Snowulf - Reviews

Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0800

As you may well know (perhaps from our earlier entry), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 came out last week. I've devoted most of my game playing time since then to playing the game and thought it was about time to do a review. Now some of this review of Bad Company 2 (BC2) will be a comparison to how it stands up against Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). It isn't that I believe the games are in anyway the exact same kettle of fish, but MW2 is the undeniable "big shooter" of the moment, so it is that which all other new shooters will be compared against (until something undeniably better comes out).

Let me give you the ultra short version: It is definitely an improvement over Bad Company 1. My major complaints for BC1 single player were addressed in BC2. The single player campaign of BC2 isn't long, but it is enjoyable and longer than MW2 was. The online multiplayer is also quite enjoyable and mostly major bug free (so far that I've seen). BC2's multiplayer is much different than MW2 and personally I prefer BC2. If you enjoy shooters in general and haven't bought BC2, you're missing out.

Now we get on to the long version of the review. First I'm going to cover the single player game and then I'll get into the online play.
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Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

nospam@example.com (John) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

I went into this film knowing nothing more than it was based on a book and by the title had some affiliation with Greek Mythology, a topic on which I did quite a bit of reading in my youth (and yes that means I also watched Hercules and Xena - minor sidenote Lucy Lawless is doing an amazing job in Spartacus).

This will be rife with spoilers, so if you don't want to know, don't read.

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Mass Effect 2 on first playthrough - Part 2

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently beat Mass Effect 2. Today I wanted to talk about a few things, what I liked/disliked, my end game team, guns, and lastly what the "bonus" was for beating Mass Effect Galaxy (the iPod Touch/iPhone game).

Liked:

The improved combat system
The upgrade system - no more pausing mid-fight to adjust ammo types as necessary, or installing an upgrade for one weapon and moving your upgrade into another, etc, etc
The planet scanning instead of taking the Mako down to run around the planet
The heavy weapons
Three different versions of Barrier: Fortification (for more Armor), Geth Shield (for more Shield), and Barrier (for more... biotic Barrier).
No achievement/bonus/incentive for having one particular squadmate(s) for most of the game. This encouraged me to try out everyone.

Disliked:

New weapons weren't always better than the old ones. Specifically, I went from the semi-automatic sniper rifle to a bolt action (that looked like an M107). It did more damage, but the constant reload was annoying. More on this below.
Only being able to use one "power" at a time. In the previous game, I enjoyed being a biotic because I could fire off multiple abilities at a time.
This one comes from Jon: no measure of what your squad is composed of; in the previous game, you had 3 bars letting you know how much Tech, Combat, and Biotic prowess your chosen squad had. This goes inline with your squadmates not really having classes in this game (thought it was fairly obvious what they were in most cases).

End Game Team:
When you begin your assault on the collector ship you need to pick a Tech Specialist and a leader for the second team (Fire Team).
I used Tali as my Tech Specialist (though I've heard Legion works as well).
Miranda as my Fire Team Leader (heard that Jacob or Garrus also work).
For the next section you need a Biotic to shield you, a Diversion team leader, and an escort for the survivors.
I used Samara as my biotic (I've heard Jack works as well).
Miranda once more headed up my second team.
I used Jacob to get everyone back to the boat.

Since everyone in my party was loyal, I suffered no deaths.

Guns, guns, guns! Someone over on the bioware forums had this to say about the effects of guns on resistances/armor/shields/barriers: Mass Effect 2 Gameplay Data. Useful bit (of course I didn't find it till AFTER I finished playing). Basically, if an ammo/gun type says it is good at something it does at least full damage to that (usually 1.5x damage though).
Now, far and away this is the most useful bit I have found, a Weapon Chart by Arthelinus which shows weapon stats for... EVERY weapon in the game, including the guns that came in other editions (Collector's and Digital Deluxe). It also points out the gun that is only available if you are playing on Hardcore or Insane difficulty.

