My First Video Game: Space Invaders Review

Space Invaders, this was the first video game I ever played and a good one at that. I played this back on my Uncle’s old Atari 2600  back in 1995, the game however was already popular and was released in Japan 1987 on arcades made by the Taito Corporation. These was released on many different platforms and there are still remakes of Space Invaders to this day. This game has had a huge cultural, technical and creative impact on games today and it showed that games are not novelty and that there is real money to be made in the games industry. Take the famous games designer Shigeru Miyamoto, he has been influenced by this game since he saw it as a revolutionary step for video games and he hasn't been interested in the games market until he saw Space invaders appear.

The basic premise of the game is that you have to shoot enemy ships that slowly creep down the screen in two dimensions and you can move between 4 blocks which will protect you from incoming fire. Once you win a round the music and game speeds up, the game was simple but because it was so basic it worked well and the mechanics where solid. The game also had a high score system integrated into the game itself which was common place back then and it gives a level of competition and replay value. This fixed shooting game was perfect for its time with the introduction of the analogue stick for better control. It did have some disadvantages however, you cannot play with multiple people at once which could be well suited for a game like this.

When I first laid my eyes on the screen and my uncle passed me the controller I was amazed how I could move the object on the screen. This was a new sensation altogether which was much different than just watching TV. Being able to interact with object was fascinating to me at the time. I was a kid age 4 so my imagination played a big factor in enjoying this game so much. I imagined the ships where alien monsters and ships was a fully functioning space craft. That's how I got most of my fun out of this game as a child. When you play a game like this today it looks quite simple and primitive, but back then you could use your imagination like I did, rather than having every detail handed to you like today.

Overall this game has left a mark on the market and it has made a mark on me as well as my first video game. This gave me the passion for playing games and looking for new and unique experiences of interaction. The game has used it’s simple mechanics to appeal to large audiences at the time and it showed what video games were all about.

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Dues Ex Human Revolution Review

To start, Dues Ex Human Revolution is set in 2027 Detroit and it is a prequel to the original Dues Ex game which was released in 2000. People are becoming augmented which essentially means that their enhancing themselves with new technology hence the title "Human Revolution".

There are tensions between the Purists (who are against augs) and the large corporations (who are pro-Aug Sarif, Tai young etc). Both of them will have to face each other eventually and you're the only who can desire both their fates.
You are Adam Jensen, an ex swat member who has been heavily augmented due to a tragic accident at the start of the game.
He is an interesting character overall and has a deep back story which I enjoyed, the voice actor (Elias Toufexis) fits his character perfectly. The story is entertaining throughout and it keeps you interested through the very end of it, since you have many different choices along the way.

The game play aspect is what sets Dues Ex apart from other First person shooters, rather than putting you in a battle field with tons of set pieces, this game places you in a "Hub" which you travel freely around to do different tasks. I found this to be very refreshing compared to most FPS's and it's similar to RPGs in some aspects. Instead of levelling up you gain "Praxis points" which you can spend on augmentations. These can be put into into hacking, stealth, endurance, gun play or even some cool abilities like the Typhoon which kills all the enemies around you in a short radius.


With these augments you can approach every situation differently rather then just running and gunning you can even play the game without killing a single person. These elements make the game a blast to play as you can mix and match augments when levelling up. Though the gun play feels quite basic it's solid non the less, it adds variety since you can use the different take downs and lethal/deadly weapons available to you.


Graphics wise the game isn't really doing anything outstanding but it's not about how many polygons you can fit into a potato it's the aesthetics. The game has a style a kin to Blade Runner which looks incredible on a modern PC with the new Direct X 11 settings. From Detroit to Hensha the game is packed with attention to detail though the human models look stiff but the persuasion scene animation is excellent. The game also has an amazing sound track Michael McCann does an fantastic job in creating atmosphere and themes to the environments depending on your situation and location.

Overall this is an exceptional game which is well worth your time and money, since it also has some incredible replay value and it took me over 30+ hours on my first play-through. Though it has some glitches here and there the game play/story/setting makes you forget about them completely.

9.7/10


I hope you've enjoyed my reviews, here's a trailer for the game which made me pre-order it rather then waiting for the reviews as per usual.

                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6JTvzrpBy0

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Real Time Strategy Games

RTS


RTS games are unlike any game instead of controlling one character you control a whole army, because the scale of the game play the camera is placed at the to top to see all of the action more clearly. The main formula for these types of games for example "StarCraft" which is one of the most popular RTS games makes you perform these certain tasks in layers. 
Firstly gather minerals then build more buildings to make a bigger army. This is the basic consensus of RTS's, but they have many different elements which makes it exciting to watch. Players can use their  own skill and knowledge of the game to their advantage like harassment and build orders. The other player needs to counter everything that their opponent is doing which makes it enjoyable to watch which is why StarCraft is considered an e-Sport.                     

