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A monthly eMagazine all about games and entertainment.
Citation preview
Contents:
Battlefield 4 Review – CANCELLED!
Batman Arkham Origins Game Review
Acer Aspire One 533 Netbook Review
Dead Space 3 Game Tips
Movie Reviews: Monsters University
and White House Down
The Walking Dead Season 4 “So Far”
Announced Game Releases for
Christmas and January
E:GOR the Exobyte Says:
“Welcome to our first edition of The Gamer Gazette!”
The Gamer Gazette:
Welcome to the very first edition...and hopefully not the last of The Gamer Gazette!We thought that this would be a really cool way to get more vital gaming information to all you devoted gamers out there.This first edition is comprised of some great reviews and game tips, as well as all of the announced game releases for Christmas and after in January.We hope to eventually start having some exclusive Gamer Gazette Giveaways and offers which will ONLY be available to readers of the Gazette.But that will all have to wait for now and in the meantime please enjoy reading this very first edition of The Gamer Gazette, and if you have any feedback at all please go to the website (www.tazercg.com) and feel free to leave your comments on the Community Page Chat or Shout Boxes.
Enjoy!
Battlefield 4 Apology:
Hey Guys! Some of you may have noticed that we promised you a Battlefield 4 Review, unfortunately due to personal reasons and other commitments, Torin, who was meant to be doing the review has not had time to play the game through and therefore is not happy writing the review until he can make a proper informed decision on it. So please accept our apologies and we will try and release a review for Battlefield 4 on the website sometime this month.
Batman Arkham Origins Review - Kim Gustafsson Me and Batman I’ve liked Batman for a long time, be it the old comics or the animated series, there is always a place in my heart for Batman. And when the game Batman: Arkham Asylum was announced, let’s just say, there were high expectations. And if memory serves it was a good friend of mine that got the game for me as a gift, and many hours went down in to it. But due to other hobbies I never got Arkham City, and totally missed out. So when getting the game Batman: Arkham Origins it was kind of special. And I
hoped the game would be just as good as I thought the first one was. And having
enemies as Deadshot and Deathstroke as well, that are well known villains. Deathstroke being a big name in the DC universe, I was hoping this
game was gonna be awesome! And if it wasn’t...well someone is going to pay for it!
Story and Characters So as you would figure with a name like “Origins” this is where the game series really begins story-wise. And as such we get to play as Batman during one of his first encounters with villains such as Copperhead, Deadshot and maybe more importantly the Joker. And here’s the thing, before going any further then the Joker, who many think is just a clown with bad colour taste, and following the old Batman cartoon, he’s not that dangerous, even if many people are terrorized by him. So keep in mind that was a kid’s show, this game is not. Just as in the movie, and probably more so, here you get to see him as the crazy mass murderer he actually is. A maniac that’s constantly laughing on his way to cause even more death and destruction. But somewhere inside the madness lies a mind intelligent enough to create the entire scenario of the Batman games. He is dangerous and will kill anyone if he sees a laugh in it. And he sees laughs in practically anything. And he will prove this to you. Needless to say, I like this Joker very much so I will leave him for now before I get to repetitive. There are many more famous faces in Batman: Arkham Origins, going all the way from Alfred, Commissioner Gordon to people like the Joker, Black Mask and the Penguin. I'm not going to go into all of them in detail but I will say a short few words about some of the characters that struck me as kind of weird or good. First off Deathstorke, now this is a big name for DC to drop in and is one of their top selling names, and to have him in the game was a huge thing for me. There is one fight not too far into the game and I thought he would make a return, but no, that’s it, he’s gone. What the
hell!? Why would you not use him more, he is the most dangerous assassin out there and you take him out so early and so easy and your done with it!? I was very disappointed, granted you can play as him in some of the challenges but I wanted more of him in the story. Now I can understand why they did not. He is not the normal Batman villain as for example Bane or Copperhead, and using him more would have turned the game from Batman to a Deathstroke game, so I can sort of forgive them, but I still feel cheated on a good fight with Deathstroke. Next up would be the Penguin again I like what they did with him but I still miss a real ending. Maybe they had one for him in Arkham City, I would not know as I have not played the game, but I still felt like I could have done more to him when I had done the missions concerning him. But overall I like the characters in the game, I think they are well made and keep to the Batman that I know and recognize. It looks like they kept to the stereotype of them, the only one I would have some problems with would have been Bane, he’s a good Bane don't get me wrong, but in the comic and everywhere else he is not just the brute, he is also a tactical genius, and this game series seems to have forgotten that and it bugs me a bit. But for the most part it stays true to the lore. And if you don't think so, then keep in mind that Batman is old, and has gone through many changes along the line, such as; the many comic-related characters have come and gone, along with them many versions of Robin. So for being in the start of his career, I think they did a great job on this. I could talk about all the characters in this game in length but there are so many and it would take ages for me to write it all down. So overall the story of the game is simple and in my opinion way too short. The game starts you out hunting down Black Mask, and in time you will learn everything is not what is seems, however I'm not a fan of how the