Last, but not least... Did you play and beat Mass Effect Galaxy? Wondering what the bonus is? I finally found the answer via a post on the IGN Forums:

Not too far from the entrance to Afterlife in Omega, you bump into a Salarian named Ish who asks for some help finding a pair of datapads. If you have Jacob and/or Miranda with you, you get some dialogue that references their dealings with Ish in Mass Effect Galaxy.

I didn't realize this was the "reward" before because I never had Jacob or Miranda with me while completing his mission.

That's right, the bonus is some random conversation about an NPC. Congratulations.
So yeah, it happens toward the beginning of the game, after you have gotten Archangel and/or Mordin, you see him outside Afterlife and he asks you to find him some datapads. If you have both Miranda and Jacob they will talk about it. Seems pretty darn lame to me, but such is life.

Mass Effect 2 on first playthrough - Part 1

nospam@example.com (John) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Beat Mass Effect 2 recently and managed to get all but 3 achievements: Insanity - Beat the game on Insanity difficulty; Overload Specialist - Use Overload to destroy a shield 25 times (only did this 22 times); Warp Specialist - Use Warp to destroy a Barrier 25 times (only did this a few times). I probably could have gotten Overload and Warp, but didn't realize that you actually had to finish off the Shield/Barrier with Overload/Warp in order for it to count. That and not many enemies had Barrier.

I ended up putting in just over 40 hours in my first playthrough.

At the end it tells you that you can keep playing and will now have the option to use this character for your next playthrough (basically New Game +). I had already done well... everything so I just ran around listened to the conversations and then decided to start a new game to see what carries over.

What carries over:

Level/Experience
Guns - both Heavy and Regular
Skills - Your skills look exactly the same as how you left them on the save before you imported, minus your bonus skill (Tip: Use Retrain Powers before you save and import, that way you can reallocate everything when you start).
Armor - All the armor pieces and sets you have are still there
Bonus Skills - Each of the squadmates that were loyal to you had a bonus skill that you could use, you get to pick which you want when start a new game

What doesn't carry over:

Paragon/Renegade Points - This was the biggest disappointment to me
Upgrades - Anything you researched will need to be researched again
Money/Resources - I finished the game with over 50k Element Zero, 300k Iridium, 250k Platinum and Palladium, and 44k Credits - all gone. However, you do start with 50k of each mineral and 200k credits.
Squadmates/Loyalties - Not surprising that you don't get your buddies as getting them was a large part of the game, or that they aren't still loyal

Since I beat the game at Level 30 (which is the level cap), I don't know if I'll do another playthrough as that character. Yeah, I still need to beat the game on Insane mode and having a fully leveled character will help with that, but I'd rather try out a different character class. I was an Infiltrator and rarely used my Class Ability (Cloak), though the time slowdown when zooming in with the Sniper Rifle was great. I'm thinking of being a Sentinel next, that way I have both Overload and Warp on my character.

Any readers played/playing/beaten Mass Effect 2? What class did you choose and did you like it?

Tomorrow's post will contain some more thoughts on Mass Effect 2, specifically, the composition of my End Game Team and how I kept everyone alive!

Review: Safe Shot Indoor Range in Reno, NV

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Safe Shot Indoor Range
9425 Double R Blvd
Reno, NV 89521
775-284-8984

Very short summary: DO NOT GO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Ultra Expensive. Ultra Black Lung.

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Mass Effect 2 - The First Hour

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Mass Effect 2 came out yesterday.

Jon and I both preordered long ago and were quite happy to receive our release day deliveries from Amazon (Prime, FTW).

I have only played an hour or two thus far but here's what I think, and yes there will be spoilers.
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Human Target: Pilot

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

I happened to tune into Hulu last night looking for some entertainment and their top scrolled landed on a a pilot for a new TV series titled "Human Target" (which is based on a comic, which I knew nothing about till I checked Wikipedia). I vaguely remember seeing a commercial for it that was interesting, so I gave it a shot.

