Calming Down

Morning folks,
Well the mad March rush of new releases is finally coming to a end and the bank balance can now stop crying. It's amazing how the start of the year is turning into a new Christmas for the last couple of years. There is still a few games coming out for me over the next two months but a lot less compared to what just come out and more weeks in between releases so there should be time to clock games and trade them in.

Hopefully you all had a great week and have been playing quite a few games, for me I was working on South Park Stick of Truth all weekend. In fact Monday morning I finally clocked the Platinum trophy for it which now brings me up to six for the year so far (twenty is my goal for the year. So not doing to bad so far with my challenge with my friend. Anyway back to the game and I got to say it was amazing, if you love the show you really need to give it a try. It's a really long episode is the way to sum it up and I recommend to do all the side quests because is so many gags you will laugh at. Got to say it's on the list for Game of the Year so far.

With that out of the way I'm now working on a few games, well I am and I'm not. Not really got stuck into anything just yet, still trying to do the Xbox One Achievement Challenge for Titan Fall and get level 50 by the end of the month. Last night I hit level 34 so I'm close but I'm really running out of time and in fact I need to do roughly five levels a day just to hit it.

Really doesn't help that I keep getting terrible lag and rubber banding in the game though. In fact I lost connection several times yesterday and it ruined one amazing game for me. Would say it's my connection but I've checked it and nothing is wrong plus it seems I'm not the only one. Just hope they can sort it soon because its making the game unplayable sometimes.

Fingers crossed with that anyway so other then that I am starting inFamous Second Son, picked it up the other day along side Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. Only done say an hour max but so far it's pretty sweet, graphics are amazing and the game play is not too bad. Will hold judgement off until I've got into it a little more then I will tell you guys what I think.

So that's it for me this week folks, Titan Fall and inFamous will be taking over my game time. Not sure yet what I will do after those two but expect a post soon with what I've done. I do have a few more posts in the pipe line just need to write them up, hopefully I can get one or two up later but until then have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Saturday Update

So after the excitement of the new Assassin's Creed reveal I've not really done much in the way of gaming this week. Mostly because my work pattern is all over the place so my free hours went out of the window again. I'm still trying to get the achievement challenge for Titan Fall which is to get to level 50 by the end of the month. Got roughly around nine days to do it and I'm level 29 at the moment, still very doable but I need the time to sit down and play. Hopefully this weekend I will able to get to level 40+ but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Still working also on my second playthrough of South Park Stick of Truth, going for the full platinum and working my way through the check list of collectibles. Again I'm hoping to make some head way today and tomorrow since I want to trade it in on Tuesday for the Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition. I will be re picking up South Park again later on the Xbox 360 to get the full 1,000 gamerscore and to keep it for my collection, yes it's that good and worth several playthroughs.

That's my goals anyway for the week to hit level 50 and to clock a platinum trophy for South Park. I do have some other games I want to work on but at this moment I'm trying to get these two done first. On the topic of upcoming games it's got a small flourish of games over the next few weeks then dies down for the rest of April and May. Blessing really since it was getting very expensive, next week we have Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls and Professor Layton x Phoenix Wright. Then several weeks into April sees the Lego Hobbit releasing then the last game is not until the end of March and that's Watch_Dogs.

It's good really since with all that time I can actually start working my way through some games, finish some and work on some marathons I've been wanting to do but not had the time. Like for example I want to do the entire Mass Effect series again (I have the PlayStation version not been touched) then the entire Assassin's Creed saga from the start. Refresh my memory on the full story plus I do have the entire range on PlayStation untouched so I have plenty of trophies to get. Has you can see I have plenty to play on the books plus there is plenty of past games I would like to pick up for a playthrough so hopefully I will see some deal of the weeks soon on them.

So yeah I have plenty to keep me occupied for the next few months, about you my readers? working on good or got plans for a marathon or two?