game builds itself up. There are eight assassins out for Batman's head each chasing the 50 million dollar reward put up for him, but none of them seem to cause you many problems and just result in a slight irritation rather than a fully fledge spanner in the works. You can go through the story relatively fast without having to worry too much about the plot twist that you did already see coming. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is great, but it feels like they had a time frame on how long the main story was allowed to be and just tried to make it all fit inside it instead of making a good story and then putting the frame up around it. It feels stressed in some way. As you go though the game you are forced to jump between different villains, as one might have information that leads to the next one and so forth. Although some of them can be taken on at your own will, but they are the smaller ones, like Enigma and Anarchy. Enigma being the longest one to play to100%, as oppose to Anarchy's story which can be played in a few short minutes, if that. Also the encounters with the assassins are not what I had expected, I wanted to fight them and you get to, but not in the normal way you fight in the game. Deathstrokes’ battle is a bunch of counters and stuns and I must say, for me, it was very boring, I wanted a normal fight. I can understand why they did it in some respects, it’s a more close up and personal experience then the normal fighting system, but they also removed the flow of combat with a bunch of good looking quick events in combination with some limited gameplay, not to my taste I'm sorry to say. Then again I guess it could be nice to have some alternative to fighting as by this
point, you have
probably already taken down your fair share of
street criminals. And most Assassin battles have their own twist on them, except for one that is simply defeated but I'm not going to give away too much more then I already have on this. As I
want you to see it for yourself and make up your own opinion on it and not just taking my word for it. This is from my point of seeing it so you might see things differently after all. And I think that even if the main story feels too short it did still have some very good points in it too. But I have to say that the worst part of it is the assassin battles, all but Banes feels like they are either too short or forced. I would rather have had several encounters with all of them in order to bring them down, just the one battle felt too little and left me wanting more out of every encounter. But there was no more to be had until I completed the game and made my first rerun of the entire story mode. I did enjoy Deadshot's battle though. A bit too simple but I just liked it a lot. And it allowed you to use all those unlocks in the silent take down skill tree you had in a boss fight made the game, and my day, just that much brighter. But it’s still not enough, following the main story is fun and all, but as I sad its way too short and the assassin encounters just seem like they were added as an afterthought in some cases. But overall it’s fun, just wished for more surprises, although
one could argue that the reason why it’s not would be cause I have
already played Batman: Arkham Asylum and read/seen so much of Batman that most of his battles and stories are known to the hardcore fans. And if the developers had gone too far from this I guess I would not have been happy either, I guess I just had so high expectations on the game I wanted more from it. But in order to move on in this, I'm going to leave it here for now, but to conclude. I love the characters in the story and most of the voice acting is good and doesn't disappoint. I only wish I had had the time to see and hear more of the assassins. Especially Deadshot and Deathstroke, and a side note, I believe that the voice of Deathstroke is the same one as in Injustice: Gods Among Us. I have not looked this up, but they sounded
similar and for me that is a big plus! I love it when there are consistencies in voices and when companies are not afraid to reuse voice actors that do their jobs well. The story is good but I feel should have been longer. The game is still long if you do all side missions, but the main bit should be longer.
Gameplay So moving on to the actual gameplay. And as far as I have seen it runs very well. There are a few bugs though, for example, enemies getting stuck in weird poses after they have been taken care of or knocked out, and in other cases they fly off like a rocket when the last punch is landed instead of falling to the ground. But it’s to be expected; you do a ton of fighting in this game and for it to sometimes bug out, especially the very few times it happened I think it’s forgivable. And I'm more concerned about things that hinder your progress in the game, such as disappearing Enigma packs and vents that you are not allowed to climb into. The Enigma pack is a side mission, but getting them all will unlock a new skin for Batman and for me is a must. But one of them seems to be gone. Maybe it’s underground where I can’t find it but according to the map, it should be on a rooftop and it’s just not there. I’ve had the same problem with one of Enigma data handlers, as the map says he’s there, and he simply is not. Eventually I found him after a couple of restarts and so on, but the data pack still eludes me. And the vent thing, I don't know if one is not supposed to be able to climb certain vents before a certain point in the story mode, but usually the game tells you that. But sometimes you just end up hanging from the vent and not being allowed to pull yourself up and over the edge and into the actual vent. And that pisses me off to no end. If I'm not supposed to be there at this time, then tell me so and I can leave, but to just do that is stupid. So bug or time locked area, I don't care, it pisses me off. I have to say though I have not seen any buildings disappearing or streets becoming transparent.
