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Dream From Below, Far Cry 3's Review

Voices From The Past

Oh this game. I do remember this series having a colorful history, more like for it's first release. Far Cry was originally developed by Crytek, using their first rendition of the CryEngine before it made it to Crysis when we then saw the astonishing CryEngine 2. After 5 other release on other consoles to rack in the doe, Far Cry went from awesome and beautiful, to old and ugly as it was ported or recreated on other, low-end devices. After ridiculously short development cycles for other Far Cry 1 games, Ubisoft finally decided to take an actual step forward and develop Far Cry 2 on their own in their Montreal studio. Although not doing as well, Far Cry 2 did just close enough to the original Far Cry. The second stand alone game added an open world environment. Although it had some initial technical issues, most would say it improved in more ways, but might not been up to same level of fun.

Many people in any realm of art or entertainment, would say you can't beat the original. You know, that statement kinda grinds my gears sometimes. It may be true, but if so, why would anyone keep making anything new or newer, if it wouldn't be to improve and possibly make their art better. After all, that is the strive most artists and developers should take. I can safely say right now that, with time, something has potential for being better than it's original and Far Cry 3 does it. How much better is something for you to read on to. Far Cry 3 only echos voices from the first game and is heard from the second. Will Far Cry 3 be heard for years to come, or will this game be an improvement, but a short cry in it's memory?

Arrival

Jason Brody and all of his friends
Saw the magic in their eyes
They were in for a surprise

Far Cry 3 has a open world environment, that seems to be on a Polynesian looking island some where in the Pacific Ocean. That was something that I really wanted to find out about. I also think that the "good people" in the game are some kind of descendants of the Maori people, but what do I know? Enough to say that Far Cry 3 is the most beautiful game to come out this year! I mean of full retail games, Journey still beats it, but that's not even fair. This game is just astonishing. To think that graphics of current generation consoles could not seem any better, this game still says, "Oh we can still look better." Boy does it. You really can't understand how this game is so immerseve and real and gorgeous and life-like and I got to stop saying, 'and', until you get your hands on it! Crytek would even be quite amazed with this game's graphics and overall visual quality.

It gets easy for me now. This is Skyrim with guns! Well, maybe, but not a very accurate description. Only if you just looked at it and find out it's open world, that statement may sound legit. Yes it has a lot of exploration and things to do, but it's more of a Red Dead Redemption in First Person, with both the look and play (we'll get there soon). It also reminded me of Crysis, well yeah, and maybe Skyrim, in terms of size. It's not as big as Skyrim, but is feels big enough. You would think that a modern game with vehicles would need to be bigger, but the terrain of Far Cry 3 also adds to the immersion and makes it so driving is not as easy as one thinks. It has the realism and immersion of Crysis with the size and terrain close to Skyrim. So it's Skyrim meets Crysis in the visual style and it's an awesome combination. The game also makes matters better by adding a whole bunch of dangerous and even silly wildlife. Some times the animals will stop attacking friendlies and even enemies to attack you, which gets annoying, but wont get too bad. Watch out for the crazy Cassowaries, they are freaking murderous!

Victimized

Now that I started sticking a toe in the gameplay waters, let's actually dive into it. Even in gameplay, it is much like Skyrim meets Crysis with a few cut ends. In all the things you can do: main quests, side quests, board jobs, exploration, and driving. Yes, driving is fun enough to count and there are some missions that have time trials. It does make for a enjoyable game that can be played for hours and hours, but then might end quickly. No one could believe that any current generation game is bigger than Skyrim and you'd be right too. Far Cry 3 is at least half the size and one fourth the time to get a 100% completion than Skyrim, but for some it's is enough. I mean, that would lead me to say it's more like Redemption. So as a rebuttal, I will say that in terms of gameplay, it's Red Dead Redemption meets Crysis. Anyone with some minor game knowledge could say Far Cry 3 is big, but it's no Skyrim.

