Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2

It has been almost a month since my PC came to life, resting on top of my kitchen table, and almost three weeks since I discovered that I was running Windows 7 32 bit, and only utilizing about one quarter of my computers gaming power. A copy of Windows 7 64 bit is over 100 dollars, and I, after spending far too much money on my creation,  was unwilling to shell out the money for a copy. So right now I am waiting for a free copy to materialize, as I'm sure it will at some point, but until that happens I am taking a break from my gaming computer.

Without the PC, I decided to go for my Xbox. Once I'd found it, dusted it off, and plugged it into the TV, I was alerted that my save files had been corrupted and that all my games had been deleted. Already I was recalling the reason I built a computer, but this isn't a review of the Xbox. Searching through the Microsoft store I stumbled upon an old treasure: Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2.

The protagonist of SWFU 2 (as I will call it to save time) is a young man named Starkiller, acted by Sam Witwer. Dropping into the games campaign, a jumbled series of flashbacks were hurled at me, in a vague attempt to remind me of what happened in the previous game. The game doesn't fall short in the story aspect by any means, it does an excellent job of weaving its story into the Star Wars universe. The game starts with the player fighting a seemingly unlimited amount of rebel soldiers, slicing through them with dual lightsabers, frying them with lightning, hurling them against the walls with the force, and some combination of the three. After the player dismembers a sufficient number of goons it is revealed that they are all robots, and that the infamous Darth Vader is holding you captive. For reasons beyond my understanding, Starkiller decides to violently and thoroughly electrocute a startled Darth Vader. While Vader's muscles are still locked in place Starkiller blows a large hole in a wall, then jumps out into the rainy night. After this cutscene the player is given back control of the game, only to find themselves falling at high speed from a tower that seems to be miles tall. On the descent the player must destroy and dodge obstacles such as antennae, lightning, planes, and platforms covered in stormtroopers.

After the descent is completed Starkiller (cutscene) crashes into some kind of sea view cafe, killing many hungry stormtroopers. The player (no cutscene) runs through the whole bad guy complex dispatching everything in his way from troopers to passive aggressive computer terminals.

Nearing the end of the level is the first good example of what the main character Starkiller is capable of. In his effort to escape he spies a ship parked on a landing pad, however separating the would be transportation from the player is 100 feet of nothing. To bridge the gap the player is directed to some kind of TV tower, and as everyone knows TV towers are really just bridges in disguise. Just then some helpful Tie Fighters come along, and the player is directed to grab them as they fly by and smash them into the tower. Once, twice, thrice! The tower swoons then crashes onto the adjacent platform, killing everyone on it. After the player climbs over a new game mechanic is introduced, rage mode! As the player destroys all the resistance in their path they fill up a meter with every living thing that falls to their hand. Once the meter is full the player can go into super-saiyan mode where he glows blue, and all his power's our multiplied ten fold! A fight ensues where the player is forced to go into this rage mode and eviscerate the unfortunate stormtroopers sent to stop him. Once all resistance is quelled he hijacks the ship then takes off, leaving the empire to wonder who is going to pay for all the damages.

Overall I would recommend this game, as it provides an engaging experience. Be warned though that the game is short, only four full levels! luckily each of these levels is a solid hour long, and the game has strong replay value.

look out for a podcast collaboration with Jake at Dudley's Daily on the upcoming game Titanfall. Thanks for reading!
4/5
Good

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Nuclear Throne

 This past weekend my grandmama had the good fortune to turn 90 years of age. In accordance to tradition all of her, and my, extended family traveled from around the world to celebrate her milestone. The weekend was filled with parties, cake,  poetry, and other tastey foods; in addition to that I saw family who I hadn't talked to in years. One of these individuals was a particular cousin from Greece, we'll just call him Gary. My cousin Gary is 30, so our age difference is significant, however large our age gap is one thing will always span the chasm: our love for video games.

Recently Gary had discovered a early access indie game called Nuclear Throne. Priced at $13 USD buying the game now not only allows the consumer to play it before it's official release, but it also secures a copy of the game after release even if the price goes up. The game's art style is a charming pixel style, while it's not totally original the game works the retro style and music to its advantage, creating a euphoric gaming experience. Upon starting the game the player is given the choice of 10 different characters, each with their own special ability and amount of health points.