The game holds the bigger things together really well. And no game with that type of detail gets to be bug free. But the ones there are are small and in my case few and far between. As I said I'm more worried about the things that keep me from progressing (darn Enigma pack). And I'm happy to see that they have now upgraded the counter system to allow you to double counter as well, a big difference to the gameplay. And it seems to be working really great. There’s not much more to say about the thing, it runs great on the PC and the auto save really does work, and your life will be a whole bunch easier by saving after every encounter. If anything I wish there was more levels, I was fully levelled long before I got halfway through the story, mainly due to the side missions and the constant fighting, and I must say I love the fighting, it feels great, granted at some points Batman flies between bad guys like there was no tomorrow, but he does that in the series as well so I'm OK whit that. The hits feel meaty and is rewarding...so are the breaking of bones in the takedowns as well. Batman might not kill, but he can be brutal, and he is in this game. As well as the challenges in game, not just the practice challenges but the ones used to unlock your gear are in some instances easy but in the same way rewarding. Like the glider challenge, how much can I learn from that, but as it turns out...quite a lot. Not to mention I unlocked new gear to use as well. The system is great, the only one I have problem with is the “takedown 3 or more enemies with a single explosive” and I only ever get the one as it explodes when someone comes near. So if you’re playing the game, don't unlock that upgrade till after you have done that challenge, just saying. OK, to wrap this part up. The game does have some bugs, but an open world game like this doesn't get to be just that without a few bugs in them. They are few and far between as far as I have seen and I can live with that. I’m just hoping I will get that Enigma pack soon. The voices are great even though they can become rather repetitive when it comes down to the ordinary riff-raff, but just deal with it. And if you’re doing your job properly, they won’t be talking for long
anyway. If you like Batman, get this game, just get it. There might be parts you don't like, but on the whole...it's a great game!
Monsters University:
Review By Nathan
Scullard
I have to admit then
when this movie was
first announced I
wasn’t all that
interested or excited as
I hadn’t been a fan of
the original Monsters Inc. Movie despite its
obvious popularity. So when I first watched this
movie it wasn’t really because I wanted to but
actually because my kid’s did. And those of you
out there
who are
parents
yourselves
will know
that you have
to endure watching a lot of rubbish that your
kids want to watch. Something that I think Pixar
and Dreamworks etc. have started to realise and
implement adult jokes and plotlines into their
movies, which I like the idea of, as long as it
goes over the heads of the kids.
The plot for this movie is a prequel to the last
showing how much-loved characters Mike and
Sulley found their way into the scare business.
Mike who has always dreamed of becoming a
scaring major and attending Monster’s
University finally gets his dream and is looking
forward to his first semester when his well-
planned little world is shaken up by fellow
Scaring Major James P. Sullivan, who is only
interested in having a good time, getting into
the top fraternity on campus (Roar Omega Roar)
and living off his family name.
But after the pair have an accident while
competing with each other at the end of term
scare examinations which ends in a priceless
souvenir of Dean Hardscrabble’s, the campus
head, getting
broken, she
kicks both of
them off of the
scare program.
The pair are distraught and each see it as the
others fault, but when the annual Scare Games
comes around Mike sees it as the perfect
opportunity to prove to Dean Hardscrabble that
he deserves a spot in the Scaring Program. He
joins a fraternity of cast offs called Oozma
Kappa and signs them up to the scare games,
but still a
man short
of a full
team,
reluctantly,
Mike agrees
to let Sulley join the team forcing the two to
work together and win their way back into the
scaring program.
The plot itself is rather predictable for an adult
watching it but at the end the day it’s designed
for kids so I’ll let that go. Otherwise, it was
entertaining enough to keep me interested, and
I have now seen it about five times, and not
always with my children. The comedic parts
were genuinely funny even for an adult and the
characters were diverse and engaging, which for
a kid’s film is a must. My two year-old daughter
won’t sit and watch a film for the full two hours
if it doesn’t keep her engaged with what’s going
on.
Overall, I thought that this film was a lot better
than the first one and deservedly
makes it to the list of my favourite animated
movies. Not quite in the top 3, but just about in
the top 10.
My Rating: 8/10
My 3 Top Animated Movies:
1. Wreck it Ralph (2012)
2. Toy Story (1995)
3. Ratatouille (2007)
White House Down
Review -By Nathan
Scullard
Now, the first thing I
will say is “White House
Movies Suck!” You guys
over in the US of A
need to realise that
actually no one in the
rest of the world cares
whether someone comes in and blows up your
so-called ancient monuments...500 years is not
ancient!!!
But unlike
every other
movie of
this type
that I have
seen this
actually
broke the stereotype. The only reason I was
watching this movie in the first place was
because of Channing Tatum...NO I don’t fancy
him...but for the right price...just saying! I
actually like most of the films that Channing
Tatum has been in, maybe with one slight
hiccup...”Fighting”. And I am pleased to say that
it is another film he’s in that I like...so yay! But
actually I thought Jamie Foxx was really good,
maybe even slightly better than Channing.