On that note I'm going to head off and get myself ready for work, so have a good one folks and don't forget to leave a comment or two. Would love to hear from you all.
~Iznic

In the Middle

Good morning folks,
March is here and in full swing with plenty of new games already out along with more due. I'm currently been playing quite a bit of multiplayer which is unusal for me. Since Titanfall just came out yesterday I'm already six hours into it with a level 19 character. Very good game so far with just a few minor problems (mostly lag etc.) but I can see the game taking up plenty of my time as I play with the guys from work.

Also I've finally started Battlefield 4, well when I say I've started....talking about three matches max. I did pick up the Premium pass ready for the new Carrier assault mode at the end of the month. Really cannot wait to play that mode since I loved the idea of Titan mode back in the day but never got chance to play it. Anyway I will be trying to split my time across my games since I have Titanfall, Battlefield 4 and Garden Warfare for multiplayer purposes.

Over to the singleplayer games well I picked up South Park Stick of Truth and completed within two days of getting it. I could not put it down and I will recommend it to anyone who loves the show, it's a huge long episode and it's brilliant. Plenty of tongue and cheek jokes from the show plus they make fun of plenty of the old school games and new ones. Took me around 12 hours (give or take) to complete but I did not do all the side stuff, in fact I'm currently starting my second playthrough now to get the full platinum. Had to print off a eleven page check list for all the collectable stuff to find in the game to make it easier. Really hoping to get the platinum by the end of the week so I can move onto the Diablo 3 expansion the week after.

So other then that folks nothing massive to really explain, there is plenty of new games announcements over the last few week but I will try and get some posts up later to cover that. After I finish this post I will try and get the blog stats to show my current gaming progress. Not sure what else to write to be honest so on that note I'm going to shoot. Sooner I get the stats update the better since I need to head to work, so have a good one folks and I will catch you all later.

~Iznic

March Madness

Let the gaming madness begin! and what better way with Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. Seriously addictive again to say it's online only and does not have many maps to play on. Never thought I would see the day that I could not put down a multiplayer game. Look for a fun shooter that does not take the genre serious then check it out, it's a blast and you will want to spend unlocking all the customisation features for your characters. Not tried out the co-op mode "Garden Ops" yet but hopefully soon, hoping that will be just has good has "Gardens and Graveyards".

Anyway it's March finally and we kicking off the gamers Christmas where we will see a ton of new releases every week for the month. Started off with Thief and Plants vs Zombies for me last week, I did not pick up Thief since I'm just not sure on the game. Something is putting me off it and plus I really can see it going into deal of the week in a week or two so I'm waiting for now. Back to the topic of new releases, next week sees South Park Stick of Truth finally releasing, it's been a long...very long..so long...wait to get this game but it's going to be worth. You only got to see the trailers and the play through of the first chapter that's gone live to see how great it is.

Does not end though, oh no for me there is a game week for the next month and my next one will be of course Titan Fall. Really annoyed because I did get a beta invite and was sick for the entire event (yes to sick to play games, dang man flu!). But I know this will be a worth while purchase since everyone I know is raving on about it and saying how good it is.

Week after that sees inFamous Second Son coming out and this game is still a maybe for me. It does look amazing but I really would like to see a little more gameplay before I decide if it's a day one purchase. Finally ending the month off is Phoenix Wright x Professor Layton for the 3DS, a game I've been praying to release in the UK for a very long time. Big fan of both so having them combine into one great story has got me bouncing off the wall with excitement.

There is one more game to add to this list and that's the Diablo 3 expansion, I know it's near the end of March but I cannot remember the date. Still unsure if I want to pick it up yet since I do want to get the PS4 version when that hits and it's meant to have the expansion included with the main game. Tough choice since the PC version is doing a great collectors edition and I have pretty much all the Blizzard games in collectors format for the PC. Will get back to you once I've decided on what I will do.


So what about you readers? do you have a long list of games to pick up this month? Give me a shout and on that note I'm off to go kill some Zombies or maybe some Plants.
~Iznic

P.S. Lego Hobbit at the start of April as well, I really hope they don't add any more games since it's going to be very hard to decide what to get first.

