Chaos Rings Review: If Two was One

 And you thought the only good game on the iPhone was Doodle Jump.

Guild Wars 2: Everyone's Favorite Overpowered Spellcaster is Back

New data on the Guild Wars 2 site has revealed what we already knew from the Manifesto: Everyone's favorite overpowered spell caster, the Elementalist, is back. And by the looks like it, he or she has some new, but still overpowered, tricks.


You can check out the videos of the Elementalist in action here, and I strongly encourage you to do so for three reasons. One, its the first video of player models using skills in-game. Two, it shows some in game graphics. Three, its awesome.

Now what the article and movies describe is a little unsettling. In Guild Wars 1, the Elementalist was a very powerful addition to the party but was constrained by the fact that there were only a limited amount of skills the player could cast in an instance and most would be from one or two elements only since any more would decrease the damage of the skills.

However, the article suggests that in Guild Wars 2 the Elementalist acts more like a Chromatic Drake (a monster found in the Eye of the North expansion), that using a special skill can change its skill bar and stats to match a different element. If the Elementalist can use Elemental Attunement to swap skills and stats at will, the two major limitations on the Elementalist in Guild Wars 1 would be removed, creating the ultimate machine of magical death. It'll be interesting to see how they balance this decision.

Also, as a side note there is a screen about an Elementalist of a different race (charr). I didn't mention this as I think it was pretty obvious that different races have access to the same classes but there you go. Whether or not some races cannot be certain classes has not been confirmed.

I'll bring you more updates as they appear.

Guild Wars 2: Design Manifesto

Today, the folks at Arena Net revealed their blog about the future MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Guild Wars 2. Their first post is a general Design Manifesto, with statements about how their game will be different from other current MMOs on the market.

You can find the full article here, but if you don't have time to read the whole thing, you can read my summary below.

Their first point involves interactive storytelling:

• As you play the game, the different action you make in the story slowly create an autobiography of your character to immerse you deeper into the world. This a cool feature as it actually makes you want to create a new character to experience the different storylines and adds new replay value.
  
• Less quest text, more interaction. How is the story of an MMO usually told? There is a guy who stands around with a big exclamation mark over his head saying "Please help! There are bandits attacking my village. Do something about them and I'll give you..." Not very realistic is it? In Guild Wars 2 you find a village getting attacked by bandits and you take care of them, then the remaining villagers give you a reward. Much better if you ask me.

Their second point involves more social gameplay:

• In most MMOs these days you need a party to get anywhere. If you meet a player out in the field that isn't in your party they're more of a nuisance than anything else. You worry that they're going to take your kills, or kill all the mobs (monsters) before you do. In Guild Wars 2, adventuring without a party is easier since anyone who helps slay a monster gets 100% of the exp and drops. I for one think this is a great addition. I can't tell you how many times I've had to do the same instance over and over because someone else in my party got the drop I wanted. Not anymore. This also means that if there's an event you won't be angry that more people join in because they're not sapping your experience.
• PvP is like this too apparently. Parties are helpful but not necessary to play. Also, the PvP aspect of the game is optional like in the first Guild Wars, so if that isn't your thing you don't have to worry about it. Personally though I think the PvP in Guild Wars 1 was the best part and think that it will be just as fun, if not more so, in Guild Wars 2.
  

Their third and perhaps most interesting point involves the combat:

• Each race has unique combat abilities, so choosing a race will have a slight impact on how the game is played. There is no real detail on this point though so lets move on.
  
• Guild Wars 2 keeps the Guild Wars skills system, with some updates though. Skill combos are more visual now than on paper. They give an example where an Elementalist (a class from Guild Wars 1) can cast Fire Wall, then freeze his enemies and use a knockback skill to knock them into the fire so they take continuous damage. Another possible skill combo is still using Fire Wall and having your team mates shoot arrows through it to deal extra fire damage (note the second part isn't mentioned explicitly, I'm just extrapolating from what they say).
• Guild Wars 2 has an emphasis on environmental weapons. By this they mean you can use the stuff around you to your advantage. They give some cool examples too. If you are fighting an oakheart (tree monster from Guild Wars 1), and you hack off one of its limbs you can pick up that tree branch and beat him the hell up with it ("Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."). No, they don't actually use those words but its great that you can do that kind of thing. Other examples they give involve throwing back boulders thrown at you by Stone Elementals or, as an Elementalist, use it to make a Meteor Shower.
  