The film is about a dad who is going for a job
interview with the secret service and decides to
take his daughter on a tour of the White House
hoping that it will in some way help to fix their
damaged relationship. Yes, I know not a great
storyline, but I assure you the cast and funny
one-liners do make up for it, and I have to admit
that I do find the lack of depth to that kind of
story very irritating too. Like what better ways
are there to fix a broken relationship other then
go through a hostage situation...none obviously
according to the Americans.
But anyway, rant aside. Like I said the movie
starts with Channing’s character John Cale,
taking his daughter to the White House for a
tour, while he goes and fails miserably at his
Secret Service interview. But while this is all
going on, strange men have started infiltrating
the White House with the intention of gaining
access to the president so they can get their
hands on his launch codes for the United States’
nuclear missiles. It seems that all of this is
stemming from a controversial peace treaty
which is at the time being proposed by the US
President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) to
withdraw all allied forces from the Middle East.
The Catalyst which starts everything of is when
one of the mysterious men detonates a bomb in
the United States Capitol Building causing a very
impressive explosion where the dome of the
building collapses. And It has to be said that the
special effects in this movie were really good,
which in my experience is usually quite hard to
do in a daylight setting as is shows up all the
imperfections, but I am happy to say that I did
not see any.
From that point on it’s an adrenaline-fuelled
rollercoaster. It starts off a little slow I suppose
when to begin with they just hide from the bad
guys, but it ends up getting to a point when they
are driving
across the
White
House
lawn in an
armoured
limo firing
rockets at pursuing cars, and when I say THEY I
mean John and the President James Sawyer! Yes
the president of the United States is driving
across his own lawn and firing rocket launchers
at people...hell yeah! Think the Americans are
starting to realise they can actually make the
president funny too, he doesn’t just have to talk
about taxes and foreign affairs all the time.
But anyway, the plot is really about John saving
his daughter as they get separated when the
terrorists first hit, and seeing as the place is full
of incompetent Secret Services agents, then it’s
up to him and
the president
to save his
daughter and
the world
before the
terrorists can get hold of the president’s launch
codes and start world war 3.
As I have mentioned the story is a weak point, it
is very predictable and doesn’t really throw up
any surprises, but where this film excelled was
the special effects and the chemistry the
characters had, and I found myself laughing on
more than one occasion at some of the lines.
And what the driving round on the lawn showed
to me was that even the Americans are starting
to learn that it’s ok to take the piss out of
yourself sometimes. You don’t always have to
portray that that the president is always serious
because he
has his big-
boy pants
on. Or that
people will
get
offended
when you blow up a national monument. Films
should be entertaining as well as realistic, that is
a winning combination, something I think the
likes of Air Force One and films like it have been
lacking for some time.
My Rating:
7.5/10 (Not Perfect, but a step in the right
direction!)
My Favourite Patriotic Film:
1. Independence Day
2. White House Down
3. (Honestly can’t think of anymore I liked)
AMC’s The Walking Dead:
Season 4 “So Far”
Episodes 1-7
Well it’s nearly that time again...the Christmas
gap in the walking dead season, in truth I was
hoping to get this review done after the mid-
season finale, but due to the release date of the
Gazette, I have had to do it one episode before
the finale.
For those of you who read my Walking Dead
Seasons 1-3 Rundown and Review, you will be
fully aware that I am completely in love with the
Walking Dead TV show, and for those of you
who didn’t...well why the hell not!? I command
you stop reading and go and read every word of
that review and like it...go on LIKE IT...
<cough>...sorry about that not sure what came
over me... <cough>.
The Walking Dead is a series about faries and
flowers and pretty things...if anyone of you read
that without smelling a rat, now is the time to
engage your brain. The Walking Dead is a series
about dead people...who walk...and stuff. The
show has followed roughly the same few
suvivors since the show began, and put pure
and simple it’s the story of how they cope and
survive when the rest of the world has turned to
shit.
I’m not going to go over too much of the back
story as that was the point of my previous
review, which by the way, if you would like to
read it please go to www.tazercg.com and look
on the “Movie Reviews” Page. We left the gang
on their way back to the prison with the
Woodbury suvivors and the Governor is no
where to be found.
In Season 4, we catch up with the survivors a
few months later, when the new members to
the group have had a chance to intergrate
properly
with the
others.
Things
appear to
be good
at first
glance; the prison’s defense’s have been beefed
up with a brand new heavy duty steel gate
which guard the main entrance, Rick and Carl
have be catching up on some ‘Father/Son’
activities and built themselves an allotment and
pig farm, and Carol has started secretly teaching
the children of the group how to maime and kill
using knives. So all in all they are all pretty
happy.
But when one of the group’s members is struck
down ill and then dies suddenly during the night
without anyone’s knowledge, he reanimates as
a walking corpse and brings reality back
crashing down around them. Several new
members to the group are killed, but conviently
none of the main cast are injured.
