Category Archives: Gaming

Warhammer 40000 Space Marine – Xbox 360

Warhammer 40k was as much a part of my childhood as A-Team and Knightrider was; I got into Games workshop games way back in 1989 playing Blood Bowl with some friends in the library after school.

Blood Bowl eventually led to Warhammer 40k which quickly became my game of choice and I spent many hours painting figures, reading the magazine ‘White Dwarf’ (not a specialist porn mag!) and shaving down pieces of foam to make scenery for the board game battles that often ensued between various friends and I. However, nobody could hold a candle to Angelo and his love of all things Games Workshop.

Angelo and I were always to be found in Games Workshop on a Thursday night during the early Nineties; Angelo’s Dad used to get dropped off in Croydon on a Thursday night (My Dad never gave me a lift anywhere!) to have a mooch around the shop and take the piss out of all the socially backward people in there; probably without realising the irony that |WE were every bit as socially backward as they were with our own love of turn based gaming and all the other crazy shit that we did during our school years. Manga, learning every word to outrageous films such as Robocop and the Running Man, as kids do!

Angelo’s bag was probably the ‘Epic’ version of Warhammer with the battles on a much more….epic…..scale involving tanks, support airships and the legendary Titan hulks with their unbeatable harpoon missle arsenals that Angelo would often make his own rules up about. Napoleon Takis! Just kidding Ang, just kidding!

I loved Epic too, but Warhammer 40K (40000 as they like to call it these days!) was a much more personal and focused game because you had to control an army of individual marines and support vehicles to overwhelm your opponent rather than. I honestly (and I mean honestly!) never lost a game down at the shop which I was very proud of that fact.

Just as I was proud to have a squad of Dark Angel Space Marines. Everyone picked their Space Marine ‘Chapter’ of choice back then; most people picked Space Wolves or Blood Angels because they were the cool chapters with ‘champion’ figurines like Logar Grimnar. Dark Angels were the pariahs of the Space Marine universe and part of me identified with that!

Angelo loved the Ultramarines, indiciative of the fact that he’d been into the whole thing since day one; luckily for him, the games developers chose to keep their focus on the Ultramines (as the film developers did in the animated Space Marine Film) because Games Workshop have been very odd in how they’ve kept the franchise going. There isn’t even an ‘epic’ anymore, much to Angelo’s disgust!

Anyway, enough with nostalgia, I have often said it that Xbox Live is stagnant with people overdosing on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3; so it was great to rip off the selophant wrapping on the 40k game and try out the team deathmatch mode and the ‘Exterminatus’ survival mode too.

The game is very well designed and the team deathmatch mode provided a solid representation of what I knew to be the 40K universe, so much so that part of me felt 11 years old again. You can eventually chose from ‘Tactical’ ‘Devastator’ and ‘Assault’ classes which have their own strengths and weaknesses when facing off against other players; most of whom seemed to be of a ridiculously high rank and took full advantage of running around with Plasma Cannons whilst I had to get up close with the chainsword because my bolter was so inneffective. Incentive to rank up!

The Maps are fantastic, the perk system is well done and the style of gaming suits the genre; but I can’t help but feel that the game is very under-valued and anonymous behind the unfairly hyped first person shooter games that have stollen all the glory; whether this means that this is the last 40K game we’ll see for a while remains to be seen!

The Exterminatus game mode was good fun, Angelo and I faced off against hordes of Orks before he eventually died several times. Can’t hide behind your tape measure and made up rules now can you old boy!? hahaha! All joking aside, this is a fantastic game, go and buy it!

Brother Antikrish.

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Gaming stuff in and around Los Angeles

Had to post a quick thread regarding some console gaming-related bits and pieces I saw in Los Angeles.

Specifically:

Seeing the Konami building and then experiencing a Silent Hill style fog the next day
The Battlefield 3 posted that smothered a huge building as we past it on the freeway
The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 themed bus that was on the same highway

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Konami

Nickel Arcade

Tron 2 was an awesome film; but it also brought about something of a mini mid-life crisis in the corner of my mind. Well, for about 10 seconds.

The film is a stark reminder that old-style amusement arcades with video games have all but vanished from the UK; Angelo and I have looked EVERYWHERE and the sad reality is that I’m a dinosaur who is still yearning for the good old days, days where I could escape for an hour or so, avoiding an obscene amount of enemy bullets whilst trying to beat a Boss in a shoot-em up!

The modern ‘amusement arcade’ is just full of fruit machines with different stickers and always seem to be full of nutty Russian gangsters or groups of Pakistani’s who seem to live in the seedy parlours at airports and plough endless pound coins into them.

Luckily for me, there’s a small corner in Utah called the ‘Nickel Arcade’ that has a wealth of video games that stretch back to the 80’s and 90’s; and even some obscure bits from the 2000’s! And all for the bargain of 15c (10p) per play!

So without further ado, I will share my findings with thee………oh yes, and most of the games are available for purchase via e bay or their website!

