Category Archives: Games

Games, Playstation

Predator: Hunting Grounds demo review.

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This weekend I’ve played a good bit of Predator: Hunting Grounds, it’s a good bit of fun however the game seems to wear thin rather quickly.

It’s an interesting concept on multiplayer where it’s either four against one or one against four! A well oiled machine of four marines can easily take down the Predator however a skilled player who has learned how the Predator operates can easily kill the squad of marines.

If you play as one of the marines you have different ways to complete the mission. The first being is the generic mission where you have to infiltrate a drug lords camp, eliminate him or collect intel. There seems to be a few different variations on these missions a marine can do. The second element, which is harder to manage is to kill the Predator, the mission will end there with a successful kill.

If you choose to play with the Predator character I strongly recommend you run the tutorial first. There you will learn the basic fundamentals and controls on how to operate the character. From running through trees, how to hunt with its heat vision to straight up dissembling the enemy.

That’s pretty much it, there is no variation for the Predator. Other than that gameplay, like many other games, you can level up, get access to new gear and equipment to help in your hunting quest.

I am not sure if this game will appeal to everyone, it feels limited in it’s scope and my gut is telling me the user-base will dry up quickly after release.

I actually did a livestream for over an hour with zero people watching! But you can view it on YouTube to see how the game operates.

Here is the trailer of the game released via IGN on YouTube.

Games

ARC – Attack Retrieve Capture. The first ever massive-multiplayer game?

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Way back in 1995 two students (John Vechey and Brian Fiete) created a computer game they called Attack Retrieve Capture which they then hosted on a network called Hoopy Entertainment.

This game was effectively a multiplayer game where people around the world with an internet connection could join teams and fight against each other with little flying saucer ships. Before the likes of Modern Warfare and other online games in which eSports has evolved into today. The community then on this game started their own leagues in order to capture the flag and crown the top clan.

Effectively this might have been one of the first ever games to host large numbers of players fighting this style of game. A standard game normally consists of eight players in a 4v4 match. There were other maps that could host 32 players against each other and there were one or two maps that could house 64 players against each other. That’s a lot of players attacking each other in their little ships and maybe this is the historical aspect which has been over-looked by the current industry of techno wizards.

At its height in the 1990s the game had a user base of a few thousand, not a lot but it could have done better if it wasn’t so miss-managed by the companies that brought the game and then swallowed it up into the downfall of Sierra Entertainment.

Sadly, the game is no longer with us, but there are other forms of it out there and the community has passed on.  However, it could be said because of the games unique ability for multiplayer it could have been the first to have such high player numbers facing off against each other. Only history will know.

A snippet of ARC I uploaded years ago to YouTube, looks a bit laggy, joggy, but the game played smoothly. 

Games

Pokemon Go so far

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Well I downloaded the real version this time after its release and I am not sure what I am suppose to do with captured Pokemon other than fight with them. Although it has been a bit of a learning curve, I did manage to evolve one bird before the server crash. Even know I just got to level 5 I haven’t got the chance to fight yet.

I must of spotted around 30 people playing in my local area ranging from 5 to 50. 

I don’t think there are any death traps around here like you see on the news but I figured out that where you capture a Pokemon you will be able to go back to that same spot and capture from there again. 

There doesn’t seem to be any randomisation, in fact it’s using the Ingress overlay, all the hotspots in that are all the same hotspots in Pokemon. Where you capture the little critters seems to be dependant on the XM level in Ingress so you could combine the two games to help you find what you are looking for. 

The downside to this will be a very quick death to your phone. Unless you’re that obsessed to run this way or carry a number of mobile phones your enjoyment will be short lived.

It’s even shorter lived when the server keeps crashing. 

I am sure in the future when they have fixed the issues, there will be those clubs people will be starting up, Pokemon hunting trips, you could go on horse back but the hounds won’t help! 

Well time to go back to charge my phone!

Games

Fake Pokémon Go app tops the Apple charts in the UK.

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It seems thousands of people are being duped into a fake version of Pokemon Go simply titled ‘Go Catch Them All’.