Very quickly, while clearing up the mess, it
become apparent that some of the other
members of the group are also becoming ill, and
Hershel announces that flu’s from ‘Ye Olden
Days’ (well he doesn’t say it quite like that) can
be caught from pigs or birds and thrive in close
quarters, such as the prison. It’s quickly decided
that any of the people involved in the attack or
clearing it up could be infected and are
segregated from the rest of the group to
prevent any further infection.
Tyreese,
one of
the new
members
to the
group
from season 3 and has been courting Karen,
another new member, goes to visit her on
segregation, but instead finds her cell empty,
and a trail of blood leading to an external door.
Upon opening the door he discovers the
smoldering corpses of Karen and David another
ill suvivor.
Some of the group go on a run to look for
medical supplies to try and treat the ill, but
enroute they hear a mysterious voice on the car
radio, and then soon after is forced to abandon
their car when they run into the very edge of a
many thousands strong walker herd.
Meanwhile back at camp, Rick has to step in to
save Carol from a group of walkers who
surround her while she is trying to fix a water
pipe outside the prison fences. Afterwards Rick
comment on how what she did was extreamly
reckless and stupid, and comments on how he
has noticed recently how she will go to almost
any lengths to keep the group safe. He the flat-
out asks he if she killed Karen and David, to
which she simply replies “Yes” and walks off.
In the next episode Rick and Carol go on a run to
a nearby neighbourhood tasked with raiding the
house’s medicine cabinets for anything of use.
They run into a young couple called Sam and
Ana who have been hiding out in one of the
houses, who ask if they can join the group. Both
Carol and Rick are cautious of the couple but
agree if they help them search the
neighbourhood they can come back to the
prison with them. They split up and agree to
with the couple back in the house they met, but
when Rick and Carol return they are no where
to be seen. They later find the severed leg of
Ana and see her remains be devoured by a
group of walkers, but Sam is no where to be
seen.
Rick and Carol then go to head back to the
prison, but Rick explains to her that she is not
welcome back. Unsure if he can trust her and
fearing for her safety when the group find out
the truth, he says she will be safer on her own.
He leaves her with supplies and helps her find a
suitable car before leaving and returning to the
prison.
The next episode was actually quite a good one
and in case, I’ve lost you in all the rambling I’m
up to about episode 5.
With the huge build up of ill people in
segregation, Hershel has his had full trying to
save them all, even going as far as inserting a
cathiter in just to give them a couple more
hours of life, desperatly hoping that Daryl’s
group who went scavenging for medical supplies
and then ran into the super-horde, come back in
time to save them. But pretty quickly it becomes
apparent that things are out of Hershel’s
control, and it’s only a matter of time before
one of them turns into a walker.
And this is exactly what happens, forcing
Hershel to shoot some of the group who have
turned into walkers. The shots attract the
attention of Hershel’s daughter Maggie whohad
been keeping guard in the watch tower, but
abandons he post to rush to her father aid.
Unfortunetly, she is not the only one who hears
the shots, and more and more walkers are
attracted to the prison’s fence, eventually
building up enough that the fence gives way
under the weight and they breach the defences.
Rick and Carl, armed with assault rifles manage
to take out the majority of the walker, and are
shortly joined by Daryl’s group who are
returning
from
their
skirmish
and help
them out
with the last few...which if I am totally honest
would really piss me off if I was Rick. Yeah don’t
worry Daryl, we only took out like a hundred
walkers by ourselves before you guys swooped
in and helped us with the last 2 and a half in an
attempt to steal our glory!
The next two episodes, if I am totally honest, I
did not like. They are the story of what has been
happening with the Governor since Woodbury,
and although I like the Governor, he is an epic
bad guy, two whole episodes of just following
him around and not seeing anything to do with
the prison was actually kind of boring. He’s a
great character but I fell in love with The
Walking Dead because I liked seeing what
happened to the group, and to have an hour
and a half to two hours of just the Governor, I
was screaming out for a bit of variety!
We see that quickly he is abandoned by the two
remaining men he had left from the Season 3
raid on the prison. He then wanders the world
looking for some sense of purpose and
presumably an undead barber shop, because his
new wilderness-man bushy beard really doesn’t
suit.
Instead he finds a small group, a family who
have been sheltering in their home since the
world ended and he immediately forms a
connection with the young daughter Meghan, as
he continues to struggle with the loss of his own
daughter from Season 3. While he is there, he
soon realises that the family’s oldest family
member David, Meghan’s grandfather, is on his
last legs and will soon become a threat to the
unaware family, and when it finally happens he
unforgivingly bludgens the poor bloke to death
with an oxygen tank in front of the entire family.
They are shocked and upset, but after he
explains what would have happened they
grudgingly forgive him, all except Meghan, who
just misses her Grandfather.