The first thing I noticed is that the main character, a "Christopher Chance" looked very familiar. Turns out the actor, Mark Valley, was also on Fringe as Olivia's boyfriend/partner. Amusing how many bit part players become main players on their own shows these days. The second thing that caught my attention was during the client 'interview', before she was even shown on screen, was that sexy Cylon voice we all love... Tricia Helfer. I know she had some notches in her belt before Battlestar Galactica, but damn that really launched her. She's seems to be everywhere these days. She was in C&C3, Burn Notice, Chuck, Warehouse 13, Halo 3: ODST, Mass Effect 2 and StarCraft 2. Props to the casting people at 'Human Target', if you're gonna start with style, go big.

I found it of great amusement that they decided to use the "Monterey Line", a high speed rail line from San Fran to LA, as their backdrop for a majority of the first episode. Now the California High-Speed Rail project was approved by us voters to the tune of $10 billion, but they haven't even STARTED it let alone get anywhere close to it being finished. Plus if CalTrans is anyway involved with the project, the sun with grow cold and die before the rail line is done. I guess Human Target just wants to stay slightly ahead of current? Hey, they even properly inflated the cost of the project to standard post-CalTrans specs... $82 billion.

The show definitely has a sense of humor, and I enjoy that. Just enough to take the edge off of the serious overtones. I'm not sure how I feel about the show yet, it was good, not great. There wasn't nearly enough comedy to carry it on that. I felt that from an action perspective the show was a little bit too slow in a lot of portions. From a thriller perspective, there just wasn't enough... thrill. I'm more than willing to watch more, but I think the show needs to find its feet, and pick a style.
Lastly, to kick a show while it is down... the intro sequence leaves a lot to be desired. It is... forgettable.

P.S. Danny Glover, that is definitely going big!

Completed Army of Two: The 40th Day

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Last night I finished AoT:TFD for the first time. I know, it is shocking that a gamer like me would take almost a week to beat the game, but I've got a few good reasons. #1 I was only playing online with a friend when we both had the time. #2 STO took precedence. #3 It is kinda hard to go to another shooter after MW2.

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Review: StarCraft Ghost: Nova

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Before you start, No, this is not the video game. I read StarCraft Ghost: Nova the book. It is supposed to give you some back story on the character "Nova" who was to be the heroine of StarCraft: Ghost (the video game). The book release was supposed to coincide with the game, but alas the game never materialized. Fortunately for us, the book was still written so they still went ahead and published it (way back in 2006). I realize this review is a wee bit late, but I read it and enjoyed it and thought it was worth sharing.

So the first thing that I must say is that this is not the first video game series gone book that I've read. I've read and enjoyed all of the Halo books, when I started with Halo: Contact Harvest which I've previously blogged about. This was my first book in the StarCraft realm though, and it was most definitely enjoyable.

(No Plot Spoilers)
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Oh, Chuck Me...

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

So last night was the 2 hour season premier of Chuck (Season 3). Very exciting. A while back I lent my mother Chuck Season 1 and then, this last week, Season 2 and got her hooked. So last night I took a little jaunt over to her place to so we could watch Chuck together!
I've got no cable, so normally I have to wait for downloads/streams. Anyways, I was overall pleased with how Season 3 started, but I had a few comments/thoughts and figured I'd share with the class. No major plot spoilers though.

The season starts off 6 months beyond where season 2 left off with Chuck, as usual, in trouble. The thing that I found odd immediately was that it was General Beckman in his ear. Even more odd, and this is shown more throughout the 2 hour premier, General Beckman is much softer this season. You can actually hear some compassion in her voice when she tells Chuck how much he sucks. Very odd. I'm hoping that there is some explanation forthcoming, like they bonded during training or something.

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Review: Flashforward (book)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

This fall the new series "FlashForward" premiered on ABC. I'd seen the previews of it and thought it was an interesting concept. It didn't catch my attention as a good concept for a TV show, but more from a "What if this were real?" scenario. What would you do if you saw the the future? How would it effect you? If it was something bad, would you try to change the outcome? If it was something good, would you try to hasten it? Is our destiny predetermined?

All of these questions sprung to mind, which made me curious and interested to see how the the TV show would handle all this (and more). So far, it isn't great, but it isn't bad. I know the review's aren't terribly positive, but I'm sticking with the "wait and see". During that "waiting" period (re-enforced by yet another mid-season break), I found out that there was a book by the same name (not that this should surprise me). Over the holidays I had time so my kindle.