Single player mainly plays an important part in RTS's since it makes the Universe interesting and it develops insight into the different races and what their motivations are. 


My personal favourite RTS is an old game called Command And Conquer Red Alert 2. This was a incredibly fun game with 3 different campaigns, varied units, fully featured skirmish mode and innovative cut scenes with real actors talking to the player like in the first game. Action RTS's like Dawn Of War 2 or Company of hero's I'll talk about later since they look like a whole entire breed of RTS. Future more I know that there are much more excellent RTS's out there and I'll get round to them when I can. 

Here's a guide on the basics of an RTS, commentated by "Husky" excuse the annoying voice.                                                                                        

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfo4MXAt1i4&feature=relmfu

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First Person Shooters

First person shooter games is a very popular genre in the video game market such as the Call of Duty series selling over 3.04 million units in its first week and expected to sell even more in its next instalment. Action Games usually involve that the player will kill other people or aliens. Such as in the Halo series which is also hugely successful. In my opinion Arma 2 is one of my favourite FPSs because of it's realism and mechanics and it also has some awesome mods and commands.  

There is usually a sequence of levels that the player needs to overcome such as level 1 level 2 and so on.  These take place in most modern day first person shooters which is personally dislike because I prefer the fast paced and balance of arena shooters which requires a level of skill and insight to be good at but it does increase the longevity of the game by acquiring a new gun if you kill x amount of people. Old games like Doom,  Quake or Unreal has changed the FPS market and it still affects modern games today. Mods is also a vital section in the FPS genre with mods like Counter Strike or Day of Defeat Source being a game changer in the FPS genre.

What is the future of the FPS genre? Games like Team Fortress 2 has introduced a cash shop which people can buy cosmetic "Hats" or weapons for REAL money. This has caused Valve the creators to make the game free to play. Other companies might copy this idea and apply this to their games since Valve has had more players then ever because of this. But in the console market the FPS genre is looking kind of repetitive, with COD games being released yearly and games like HomeFront, Battlefield, Killzone and more. FPSs need a change for the better rather then copying an already done mechanic. Developers need to innovate and introduce new mechanics to get any of my money. The new Dues Ex game looks like a breath of fresh air compared to the games today. 

In the next post I'll talk about the RTS genre.   

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Role Playing Games

Hello, I'm back after a while of inactivity, this is a section from my College work that I'll put on my blog. I'll add more when I get back. 

Different Genres in video games

Video games have become very popular over the years that games have been out. During that time different genres have appeared in the video games market. These range from sport to combat; here I will tell you all of the genres that are in video games today. But there are different types of games for different people such as, hardcore games. These usually are difficult and long experiences usually for people who wish to play for a long amount of time. However casual gamers are the opposite of hardcore. Casual gamers play games for a short amount of time are a sometimes quite less difficult to play and easy to pick up. But these terms can be defined differently to some other people. If a player plays are hard game like "Demon Souls" for 2 hours and then a another player plays Farmville for 10 hours who's more hardcore? It debatable to how you define these terms. 

RPG (Role Playing Games)

A Popular MMORPG
These involve many people
playing at once. 

RPG’s have to player level up and gain new items. This is the basic premise of an RPG and is carried on throughout all of the newer RPG games. You can also make your own character an personalize it to your liking such as Different hair, face, armour and many more.

“Role playing” is the term used in RPG’s and means that the player has to take part in the world and the game in order to succeed, such as killing X amount of monsters or Collect and item for someone. These “Quests” sometimes give experience and let their character level up and gain new items.

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Something Nice

This is something new, I've never seen someone do this before which is disappointing since this is so amazing.
I'm kind of annoyed that some people didn't even play along with it they just stood there and the guards who had no damn sence of humour . But this guy is a bad ass and he is committed to what he is doing which makes it even more awesome.

Also I'd like to thank my 200 followers for well "following" me since I didn't expect this much of a response.

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Something cool

This is pretty cool, I don't think this will go in production but it will be useful for the long drives to College everyday. It would be freaking awesome to go to college while having breakfast or using a laptop, rather then having to worry about those idiots keep on rushing to work by overtaking you and driving to close to the back of you. Here's some info.


"At the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, Google gave rare demos of its auto-driving car. This is from inside the car. The car is making extreme turns unlike it would on regular roads because it is on a closed-course and it demonstrating its capabilities."

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