 50, perhaps even higher. 

I'll start playing the fourth and final Borderlands DLC, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution as a means to gain experience and level-up, and if that's not enough to get me to Level 50+, then I'll replay the main title a second time on a higher difficulty.

To have a bit of a break from first person shooters (FPS) the week before the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, I started playing Diablo III. Like Borderlands though, this game is probably going to take some time and dedication to complete it. This game is great though, and I'll be happy to whittle away hours of the day slaying monsters in Sanctuary. I'll probably play CoD: Ghosts this weekend, and possibly try finish the short single player campaign before the end of the weekend. If I succeed then I'll probably split the rest of my time evenly between trying to level up my Borderlands and Diablo III characters.

My plan is to add CoD: Ghosts, Mortal Kombat, and Borderlands to my list of completed games by the end of the year. Hopefully next year I'll also be able to finish the God of War and Resistance trilogies, as well as Diablo III, Far Cry 3, and a few more games I'm planning on adding to the backlog over the next fem months. These include The Last of Us, Assassins Creed Heritage Collection, Borderlands 2: Game of the Year, Lego Marvel Super Heroes (already pre-ordered), and possibly The Walking Dead: Game of the Year, although it looks as though my brother will be getting this for his Xbox 360. At least I'll have plenty to keep me busy while waiting for all the bugs, and teething problems to be worked out of the next generation of consoles. As an added bonus the price of these consoles may drop a few months after the launch dates too. I'm in no rush however to ditch my PS3 or its games, especially since I'd still like to replay some of the games I've already completed, such as Heavy Rain, to unlock additional trophies and end sequences, and to experience other titles, such as Tomb Raider, and pretty much all the FPS I own, through some online play against other humans. There will still be people playing PS3 games online after the launch of the PlayStation 4/ Xbox One wont there?

It has begun...

I finally got around to finishing Diablo II: Lord of Destruction last week, more than a decade after its original release. To be honest, I don't really remember what the outcome of the game was. Other than the fact that the loot dropped by Baal was pretty useless, I barely remember the closing cinematic. Come to think of it, was there even one?

So this weekend I decided to get started on Diablo III. I'd watched the opening cinematic for Diablo III when I installed the system updated, but I decided to watch it again for inspiration before creating my character. It's mind-blowing how much more realistic the Diablo III characters, Leah and Deckard Cain are drawn, when compared to Marius and The Dark Wanderer of Diablo II. Even more amazing is just how good the controls for Diablo III are mapped to the PlayStation 3's DualShock controller. It feels as though the game was developed specifically to be played on a current generation console. Initially I was a little sceptical of how the mouse and keyboard controls would recreated for console controllers, and I'm relieved to say that this was actually done exceptionally well.

For now the only advantage of using a mouse comes in the form of being able to left-click (or right-click, depending on what action you've assigned) on the monster I wish to attack, and by holding the mouse button, my character would continue to attack the enemy until it died. I find selecting which monster I want to attack with the controller a little more hap-hazard, and continually having to mash 'X' to attack is beginning to get a little frustrating. That said, I haven't tried holding 'X' while attacking, so that could be easily solved. But while attacking with the mouse in Diablo II, I never accidentally looted chests, used shrines, or opened doors. All of which have happened to me so far while playing Diablo III on a console. While no biggie, I have also unintentionally dropped chandeliers while fighting one monster, and waiting for another to step under said chandelier. Perhaps the 'loot/ use/ break/ open' action button is the one thing I would change, and have it assigned to another button. Since I've only played a few hours, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Based partly on the results from the Diablo III character class poll (thanks to the person who voted), the fact that Act V of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is set on the foothills of Mount Arreat, in the heart of the Barbarian homeland, and that I have never played using the Barbarian, I created a Barbarian class character.

Despite not having spent much time playing Diablo III, and apart from the few quibbles above, I've enjoyed every other aspect of the game so far, and am looking forward to spending many more hours exploring the world of Sanctuary, slaying beats and monster, while searching for better loot, and levelling up my character.

Lastly, here's a link to a cool infographic that Blizzard put together for the one year anniversary since the release of Diablo III.

Download first two parts of Batman: Arkham series for less than $5

While catching up on some gaming news over at Lazygamer this morning, I came across a post about a charity site called Humble Bundle. They sell game bundles through a 'pay what you want' scheme, were you can also choose where the money goes, either to the game developers, sponsored charities, or Humble Bundle itself. 

This iteration of the Humble Bundle contains four WB Games titles, that can be bought for as little as $1, however if you pay/ donate more than the average buyer, you'll get an additional two titles.

The four main titles are:

• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Game of the Year Edition)
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• F.E.A.R. 3
• Lord of the Rings: War in the North

While those who donate more than the average, which is currently $4.62, will also receive:

• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Batman: Arkham City (Game of the Year Edition)

So for less than $5, not only can you get a host of epic games to add to your backlog of games to play later, but you also get to support a worthy charity; in this case We Can Be Heroes.

If you're like me, and not an avid Steam user, then you can still show support for the cause by sending the Steam codes to someone else as a gift, or by purchasing some merchandise from the We Can Be Heroes store. Despite not being a huge fan of DC's superhero line-up, I do particularly like the looks of the grey shirt, and coffee mug. Maybe I should get one of these as a gift for my brother.

Stream ††† new track, 'Bitches brew'

Yesterday Spin.com announced that the groups first track off 'EP †††' could be listened to online. We heard teasers of the new track, Bitches brew, back in August and September, via the promotional videos released by Sumerian Records.

††† are set to release their third EP in February 2014. Pre-orders for the album will go live on record label Sumerian Records' website later this month. The EP will be available in both digital and physical formats, and will include tracks released on EP † and EP ††.

I'm wondering if the, "five additional songs," mentioned at the end of the Spin.com article will be made available as a stand-alone download for those who have already downloaded the first two ††† releases? Maybe that is the digital release, while the three EPs bundled together into a full length album could represent the physical release. Either way, I'm definitely interested in the physical release, as I'm not so sure I'd be prepared to pay to download these EPs again, just for five extra tracks, since I've already paid for the high-quality audio files of EP † and EP ††. However, I wouldn't mind paying again for the physical release.

Barcelona time-lapse

If you've been fortunate enough to visit Barcelona, watching Alexandr Kravtsov's video will make you long to return. If you've never had the privilege of visiting Barcelona, watching Alexandr Kravtsov's video will make you wish you could. And if you live in Barcelona, then you'll see exactly why so many tourists flock to your beautiful city.

BARCELONA. MOTION TIMELAPSE from Alexandr Kravtsov on Vimeo.

I'd love to return to Barcelona, and have more than one day set aside for sightseeing. Even though I spent a week in the city during July, most of my time was spent attending a conference. Fortunately I was able to eat quite a variety of tapas, sample the local beers, and share a few pitchers of sangria with colleagues in the evenings, but there was very little time to explore the city. Despite having seen relatively few of the sites it has to offer, Barcelona is one of my favourite cities, and is high on my list of places to return to one day.