The family decide to leave and try to start afresh
somewhere new, they quickly run into trouble
when their truck breaks down and they have to
walk on foot, whch just lands them in even
more trouble when they virtually walk into a
huge crowd of walkers. As they flee, the walkers
the Governor scoops up Meghan and runs as
fast as he can away from the pursuing horde. In
his haste, he fails to notice a huge hole in the
ground, and he and Meghan tumble straight
into it and join it’s current occupants...yeah you
guesed it...more walkers!
Desperate and fearing for Meghan’s safety the
Governor takes them on in hand to hand
combat, and quickly dispatches them. Now
turning to the problem of getting out of the
hole, he turns to look up and see’s one of his
men called Martinez, one of the two who
abandoned him after the Woodbury Massacre.
Episode 7 is a little more interesting, and starts
off with Martinez helping Meghan and the
Governor (Brian, as he is better known to his
new companions) out of the hole, to see that
they are completely surrounded by people,
Martinez’s new group. Martinez agrees to let
Brian and the others join the group as long as
Brian follows HIS orders, and they go back to
the nearby camp.
Although the Governor...sorry...Brian does not
say much, he is obviously constantly thinking
about how to get the best out of every
situation, and in this case he wants leadership
of the group, which seems to stem from some
insanely-driven urge to keep Meghan safe, and
unconvinced that Martinez is up to the job, he
batters him with a golf club, when evryone is off
getting cake or something, and then feeds him
to a group of walkers.
Of course the group finds his body, but they just
put it down to a drunken accident!? A
temporary leader is then appointed, not the
Governor you’ll be surprised to hear, so what
does the ever so caring Brian do? Well simple,
he stabs him to death and then weights his feet
and drops him in a nearby river so he can
occasionally look down and laugh at the
wriggling reanimated corpse...this guy really has
issues!
Episode 7 ends with the Governor driving into
the woods and sneaking around. He peeks
through the bushes and we catch glimpses of
the prison on the other side.
Wow, that actually took a lot more explaining
then I was expecting. While I do love the
Walking Dead I have to be totally honest and
say that so far this season has failed to ignite a
fire in my soul, and has left me a little
disapointed. It does have some good potential
plot lines for the second half of the season
including the huge super-horde, the mysterious
voice on the radio and what will happen with
the Governor and the prison again. But I think
the introduction of new characters to the story
is happening far too fast, and it just confused
things even more when at the beginning of the
season we had all these new people from
Woodbury to get used to, then they all died and
then there was this Woodbury Mark II lot that
we now have to get to know, and I have to
admit the story sounds a little repeated.
The Governor and a group of completely gullible
idiots seige the prison, with virtually the same
people as last season in it. I do like the idea of a
pathagen being passed around through the air,
as it gives the reason these bodies are coming
to lifes a more realistic spin. Its a well known
fact that viruses in some cases can mutate, and I
think it is very brave
of the Walking Dead
to start on this very
complex path, lets
just hope that the
decision to break
away from the
more traditional
zombie traits
doesn’t come back
to haunt them.
I would also like to make one suggestion
though, your making the same mistake as
season 2! Very repetative scenery! I am bored
of seeing trees, trees and more trees, a bit of
variation please.
Otherwise, the season is shaping up ok, if a little
safe in terms of the plot, but I will keep you
updated with future developments.
Thanks for taking the time to read my review,
don’t forget like us on Facebook and follow us
on Twitter for more reviews and other cool
stuff!
-Nathan Scullard
Acer Aspire One 533 Netbook
Review - By Nathan Scullard
Just a little
heads up for you
guys who are
expecting a well
structured,
highly detailed
and informative
product
review...this will
not be one. When I right product reviews which is not
often to be honest I write from the point of view of a
clueless consumer, mainly because I am one. I’m not very
technically-minded nor do I know all the statistics for every
bit of hardware ever made. So for all of the 3 and a half
people left, I will explain why. The way I write product
reviews is from YOUR point of view. Most people, not all
people, but most people who buy stuff because it looks
nice and it fits their needs. This for example is a very nice
looking Netbook, and fits most of my needs so it has done
its job...sort of.
Let me start at the beginning, so we will start with looks,
and as I have already mentioned it is a nice looking
Netbook in terms of styling. I love the black, grey and silver
theme and I like the lack of a traditional touchpad, which
has been replaced by a load of dots that you run you finger
over. It looks better, and is flusher to the surface of the
Netbook. The only bit it does fall on is the usage. While
using the touchpad it works well when you trace you finger
across it but it does tend to not work so well when you go
to click something with it instead of using the button. I
have found myself several times sitting and waiting
believing that I’d click what I needed to only to find that I
hadn’t.
The keyboard is a basic keyboard, but I did like the fact
that underneath the keys is a sort of black tray or surface
that hides the workings, but also provides a much more
useful function...it prevents the build up of crap
underneath the keys, something that used to annoy me
sooooooooooo much when I had my old Samsung N150
Netbook. I also liked that the keys were all perfectly flat
rather than having silly little curves for your fingers to fit
in, like they ever made a difference in the first place.
