November 28, 2012Comments Off on Serious Fun In Third "Serious Sam"
I can seriously say that I have not been able to play any of the past Serious Sam games. However I found Serious Sam 3: BFE to bring me back to old-style gaming like Doom, Duke Nukem, and everything else in-between. It’s like they brought back the simplistic shooter with better graphics and some funny one-liners.
So if you’re wondering what “BFE” means, it’s Before First Encounter, meaning this is a prequel to the original game Serious Sam: First Encounter. With getting started it explains that the planet had run out of the fossil fuels. Somehow while digging out under the Egyptian Pyramids they had found an ancient energy source that was able to bring humanity back to where it was going. After the activation of this equipment it sends out a beacon that calls the alien enemy to earth, causing the earth to end up near-extinction and the aliens taking over most of the world. The humans believe if they can activate this time machine, they can send in Serious Sam to take care of the aliens.
Serious Sam 3 is fun, but it’s also a bit janky. What I mean to say there are some choppy parts in the game where you try to go to the next part, but it won’t load. I’ve had a bit of issues with the moving on from checkpoint to checkpoint. After spending a lot of time trying to kill the monster that took over my helicopter, I found myself walking around for a bit until I finally hit the checkpoint that started the cinema for the next part. I’m not sure if that was the intention of the people who designed the game, because this game is like a retro update of Duke Nukem 3D (except much better graphics).
I really feel that this game was designed more on the aspect of playing on the computer instead of a console. I think that it’s much easier on the keyboard and mouse setup to play this game, as I found it to be a pain in the ass to figure out the control scheme to switch between weapons. They do have a memory switch on them, so when you go between two weapons you just press Y and it will get you back to the other weapon. To pick the one you want you have to go through the D-pad, which makes it hard because the weaponry is like wrapped around that scheme, where it’s not just up and down but on the diagonal part of the D-Pad. It does make it hard to try and grab the guns when these waves of aliens are coming at you, especially when the suicide bombers come after you. (I can’t help but laugh when they come running at you. This is all you hear!)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Serious Sam 3: BFE isn’t a letdown, but it has been hard to gauge how to give the whole perspective of the game. It uses a lot of the same aliens with the same skins, and they seem to be on a direct path towards you. The other thing is with the aiming, where you basically have to point in the area of the aliens and hold the trigger down. It’s really not too challenging when your using guns. Next to that you have to take into aspect the use of closed quarters weapons like the sledgehammer, which gives the game a good challenge. Melee is a good option, too, for closed quarters.
With that all said, I think what would be best is what suits you. If you go to the arcade on Xbox Live I say download it and give it a try, and if you feel it’s worth it then put the money down for the whole game. With me I would have to take a look at the bank account and say, is this game worth it? In most places the game is worth it, but I have to leave this one up to you, readers.
FINAL GRADE: 7.8 (out of ten)
Game: Serious Sam 3: BFE Developer:Croteam Publisher: Devolver Digital Platforms: PC, Mac and Xbox 360 Genre: First-person shooter
November 27, 2012Comments Off on Episode CLXII: U & Me Make Wii (Part One)
It’s the launch of a new system, and what better way to jump on it than have some bad-ass guests on the show!
King Baby Duck and Blueonic are joined by Issues Guy, J.C. Riley, The DCD, and HipHopGamer as they show their thoughts on the new Wii U system from Nintendo. The surprising lack of lines, Miiverse, the unneeded slack the Big N got for their updates, and where Nintendo stands against the sure-to-be-announced soon next consoles from Microsoft and Sony!
November 26, 2012Comments Off on Join The B3 Crew For A Night Of Hip-Hop
For the first time ever, get a chance to see the Boston Bastard Brigade MC-ing a concert!
On Friday December 14 join King Baby Duck and Blueonic for a night of nerdcore hip-hop at the Walnut Street Coffee Cafe in Lynn, MA. Get into the holiday festive spirit with such talented artists like Force of Will, Shane Hall, Danny Fantom, Animatronic the Abolisher, and special guest L. Bass. The show starts at 8:30 p.m.
November 21, 2012Comments Off on New DLC Makes "Sniper Elite" Redux Worth Revisiting
Recently the guys over at Rebellion and 505 Games released new DLC for the very well-made game Sniper Elite V2, and for once they delivered with what I’ve been asking for!
So if you have not been able to play this game you may want to download the demo, as it will blow your mind literally and figuratively. With the new DLC, they have split the multiplayer in two. There is now the co-op section that was originally placed in the game that was awesome to play during the first month of its lifespan. However there’s only so much fun you can have just sitting there and blasting away Nazi bots with someone else in the multiplayer realm. With that said they finally made an Adversarial add-on.