The current boss in Nuclear Throne
Nuclear Throne is reminiscent of the Binding of Isaac, a game that employs a perma-death mechanic, if your character dies you start over no second chances. Your character starts out as a weak little guy still wet behind the ears, and if he is lucky enough to live long enough to level up, he can grab himself some upgrades. Starting the game on some characters one hit will kill the player, these kind of compromises could mean that you have very low health but very high damage output.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone with a PC and 13 bucks to spend, as Nuclear Throne offers a refreshing and unusual experience to our modern triple A shooters.

Thanks for reading, and I'm hoping posts will be more frequent from now on, as things are starting to smooth out.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

My first impressions on BF4

Upon clicking the play button in the Origin client, Battlefield 4 opens through your preferred internet browser. This was slightly off-putting, as it meant that if I the player didn't have internet connection, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the game. When the website loads you have full access and management over your in-game soldier. This website is called battle-log, to me it seems like just a marketing gimmick, as it only really serves to clutter up the experience of entering a BF4 multiplayer game.

As anyone who has any prior experience with the Battlefield franchise will know, the games are not known for their singleplayer campaigns, but for the multiplayer aspect. This newest installment doesn't fall short in that department thankfully. Once I've gone through the website to join a multiplayer server, I find
myself on a tropical archipelago. The scene is not one out of a travel brochure however, the palm trees swing back and forth uncontrollably in the shrieking wind, as rain pelts down like missiles, and the skies grows ever darker. The Chinese and United States armies are fighting for control of the islands, for whatever reason I don't know and nor do I really care.

 I drop into the combat as a recon, equipped with a rifle, a pistol, a range finder, and a small amount of C4 plastic explosive. The map was small, smaller than what was normal, and the action was rampant everywhere. I sighted around the map through my scope, and spotting my first man, I fired a round at him. The shot was dead on and should have killed him, and awarded me with experience points, suffice to say this didn't happen, and I watched the bullet pierce hit him square in the face with no affect. So here lies the unfortunate fact of multiplayer game in an early stage. If someone can cheat they most likely will.

I watched through a burst gas tank as an enemy U.S. soldier crept up behind a friendly Chinese trooper. The attacker pulled his knife and went for a knife kill, just in time though the Chinese soldier turned around so the knife caught him in his flack vest. The circled each other, both trying to get behind the other. The Chinese soldier lunged towards the enemy, but not fast enough. As the U.S. soldier was about to plunge his knife into the friendly, I took a wild shot through the wreckage. The lucky shot sped through the air and caught him below his right shoulder blade, piercing his right long. He fell to the ground unable to breathe, and the Chinese soldier moved on from him.

My final impression is that BF4 is a well optimized and good looking game. The moment I just described was extremely cinematic one, and I didn't have to exaggerate it to make it sound so exciting. The only problems that the game has in its current stage our the bugs, players becoming bullet shedding titans really takes away from the game. These things can be expected in an young game, so with time BF4 will only get better. Overall I would recommend this game to a friend, and I myself am very pleased with what DICE have done with this newest franchise installment.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Its a bird! Its a plane! No! Its a new PC!

When the PS4 and the Xbox One were announced this past summer, I realized that these "next gen" consoles as they are called, will now more than ever slowly bleed me of every penny I possess. Sony and Microsoft had now overstepped, games were rumored to cost eighty dollars a pop, internet memberships would be sixty dollars a year, and if you wanted to bring a game over to a friends house they would have to pay a steep activation fee.

I remember thinking"Whatever happened to putting the customer first!"when I first heard these affronting announcements.

In the words of my good friend Jake W, "Console companies are trying to piss everyone off, and PC gamers are just getting everyone stoked!"and whilst he was joking, he really hit the nail on the head.

Jake had inspired me to change, and to set out on a quest that would change me for the better; I was going to build a computer. After some research into the subject I realized that this was easier said than done, and it would be a good deal more money than I currently possessed. Luckily for me my work season was not far off, so for the next months I worked on a dam in west springfield and managed to raise all the funds I would need.

I had the funding now but the know how to actually build the machine was lacking, and before you can drive, you have to learn how. During the whole process I was endowed with a certain amount of luck, much more than usual, and I realized that my mentor was closer to home than I had thought. My uncle Dennis built and serviced computers regularly, and he would be just the person to talk to. 

