Monthly Archives: November 2013

I decided to replace my old computer, even though worked ok for everything except Rome 2 (it actually worked ok for room 2 as well except for campaign map lag). The old rig had a few memory issues that meant I could only run it with 2x4mb. Seem to have been a motherboard issue cause replacing the memories didn’t solve it.

 

Well, here is the specs, and it seems to work really well so far.

  • NZXT Phantom 630 black
  • Intel i7 4770k
  • Corsair TX 750W 80+
  • Corsair Hydro H80i
  • 256GB Samsung Pro 840 series
  • 16GB CL9 1600Mhz memory
  • EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC ACK 2
  • Noctua fans for the CPU cooler

 

 

I’m running WIndows 8 on this rig and so far it works really well.

I’ll try to provide some pictures later on if someone wants them.

I can also provide 3Dmark vantage benchmakrs upon request.

 

This is another of the games I got as part of a bundle with my video card, and as such I didn’t pay full price for it.

Metro last light takes place in  russia (I think), in a dystopic future where people spend most of their time below ground. As the name suggests, a lot of the game takes place in the metro. The Metro universe is based on a series of novels by the Russian author Dimitry Glukhovsky (not sure I spelled that correctly 🙂 ) but I don’t think it follows the story of these novels.

I didn’t play the original MEtro 2033 (a prequal to this game), but even though there are references to events in that game, Last light is definitely playable without having played the previous game. Something I wouldn’t say about a series like Mass effect for instance. The game is a single player FPS with focus on stealth. It’s probably possible to shoot everything, but that doesn’t seem to be the best approach to the game.

 

 

Graphics

The graphics on the PC are outstanding for the most part, with a lot of emphasis on detail. I’m not sure how the game will look and perform on lower end system, but on my new 4th gen I7 with GTX 770 it runs really well. I like the amound of detail they’ve put into some items as well as the envireoment.

 

Audio

I find nothing to complain about wihen it comes to the sound effects, but the English voice acting is a completely different story. I’ve heard the Russian voice acting is much better, but so far I’ve been using the English version and it ranges from average to terrible. The developer’s are Ukrainian and I feel that they didn’t put that much effort into the English voices.

 

User interface

Not much to say here, it’s an FPS, but you have less information on screen then in most other FPSes these days. Something that adds to the imersion of the game and I don’t mind this at all.

 

Gameplay

As mentioned this is an FPS, but it’s not Doom, half-life or CoD. On the other hand it’s not an FPS RPG like  Fallout 3 or Fallout NW either. Stealth is pretty much a necessity, especially on higher difficulties. There is also a ranger mode available that’s soposed to force you to be even more stealthy. In the world of Metro, you buy and sell stuff with military grade ammo. This can also be used in the weapons you find in the game, but for the most part you’ll use “dirty” rounds.  You’ll spend most of your time in the metro since you have to wear gas masks when going outside. The gas mask has replacable filters that last about 5 minutes. If you are easily scared, you might have some problem with this game since you’ll spend a lot of time in dark places and the amound of detail put into the game really adds to the overall dystopic feel of the game. So far the game is super linear, but hopefully you’ll be given some more freedom later on. If the linearity is a problem, I think you may want to look at some reviews before purchasing the game, since this is a first impressions article. In terms of gameplay I don’t really know where to place this game. It has a little bit of Deus Ex HR, but since it’s post apocalyptic Fallout 3 also comes to mind.

 

 

Conclusion

If you don’t mind the linearity, this game is really really good. For some reason, half-life comes into my head while playing this game. I like the world and a lot of the small details they put into this game. I’m not a huge fan of the genre, even though I’ve played a bunch of FPSs. This game fels different in some way and I expect to play more of it. The graphics and overall imersion in this game makes it more apealing to me then most other FPSs Add the stealth elements to that and you have a game that stands out from the rest of the genre.

 

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Last week I received my new gaming rig. Bundled with my graphics card I got AC3 along with a few other game.

The only game I’ve played in this series is AC2, so I can only compare these 2 games.

My impressions of AC2 was, that it could have been a great game, but I felt the port was terrible. I found it really difficult to get a hang of the controls without using  a controller.

AC3 on the other hand, is much better in this respect. The game seem to follow pretty much the same concept, but the controls feels much more straightforward, and during the tutorial, you are actually told what keys to use instead of having to recognize different symbols, and try to remember what key on your keyboard corresponds to each symbol.

 

The game, for the most part takes place in 18th century Americas. I’m currently a few hours into the game and it is still very linear, however I expect the game to open up a bit more down the line.

 

Graphics

I must say, this game looks awasome for the most part. Most of the enviremental graphics, as well as  the characeters looks, and moves nicely. This is pretty much expected from a tripple A title. It’s not just the quality of the graphics. Most of the places I’ve seen so far has a lot of detail that adds to the imersion of the game.

 

Audio

The sound effects and voice acting is generally good so far. There are games with better voice acting, but this is defenitely good enough.

 

User interface

Well, I can only compare this to AC2, and as mentioned earlier I think the UI is hugely improved. FOr example. Early on in AC2 I got stuck on a roof (or tower) with an objective to press 2 or 3 keys simultanously, however, since I didn’t have a printout of the control options and couldn’t access it during the scripted sequence, I was pretty much stuck. I guess you get used to the controls, but that pissed me off quite a lot. AC3 on the other hand, teaches you the controls early on in a straightforward way. Stuff like “Press F to aim” is much better then just being presented with symbols from a console controller that you don’t own. This has helped me to get into this game pretty much without frustration I was kind of disapointed that a  game with such great potential as AC2 has was missing such a basic thing. The character movement usually feels pretty fluid and intuitive.

 

Gameplay

If you’ve played earlier instances of Assassins creed, you pretty much know what to expect. Early on, the game is very scripted without much freedom, but as mentioned I expect this to change.  Expect to spend a lot of time leaping from roof to roof and climbing stuff. Evne though the game has a main story, there are also side missions along the way. I’ve been trying to avoid reading up on the plot, but it seems like the main character (or the one you play when doing the time travelling thing) will take part in the american revolution and war of independence. SO far, I’ve nly seen parts of Boston, but I expect to be able to go to other key historical places of the time, we’ll see. So far I haven’t had to make a single decision on my own in the game whitch is a bit dissappointing. The dialogues and scripted events have been very straightforward. Maybe this will change later on as well? The combat, so far has been very easy. I’ve been shot at with pistols, and attacked with swords and (I think) bayonettes but nothing I couldn’t handle. The combat system overall feels quite simplistic. The blend of history and science fiction in this series has always felt a bit weird to me, but it works for the most part. Sometimes some features feel a little out of place while trying to get imersed into the historical setting.

 

 

Conclusion

If you enjoyed the earlier games of the series and wnat more of the same, I expect you’ll get a lot oout of this game. If you expect complete freedom to explore and do whatever you want, or have a lot of choices to make right from the start. Chances are you’ll give up the game fairly quicly, if you don’t find the story compelling enough to continue playing just to see where it’ll take you. After my earlier experiances wit hthe series, I didn’t expect that much out of this game, but so far, I find my self enjoying it enough to want to continue playing. It seems like they’ve done a uch better job with the PC version this time around. It doesn’t hur that I really like 18th century setting either. If you don’t have this yet, and have any interest at all in the series, this is the game I would pick up. Especially if you can do it during a sale.

 

 

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