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