Enough with the comparisons! I will finally say what it feels like to play. When using vehicles and moving through the environment, it feels like Battlefield...3? ARRGG, there I go again! Now I am done. Wait a second! That's what it is! Far Cry 3 is a perfect mix of those three titles: Red Dead Redemption, Battlefield and Crysis. It feels all so familiar and so great. The second one may have played very similar, but I bet it was not nearly as good to play as this one is! So,in the end, it is a very comparable game that mixes some other great games together so no one is left out in cold to play this. Far Cry 3 is  an amazing, wide-open, long game, It is not a super long game to play and it's very easy for any FPS or action gamer to hop in and enjoy.

The Invisible Guests

Let me be honest, I had no idea that multiplayer and even co-op was in this game. I didn't play them nearly as extensively as singleplayer and I also didn't feel they should have been in this game. Co-op is fun to play with a buddy, but gets repetitive and a bit aggravating. Despite those two, it does have a rewarding feeling after completing each level. I am wrong about the competitive side of multiplayer,  though. Competitive multiplayer adds elements from other games, again, like objectives and reviving team mates in Battlefield and a class system and perks like Call of Duty. The game also gives you a health bar, so in stead of getting shot in the face with a weak gun and waiting 3 seconds just to shoot back again, it's more difficult than that. So watch your life! It's interesting and fun, but they still could have made the game longer if they at least excluded the co-op.

Insanity


Definition
1. The state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.
2. Extreme foolishness or irrationality.

Doesn't this sound like a typical storyline? Bunch of friends go to a tropical island and get captured by pirates. I can't think of any movies off of my head, but it sounds very familiar. Easy enough to do right? No, now you got to make me feel for the main character and care about his friends. Far Cry 3 starts with a basic concept and makes it work very well. You play as Jason Brody as hell begins to unfold on a once in a lifetime vacation trip and it's up to you to save your friends and get out alive. Jason develops a little too fast, but it's fine. He goes from, "I've never fired and gun before" to jumping out of a car in motion and shooting up bad guys in less than 20 minutes of progress. Which is okay, because it's good not to take a long time to develop a character. I would have suggested the main character has been in the military and then to that island, so his firearm expertise would be a realistic level.

In addition to saving your friends and surviving the island, you get help from the locals by, in turn, helping eradicate the pirates. You meet our good friend Vaas at the beginning (guy on cover) and he does a great job to motivate you in killing his crazy ass! Sorry, but the game's story really makes you want to save your friends and make the bad guys pay with every single one of their lives. You thought Vaas was insane enough, well he works for a guy too. I can't imagine how much more crazy his boss can be, but he is in this game. You'll meet him, let's say, too soon, I assure you. In all, an enjoyable storyline with quick, meaningful, and motivational character development.

Moving On...

I can't remember how many hybrid games I have reviewed, but I've liked all of them. Far Cry 3 is no exception. In fact, I liked this one the most of those hybrid games. Many say it's Skyrim with guns, but I say it's Red Dead Redemption in first person in modern day. I guess the first one sounds way more appealing. Far Cry 3 is fun and cool to play for a long time. For a open world game, it has decent multiplayer that feels less as tacked on as other titles have. The game is beautiful and I can't imagine how it looks ultra settings on the PC. It's not too small of a game, but it's big enough for the usual FPS gamer. The gameplay has good blends of other games and feels very good and fresh, to me at least. The story seems average with great characters to interact with and care for. Try what I did and rent the game for just a short while and wait until it lowers down in price after the holidays. Or if you love open world games and shooters, you really should have this already. If not, get it now, you got the whole winter break to play it! Far Cry 3 gets 5 Cassowary eggs out of 6. I need to play a bad game for once!

Halo 4 vs Black Ops 2

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Hi Tech Hate, a Black Ops II Review

Recruit 

...and the next November is here! Another COD fish, right on schedule! Now these games just got to be getting worse and worse. A Call of Duty every year? There is not enough time to make a good game. Only spending a year, what a joke! Well, realize that each of two developments teams that switch off making a game with two different story arch's get 2 years to make their game. A lot of 2's, huh? Is two years enough to make necessary changes to game that has been the same for 9 other games? Let's get our barrings first.