The rest of the outer casing is styled very nicely and my
only real concern is that you do tend to get dirt and fluff
build up just above the keyboard where the battery clips
into the computer, but I won’t whinge too much as there is
always going to be somewhere that it collects it’s mostly
unavoidable.
Now let’s talk about how well equipped the 533 is. On the
left side you can see the plug in for the power adapter; a
VGA socket and two USB 2.0 sockets. On the right is; a
network plug in a little square thingy-maggigy (told you it
wasn’t going to be technical), another USB 2.0, two
headphone/microphone sockets and an SD Card Reader,
which by the way, on my particular machine, does not
actually like reading SD cards! Something I discovered
when I first went to plug my digital camera SD Card in. It
told me it was reading the media and then nothing
happened. I have tried it a few more time since and it has
not even recognised that there is an SD card inserted???
I think for a Netbook, 3 USB’s and all the usual stuff like
headphone sockets etc. is quite good, even with the faulty
SD card slot as I had not actually expected it to have an in-
built one anyway, so how does that saying go, “Nothing
lost, Nothing gained.”
Right, now the tricky stuff, the specs...well it has some and
they are: An Intel Atom Processor N455 (1.66GHz, 512KB
cache), 1GB DDR3 Memory, a 6-call Li-ion battery and
250GB of HDD capacity, and I know all this because...I read
it on the sticker which is stuck next to the touchpad. It also
has a 10.1” LED LCD Screen, SignalUp, WiFi Certification
and something called Multi-Gesture, which I later found
out was a similar system to when you use your phone and
do that weird pinch thing on the screen to zoom in and
out. Which I thought was pretty cool...but do you know
ham many times I have used this feature in the 3-4 months
I have owned this Netbook...none! Not once! So what a
royal waste of time it was putting that on it!
The Netbook
comes
loaded with
Windows 7
starter, which
is a bit like
making sure
all the
netbooks that leave the factory where there are built are
sent out with a cracked screen, missing keys or some other
kind of defect, as I honestly believe that windows products
are slowly getting worse, but with not much else out there
that allows you to play all the games you buy and use all
the programs many of us grew up using so you kind of
stuck with it. It’s like having a really embarrassing dad who
keeps getting drunk and tries to sleep with your wife, you
want to get rid of him, but what can you do he’s your dad.
This also brings us to another major flaw with the Netbook,
which has always annoyed me. The RAM is not enough at
all! 1GB barely runs the desktop, heaven forbid you should
ever actually want to use the machine for anything other
than a pretty picture. Netbooks are supposed to be for
surfing the net, hence the name, but it always seems to be
their downfall. They’re like a bird that’s afraid to fly or a
fish that’s afraid to swim. Manufacturers sell them
knowing that 90% of people who buy them who aren’t
teenagers who
have been bought
them by their
parents, will use
them for a bit and
then either buy a
2GB RAM chip,
which by the way
is the maximum
this Netbook will go to, or sell it on because it is completely
useless! Why not just load them with a 2GB chip in the first
place save people the hassle? Probably because all the
manufacturers are all money-grabbing assholes! But wait
there is more...this particular Netbook is virtually
inaccessible, if you do decide to change out the RAM chip
then good luck to you. As I have mentioned I used to have
a Samsung N150 netbook, which also needed the RAM chip
upgrade so I changed it, nice and easy. There is a little
square of plastic under which is the RAM chip, just undo
two screws and pop it off...EASY! But the Acer...whoever
the hell thought up the design should retire and give
someone else who actually has a brain a chance. When you
turn the Netbook over there is a very obvious cut out
which looks like you could quite easily pop it out with no
screwdriver needed, but no there are screws that need
undoing, but they are underneath the keyboard! Yes that’s
right, you have to take the entire keyboard off which is not
easy to undo a couple of screws to take the back off, but
wait there is still more! Once you’ve done all that you then
replace the chip, put everything back together and then
turn it on, and what happens? Absolutely nothing!!!
Apparently although you can buy lots of different types of
RAM chips for this Netbook which are supposed to work on
it, only ONE of them actually does, so if you plan on
upgrading it, either don’t or find out from Acer what exact
chips work with the Acer Aspire One 533.
There isn’t really much else to say about it really, the
performance is terrible because of the RAM chip, which
kind of ruins everything else as it’s all so slow. It looks
great, but is that really enough as I like most people buy
these because I want to use them to surf the web or write
stuff or watch movies, which by the way this is supposed to
run 720p movies, but don’t be fooled yes it will run them,
but the jumping and unstable picture will make them
unwatchable. I’d recommend stick to 480p as an absolute
maximum.
My conclusion: I would not recommend this Netbook,
there are other models out there that do so much more
and they do it better. The Samsung N150 for an example is
a great Netbook it does need the 2GB upgrade but once
you’ve got that it is at least useable.