Overall, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the book. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Now, the TV show is based on the book, but there are some major differences. First off, in the book the FlashFoward is 21 years, not 6 months. The second major change is that in the book the FBI isn't involved at all, the protagonists are Lloyd Simcoe and Theo Procpides, who work at CERN (just like the TV show). The third and final major difference is that there is no major conspiracy (as there is in the TV show).

(No major plot spoilers)
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Review: High Fidelity - Book and Film

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Recently, I read High Fidelity on my Kindle.

I had watched the movie a while back and remembered it fondly, so I decided to read it on my Kindle.

After reading the book, I thought it seemed a bit different than what I recalled form the movie, so I netflixed it and watched it on Wednesday.

Warning: Potential Spoilers Abound - I'm comparing a book and a movie so that should be fairly obvious.
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Review: Brothers-All-Natural Crisps

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Recently, at CostCo I picked up a variety pack of Brothers-All-Natural Crisps, I had previously experienced these in Disneyland, specifically the Asian Pears.

Having enjoyed these at Disneyland, I decided to go for the pack, which included Strawberry Banana and Fuji Apple.

Thus far, I think the Strawberry Banana pack is my favorite. It has a different texture than the Apple and Pear crisps, which are very melt in your mouth. Additionally, nutritionally the Strawberry Banana pack offer the most value (41% of your daily dose of Vitamin C).

All three are very tasty and very low in calories (Strawberry Banana being the highest at 45), and actually quite filling, though I have yet to try to use them as a substitute for a meal (nor do I plan to do so). I do however keep a bag in my desk drawer to snack on while I'm at work.

Lastly, Amazon has quite a selection beyond what I have tried.

Recommendation: Buy a pack! These are great healthy, and more importantly, tasty snacks.

Review: 2012 (The Movie)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

I'm not a huge fan of this entire 2012 hype/hysteria. So many people are panicking over this shit, that NASA had to make a website specifically to debunk it.

That being said, it really isn't a problem in the movie because they really don't go into that much depth about it. The movie shows the planetary alignment, but doesn't talk about it that much. They show mass suicide at a Mayan temple, briefly. Mostly the destruction of the Earth is due to elevated solar flare activity which throws off "lots" more neutrinos which go about "microwaving" the core of the Earth. The core gets hotter, the shell gets hotter, things start to break apart... and California sinks into the ocean, which was John's favorite part of the movie.

I could spend the next 30 minutes picking apart all the horrible flaws in the science and glaring issues with the movie, like say a plane flying through an ash cloud... but I'll spare you. Instead why don't you take a peak a this Real Life Comic which does a fantastic job summarizing it.

What do I think? Yes, go see it. It is a decent flick where things get blown and the Earth is destroyed. The special effects are fairly good too.

Review: Meat-free BBQ Pulled Shreds

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Fake Pork, it's what's for dinner.

Lately, I've been working on being more healthy with my eating habits. Having a Whole Foods Market fairly close by certainly makes this easier, as it has a much larger selection of organic and vegetarian foods.
NOTE: I am not in any way a vegetarian, however, vegetarian food is generally higher in certain nutritious qualities (such as Protein) and lower in the less useful qualities (i.e. Saturated Fat).

Recently, while I was at Whole Foods Market, I saw the following item:
gardein meat-free bbq pulled shreds.

I was quite curious about this as I am a big fan of BBQ (being from Texas and all), so I tossed it in my bag.

Preparation is quite easy. Poke a hole or seven in the bag and then nuke it for 2.5 minutes. I didn't have any buns, so I sliced a cheese bagel and toasted it. Initially, I thought that the bag really wouldn't contain 2 servings and tried to fit it all on a bagel, but it ended up spilling out, so I tossed it into a bag for another evening.

Consistency was just like a pulled pork sandwich, however it tasted more like chicken.

Final Verdict: Tasty and would buy again. Very quick and easy meal.