Archive for October, 2011

St. Louis Cardinals World Series Champions!

Posted in Sports with tags , , , , on 29/10/2011 by arthur1977

What a great run the St. Louis Cardinals had over the last month of the season and through out the playoffs!  It looked like they were down and out on many different occasions just to battle back and stay alive.  I loved seeing on of my all time favorite pitchers take the mound in the deciding game and battle through 6 innings for the win, nice job Chris Carpenter.

Enjoy the off-season guys, you are now the Champions and the team people will be gunning for next year 🙂

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Posted in Games, PS3 with tags , , on 28/10/2011 by arthur1977

Well I finally managed to find time to go back and finish Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and truly enjoyed the experience.  This game has to have some of the most beautiful background scenery of any game I can remember.  The story was engaging and kept me wanting to turn my PS3 back on and continue Gabriel’s quest for the God Mask. 

I have limited recent experience playing this style of game since I never tried my hand at playing The God of War series and I found the bosses challenging on anything but the Skirmish (easy) setting.  The puzzles and plat forming parts of the story we really well designed and a nice break from the pure carnage sections of the game.  I do admit I cheated a little by referencing the games walkthrough done by Colin on IGN.com.  My main reason for doing this was to guarantee that I found all the gems I could to upgrade my health and magic (trust me I needed them!). 

I have been a casual Castlevania fan for years and like the new main character they introduced into the series in Gabriel Belmont.  I liked all the twists and turns at the end of the game and the nice little cut scene at the end of the credits left me intrigued on how they planned to continue this series.  I hope that Lords of Shadow was successful enough that a sequel is in the plans to continue Gabriel’s quest.

After all was said and done I would up with 28% of the trophies and a very enjoyable experience playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.  I would recommend this game to God of War fans and anyone who likes a beautifully designed action plat former.

Grande Bold No Room, Please!

Posted in Life with tags , , on 26/10/2011 by arthur1977

The last three times I have visited my regular Starbucks the Baristas saw me walk in and had my Coffee waiting for me by the time I hit the cash register.

Do you think I have a problem?

Would you say “Yes” if I also pointed out that this Starbucks is also my Safe House in Please Stay Calm.

🙂

My Please Stay Calm Strategy

Posted in Games with tags , , , on 24/10/2011 by arthur1977

Well, I have been playing Please Stay Calm for about a week and I am still hooked.  There seems to be a variety of different ways to experience this amazing game.  You can try going full Extreme zombie hunter, Scavenger extraordinaire, Dual Master or a mix of all three.

I have decided to take the split Scavenger / Duel Master route.  I have spent the last several days working on getting my Safe House to level 2 with the 2 dueling trees maxed out.  I have been spending most of my energy not on Killing Zombies (leveling up) but scavenging for supplies to upgrade all my weapons and armor.  While doing this I have also started dueling other zombie hunters in the area.  To not over tax the people in my local area I have been expanding my dueling area by just randomly typing in a few characters to see who comes up.

This strategy has been working well for me because I tend to be a relaxed gamer, for those looking for more glory I would suggest a Zombie Hunter focus with a bit of scavenger for upgrades would defiantly be the way to go.  That is one of the great aspects about this game, you can play it any way you choose.

If you want to share your strategy please post it in the comment section and I will share it for anyone interested.  Also if you want to make a few suggestions to improve my game plan feel free I am always willing to listen.

Please Stay Calm!

Posted in Games, iPod with tags , , , on 19/10/2011 by arthur1977

Please Stay Calm is fun little survivor horror game that transforms your current location into a Zombie filled play ground.  As you check out each location on your map you get the option to either search it for supplies or KILL ZOMBIES!  Both actions are equally important as supplies are used to increase your weapons armor and you need money to buy them.  You also have the option of dueling your other zombie fighting partners throughout the land.  You can level different areas of your character up to become a better zombie hunter, dueler or scavenger.  A nice feature is the ability to set up safe houses in areas to partner up with other players.  You can upgrade your safe house buy putting money into perks like doing more damage or having stronger armor.

I only have a few little drawbacks with this great title.  Being in a more spaced out area I am limited to people I can duel or have to take a distance penalty.  Secondly, no matter where I put my outposts I still get a docked a % for them being too far away. My mistake with this issue, I figured out that if you are if you are currently at the location of your outpost your receive no penalty its only when you do all your collecting from the main menu.

Besides those draw backs I am really enjoying killing zombies in my community.  I even slide out at lunch to quickly scavenge for a few more supplies. I am looking forward to seeing how this game develops going forward!

My Resistance 3 Review

Posted in Games, PS3 with tags , , , , on 11/10/2011 by arthur1977

I finally finished Resistance 3 Friday night and think it’s best one yet. The campaign sends you from the small town of Haven to the big city, New York. The environments and characters are beautifully rendered and bring a sense of desperation that fits the story. The voice acting makes you relate to the characters.

I am glad they went back and brought the weapon wheel from Resistance: Fall of Man. It’s great having a variety weapons to chose from and upgrading them really helps out when you are approaching the end of the game.

The ability to play split screen Co-op really boosted the appeal of Resistance 3 for me (even if you co-op partner is a ghost to the NPC’s telling the story). I have spent about 6 hours playing with my friends locally and we have made it to chapter 13 (I think, very early NY). Having the extra firepower of a partner is extremely helpful in some of the more intensive battles.

I have only spent a few hours playing online multi player and love how the maps are from all over the world. Leveling up and being able to select different skill for your character really helps to fit the players game style.

Overall I think this game is amazing. It’s graphics and gameplay are all well done. The story is enjoyable but for my taste I hoped the ending would have been a little different. I would have liked to have learned more of the Chimera and their history on earth, but that can be fixed by making another game. If you have a PS3 and enjoy first person shooters I strongly suggest you get your hands on a copy of Resistance 3!

Also if you enjoy podcasts check out The Resistance 3 spoiler cast done by the great people at IGN.

Tactical Warrior for the iPhone

Posted in Games with tags , on 04/10/2011 by arthur1977

I happened upon a great little iPhone game sometime last week that has got me hooked.  Tactical Warrior is a turned based strategy RPG that is a lot of fun to play.  It reminds me of a slimmed down version of Final Fantasy Tactics from back in the day (minus the story).  

There are 10 classes of warriors in the game and you get to customize their skills (both attacking and passive) to reflect your game style. My favorite class so far has to be the Alchemist and their ability to throw exploding potions of Fire or Poison.  There are three different battle types for you to fight your way through that include kill them all, destroy the base, and survive X waves of enemies.  The only slight nock on this game is that the graphics are not amazing, but for me since I prefer overall game play over graphical marvels this is not an issue at all.

I just made it act 2 but must say I am fully addicted.  I look forward exploring more of this wonderful game!