After talking to dennis and searching through the seemingly unlimited archives of Youtube, I knew where my quest would bring me next; Micro Center! I was driving back from a Red Sox game with me' da one night, and our journey took us directly by the superstore. Never before had I seen such a trove of PC treasure, knowledge, and high tech junk to blow money on. Venturing cautiously into the store I was approached by a friendly salesman, a one Mr. Emilio Dunn. When I confessed to Emilio what a computer building nooby I was he responded gracefully, smiling and saying that I had nothing to worry about, he would walk me through it all. What ensued was a journey through cyber space and time on an old stock computer, and when we were finished I had a quote for all the parts I would need. I decided I needed more time to weigh my options. 

The motherboard and video card
I meant to return to Micro Center later that week, however due to unprecedented complications, I didn't return for almost a month. However long it took I was determined to return, so eventually I was back with the cash and the knowledge to purchase the parts. I entered the store with my mother, and I had been planning to have them assemble it there so I could film the process. Unfortunately this proved unfeasible, and they were going to charge me an extra hundred for their assembly services. 

We left having purchased our parts, and drove home where I started in on the assembly immediately. In my haste to build the computer I had forgotten to line up a time with Dennis so he could help me build it, this was a problem. I knew the risk I was taking when I decided to assemble it solo, I could fry all the parts, it could explode, it could melt into a puddle of steel and plastic, the list goes on and on. My face was set and my demeanor firm, power would course through the veins of my creation on this day.

I grabbed an old laptop and started it up, it took painfully long but I eventually navigated to Youtube to look up a tutorial. Jackfrags was there for me I knew this, and his soothing cockney accent would guide me through the process.

The complete machine
Two hours in my neck was killing me, but I had made good progress, the mother board was assembled and the disc and hard drives were seated in the case. I took a break, I visited my grandmother in rehab, and I drank a glass of ice tea. I'll never forget that tea, it shone and sparkled the deep color of amber, and the taste brought me into faraway lands, lying on a tiger skin rug in India. 

No rest for the weary however and I was back to work quickly. By eight o'clock It was done, and as I plugged it into the wall socket for the first and prepared to press the power switch, I froze. This moment would shape me as a human, if I failed I would never take a risk in my life again and I would live an empty life void of both challenge and satisfaction. I pressed the button, and waited, waited, waited. Nothing. I looked everything over in panic but no signs of error on my part, unless... Ahh yes the power supply was switched off. With the switch on the back turned to ON, I tried again and depressed the little rectangular start button. This time the machine roared to life and hummed loudly. The satisfaction was ultimate, the ecstasy complete, I had done it. I had built a Computer.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

A review of my favorite book, Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, and the its first copyright is dated at 2005. The book is based as the name states in the year 2033 after a nuclear war has destroyed the earth, and the surface of earth isn't suitable for humans to live on. Our protagonist is a young man named Artyom who was born in 2013, and lived in the old world for a short time before the war. When the war started he was taken into the metro by the man who became his step-father, he grew up knowing no other family. When he reaches 20 he is forced to take action against the increasingly dangerous mutant attacks against his home, and go on a quest across the metro. As Artyom ventures through the metro he realizes that everyone who survives must cling to one thing in someway or another. Ideology.


The story is told in a third person narrative style, and the reader follows Artyom on his adventures. Our character Artyom has grown to the age of 20 in his home station of VDNKH until he is given a mission by a Ranger. The ranger says that if he doesn’t come back Artyom must travel across the metro to Polis station to warn the Ranger Corps. as to the danger that his home station faces, hoping to gain their help. The book is pointed towards the adult reader, and specifically that who enjoy a post apocalyptic setting. Metro 2033 is apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and the book couldn’t embody the feelings of disparity and brutality that a state of disaster brings any better. The author keeps you interested with his excellent writing style, which employs meticulously drawn scenes, and unique and interesting vocabulary, at times though scenes are grizzly, so it is heavily pointed towards the adult reader.


