'Global Agenda' (7.5/10)

Ah Global Agenda. After the disaster that was me being an early adopter of Fallen Earth and me almost tried the failure that was Aion (thankfully my caution after Fallen Earth saved me from that). I swore off all MMOs (other than Hellgate) without first trying the game out via a demo or something (to ensure the game doesnt have magical aim). Global Agenda seemed neat in that it was an attempt at mashing together several different genres:

• HUB based MMO
• Shooter (First and Third person)
• RTS
• RPG

For those familiar with Hellgate, it can be summarized as a mashup of the Hunter and Templar classes  shoved into a post-modern espionage environment. The player assumes the role of a genetically engineered agent working against the government entity, 'The Commonwealth'. (insert standard totalitarian/repressive government backstory here). For those interested in the actual backstory, there is a whole lot of it.

The player choses from one of four classes: medic (healer/poision), assault (heavy weapons/tanking), recon (stealth/sniper) and robotics (turrets and drones). The game splits into three portions: PvE, PvP and AvA. The first two are pretty standard staples of MMOs. The last, Agency vs Agency is the attempt to blend a persistant world and long term strategy i.e., you and your Agency (the equivalent of a Guild), try to capture/control/own territory which in turn, gives resources/research for better equipment etc.

The game has free-to-play and subscription modes (although for now, all content is free to play). I dont think I'll be paying for it anytime soon though: it's a bit too hollow/mechanical to be worth monthly fees (I play mostly PvE). That being said, I quite enjoy the light-RPG elements and the greater emphasis on tactical awareness than your usual MMO/RPG where it comes down to either [a] better gear or skills or [b] just having a higher level number (aka Borderlands).

Both-ways-points:

• Armor is entirely cosmetic and has no stats or anything. This is slated to change in the upcoming patch with the introduction of statted armour but for the time being it's a nice change from having to worry about loot and it's more of a player-skill thing. Of course, it kind of saps away the appeal of playing the game if there is no loot to farm or get excited over. The game does have an independant upgrade element (conveyed in the form of neural implants and such) which lets the user have upgraded stats and such independent of the armour (so no more worrying about picking better vs prettier armour)
• Skill points can be freely reset. This is nice if you play both PvP and PvE and it's great for beginners looking to try different builds and different skills and such. Down the road though it kind of takes away from the attatchment the player might have with the character if it's so brainless to respec.

Strong Points

• Unreal Engine 3. The game looks fantastic. The aiming mechanics are decent (sniping is a bain in the butt as bullets arent hit-scan ... the delay is about 400ms give or take)
• In addition to the standard guns and such, each class has melee weaponry -- and the game encourages you to use it as it doesnt drain energy/ammo, generates morale boost twice as fast (the equivalent of Limit Breaks) etc. Definitely adds a different take to the game
• Get up and go. Gameplay is very straightforward (on paper). Since the elements are mostly cosmetic, there's not as much of a need to sit around and choose gear etc (although different gear options are available, the player is aware of all of them at the very start so they can be ready for it)
• Self-healing is a very conscious decision. Each class has the ability to self-heal. When triggered, the player will (over a brief period), recover all hitpoints but at the cost of a much slower movespeed and no energy/ammo regeneration. Makes players think before mashing the heal button (which also has a cooldown).
• Jetpacks. The ability to fly is awesome --  doubly so when it has tactical merit and isnt just for show (ahem, Aion).
• Class distincion. The classes are exceptionally well thought out: each class has it's own very specific role to play in the group. There isnt the problem of one class ninjaing everything, because it's just not doable.

Weak Points

• No loot! This totally takes away from gameplay as there's much less of a reason to come back again and again on quests
• Quest queing. It's somethign I dont understand - you cant just go and play solo (in fact, you have to play with 3 other people... ugh... humans). A friend of mine tried to explain it to me: the reason for queuing is because the servers cant handle thousands of concurrent instances firing up (which I guess is also why you have to play with 3 other people - it drops the server load by 75%). Ugh. Get a bigger server.
• Little UI bugs and issues: so many of them to name, while the overall look and feel is done up well and the glitches are minor, they really chip away at the overall polish
• Stupid players. Nuff said.

All in all, a damn fine start. Needs some work to polish it up but worth the money. If you were on the fence, go try the trial out. Bottom line: 7.5/10.

Related

• Global Agenda Round 2 (v1.3)
• Global Agenda Round 3 (v1.3)
• Global Agenda Round 4 (v1.3.8.5)

'Torchlight' Review (8/10)

I had no idea Torchlight was going to be so much fun. Then again, if we disect the game, it's really a rehash of the very tried and true Diablo formula. I bought the Steam version and so, it's got some nuances to get used to but at the end of the day, it's a hoot to play. There is, however, one absolutely unforgiveable failure of the game -- no multiplayer! For a game that so faithfully reproduces the tried and true Diablo formula (albeit with a brighter and cheery outlook on things), it's very dissapointing to not be able to fire the game up for some good old fashioned LAN partying.

