Skyrim

Skyrim

This game has a reputation as being the absolute most addictive game ever made, and to tell you anything else would make me a liar.  But is the game perfect?  The answer is no, no game is.  However, we can still look at the facts to see just how close it came.

What First?

When you first start playing skyrim you are being taken somewhere with a few other people, presumed to be criminals, who you later find out are members of the stormcloaks, rebels fighting for syrim’s freedom from the Empire.  After stopping in a small town everyone gets lined up to be executed.  After a guard realizes that you’re not on the list he asks who you are, the camera pans over to you, and from there you design your character.  After spending hours detailing your character, you are brought to the chopping block and about to be executed, when...XXXBLOCKEDXTOXAVOIDXSPOILERSXXX.

Leveling

Like all RPG’s skyrim has a leveling system for your character, this time there’s a slight twist.  As you use various skills such as single handed weapons, specific types of magic, shields, stealth, so-on and so-forth, that particular skill gains experience and levels.  As these skills level up, so does your character.  Every time you level up you chose between magica (magic ‘ammo’), stamina, or health, to increase by ten points, as well as getting one perk point.  These perk points can be used to gain perks in the specific skills, provided you have the required skill level.  These perks can make you more effective at that skill or allow a new technique to be used.   So in a nutshell, if you want to be a better at picking locks then go pick some locks, if you want to be better at swinging a sword, go swing your sword, and when perks are available, pick ones you will frequently use and you will get a character nearly perfect for you.

Visuals / Audio

Step one – look at the ground (in game) and walk somewhere

Step two – look up

Step three – pick your jaw up off the ground, wipe the tears from your eyes, and try to find sanity in your mind after you realize that yes, the beauty you’re seeing is in game

So if that statement hasn’t made it clear go Google search “skyrim landscapes” and you will see; this game is beautiful.  No sound feels out of place, and the music track will make you think you’re watching a high budget movie.

Game-play

The game-play in this game is as to be expected from any Bethesda game, incredible range and magic, though the melee feels a bit like swinging a nerf sword rather than a sharp piece of steel.  Despite the considerably uninspiring swordplay no matter what you do the game never fails to be addictive.   With an expansive world of 16 square miles, not including dungeons, caves , and tombs, you will never run out of places to go and things to do.

Over All

9.5/10

Though many people will argue that this score is unfair, skyrim does have some bug problems.  Glitches are very easy to find, though they don’t generally screw with game-play.  The blank slate approach to the beginning of the game truly lets you make the game what you want it to be.  If I could in good conscience recommend this game to you, I would be dooming you to hours and hours of being addictively glued to the console.  Get this game at the peril of your own social life.

Online grievances

At some point or another we've all played online multiplayer videogames.  With as many people are online, there’s bound to be people who don't mind using cheap tricks and tactics for the sake of an electronic victory, this is just a sad fact.  Some of these people might not recognize the agony it causes the other people, while others do not.  But in almost every case, they just don’t care.
Now, before I go on, I must first say that what these people do are not against the rules of the games, but are rather abuses of systems in the game itself, or just tactics that take the fun of the game away from everyone else. For this week’s blog I will be highlighting a few common of these grievances so you can recognize them, deal with those who partake in them, and avoid doing them yourself.

Spawn-Camping-
            This tactic is one of the most common in first person shooters, and takes place in objective based game modes where a team’s spawn point (area where players reenter the game once they die) never changes.  The basics of this strategy are to wait near, in, or within line of sight of the opposing teams spawn area, and take kill them within mere yards of where they spawned. 

Noob-Tubers-
            A noob-tube is a grenade launcher that is mounted under the barrel of an assault rifle.  While this has many tactical uses, it becomes a grievance when people use a perk that lets them gather ammo for it from dead enemies, and fires the impact explosives at the ground near opponents.  It is often tough to get through a game with someone doing this because they require little effort to hit you with an instant kill explosive.  The best advice I can give is to switch to flak jacket and hope for the best.

Camping-
            This is where a player “strategically holds a position” usually in non-objective game modes.  Utilizing shotguns, burst fire rifles, and defensive equipment, they stay in a specific spot, moving only to aim, and farming kills.  While the small cases can usually be over looked, large time offenders can be a pain, though relatively easy to deal with. (snipers don’t fall under this category as this is the nature of the gun)

Quick-scoping
            This is a technique used in the Call of Duty series.  The way the game is programmed, when you pear through a sniper scope, the gun sways back and forth a bit.  However, when you pull the scope up to your eye, the lens starts out perfectly centered. So by firing the gun before the scope is fully pulled up you can use this, one shot kill gun in close quarter combat. 

Assassins Creed Online-
            In general the assassin’s creed multi player system is great, but many people don’t play it the way it should be played.  The game is meant to be a stealth game that rewards players for stylish kills.  Nobody does this, they just run around the roofs of buildings getting areal kills, they run around the open giving themselves away, and making it difficult in general to play the game in true assassins creed fasion.

Please leave comments about your opinion of these grievances, and even tell of some others you have encountered.

Nexuiz

because of an unforgivingly busy schedule, i have not had time to play a new game this week.  So instead i will be giving my first impressions on a game that i'm quite excited about, Nexuiz.  Pronounced nexus, this game has a "tron meets metroid prime hunters" feel in a classic arena style shooter, all with its own unique twist. 
An arena shooter has a faster pace than the more realistic kind, generally the characters have more health, and you would never take cover.  it puts you in the middle of firefights where, if you want to not get shot, you have to out maneuver as well as out aim your opponent.  each of the several maps seem relatively small (though i don't know for sure) and just as vertical as horizontal.  with a variety of weapons scattered throughout the map, and the starting weapon a shotgun, you have to be quick when you spawn.

the key feature that this game has that make it unique is the dynamic mutator system.  basically by getting pick-ups or killstreakes you will get the choice between 3 random mutators.  these mutators come in 5 categories; yourself, your team, enemy team, everyone, and WTF. (I'm not joking)  they can range from infinite ammo until you die, to temporary reduced gravity, everyone goes to 3rd person view, even 10 seconds of inverted controls for the oponent team.  there are over a hundred diferent mutators, none of which seem likely to unbalance the play of the game as bad as the CoD kill streak system. 

Graphically the game is beautifull, so much more than ecpected from an indie-developer with a crew size in the single digits.  for the price of about $15, i would say its worth looking into and i cant wait to get it myself.