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Dead Space – Completed

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After all that it was my mind playing tricks, Nicole was not even alive. I've killed Necromorphs by the bucket-load, battle with the hunter, leviathan & finally the hive mind. The marker & even the planet is now destroyed.

I was a bucket of nerves all the way through because you just never knew what was around the corner, would anything jump out at you or drop down from the ceiling. The tension created by the music & sound effects had me on the edge of my seat until I reached the safety of the tram. 

I love the tram system it was the one place I could breathe easier knowing that  I have reached the end of another terrifying chapter. This relief would only last for a few seconds before it would transport me to the next destination.

The Pulse Rifle & Plasma Cutter almost became an extension of the rig armour. Eventually when fully upgraded they could kill any necromorph with a couple of shots.

Fifteen hours of horror gameplay took me back to the first time I played Resident Evil. Technology has moved on over the years but the fear remains the same.

This was no Mario saves the princess expedition. The Princess was dead before Isaac had even arrived. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to play the next game in the series. I also don't think the next  game will have the same enjoyment, fear or tension that I experienced with the first game.

But I do admit to being a little curious to see how the storyline develops. I may yet decide at some point to return to space. If I can muster up the courage.

Dead Space – Asteroid

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When you start the Into the Void chapter, your mission if you decide to accept it is to launch giant asteroid into space with a beacon attached.
Piece of cake, I destroyed the Leviathan earlier with no problems how difficult can this be?

Ok, so I need to destroy some gravity towers that are currently anchoring the asteroid?
Easily destroyed two which I could see? Where are the other two?

Looking at the control display, I can see the two I have destroyed & the other two seemed to be anchored on the other side of the ship?
What outside the ship?

Ok gravity jump time then… into space & death !!

What? No they can't be outside there is no way to get outside?
There must be a door around here somewhere leading to another section?

Half an hour walking around the facility & nope I can see no other door or opening?
It must be outside then? But how do I get outside?

Asteroid? Can I jump on the Asteroid?
Nope, spinning arms have just sliced me up into pieces.

Ok I'm stumped.
Back in the SNES days at this point I would usually phone a friend who has completed the game or purchase a magazine that has a walkthrough.
Thanks to the internet & a quick Google search I found the solution.

Gravity jump to the asteroid on the spinning arm junction point & run round to the other side of the asteroid before the arms return.
I'm in space baby !!

Turn around and surprise surprise the other two gravity towers are on the outside of the ship. Bang! Bang! You're dead !!
Plant the beacon & then time your jump back inside.
Make your way back up to the control tower to launch the giant rock.

Mission completed

Assassin’s Creed II: I have a motive!

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Ubisoft release an Assassin's Creed game each year now that they've seen it's a popular series.  It seems as if I'll play through one a year as well, just a few years behind.

Assassin's Creed II continues the story from the first, which meant that the first half hour or so was confusing and empty, given that I couldn't remember the story and didn't pay too much attention to it in the first place.  I could remember that Desmond lies down on a bed and has memories of the past in his DNA, and explores these.  In the first game he was a professional assassin, who had no real motive for killing other than for money.  Travelling through the story of the second game, it's been revealed that the next assassin does have a rather strong motive; after an hour or so of playing, I saw all the male members of my family executed in the town square.  I've already killed the man who let it happen, and am now running around trying to trace who ordered it in the first place.

The controls are better than the first game - the camera's not so wild, though it does still get lost occasionally - and so far missions seem to be more varied.  It's not as comfortable, in that there's no strict rule about which order things should be done in to get the game as complete as possible, but it's therefore less likely to get boring before I get to the end.




I've now completed the first two sequences and have run out of Florence.  My family owns a big house, woo.  I was met by my uncle (who made me laugh with his greeting: "It's-a me, Mario"), who seems to have left things to ruin.  Now to become a proper assassin.

Dead Space – Scream !!

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Yes I'm finally playing it & yes I'm playing it on Easy difficulty. Playing on Easy offers me two advantages, firstly an almost unlimited supply of ammo & med kits. More importantly than that is it lessens the fear factor by 1% & in this game that is very very vital.

Toby suggested I turn the volume off & listen to the Benny Hill tune on repeat, this was my fallback plan in case I needed it.

I love that there is no onscreen HUD, your health is displayed on your body armour in the form of a vertical spine along with a half moon meter for your statis meter. 

Statis is a skill you get early in the game & it let's you slow down time for a brief moment. You can use this to control fast closing doors or slow down running aliens. Kinesis is your other ability & let's you control objects. I've only used this so far to move bookcases revealing hidden loot or moving batteries to operate electrical equipment like elevators.

You start off the game with a simple plasma cutter which lets you slice the aliens limb by limb. The game is gruesome in its display of the violence you can for example take out the legs of an alien & then preform a foot stamp to finish them off.

Later on in the game you will be able to purchase more weapons from a store by collecting the credits you find lying around the USG Ishimura. You can also sell your loot & purchase more ammo if needed. There is a nice animation sequence at the store when you purchase an upgrade to your body armour.

You will also find Power Nodes among the loot & these can either be used to unlock locked doors or via the workbench you can upgrade an attribute of your chosen weapon or body armour.

You are Isaac Clarke a mining engineer part of a group sent to investigate a distress signal. Upon arrival you are attacked by a group of aliens who take out all the soldiers leaving you with Commander Zach & Computer Scientist Kendra. They give you various objectives to complete from activating the tram system to retrieving the mining ship captains RIG code.

Each quest is split out into chapters and you return to the tram system upon completion to advance to the next, currently I have competed two chapters. I have however jumped in my seat about five times & taken a deep breath before advancing on many occasions. It's a scary game but I love a good sci-fi story & so far Dead Space has not disappointed.

Remember in space no-one can hear you ......

Forza Horizon: pretty pictures

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I found these on my hard drive, created using the in-game photo mode and exported.  I seemed to have saved one at a low resolution and one at really high resolution, in bitmap format - but that's not a good idea on the web, so I've converted it to better file type.



The second picture shows my general finesse at the game.  That's me upside-down.