E3 2013 EA Conference

Morning gamers,
I've been struggling since E3 on how to write this post out, at first I had posts for each conference but I kept getting a writers block right at the start. In the end I decided to go with this and just write my thoughts plus dropping the twitter messages During the live streams I was posting my thoughts on Twitter, it was interesting to do but somethings I wished I could had change. Also it's a nightmare to copy and paste them over to the blog since everything has to be changed to work (font, text size etc.), plus after changing everything the blog post just went weird. Too much time waisted and it was just not worth it, you can see my thoughts anyway on my twitter account which is linked on the side.

Anyway let's jump straight in with the first conference which was the best one in my books and that's EA. Why did I like this one the most? well I found I enjoyed all the games shown, it had some nice surprises and overall I did not have to keep cringing at the presenters script speeches.



So where to begin, well the Garden Warfare at the start was a nice shock. At first I really thought I would hate it when they started talking about it but once they started playing it, well it went on my list to buy when it comes out. I can see it being quite a laugh with a few friends and I really do enjoy Plants vs Zombies. Of course right now it is exclusive to Xbox One and PC which was interesting move on EA's part. Especially with the next game Titan Fall that was shown off again, another Xbox One exclusive. Seems EA are really backing up the Microsoft team this generation. Anyway Titan Fall looks amazing, multiplayer battlefield/future sci-fi with mechs.

I love the fact the mechs are not slow heavy machines, it will definitely make the game more interesting. Few things in the demo they showed off that got my interest the most was when the pilot jumped into the mech and it took seconds to boot up. Nice fast paced jump in and jump out which will work well for the multiplayer, also loved when they rip out a pilot from another mech. Brutal finisher move plus when they jump out their mech and climb on top of another one to blow the circuits in the head to blind them. Shame it's next year though but hopefully not to long into the year, but I would like to see more how the story campaign works since it seems to be integrated into the multiplayer.

Ok onto the next game which wasn't really shown but my god did it cause a riot on the Internet. A small teaser to the next Battlefront game! which will be using the Frost Engine 3 and being developed by the DICE team. Mind was blown when they showed this off and my twitter feed could not keep up with my friends. Really cannot wait to see what they will do with this game but I won't get my hopes up yet, no doubt it be the end of next year at the earliest if we lucky.

Let's see what was next announced, I'm currently watching the stream again while I'm posting so I can remember everything I wanted to talk about. Ohh yeah Dragon Age 3 which I would like to see more and in fact I really could do with playing and completing the first two before buying this. It looked good, it has everything I want from a fantasy game. Dragons, monsters, end of the world but I could not help but chuckle at the green meteors since they remind me of Warcraft 3. But anyway yeah it could be a great game but a lot more needs to be shown off first and as I said I need to play the first two before I start to get excited.

Final game for EA which stole the show for me was Battlefield 4, how amazing was that? 64 player multiplayer now for the next generation consoles. Having that demo level being shown off with the full 64 players playing was such a smart move. I know everyone was shocked on what they saw and it amazing, I loved watching them drop the road with the tank on into the tunnel. The skyscraper at the end was another amazing touch, in fact I watched a new video yesterday that explains when the skyscraper falls it creates rubble every where so it changes the landscape of the level. You now have more cover but at the same time it creates this giant dust cloud so vision becomes impossible in the area it was.

Also the commander option with the tablet was pretty sweet, I loved the missile launch system but I do question how many people will use it. I know it seems to be the big thing this generation to have phone and tablet support but still not so sure on it, but I've not had ago so it could be amazing for all I know.

Anyway folks that is my thoughts on the EA conference, as I said I was really impressed with it and the games. My want list has grown a little thanks to them and I really cannot wait to get my hands on these games, only a few months for some. Don't forget to drop a line with what you thought of this conference, I would love to hear your opinion on what you saw.
 ~Iznic