Adversarial has added the aspect of playing against other people online with new maps, which will really test those sniper skills you obtained from playing the in-game content. Surprisingly they have a good amount added in, such as Team Deathmatch (cross and no cross versions), Deathmatch, Team Distance King (cross and no cross), and Distance King. Deathmatch is pretty much self-explanatory, but for the one that has no cross. This one has taken the aspect of the map and split it in two. The two teams start on their opposite sides, and they only have their rifles at the ready to find the enemy and take them out. They can not pass go on the barrier, let alone collect the 200 dollars. I find this makes it fun because then you don’t have to worry about people sneaking up on you and getting killed a bunch of times.
Now your probably wondering what the Distance King is? This is the setup of where the team or individual with the longest total distance shot win! The other thing they have added to this is the amount of distance that is taken in each kill shot. Believe me: it’s pretty challenging when you place as a Marksman or Sharpshooter in the game. You do need to pay a lot of attention to the distance, as well as the windage of the shot. I’ve gotten good shots off, but then when you’re at the longest distance possible it’s like one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with. You’ve got to imagine trying to shoot a bullet that doesn’t have any extra powder in it, and then gauge how much drop there will be. I found myself in sniper battles with people where you can see the trail of the bullet coming from the other opponent, and it’s awesome to see how much the bullet has curved.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I have to bow down to the awesomeness of this game. It’s what I have been looking for since the original game came out on the original Xbox, and did I mention it’s free?! Another thing I must mention for a lovely 400 XBL points ($5.00 on PSN) you can buy the new gun add-on which gives you the M1 Carbine rifle, the MP44 SMG, and the Webley Mk6 Revolver. I found these new add-ons to be amazing!
But to be a bit straight forward to you, the only problems that I have found with the game is that people have found glitches. (Go figure, right?) More or less the people who do it should be beaten with in an inch of your life. They find ways to get into walls where they can shoot out, but no one can shoot in. A beautiful thing that they built into the game is the vote kick, ergo kicking the cheater out. Also with the new guns I found that the Webley MK6 seems to be a bit over powered. I was on one of the maps, and it seemed that there was one guy that kept running up behind us, even after laying land/trip mines down. He could come up and just quickly do one shot to take them out. I know some revolvers are a bit strong, but I’m not sure if that pistol is that strong.
Besides that little negative aspect (which is almost in every game, where someone is trying to ruin everyone else’s fun) The new add-on for Sniper Elite V2 is exactly what I’ve been looking for. So plop down in your favorite chair, pull out the binoculars, and prepare to play the best hide-and-seek sniper game ever! I’m serious, this is the challenge of patience timing and skill that is needed in a game such as this. Again most of our latest generation has a patience and attention span of a walnut, so if you have the capabilities of patience and everything else it is to be an Elite Sniper this game is for you!
November 20, 2012Comments Off on Episode CLXI: Oh No, He’s Going To Tell Another Story!
O Bastard, My Bastard, our fearful show is here!
In this week’s episode Blueonic gripes about the bad side of celebrating Thanksgiving, while King Baby Duck thinks of ways of making the feast even better with the help of a deep-fryer. Spielberg’s latest film Lincoln is reviewed, as the duo thinks back at how much the political party system has changed since the passing of the 13th Amendment. The demo of Need For Speed: Most Wanted is looked at, with both guys perplexed by how much of a step back the game looks compared to Hot Pursuit. Blueonic praises the new DLC content of Sniper Elite V2, and the Bastards say farewell to Twinkies.
November 13, 2012Comments Off on Episode CLX: Think Of Your Sins, Mr. Bond!
The Bastards love it shaken, not stirred.
This week the B3 are excited about the news that happened on the day of Tuesday, November 6, leaving both King and Blueonic jumping for joy about the future of one of their favorite things. The demos for Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and F1 Race Stars are looked at, and King describes why the new Karateka remake is nothing but bad news. Finally James Bond comes full circle in the review for Skyfall.
November 6, 2012Comments Off on Episode CLIX: You’re Business…This Is Pleasure!
It was a double-feature weekend for the Bastards…
This week the B3 crew review the new RZA-helmed The Man With The Iron Fists, which pays homage to classic kung-fu films of yesteryear. The video game-influenced Wreck-It Ralph is also on the table, a movie that just may be the best of its kind. Blueonic goes hands-on with the Wii U (yes, WII U) demo for Rayman Legends, and gives his thoughts on the new controller setup. Finally the demos for pid, F1 2012, and Home Run Stars are looked at.
October 30, 2012Comments Off on Episode CLVIII: Official Cause Of Accident: Pussy!
A brand-new episode awaits, as if it was told in a dream…
This week the Bastards gripe about the Halloween happenings in Salem, but calm down when they chat about the recent Flobots/Astronautalis/H.W. & Emoh Betta show at T.T. the Bear’s. The movie Cloud Atlas is explained in the best way possible, with mixed ratings from all the group members. King Baby Duck and Blueonic get their Happy Wars on, KBD tries his hardest to showcase the strengths and faults of the Nike+ Kinect Training demo, and Teg gets jolly about A Game of Dwarves and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
October 24, 2012Comments Off on Improvements In New "Counter Strike" Are Only Seen Slightly
Okay, you know I like Counter Strike as much as the next first-person shooter gamer, but Global Offensive is basically a minor revamping to the other Counter Strike installments. Don’t get me wrong: I love running around and laying waste to enemies, but I’m not sure if this is just another baby step taken by Valve.