“Even the apocalypse didn't stop of from killing one another over ideology, even now the Nazis and the Communists are fighting a war for control over the metro.” When things appear most desperate and strange the human mind needs some sense of structure and objective, and in Metro 2033 that structure is ideology. In the book there are three main political factions, the Rangers who want peace and safety for everyone in the metro, the Communists who want unity in the metro but also a very strict control over the people, and the Nazis who who want to eradicate all those individuals who have been corrupted by the radiation.
Whenever I finish a really good book series it leaves me with an empty feeling, a feeling that says “I will never love again”. Fortunately there will always be another good book but this feeling was so deep after I finished Metro 2033 I couldn't speak for a few minutes. It carries a humbling message, we should be grateful for what we have, and seeing the people and what they go through everyday in this world that Mr. Glukhovsky, it truly shows one that. his style of writing and how he shapes Artyom as a character leads the reader to become very attached to him as a character, and because of this the book is filled with tense moments. Mr. Glukhovsky has a very unique perspective in his story, and the closest author to him would be Brent Weeks. If this book taught me one thing it would be that people do have strokes of totally uncharacteristic genius, and this book certainly embodies one of the moments for Mr. Glukhovsky. Unfortunately the sequel to Metro 2033 is a letdown to say the least, and while it still has the same detailed style, it doesn't have Artyom in it, and that in it of itself will be a deal breaker for many, as it was for me.

Metro 2033 is hands down my favorite book, and if you love a good and grimy post-apocalyptic adventure then you're going to live this title. I recommend this book so highly that you should take my copy right now, and if you like it, show it to your friends!

Rating: *****
5/5 Bueno!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Good things to come!

I'm planning on taking a trip to micro center this coming weekend to buy parts and possibly assemble a computer. If I can figure it out I hope to make a video of the whole process, then edit down the footage to a short three to four minute long video, aimed at educating those who are looking into the matter of a custom PC. Expect to see the video by a week from this wednesday, the 16th. Wish me luck, and if any of you know much about filming and editing with an I-phone, post something in the comments to educate me. Thats all for now folks, have a good one!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Battlefield 4

The Battlefield 4 came out in open Beta this past Tuesday for a select number of VIPs, but today it has been released for the general public. I haven't had a chance myself to play it yet, as school should always take priority, but I will link a few gameplay videos below. Bye now!

JackFrag's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryj5K49T2UI

FrankieonPCin1080p's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbmFN-9x-s0

LevelcapGaming's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZn92Ltx8A

Monday, September 30, 2013

Through the tunnel

Mr. Fitz I can't log on to my fenn google account, ill talk to tech about this tomorrow. For the immediate matter of this post though I will just use this blog. Forgive the silly picture, It wont update to the modern one, it should be amusing though.


Friday, September 27, 2013

The GTX 770

As all computer gurus know, building your first personal computer from scratch is an intensely interesting and difficult process, a trial by fire into the world of the PC. Those who have built a gaming PC also are keenly familiar with the expense of such a project, as these custom machines can run up to tens of thousands of dollars!  There are so many different companies in the market that there is always a new better part being created, which means its very hard to keep a computer "up to snuff" so to speak. Luckily in the ever expanding and evolving world of the PC the more money one spends on a particular part, the greater longevity you can expect from it. Anyway anyone who has built a robust gaming computer knows that the graphics card is the biggest money pit in the whole process. The graphics card will be responsible for how beautiful your games look when you play them, and how may frames per second (the more the merrier) you can achieve while doing so. In my personal quest I have settled upon the GTX 770, a card whose creators are doing an excellent job of providing the consumer with the best bang for their buck. I have linked a video about the card which does an excellent job of illustrating how the card performs, what it looks like, and if it is worth the considerable amount of money you would have to spend your hands one. Good luck in your endeavors dear readers, whatever they may be.

GTX 770 benchmarks video

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Hi, my name is Clem Tarpey, I have an interest in football (soccer), lacrosse, pc gaming, philosophy, thought experiments, and Vsauce. You can expect to see a good amount of moral conundrum questions, the odd pc part review, and also things I find beneficial to read or watch. Also as the name of the blog states this is a highly serious and sophisticated blog about perpetual, dark, and all encompassing loneliness in our world today. If you only take away one thing from this blog make sure it is this: Clem Tarpey, friend to the friendless will always be there, complementing the un-complemented, smiling at the un-smiled upon, and facebook friending the un-facebook friended. Till next time readers, au revoir.