Treyarch has made Black Ops II, not the automated shell of Infinity Ward, oh sorry, that's the truth. I will admit a have overrated a game during the course of my reviews, and I think we know which one that is. Anyway, World At War was Treyarch first good COD game and Black Ops and Black Ops II have followed in the same wide story arch, heh, I guess you could say Tri-arch. In Black Ops II we hit the future and now everything is automated and computer controlled and which case, is hackable. Black Ops II also makes a commentary on the development of new technology for destruction and death. The game also wants us to realize that something like this could happen in real life! No, not the zombies, the threat of turning our machines for our protection against us, hence the title, Hi Tech Hate, a song by Fear Factory. Does Tryarch's game make a bold enough statement to be meaningful and have a positive improvement on a long overdue series? Will I ever stop asking questions and review this damn game?

This image gave me the first impression of the graphics. An improvement, but meh...

Regular

This word above, to show progression in the review, and pretty much describes the art, graphics, and music of Black Ops II, just regular. Well, Call Of Duty is no Halo and certainly no Crysis, graphics and art is not always a strong point in any Call of Duty or even a Battlefield type game. The graphics utilize the MW3 graphics engine, not physics; we know how outdated that is. A grand improvment over the first Black Ops and even a little from MW3, but it's not as nearly as good looking as Halo 4 or any new retail game for the current consoles. I will give props to the designs of the Colossus ship (floating city Sci-Fi enough?) and the drones. This stuff looks very believable and realistic to come out in the next ten years, but that's all I give credit to.

The music is also a "meh" in my book, or I mean in my music player. The music was composed by Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor and he knows how to make some good sounding epic action movie-esque music. One issue with me is it does not really stand out on it's own. I mean he's no Hans Zimmer, but the music by Zimmer can sound grand and epic, yet still being very recognizable and unique like the music in MW2, which was by Hans Zimmer. The games sound effects have a realistic, well sound to them. I feel that the explosions and gun shots sounded too realistic, but that maybe preference  I do like when different guns sound different and explosions go off with more than one salable. So meh, it's all regular, nothing great.

Hardened

Is exactly the word to use for the overall gameplay of Black Ops II. It still feels and plays all like COD should: 60 fps, great controls, easy to play and hard to master. There is really nothing to say about the general gameplay, except that s feels just as good as should and has before. Nothing to improve and improvements where still made. The only way to review the gameplay of a game like this is to look at the changes and if it still feels the same. The campaign's story can change with the objectives you chose to ignore or complete. The game gives you choices that affect the ending! Now kids, that's what we call a non-linear story-line, can you say that? Yes really! I still can't believe it. You can also drive and ride  a wide assortment of vehicles including any drone, jet, car, and even horse. The campaign is the easiest it has ever been, and like that these additions and level challenges will actually keep me coming back to the campaign again and again.

Black Ops II's campaign also features what are called Strike Force missions, that are essentially a mix of FPS and RTS games. What the? I don't even... In these missions you can either pass or fail to affect the continuing story-line. The player can use the a overhead view and play it just like a RTS game and/or go into the view of the other units and control them in first person. Unfortunately these missions can be almost impossible on Veteran and just possible on Recruit. Thanks to the stupid AI in the RTS view you might as well gran the MG guy and Walker thing and blast your way to victory. It's very bold and cool, but Treyarch has got something here if they polish it up a bit more. The gameplay of Black Ops II is hardened and bold, but is not amazing and game changing. It's is good enough to keep COD more fresh and actually a bit interesting.

Veteran

The more recent COD games have been renowned for a having a good story, and non have disappointed  except MW3 was a bit too predicable. Going from the 60's to the 2025 was a huge freaking jump and how could anyone pull that off? Well, it was done. Woods did not really die in Black Ops, he survived and thank God, he was so awesome! In this story you play as Alex Mason's son David who is obviously Black Ops for the US Government. A guy by the name of Raul Menedez is the bad guy who is known as a messiah to millions of his YouTube subscribers and Twitter followers. I can't remember if he had tumblr or not. Anyway he is really a terrorist leader who has plans to hack the US Defense Network to turn it against us. Of course he does not to do it alone, he's got some gooks helping him. Like I said the game also has it's own commentary of our dependence on technology that has never been in a game before. The story is gripping, emotional, action-full with some commentary, just like Taken. It is one of those stereotypical looking action movies that is very, very good.