Running Series: Little Tweaks, Tips and Apps (Part 1)

Welcome to the first of a new series of mine where I talk about various tweaks, optimizations for Windows power users. I can't stress enough that this is targeted at power users. For the benefit of random Googlers that get to this blog who may not be full out power users, I'll try to keep the description, instructions or whatnot as complete as possible (which is my style anyways). In this opener, I'll share one very useful app I've built out and a couple nifty tricks.

'Freelancer' Review (9/10)

One of the best games ever. Freelancer is one of those games that comes around only a handful of times each decade. The sequel to StarLancer,  Freelancer is a space-based flightsim-rpg (I use the term rpg loosely). While the story isn't exactly groundbreaking, the visuals and combat mechanics are relatively top notch. Even now, in the age of advanced shaders and physics engines, Freelancer still looks great and plays great.

The game introduces us to two factions, the Alliance and the Coalition which, for some reason or another, were locked into a stalemate stellar-war. At one point the Coalition gets a lucky break and deals a deathblow to the Alliance -- but not before the Alliance is able to launch several sleeper ships (think big transport ships built for the purpose of repopulating a system) to a far off galaxy in an attempt to 'start over' free of the petty war. The game starts about 2000 years after the sleeper ships make it to the far off galaxy.

In this world, you are a one Mr. Edison Trent (the guy on the cover) and you are one of the few survivors of an attack on a remote spacestation by an unknown force from [presumably] beyond the story's universe. Having been rescued from the wreckage, you are taken to another planet to start your life over again. Cue player.

A second look at zombie games...

It's been some time since my Left 4 Dead 2 and Killing Floor reviews. While I didnt get around to making a Left 4 Dead review (I suppose for completeness sake, that'll be coming), many of the points for it were raised with my review of the sequel. Something I have noticed though (and I am definitely guilty of this) is a certain amount of bias and animosity that the two camps have. At the end of the day, both are solid games regardless of what 'professional' reviews conclude. They just happen to target two totally different market segments (something that, as you get more and more engrossed, you forget about). Here's to a second take.

'Nation Red' Review (9/10)

One of the most entertaining games I've played as of late, Nation Red is fast-paced, arcade action game. It implements a tried and true formula of holding-out against the hoarde of creeps (in this case, zombies). To me, it is a modern take on Crimsonland, a classic shoot-em-up game. The multi-directional shoot-em-up genre is pretty well defined and there's not a whole lot that any given game of the genre can do to improve the formula. Thankfully, Nation Red sticks to the formula and simply offers a simple premise (zombies) and a fantastic graphical overhaul.

Some Steam titles to keep an eye our for...

A few of the titles I'll be keeping an eye out for price drops for! With the exception of Perimeter 2 and STALKER Clear Sky, I think I've played through (and beaten) all of these games (some of them excessively so), but for some reason or another, they just dont strike that sense of worth for the asking price. But that's what random sales (and the Christmas sales) are for!

Running Series: Win 7/Vista Aggravations (Part 2)

Welcome back, this is the second edition of my running series on Windows 7/Vista aggravations. In this segment, I'll address the nagging automagic updates and excessive collection of crash dumps.

Running Series: Win 7/Vista Aggravations (Part 1)

Welcome to the first part of a running series where I rant about problems specific to high-performance Windows 7 installations and provide some insight into addressing them (and ultimately, the solution). Due to the close similarities, the problems encountered here and the solutions provided wiill almost certainly be extendable to Windows Vista and possibly, other Microsoft technologies.

'Defense Grid - The Awakening' Review (7.5/10)

Defense Grid - The Awwakening is a very fresh take on the time consuming 'tower defense' genre. The genre itself is not very deep: you have a set starting budget, a set number of towers (or defenders, guns or whatnot) and a set number of upgrades available to the towers/defenders/guns. Income is obtained by killing the inbound creeps. Overall, a very fun game to sink a few hours into (much more if you want to hunt down achievements or leaderboard). While it lacks the outright variety that the community-made Flash counterparts have, it makes up for it with polish and eye candy.

'Left 4 Dead 2' Review (8/10)

Well I got a copy of Left 4 Dead 2, again. Sure I had the game before it was out and sure I beat the snot out of the game then. Sure, we engaged in tank juggling and shove-killed tanks. I could have wrote up a review on the game then but there would always be the air of "it wasn't legit" and "what if Valve patched up this issue or that problem" or whatnot. Was it worth me getting a copy? I guess it depends a lot on your group of friends and whether or not you enjoyed the first game in the series. All the strengths of the original are carried through here and amplified -- as are all the failings. My impressions of this game vary from 7 to 9 out of 10 and so, it gets the middleground of 8/10.

'Killing Floor' Review (9/10)

It was just a matter of time before I got around to doing a Killing Floor review. This game clearly has it's roots spawned back to the good old days of co-op multiplayer mayhem a la Serious Sam mixed in with a healthy dose of class-based fun thrown in for good measure. The game is definitely not without it's upsets and faults but for the most part, I'm too busy playing it to be bothered.

'Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter' Review (9/10)

Seriously! The Serious franchise is, in my opinion, one of the absolute best (FPSes) for LAN parties hands down. Sure there will always be room for CS/UT but there's always been love for multiplayer co-op and Serious Sam HD does not disappoint! As a virtual remake of the absolutely fantastic first game in the series (circa 1999), the remake had quite a high bar to live up to. But thankfully, Croteam didn't mess with the formula -- they just upgraded the graphics and so, it's pure brilliance!

'Borderlands' Review (6.5/10)

I tried Borderlands a few weeks ago when it was released with some mixed impressions - with the ultimate first impression being 6.5/10. The underlying core concept for the game is well deserving of praise however several really major elements bring the game down from what could have easily been an 8.5 or 9 out of 10.

Revolutionary concepts in MMO Gaming: AION

Well it's not like AION really needs an introduction per se but there were some interesting things worth mentioning in a recent little review-of-sorts I read. In the article/blog/review, it mentioned about how you can pair movement during combat to give yourself bonuses. What kind of bonuses? Well, moving forward will give you a slight damage bonus, backwards will give you a defence bonus and strafing will give you an evasion bonus! Amazing! Except that it's not and just goes to illustrate how... pathetic -- for lack of a better word to come to mind, our current and "oooh next generation" [MMO] games are.

Disclaimer: I've not actually played AION in any capacity. And from the videos illustrating my complaints, I dont ever intend to.

'Risen' Review (8/10)

I don't quite know what to make of this game. This isn't a bad thing per se. I guess I could sum Risen up by simplifying it to Oblivion + loot tweaks + combat tweaks. I'm sitting here, struggling to come up with a better way to describe the game in a short, succinct manner (which, is soooo, not me).

'Fallen Earth' Review (5/10)

Well, I was sick of pixies, faries, orcs and elves. I gave Fallen Earth a shot. Seemed like a riot

• There was first-person/third-person gameplay (Hellgate +1)
• There was melee and ranged combat -- with proper guns (Hellgate +1)
• Open world concept (Oblivion +1)
• The Earth was devastated by a deadly virus and there's so few of us left (Fallout +1)
• The graphics are great (Hellgate +1)
• There's support for PhysX technology (Coolness +1)

And then I played it.

I hate programming

Ok so that's a bit of a lie. I don't hate programming. I just hate web-programming. Or maybe it's me hating reality, that might be it. Ok, well when we learned how to design software, we were all (or should have been) taught a series of core principles. It's these principles that separate 'our' clean, efficient, meticulous code from that of a hack (who may or may not be brilliant in and of her/her own right -- just not capable of working on a team etc). Whatever. One particular principle that stands out to me relates to hardcoding.


Don't hardcode. Sure there are cases where hardcoding is acceptable/ideal but for the most part (i.e. the majority of web and client applications), there's not a whole lot of need for hardcoding and in fact, hardcoding can get you into a world of pain down the road. Sure, you might think you just finished coding whatever it was you were doing and it's perfect -- until someone comes along and says "hey, can you change to ? thanks!" -- that's when you realize you were dumb and you now have to do do a search/replace-all. Naturally it gets more complicated/tedious if it's not longer a case of search/replace-all. So yeah, hardcoding is generally, non-ideal (besides, it's far more elegant to have a universal algorithm that handles a wide range of scenarios than to be stuck in the box of only one scenario).

Trillian Automation + Too much time on my hands...

Preface
While the majority of my friends and colleagues have reasonably reliable internet, there are a few that, for whatever reason, have a hard time maintaining their connections. While most of them know that their connections are unreliable at best (either due to their ISP, bandwidth usage, equipment failure or that they are wardriving) a few have no idea that their connections are stuttering.


A connection is said to be stuttering when the connection drops but for such a short period that, based on how they use their connection, there is no glaring indication of what just happened (I imagine most users don't run perpetual ping-tests). Microsoft's 'Live Messenger' (and the various other chatting services) is a major culprit here - particularly so with the advent of offline messaging.

MSN (and other chatting services) operate by having a user sign on. This sets the client's state as being 'connected' (this is independant from the user's actual status i.e., available, away, invisible etc). The client checks back with this central messaging server every so often to make sure that the user is still connected. With the official MSN client, (empirically), it looks like this check is made every eight seconds or so. This is just when the client is sitting there, doing nothing. During active conversations, I would estimate the check to be four seconds or so.

When the client software [successfully] checks in with the central server, the software is "reassured" that it is still connected. The software (and thus, the user) is only made aware of  a problem in the event that this check fails. What this means, is that if the user's connection drops and is subsequently restored during the 7.9 seconds window between checks (3.9 seconds for active chats), the user has no idea that they were, in fact, offline for a very small window. From the end user's (the one with the dodgy connection), there is no reason to care -- they aren't aware of the disconnect and thanks to the luxury of offline messages, most of the time, they don't miss anything from the conversation.

It is important to note that offline messaging is not bullet proof. I don't quite know how the various offline messaging system work but I from time to time, we've all recieved the "such and such message failed to be delivered" error message even when both users in the conversation might be using client software that supports offline messaging.