Recent Activity

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  Half Life 2: Episode 2

  I'm going to guess that there are plenty of people here who have played the whole Half Life series.. how important are the storyline/events of Half Life 1 to understanding Half Life 2, 'cause I have both on my computer but Half Life 1 is kinda annoying me already and I'm barely into the game

  (didn't stand a chance against the first non-face-attached headcrab because I was left with about 4 health after getting mauled by the ones that were on faces a couple of times, and the last auto-save was at a point after my heavy damage-taking)

  NB It's not annoying on an "I can't do it" basis.. I doubtless wouldn't find it hard to replay the level and kick ass a little more effectively, but damn that felt like too long doing not a lot at the beginning of the game. Like a cutscene where you're required to walk around occasionally (hence precluding the "go make a sandwich" option)

  Posted 14 Dec 07

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  Team Fortress 2

  I've just started playing this, it rocks. Rocks hard and rocks long.

  Anyone else playing?

  Posted 20 Dec 07

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  Psychonauts

  

  This gem of a game puts you in the shoes of that guy on the cover with the cool goggles, Razputin (aka Raz).

  He's run away from the circus to come to a summer camp for psychics, in hope of becoming a fully fledged psychonaut before his dad comes to pick him up. Then someone starts stealing brains out of the other kids' heads and someone has to do something... so Raz ends up saving the day, getting the girl and achieving the whole "become a psychonaut" thing.

  Along the way is some crazy (crazy as in insane) level design, some great humour, and some real fun. The camera screws with you sometimes, as do the controls occasionally, but it really doesn't matter because it's all too freaking awesome to be brought down by that. Also Raz is voiced by the same guy who did Invader Zim, so that just compounds the awesomeness.

  I'm bringing all this to your attention for 2 reasons - first because its an awesome game (and if you don't believe me, go listen to the "Zero Punctuation" review it got: LINKAGE. Seems to be one of very few games Yahtzee's ever actually liked)

  Second reason for mentioning it is that despite the screwy difficulty curve (which goes  almost vertical towards the end) I've just completed it.

  Posted 23 May 08

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  Tangler's GOTY Votes 2007

  Portal! Hands down most awesome game ever.

  Posted 13 Dec 07

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  Halo 3

  With PC I can jump seamlessly from a game to Tangler, I'd like to see a console do that!

  and internet-browsing on a console doesn't count because it always sucks in the absence of a keyboard and mouse... It's really all about the controls - the keyboard and mouse combo is vastly superior, there's very few things you can do with a gamepad that you can't do with mouse + keyboard...
   

  Posted 26 Nov 07

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  Crysis

  DX10 is going to be the annoying thing that I want, but don't want enough to consider buying Vista

  Still, means I can save money if I decide to upgrade my graphics card because I can aim one class below "ultra-high-end" 

  Posted 06 Apr 07

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  Medieval 2

  I mean it did spawn a TV series.

  I think I saw that show.. was it called Time Commanders?

  If that's the one, that show rocked

  Posted 27 Oct 07

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  Half Life 2: Portal

  If you want to get a portal-based gaming fix, there's a 2D flash game with the same basic mechanics of opening/closing portals. Made by a fan of the actual game

  "Portal: The Flash version" 

  Posted 12 Oct 07

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  Which is the best medieval RTS?

  Medieval: Total War?

  The sequel, Rome: Total War is meant to be better, but if you're looking for specifically medieval then the first one fits, and they're both good games, quite large scale - it alternates between a map view kinda like a Risk board for managing overall strategy, the economy, training units etc. (that part is turn based) then it zooms in on a specific area so you can fight the battles in real time. Or you can fight some preset scenarios that are just the battle phase.

  The Settlers series (I've only played Settlers 3 so that's what I'm basing this on) is a lot more detailed on the economic side, with the resources being carried about - miners have to be fed, workshops need to be provided with tools, grain has to be milled and baked into bread, pigs fed grown and slaughtered, etc. etc. but the military side is woefully basic - just swordsmen, spearmen and archers to choose from.

  Rise of Nations and the Civilisation series are historical RTSs, but they cover more than the medieval period.. how essential is the medievality?

  Posted 01 Sep 07

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  Console Or PC?

  "umm... do you want a cookie?"

  I want a cookie (I'd rather have a cookie than Vista - a cookie won't slow my computer down and waste CPU cycles on checking that nothing is still happening, and encrypting internal signals in case I try to steal and important "premium content"

  Kind of stupid - the latest crappy movie will be encrypted wherever it goes inside your pc but your bank details, medical records or PIN numbers, not encrypted at all

   On the topic: I prefer my PC - I can switch easily between games, the internet, serious stuff, anything. With a console you're stuck on one thing until you can be bothered to get up, change the disk and go again (woohoo laziness ) Plus all the stuff thats been mentioned - customisability, versatility, etc etc

  Posted 15 Feb 07