Later in the game, you will learn and understand both sides of the game of the good and bad guys. Raul Menedez is just angry at the world for being a crappy place for him and wants to make it the better place he thinks it should be. David is fighting for what he thinks is right and those who have feeling they are "protecting" the world before. You soon see where these two characters come together and how big of an impact they have had on each other's lives, Like in Spec Ops: The Line, the barrier of morality gets so effed-up and blurred, it's just fantastic. The story is great, the characters are great; Treyach really knows where to find and work with some amazing writers to make an equally amazing storyline.

Original (Difficulty)

For most current COD gamers, the mainstream absorption began with Call Of Duty 4's multiplayer. The exact smooth feeling of the campaign was right in multiplayer with the fun of messing around with customization to be your own soldier. Without competition, COD4 was and still is the best COD multiplayer ever and I believe ever will be. Black Ops made a very bold move by removing the Stopping Power perk and the certainly changed the way most of us played multiplayer. During that time there was a distinction between Infinity Ward and Treyarch's multiplayer games and both good and bad in some ways. Black Ops II tries to get an even more statement by creating the "pick ten" system that let the player choose, at most, ten items in each class. You can also choose to put "wild cards" on; these allow more additions to certain items, like another perk of the same tier, two primaries, or adding an extra grenade. Although bold in appearance, I was overall not really impressed by this new class system. It's different and interesting, but still is not the great enough change to bring the freshness back to the best old days of COD4. It's still very fun for the veteran and teh noobs, but nothing too fresh.

Easy (Zombie Difficulty)

All a board the zambie bus, one and only stop to Hell! It's a free ride! Zombies was a joke back during the first year of World At War. Now it's some serous business and has it's own story arch too. Not an amazing story, but a cool action-horror-scifi story to it. It was a zombie surviving adventure, trying to find all the clues and Easter eggs scattered across the maps. Now we get the ride a bus with a driver oddly like the Johnny Taxi service from Total Recall, but damaged and burned up. So the robot did survive the explosion and is now a bus driver. Cool! Anyway, Tranzit, as it's called, has small areas that act as stops for the bus and you could find all bunch of stuff to survive and/or find out the story. I would say that this first map is just like Nacht Der Untoten, but on wheels! In fact, you could say there is a little bit, I mean, a big part of the original Nazi Zombies map in Tranzit. That's for me to know and you to find out. I did hear some rustling about how the first map was not that good. I agree only when you choose to Survive in each little area (the bus stops) smaller than Nuketown. Play the way it's meant to be played. I also got a Counter Strike Zombie Escape Mod vibe from this map too, except it's COD Zombies and there is no escape! Overall, I am impressed and I can't to ride the bus to hell and shoot some zombies on the way down. I don't see many more ideas with the bus, but I still can't wait for a new one.

Uh, last part?

MW3 was not the last oily fish and it wasn't to great with the aftertaste. Even COD is trying to cloud my biases. MW3 was a stinker for me personally, but don't let this review either hinder or hate the current enjoy-ers of the newest Call of Duty games. Just take some of my notes into cosideration. I'd say most anyone would know if they would want another one of these or not. So, just to say, you like COD, rent it for now; you will know in a short time if you enjoy it enough to buy. If you like Treyarch's COD's, definitely get it. You don't know, I can't tell you what to do. Black Ops II is a game that gives the much needed improvement to COD, without scaring off any veteran and new players. The story and gameplay are what makes COD so enjoyable and immersive and Blacks Ops II certainly delivers. Although mutltiplayer is still much the same, it still can be fun and zombies is so fresh it is to die for.  Call of Duty Black Ops II scores a 4 and half out of 6 eggs.

We are losing, weapons controlling

This is the hour of your reckoning

No more arsenal threatens all

Heading for a downfall
Mass destruction, mass destruction
Mass destruction for all

-Hi Tech Hate by Fear Factory

Legends Never Die. Halo 4 Review

Awakening...