Their last point involves further updates on the game development, the first one being about the Combat System, but give no word as to when the update will be. I'll be bringing you more updates as more news comes out.

Blast from the Past: The Oldies This Week

Every week I'm going to talk about a great game made a long time ago. I've been replaying these games because I'm out of money for new games right now and I wish to share my experiences revisiting them.

This week: Dungeon Keeper 2.

Dungeon keeper 2 is a RTS-God game, a game where you have a 1st person perspective from above and command various little creatures, much like an RTS, but you cannot give explicit controls to those creatures.
Of course, there are ways around that, as I'll explain later.

The story behind the game is that you are the keeper of a dungeon. A magical being who lives underground and creates a place where the monsters who were chased away from the surface world can thrive. Your objective is to kill the heroes who possess the portal gems that would allow you to invade the surface realm.

You start each map having a dungeon heart, pictured on the right. From there you order your worker imps to dig paths through the dirt and pave them. Once they are paved you can build different rooms and depending on which rooms you have, different creatures will appear in your dungeon. For example, once you have built a workshop, trolls and later bile demons will appear in your dungeon. Meanwhile, the good humans and their allies (good creatures like the elves or faries) will try to destroy your dungeon by attacking it in various waves.

To stop them from succeeding in destroying you you can place traps in your dungeon or train your creatures into a mighty army in the training room and combat pit. You can also cast spells to destroy the invaders. The spells you have must be researched by warlocks or vampires in your library and give you a whole new level of immersion into the game. Throughout my play-through the two spells I used the most were the call to arms spell, which makes all your monsters drop what they're doing and swarm to the place where the spell is cast, and the possession spell, which lets you take control of one of your monsters and from there you can issue orders to a small group of other monsters you control. But of course there are more destructive spells like lighting bolt and inferno and helpful spells like heal.

There are different modes of play including a great single player campaign, with great story and voice acting, a sandbox mode, which lets you mess around on different maps with different restrictions, and even a multiplayer mode, so you can play with your friends if they still own a copy of this great game.

The game is a lot of fun and by now you can probably find a working copy of the game for very little cash. Another piece of good news is that this is an old game which actually works on Windows Vista (not sure if it works on 7 though). If you found this review interesting, I suggest you do pick it up somewhere.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 4 - Captivate Your Audience

Hello fellow strikers and welcome to another episode of First Strike Podcast, where we give our opinion on the gaming news of today.

This week we talk about Capcom's Captivate 2010( and the big announcements that came out of it), the games we look forward to in the coming months, and how to make rookie mistakes on a podcast.

Episode 4- Captivate Your Audience

First Strike Podcast

C-C-Combo Breaker!: Wii shovel ware

C-C-Combo Breaker! (CB for short) is our version of a rant. They're quick and spicy (and usually geared toward one thing). They are anywhere from a few sentences to a couple paragraphs but are always entertaining.
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This CB is about Wii shovel ware, specifically Just Dance. Yes, I understand casual gamers can't tell the difference between a well developed game and a crappy one when they're having fun, but just today I heard a girl get excited about playing Just Dance... At a library. The "hardcore" gamer in me wanted to laugh out loud and make a mockery of this little girl but I knew it wouldn't be right the thing to do. That's only because I know she probably doesn't play games as much as I do and wouldn't understand my hate for Just Dance.

And that's what probably makes me indigent about the whole ordeal. Casual gamers only play games that are either recommended to them or was a commercial played on the TV. If I had it my way, only games deserving of being called a Game would get the Spotlight treatment. But sadly this is America, and in America, the person with the Biggest check rules the media.

X-Com Remake

The name of the indie studio who was creating a remake of X-com I was talking about during the podcast is called Goldhawk Interactive and the name of the game is called Xenonauts. For more information, visit their site: http://www.xenonauts.com/.

First Strike Podcast: Episode 3 - Scrabble Old School

Episode 3 - Scrabble Old School

First Strike Podcast

Last Strike: Sam and Max Episode 301 Review

Telltale is back with another season of your two favorite freelance police, Sam and Max. I was actually really excited for this season even though I have not played all of season 1 or any of season 2, I still really enjoy these point and click adventure games and will probably play more after this experience. In fact I want to complete Sam and Max Season 1 and 2 before I play the next episode because I enjoyed this one so much. Anyways, onto the review.