My favourites? The Tron cabinet! The Golden Axe ‘Revenge of Death Adder’ game and last but not least, the unexpected Streetfighter 3rd Strike machine! I still got the moves Mr. Takis!

Nickel Arcade 1

Nickel Arcade 2

Nickel Arcade 3

Nickel Arcade 4

Golden Axe – Revenge of Death Adder

Tron

Dr Mario – Super Mario (dual cabinet)

Sniperscope

Sonic and Tails Spinner

Street Fighter 3 – 3rd Strike

Afterburner Climax – Xbox 360

OK, so I sniggered profusely at the ‘Climax’ bit; didn’t everyone outside of Japan?

You’d think the silly fuckers would employ better translators and consultants by now?!?

Afterburner Climax is worth every single one of the 800 points required to purchase it off of Xbox lives marketplace; what a blast from the past (snigger).

I fondly remember when I first played the Afterburner II coin-op as a kid; it would still commandeer my coins even now in the presence of all the new games out there; the Climax game is a fantastic evolution of the original and a good game in it’s own right.

Visually the game is stunning, bright, fast and fluid; you can opt for the new soundtrack or the classic original too. I really like how the Climax weapon and combo setup work. Excellent!!!

There’s a wealth of options which will no doubt keep me very busy trying to get the perfect round.

Buy it!!!!

Alpha Protocol – Xbox 360

Gamespot gave ‘Alpha Protocol’ 6 out of 10; personally I can’t agree with that at all, I’d even go as far as giving it 8.5 out of 10.

SEGA has published a really intuitive game, its like an RPG but with some stealthy action thrown in to the mix; the presentation immediately struck a chord with me and I enjoyed the international spy story which your character is involved in.

You can customise your character from the beginning, skill profiles and upgradable attributes are a really nice touch and make for a more arcade feel.

The rpg element allows you to manipulate and infiltrate situations through dialogue choices; kinda reminded me of the ‘Lone Wolf’ adventre books I had as a kid. “Turn page 20 if you want to stab someone in the face!!!!”.

The levels are designed well; and the afore mentioned skill attribute system really changes the dynamic of how you complete a mission depending on what your chap can do.

I’d heartily recommend this game; it was a good distraction on a dreary Bank Holiday Monday and I will keep playing it!

Aren’t Gamespot reviews shite?

Pure Football – Xbox 360

I really enjoyed playing ‘Pure Football’ so I thought I’d throw up a quick thread about it.

It’s a 5-a-side game, quite similar to the ‘FIFA Street’ games but with less emphasis on all the poncy skills and more focus on playability. The campaign is enjoyable, and the gameplay is very smooth and stylish.

It’s made by Ubisoft which is a little unexpected, but at £24.99 this game is a bargain; especially if you fancy something a little different to FIFA and Pro-Evolution!

Hitler banned from Xbox Live

Hahahahahahahaha!

Saw – Xbox 360 Review

Intro page

I’m something of a latecomer to the Saw film franchise and was only introduced to the world of Jigsaw last week when I watched the 1st and 2nd films back to back; I enjoyed them both so much that I also spent this Saturday totally engrossed in the 3rd, 4th and 5th installments. Nice one for the recommendation Ang!

For me the films aren’t JUST about the gore or the traps for which they are infamously known, personally I enjoyed witnessing the transition of John Kramer from terminal cancer patient to becoming the films lead protagonist and a serial ‘killer’; Jigsaw.

A terminal diagnosis and losing an unborn son result in Kramer eventually attempting to take his own life on two occasions, both are unsuccessful and result in a life-changing epiphany; Kramers rebirth is complete and Jigsaw is born. Kramer decides to dedicate the remainder of his life by capturing and testing the immoral and those he feels have devalued their own lives into playing deadly games which ultimately offer retribution; but at a high price.

The xbox 360 game puts you in the place of Homicide Detective Tapp (Danny Glover’s character from the first film) whose obsession into catching Jigsaw becomes his own undoing; as the introduction kicks in you immediately know that the game means business because you awake to find that you are wearing the same reverse beartrap device which is seen in the first film. You are given 60 seconds to remove the helmet, or your face explodes.

The controls of the game are very intuitive, from the reaction button prompts which you have to hit in sequence in order to remove the reverse beartrap to the overal control of the character from when you escape it’s clutches.

The look of the game is also quite brilliant, totally recapturing the dirty, macabre and dilapidated industrial surroundings that are synonymous with the films; the lighting, colours and mood of the game are absolutely spot on; I loved how atmospheric the lighting becomes when you use a zippo lighter to illuminate certain areas in the game.

I would have no hesitation in drawing a comparison to ‘Silent Hill’ in the way the game oozes atmosphere, but in many ways ‘Saw’ is far more disturbing because it attacks your senses straight from the beginning; no sooner are you out of the initial bathroom you’re then confronted by the distant cries of a man screaming for help before being thrust into another ‘game’.

Puzzles that I encountered within the first 30 minutes or so were nicely thought out, not too easy, not too hard; I expect the games difficulty will increase as you go. I also really enjoy the way in which Jigsaw ensures that other ‘players’ will seek you out when you find that he has implanted a key into your body which is required for the others to escape.