After taping the start button, we all remember the famous Gregorian-like chants in the epic music composed by gamer favorite Martin or Marty O'Donnell in a game called Halo. In laymen's terms, remember that Halo game that had those monks chanting at the beginning? That must have been the most outspoken, ha, part of the Halo series. Sadly for that, some people missed this game and a lot loved it. Halo Combat Evolved was a, in some ways, the first hugely epic FPS game that could appeal to a large audience , and that it did. Halo 2 was a major leap for online gaming and featured the continuation of a great immersive story. Halo 3 was an amazing way to top off the franchise. Halo ODST, was, well, alright. Reach took a step back in story, but jumped forward into gameplay. Bungie then stepped down as Halo's creators and the world did keep turning.

The torch that was set down has now been passed to 343 Industries who made the decent, Halo HD remake a many of us saw coming (Me). Does this no name company who made a HD conversion would be able to carry such a hot fire in the Halo shape? Well, lets carefully take a yander at renewed Halo series and the story of Master Chief.

What We Do Best

Everyone who plays Halo either experienced or watched the Halo 3 Legendary ending and you saw the Forward Unto Dawn floating near a "alien" planet-like structure. That's it, now 343 has to decide what happens next. Everyone then saw the teaser trailer for Halo 4, so then the anticipation and speculation began. We have the game. After much time of playing and procrastination, I have a review! That start of Halo 4 is just as expected, get off of what's left of the Forward Unto Dawn, nothing much. Then other events that were a cause of the time going by while the Chief was sleeping goes underway and makes the player worry about the Chief's future. You soon find an "ancient evil" that "awakens" and you got some new enemies. So then you find this bad guy who looks a bit like an Engineer from Prometheus with the same temper.

The story is well played out and predicable in a very good way. The game may even bring you to tears at the end, but no real man cries! Maybe a little. The new bad guys make the story more interesting, again like Prometheus, it asked many new questions while answering a few. One question I had that was never answered was, Why are the Covenant attacking us? I thought the Sangheili were good now... Well, that was never answered. One more thing, I felt that the evil guy (aka the Didact) was not very developed, it was like, "I am bad guy. [violent poetic stuff] You will lose" *goes away* Maybe who he was will be answered. Alright, this has gone on far enough. The story was good, but there was a plot hole and the antagonist was not very developed. Oops I forgot. The story was also the most emotional Halo of all. I enjoyed it very much. For players looking to be badass and kill some alien goons; that's in this game, but to don't be afraid to get into a story too. Great story-line with a plot hole and little bad guy development, but managed very well.

Asking Is Not My Strong-Suit

To shoot first and ask questions, is always the way of the shooter game. It's kind a odd that the first Halo was originally going to be a Mac Exclusive RTS game. EEEEEEWWWWWW Anyway, it's a shooter much like Doom, running around blasting bad guys only from the hip in a 7 foot tall, super solider in high-tech armor. The most deadly weapon was, of course either your arm or a warthog tire. In this game, it's not smart to run out and whack aliens anymore. This game got harder, a lot harder. I was playing single-player Heroic and I was beating my head like it was Halo 3 Legendary, now I want the Achievement for beating it on Legendary, aloooone.... I feel like it's good because we all know how to beat Halo or most of us vets do. I feel like the beginners are gonna need a class on playing this game, and the vets will be wanting to take it on!

Other than the challenge of Halo 4, nothing else is new and why should it be? Mostly the rest is just tweaks here and there. Grenades arch sooner, more guns were added, different types of enemies to fight, and new armor abilities. Changes in weaponry are much like a Treyarch vs Infinity Ward and differences in gameplay of the CODs each has made. It's fine and really it is more of preference  I personally wanted a machine gun and the BR to make an appearance in Halo 4 so, yay! The new enemies certainly added to the overall challenge. Here is a plus, NO FLOOD!!! I'm happy because three types of enemies would be a plain mess. Also the enemies kind the game interesting and re-playable  I still feel that there is an easier way to defeat them. I'll be on YouTube.