Its full of a huge amount of adverts and it’s basically a trap. How many people have downloaded it I don’t know, but over 1,000 people have posted a review, I would times that by 10 to get a true number of downloads.

The app has two screenshots one is a screenshot to one side of what you what you may see when you load the game. But the main screenshot is a copy from the real Pokemon Go and is probably a breach of copyright.

Although it’s free to download from the app store I hate to know how much they charge for the removal of the ads. And that is a huge £7.99 Followed by the referred income by you clicking on the huge amount of ads inbedded Nguyen who made this has probably made a tidy little sum of money by now!

So heed my warning and play safe people. Be patient and wait for the release of the real game.

Games

Top Eleven iPhone game review

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I wanted too play a good football manager game and there are a lot of good elements here but there are also a multitude of floors.

Being that I am not a Chelsea fan or a Moriniho fan the game entrance is the first sin.

  

You enter the game and you have a home screen showing you who you play next. You get to see your previous result and your positions in three campaigns.

Next is the squad screen where you select the players you want but into my third season the game has dropped half of my team too one star players.

  
I consider this a floor in the game mechanics as players should be improving after each season and not go backwards. When I emailed Nordeus who made the game I wasn’t impressed with the reply. They said players stay the same except when they go up a level they go down a level!

So if you do well and it’s easy to do because I don’t think many people take the game seriously. As I won the league in my first season. In the second season I was in the Champions League, in a cup so my squad got thin.

But you’re only limited to a 25 man team and not 50 as you get by FIFA rules. So I struggled a bit as players get tired and injured. 

So into the third season this game just gets frustrating. It feels like I am going backwards due to what I call floored game mechanics.

I do like the ability to expand the stadium and build it. You get a fincancial boost when all done. But even this element seems pointless. 

  

So with a confusing league structure, players getting crap for winning promotion you are left with a sour taste.

It’s a bit of fun this game. But don’t get your hopes up as I consider there are too many floors that will just annoy you.

Games

Stars Wars Commander review.

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On the iPhone and Android you can download Star Wars Commander. I am reminded of the Command And Conquer series yet so many things are different. For a good while I did really like this game. I loved how you can build, upgrade your base advance technology, then attack other players.

The other elements of the game are missions. A set number of chapter tasks to get you going in a storied tutorial.

After that you should consider the squads where you have to fight for rankings. You have to really concentrate here to make sure you use the correct tactical layout for your base in its defence. And you pick the right units for your attack.

Not to mention you can be imperials or rebels! 

  
There is a lot of depth for this little game and for the advance levelled players this is very challenging and requires you to put a fair amount of game time into the game and be successful.

This is where I hit the brick wall, simple because I am more of a casual gamer. I don’t want to spend five hours a day on a phone game and that felt like the type of people I was playing against.

  
Even with the last update where they added new planets and you were not on just Tatooine anymore. I could no longer keep up with the challenge, I did have good fun. But there are limits for everyone now it’s time for me to try something new.

Games

Ingress why do I bother with this game?

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Ingress is a geographical location based game on the iPhone and Android that I have sometimes played.

I find it interesting in its mechanics, where you have to find a portal in the real world, a historical place or a work of art. Pick your side, hack and claim a portal. 

I am always interested in games and this gets you out and about. So today I went over to Trafalgar Square where I thought an event was going to happen only to realise it was happening in Leicester Square.

So I tried to understand what was going on but to be honest I felt lost. An event called the Abaddon anomaly was taking place where the two factions of the game meet to battle it out for the shards! People there although friendly when I spoke to them seemed unplugged from reality only to be plugged into their mobile phones! There sights were set on claiming or holding Charlie Chaplin.

What I was surprised at were people from the US, Germany and a few other places in Europe came to London to take part. There is no dispute about the reach Ingress has.

  

  

At the time of writing this I am only level 5 and I don’t have much scores in the game next to people around me. It must take an insane amount of time to generate the numbers of hacks, placing resonators, completing missions etc. The game asks you to do a lot and I really can’t be bothered so in the end after a little play, completing two missions I went back to Trafalgar Square and into the National Gallery to dry off the rain.