- Nathan Scullard
Deadspace 3 – Game Tips: By Kim Gustafsson I took it upon myself to come up with some Deadspace 3 game tips. I really liked the third one even if I think the first one was the best in the series. It was far more jumpy and frightening than the other two, I think partially because it was more unexpected. But that aside I did not want to give you the walkthrough on how to kill bosses or how to find the stuff for a specific gun, I'm sure that you can find that some other place if you wanted to, but I think knowing all that from the start kind of takes away from the whole exploring thing. Nor will I tell you how to kill the boss events either or clear a certain stage in the game, that’s all for you to figure out. But what I will give you are 5 pointers to help you along the way. They are short and kind of self explanatory, but I will tell you about what I thought about them and why I think they are good tips even if they are quite simple. 1. The first one is something I myself did not take seriously in the first couple of hours of gaming. Cause it did not really matter that much in the beginning. But then when it came down to it I did not understand fully how it worked. I'm talking about the Work Bench. Here you can customize your weapons and invent new ones as well, it’s a big deal. So go through the tutorial, for some people it will be obvious what one can do, but to me it was not, and I had problems getting the desired effect on my weapons. And being a man I was not much for tutorials or instruction manuals in general, one of my many flaws I admit. But it caused me a lot of frustration in the early game. Not getting the power nodes or gun frames right caused the guns to be less effective. Some of you are by this point frowning at me but that’s the way it was, but I learned and after some tinkering, and finding some more materials, I eventually got the hang of it and got my guns working. Not only did it help my gameplay, it also helped with my temper a lot too! 2. Humans are now a common enemy in Deadspace and it gives you a unique way of killing them. Many of them will throw grenades at you, learn to throw them back, just keep in mind to release them before they explode. And you
usually have a good five seconds before they detonate. Not only will this save you lots of ammunitions it will also help you do damage to several enemies at the same time. Remember, that’s not all you can do that with, there are other things you can pick up and throw/hurl at your opponent and it will do damage. Not to mention it’s kind of fun. 3. Remember that you have a stasis pack. It’s really good. You will at times be asked to use it to go across something dangerous or fast moving. But you can also use it to slow down enemies. Enemies are really fast moving and they do a ton of damage to you so do what you can to keep them at arm’s length (unless you’re doing tip number 4 that is…read on). But don’t forget to stasis one enemy and shoot at the other one. There are many places where they will swarm you, and there is no point in shooting a slowed enemy, aim for the ones running for you and put some distance between yourself and the one you just put into stasis. 4. As I said, your enemies will do a ton of damage to you if you let them get too close. But so do you. If you need to you can stasis an enemy and then beat the crap out of it! It’s a good way of killing single enemies if you’re short on bullets and have more stasis power then you need. Just remember that if it’s not dead by the time the stasis wears off, you need to be somewhere else with your finger firmly on the trigger. 5. The game is highly flexible when it comes to your styles of play. Not only the guns but also your suit can be altered. So try to find a play style you like and can work with. It’s not necessary for you to use an SMG (or the equivalent weapon) if you are more of a “blow everything into tiny ity-bity pieces” type of player like me. There are guns for you as well, not to mention other fun stuff. All you need to do is to find the recourses to build them. Last but not least I will tell you this. STOMP! Don't forget that, always stomp EVERYTHING. You find a lot of stuff just by stomping. And most of those enemies will give you some sort of loot if you stomp em. It’s the thing you have to remember. Stomp Stomp Stomp. It’s not dead until you have stomped it at least once. So as I said, it’s not a walk through, and I leave a lot of the game to you, the player. But I hope that those few tips will make your gaming a bit easier. Oh and by the way, keep
calm!
Star Wars : The old Republic Galactic Star Fighter 3rd December.
The Wolf Among us: Episode 3, A Crocked Mile. December 2013.
Soul Saga: Episode 1. 31 December 2013.
Hunters Trophy 2: America.
2013.
Assassins Creed Liberation HD: January 15 2014.
Spellfocre 2: Daemons of the past.
January 16 2014.
Wolf Among Us: Episode 4, In sheep's clothing. January 2014.
Broken Age:
January 2014.
Moebius: January 14 2014.
Life Goes On: January 2014.
The TaZeR Xmas Bundle Giveaway!
- The Sims 3 (Origin Key)
-The Sims 3: High End Loft Stuff (Origin Key)
-The Sims 3: Late Night & Date Night (Origin Keys)
-Europa Universilis 3 (Steam Key)
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Origin Key)
-Populous (Origin Key)
-Dead Space (Steam Key)
-Burnout Paradise (Steam Key)
ALL TO ONE LUCKY WINNER!
CALL IT A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM FATHER-TAZER!
To enter please go to
www.tazercg.com/contests-and-giveaways
and follow the on-screen instructions.
(Closing Date: 23rd December 2013 - 23:59pm)