With watching the video, it makes the game look even more interesting; almost like if I was watching that Deadliest Warrior episode with the SWAT vs. GSG9 or IRA vs. Taliban. However I feel with playing the new Counter Strike they have only done little tweaks here and there from the original game. They have upgraded the graphics, brought it onto the console, and have given and taken away certain attributes of the original title. Seeing that this game is originally PC-based they didn’t do it that way. From my understanding they took it, developed it for the consoles, and then reversed to the PC (instead of the other way around). That sucks for the concept of the PC user, due to the fact they have different movement schemes and way more buttons to push then just any old game controller.
GAMEPLAY:
Let’s start off with Arms Race, where you have to go through a round on a five-against-five setup on only two maps, which is a disappointment. However it’s one hell of a challenge. The setup to have either five people or bots playing in one map is great, but the fun part of it all is that you start with submachine guns and work your way through the set gun list until you get to the golden knife, which if you can stab someone with it the round will automatically end. The fun part about Arms Race is trying to get the kills before the other people on your team, so you keep getting the edge on the weapons. Usually when I’m on this game I just simply wreck a lot of the competition, or get a good rival on so it makes it one great challenge. This may frustrate other people who haven’t gotten used to play this style of game. It’s almost like playing the old Quake, but in a less bunny hopping around the whole map in two seconds deal sort of way. If you decide to hop or — as I like to call it– Halo jump you lose a lot of accuracy, so it’s better to be crouched or standing to take out opponents.
Another game mode is Demolition, where they have terrorists run to plant a bomb at a specific site, and the Counter-Terrorists have to take out all of the terrorists before the bomb’s placed or defuse the bomb to win. Next to that there is just Classic Casual, which has the Demolition and Hostage Rescue for this mode. They have it set at best-of-ten rounds, and friendly fire is off so your teammates can’t kill you. Just remember: when you go into the custom matchmaking, be sure to switch the map selection after choosing. Finally there is Classic Competitive, which has no big differences besides friendly fire being on and it now being a best-of-thirty rounds.
Besides the new Arms Race add-on, I don’t really see any new maps they put on. Basically they polished this game and slapped it on the system to keep the game’s name alive. This gives me a bit of hope that Valve may have put this franchise on the back burner, bur has some plans in the future for it to be another ultimate game to build off of. I’m not sure how you can change the simplicity of this game to make it that more amazing, but I feel this is a nostalgic throwback to about twelve years ago when the game originally came out.
This also makes me believe that whenever they come out with the next installment of Half-Life it will be a bit better. When the first one came out it had these games as attachments, such as Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike, Blue Shift, and all the other goodies they gave us. The issue that I have with Valve is that they haven’t done any real updates that I’ve seen for the console version Orange Box. I know they have come out with a ton of updates on Steam, but they have not done it for the Xbox 360 or PS3. It makes me think they have neglected the console realm, but I have not lost hope for Steam to help out, even though it’s not usually one of their first go-to places to release a game.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all I think Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a great throwback to the original. It’s all polished up and ready to go, but I’m not expecting any great leaps and bounds with this game regarding updates and the such. It’s just a way to hop on a game, relieve some stress, and leave it at that. This game has a high replay value due to the competitiveness of the game from the past twelve years, acting like one of those time vampires in a similar vein to World of Warcraft. Still I love playing Counter Strike, especially now with the Arms Race as I seem to be really good at laying waste to people and winning a few rounds in a row. If you got a couple Xbox Live/PSN points I say go for it. Have some fun, damn it, and that’s an order!!!
PROS:
Updated graphics
Counter Strike finally on a console!
Added taser, which is cool if you can hit anybody with it
Arms Race is FUN!
Cache of Weapons
CONS:
Almost the same game as before
Went console-to-PC instead of the other way around
Got rid of shield and pistol
Only two maps for Arms Race
GAME:Counter Strike: Global Offensive DEVELOPER: Valve PLATFORM: Steam (PC), XBLA, PSN FINAL GRADE: 8.6 (out of ten)
October 23, 2012Comments Off on One-On-One: Brer Rabbit of Flobots
Hands in the air, Presidents and Prime Ministers! We’ve got one of the main vocalists from the Flobots guesting on another edition of One-On-One!
King Baby Duck sits down with Flobots’ Brer Rabbit, as they chat about his and Johnny 5’s comic book origins (including one hell of an X-Men analogy!), the evolution of the band, and the current political structure of the United States. Plus hear his thoughts on what he feels makes a standout show, his most favorite moment on the new album The Circle In The Square, and a special twist on Three Album Island featuring drummer Kenny Ortiz.