The combat in the game nice and simple too which is refreshing; although I loved the ‘Silent Hill’ games, I often felt the combat could have been a bit better sometimes within the franchise.

I expect that I’ll be spending a few evenings helping Detective Tapp search the abandoned hospital for Jigsaw with the aid of his flickering zippo lighter and a trusty bit of pipe; I’ve embedded a bit of footage below which will give you a brief glimpse at the game. Try not to laugh where I had problems getting the doors to close on the toilets!

Fucking doors!

HINT – The 1 in the combination is actually a 7!

Xbox 360 ban wave

And so we come to it, Microsoft has been carrying out out it’s annual ‘ban wave’ over the last couple of weeks; designed to target the modified console community (or pirates to those in the media) just before the biggest game of the year comes out; oh yes, and Christmas. Pfffftttt.

As per usual, you get the mass media hype saying how pirating is damaging the gaming industry; personally I’d say the damage was done years ago by Sony and it’s aggressive surge into the market but there you are. Alas, I can appreciate how pirating games is naughty, but I can also understand why it brings out a rebellious streak in some who people prefer not to pay £50 a game each time.

What will this mean to those who have had their consoles banned from playing on xbox live? Well, after talking to my friends who have been caught had their legs slapped, I’m of the impression that most will go out and buy a new machine, keep it legit and buy only the very best games to play online; the new Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 game for example.

Most would probably keep the modded xbox for playing copied games offline and still save a significant amount of money in the long run by doing this. Not a big deal really when you look at it like that is it?

So what have Microsoft gained by doing this? Was it ever about piracy? I don’t really believe it was personally. Who will suffer? US games developers probably because there’s sod all development left in the UK now.

20 million people apparently play xbox live, an estimated 900,000 of those are banned for using modded boxes. If you take the average price of a console as £150.00 then that means that’s £135,000,000 in the coffers IF most go out and buy another machine. £135 million quid!

No, I personally think that this is more about Christmas sales figures, the Nintendo Wii and Slim PS3 have all been flying off the shelves lately, so Microsoft has to get their console sales figures up. What better way to do it than through a ban wave and look to be addressing a piracy issue at the same time? What would be more damaging for the Xbox, 1/20th of it’s online users having modified boxes, or slipping down in the console ranks?

What will I do? Lets just say I intend on writing quite a few ‘early’ game reviews on Antikrish should I have the time 🙂

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr Jim lad!

Resident Evil 5 – Versus Mode

I’d have to say the only disappointing thing about my trip to New York was that it got in the way of my ambition to beat Resident Evil 5 on ‘professional’; the highest difficulty setting.

Up until last night I’d beaten the game on Amateur, Normal and Veteran modes with the help of my regularly-pissed-but-rather-gifted gamer chum Kieran (DILLIGAF on xbox live or Dills for short). Now then, Dills is something of an xbox achievement points whore and with 75087 points in the bag at the time of writing, who could argue that he’s good at it? I can honestly say that I’d never been bothered racking up the points until lately, but I was determined to break the back of the game as I had on all the previous installments in the series.

So, after a long Good Friday sesh, we finished professional (woohooo!) and I completed all the achievements in the game (each game on the xbox has a potential of 1000 points for you to grab); that was until Capcom decided to release a ‘versus mode’ for Resident Evil 5 which means I’ve got another few to go now!

For 400 Microsoft Points (the currency on xbox live – Around £4) you can purchase and unlock this feature in the game; I’ve always argued that it’s a shame they don’t either include this in the launch of the title, or provide it free of charge should it be developed later, but hey, we live in a capitalist wonderland so who am I kidding? Again, out of principle I rarely purchase things like this, but I was really eager to see what Capcom had added to an already 10/10 game. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The ‘versus mode’ is essentially an all out time attack mode, with a twist. 4 game modes mean you can either play alone killing 3 other human controlled players or partner up and try to work as a team against 2 other human players; all the while fending off a mixture of computer controlled enemies which upon elimination, extend the game’s duration by granting you a few seconds extra per kill. It’s very fast paced and has a fantastic learning curve. In short, it’s good fun and well worth investing in.

The best bit about this ‘versus’ mode is that you pick a character with a set inventory (you can find other items scattered around the battlefield) and it can really determine the way you play the game. The game also features the ability to ‘unlock’ additional characters in exchange for experience points that you gain either playing any of the game modes including story mode. So that’s what I did, I kept repeating chapter 6-2 on professional because I got it down to under 3 minutes each time, and you can gain 2,500 exp if you manage to finish it with a S rating; which to be fair is pretty simple if you have the unlimited ammo rocket launcher like yours truly! FIRE IN THE HOLD!

It’s really worth unlocking all the characters (see gallery below), hopefully they’ll add a few more over time although not if they charge me pounds shillings and pence again!

Oh yes, and playing as Albert Wesker in his S.T.A.R.S. getup is like being in my own geek heaven, trust me folks.

Playable Characters in ‘Versus Mode’