You Knew This Was Coming

I don't even have to introduce this. Does it keep Halo 4 alive? Halo 4 vs Black Ops II, you will have to wait a bit for that. Halo 4 using a a very COD-like player system. What you can do is get three slots: One is for an Armor ability, one for weapon ability and one for a player ability. Perks, they're perks, okay? Just like Call Of Duty and it fits just as well. The game even awards support packages that can let you choose from three items the game may offer you. Speed upgrade, over-shield, and ever power weapons can be teleported to you and used until either death or expelled otherwise. I especially like that for there is a pesky Ghost or screaming Banshee eating kills. Get some stuff done, receive a Rail Gun and shoot that Flying Fraidy Cat out of the sky. Multiplayer is fun and intense. You can actually feel like you can do something to win! That's until you get a lobby with a bunch of idiots that just quit or can't even defend themselves. That is not 343's fault, but it was their fault for making a fun multiplayer. ADD CAMPAIGN MATCHMAKING!!!

I Can't Really Fully Review This

From the name, Spartan Ops, it's a blatant rip off of Call of Duty Spec Ops. Right? Wrong! It's a separate, full-length story that you get to take your own Spartan from Multiplayer on for the ride. It even features fully rendered CGI cut-scenes for each Episode. I can't fully review it because 4 and 5 have not been released yet. I do have one complaint though, the levels are mostly so far, cut and past of the others levels or more like maps. Remember, this so far and I haven't even played Episode 3 yet. If they went so far with the cut scenes, why not go the extra for the actual game play. Other than that, it is very fun and also very challenging. You can even use your multiplayer classes and "perks" in Spartan Ops. So there is more fun to be had with changing up. So it's fun and interesting, but feels a bit oddly cheap, only in gameplay, for now...

Where Is The Purple?

Whole lot of blues and yellows. 343 wanted to make a push away from purple because that's Covenant style, not the "new guys". Change is and was good. Still coloring with purple would have been a killer, for sure. The game looks wonderful. I really got nothing but praise for the visual style. Some times the visuals may be a little too bright, but it's so real looking, so it looks surprisingly well. In tradition of the epic style of Halo, this game just times the epic-ness by 50! This easily the most amazing looking Halo game ever and the best looking game this year. Now the most ridiculous part. I swear those CGI cut scenes are most realistic and most awesome amazing speechless-ly jaw dropping real looking renderings. I am not exaggerating either, maybe a little. The cut scenes look the same if not better than of all Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. So real, is this real? Yes! Halo 4 has got them! Astounding.

I could have written that in two paragraphs, but I have to talk about the music. Marty would be proud. Oh, the guy who did it Halo 4, his name is Sotaro Tojima and he just happened to compose the music for Metal Gear Solid 4! Now he did the newest Halo and he does not disappoint at all. In fact, I should actually get the soundtrack. You will have to experience for yourself. Even if you can't get Halo 4, listen to the music anyway, it is way too good. It sounds and feels just like Halo, but not Martin O'Donnell's Halo, it's a new era of a Halo musical masterpiece.

The Legend of 117

This game is a new ride that runs smooth, but has a few clinks in it. It is overall an attraction to return to again ans again. The story is gripping and emotional with a blah bad guy to knock around. The gameplay is not needed for too much change and the changes seem like rip-offs, but take the game to better level than before. The art and music is the best it has ever been and it is so awesome. Halo fans, get it! Casual Halo fans, get it! FPS fans, you played Halo, get too! With some points of improvement to make and questions to answer. Not perfect, Halo 4 is still amazing. The Legend of 117 will continue for two more games and I can't wait to see were we will fly like a brick to next. Halo 4 sticks 5 eggs out of 6.

Halo 4 and Black Ops II

I will write reviews for both, but wont do videos for them. Instead I will do a Halo 4 vs Black Ops II video, taking different aspects of both games and comparing them. Know this, I got into Halo waaaay before COD, but I like them both the same for different reasons. I will give a most unbiased comparison to tell you which game I feel is overall better, and NOT why one is worse than the other.

Out.

AC III Video Review

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