I really enjoy a good point and click (ex. Monkey Island series, Ace Attorney series, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (may cinq RIP)), so Sam and Max truly is my forte. For those of you who know Sam and Max you know that it is basically a quarky story and puzzle based point and click adventure game where the main characters, Sam (a dog) and Max (a hyperkinetic rabbit thingy) go around solving mysteries as freelance police. The games usually require some actual thought and paying attention to the story, all voice acted by the way which makes it a lot better. I think it is obvious to say that this game stays traditional to the series values, I can not say for sure how much this has changed from the previous experiences only having played Season 1 Episode 1, but I can say it is the same basic formula with a few upgrades. Basically, Max is now playable using his psychic powers. The psychic powers are actually quite interesting and add to the puzzle solving. For instance when using future goggles you can see a future event and then the problem is how to get to that event. It really helps with progression while not really giving anything away. While this might seem to add to easiness, it really does not as the player will be confused until the very end what all the future visions mean.

So lets talk about the heart of the game, the story. I must say I really enjoyed the story. It was always twisting around and keeping things interesting even though you thought you knew what was going to happen. The game basically opens in medias res of Sam and Max trapped on a ship having to figure out how to get off, it ends up just being a future vision and then the rest of the game is basically trying to get back to that point. The game keeps you guessing of what is going to happen and really does keep turning. I would go into more detail but the game is essentially the story and I do not want to ruin that.

The graphics of the game are basic 3d models. It looks nice and cartoon like which fits the style but is truly nothing astounding. Telltale usually strives towards their games being compatible with most computers, and I would say they did a good job with graphics. The graphics looks as if they will run on most computers, but do not look totally putrid.

The sound in the game has good music all the way through. Sam and Max really does have some good themes, and while it may not instigate a soundtrack download, it is still nice in the game and fits to it. In terms of voice acting it is spot on. Voice acting is always a plus especially in a game like this. So the voice acting really does add to the overall experience. Sound is very nice overall in the game.

Gameplay I briefly covered, basically Sam and Max wander around different maps of the city and talk to people, which is pretty standard. They use clues they find to piece things together and initiate events which eventually leads to new things to do. Some seemingly new components are Max’s psychic powers which lead to some interesting puzzles and the crime-scan which is basically a logic system to figure out where to go next. The gameplay overall is fairly difficult even for the first installment. While some of the actions are obvious, I did get stuck a few times in my run through. Knowing how Telltale works in their episodic content I am looking forward to the difficulty in the further games (I did play with my hint system turned off which I recommend).

So overall Sam and Max Episode 301 is a great game. It is a must buy for fans of the series and I would say that is a good game overall. I am not sure if anyone should really start here in the series since it is continued off of the previous games but I can definitely say that this proves that Sam and Max does have continuity and is a good series for someone to invest their time in. With that I will be giving Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 1: The Penal Zone an 8.5/10. Can’t wait for episode 2!

This game came out on Thursday, April 15th for the Mac, PC, and Playstation 3 platforms. It is currently available for only $34.95 for the complete season. This came can also be purchased for $10.00 on the iPad.

First Strike: Splinter Cell Conviction

To kick things off for the site, I'm going to give my First Strike. What's a First Strike you might ask? A First Strike is our first thoughts on a video game, usually after getting the game in our hands. These are usually the first or second hour of playing a game and expressing how we'll about the game so far. With that out of the way let's get started.
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In the first hour of Splinter Cell Conviction you get a sense that Sam Fisher doesn't want to be in spy business any more but is dragged back thanks to Third Echelon teasing him with hints of how he can find his daughter's killer. They really want to bring the player into the world of Splinter Cell from the get go with a quick tutorial on basic moves and tactics. This section would have seemed to go on too quickly if it wasn't for the fact I have played the previous Splinter Cells.

But at the same time this entry in the series is not like the rest. They want you to be more aggressive and getting seen by enemies can work to your advantage. With this new take on Splinter Cell I find it to be refreshing and exciting all at once. So far everything I've played through has allowed me to mess up but recover by hiding and taking out enemies when they go to my last know position.

This also makes the game feel easier overall so far. I'm not that deep in, only playing about an hour but I feel like there needs to be a harder difficulty( I'm playing on the hardest at the moment) because I've been able to run out of near death situations with barely a scratch on Sam.

Overall, Splinter Cell Conviction is fun and exciting. The AI needs some work, but hopefully they become a challenge later on.

Check for my full review sometime in the coming weeks.

Welcome to First Strike!

Hello everyone and welcome to First Strike! The video game blogspot that focus on games and news that we care about. We have great plans for this blog and hopefully all of you will enjoy it!