Well, here we go. Summer offically ends today. Monday, school begins. I've setup my backpack, put a binder in it. Well, i guess im a little disapointed. I didnt venture anywhere this summer, did not see an ocean, did not see a lake, did not go north, south, east or west. But, i did learn that my computer, like many things in life, can make me go insane.
I hate to say it though, School will Start. I know this year will be balls, to be put bluntley. No way getting around it. Hopefully by the time second semester rolls around, and i get my liscense ill be a bit happier. People make driving to be more then it is. Its quite an easy job. Find a car that you love, mark every inch over it, learn how the transmission works, and be gentle with it. Yes ive fallen in love with driving. It brings me joy. I do not doubt that after years of driving i will become immune to its delicate charm. One thing that will always get me, the rev of a nice big V8 engine.
In the words of Kevin Smith, enough poetry, time for some dick and fart jokes. After one year of source, and Counter Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, will finally grace my hard-drive. The only game i ever played competivley was Day of Defeat. I dropped out because like many repeititious things, i got bored. Hopefully with the addition of the rifle grenade, and iron-sights, my love will be restored to a classic game. And a facelift doesnt hurt.
While i await my doom that is school, ive been reading The Time Machine. Many say its a classic, even though it is only 100 pages, the book is pure tortue to read. I consider myself to have a very good grasp of the english language, i beleive im a very good reader, but reading this book is beyond cruel and unusual torture. I managed only to get through 20 pages today. I will do the push of the final 40 tommorow.
Back to Valve and the Source Engine, a mod for HL2 was released yesterday, I being a devout Forsaken fan, another mod, though that Dystopia would be complete balls to play. "Dystopia. A Cyberpunk Game for the Source Engine." With words like Cyberpunk, how could i not think that its balls? Well, truth be told, its the first "real" multiplayer counterpart to HL2. Counter-Strike Source is dated, its gameplay has been beaten sensless. Dystopia gives a fresh "enough" suit to a aging pass time of First Person Shooters. The games initial combat is very straightfoward. Pick your class, choose your weapon, choose your accesories, and kill the enemy. With each class, Light, Medium and Heavy, comes different weapons. Light players are graced with a Shotgun, a Laser Gun (charge weapon, hold for 3 seconds and releases a sniper like burst of plasmic death), and a Bolt Gun (fires a bouncing projectile at certain angles, creates a Electric Shock to enemy players around the landed projectile). The medium class can choose from a Assault Rifle, A Grenade Launcher or a "Rifle" (Semi-Automatic fire, good for long range, fires fast enough for close encounters). The Heavy class can choose a Rocket Launche (comes with guidance, 15 second reload time), a Chain Gun, or a Ion Beam (Powerfull discharge, deadly at close ranges, semi-automatic, slower then the "rifle") With each class comes different grenades. The Light grenade is a EMP grenade, it disrupts people using Jack-In ports (discussed later), also the effects of the grenade turn your world into a very weird "Bevel Embossed" world, grey scale colors and deep indents with all noise distorted to a constat "Chrssssh". The Medium is given the standard Frag Grenade, the Heavy however is given a Spider Grenade. It is bassically a walking mine that seeks out the enemy. The objectives of the demo map are very straight foward, Capture the loading dock, Capture the Spawn, Destroy the Core. Mentioned earlier, are Jack-In points. One can use a special accessory called a Deck, with it, one can "jack-in" and enter the virtual world. Think Tron. Inside this world, you have the power to hack enemy turrets and make them your own, open and close doors, capture spawn points, etc. The different acessories one can choose from are the Deck, as explained, a radar pinger that shows up enemies around you on your screen, a Audio Trip device that shows you the enemy sounds and movements nearby through a circle that is around the crosshairs. Thermovision, and a Cortex Bomb (20 % health left, self destruct activated) are also those to choose from. On the other side of acessories are Leg Boosters (enables you to Run and Jump at some height), a medi implant that heals you and others around you, a sound supressor (to deflect the use of the audio triangulator) and a Stealth suit that makes you virtually invisible to the enemy, standing still you become completly invisible. The last acessory is a super conductor battery. With each of these accesories it uses up the suits battery, so consistingly using ThermoVision, it will eventually turn off because your suits battery must recharge. With all of these different styles of play to happen, it all resorts down too what you like to do. However the game starts to become repetitive but i think with more maps then just the one, the game itself as a multiplayer expansion to HL2 could go far. Running down halls, seeing a ghostly aparatus pass you, turning on your thermo goggles and see a running light go by you and begin to open fire. With every class, there are restrictions, only Medium and Light can use the Deck. Lights are the only ones who can use the Cloacking Device. The game still needs some balancing. Cloaked members with shotguns become quite the hassle, quite quickly. Marketing the game as Cyber Punk is a deathly mistake for the Dystopia team. Most users who will look at the description will say "i dont want to look at green, blue and red lights till i seizure" but this is not the case. But i myself am guily to having those thoughts, the game in of itself is a nice refreshing reminder that games can still be made with certain flares to make a aging gameplay style fun again.
Whew, like the review of a game i just started to play? Yah me too. Another game that is slated for release is the expansion pack of the Warhammer 40,000 Real Time Strategy. Dawn of War: Winter Assault will be coming out later this month and will feature a new army, the Imperial Gaurd. Myself being a Gaurd player with the TableTop version of the game, i find it most intriguing. I never picked up the original game, did play through the demo though, have to say i liked it but it was very focused on the small squad tactics. The Imperial Gaurd are used as a "turtle" device, with large numbers of infantry and devestating tank warfare. When the game comes out, i might buy one of those combination packages of the original and the expansion, we shall see how much money i have after paying for the obscene gas prices.
Okay this was a pretty good write up for me, got my mind off of school and thinking that i have start reading the rest of the book. Untill Then i leave you with a quote to live by.
Duke Henry: You're not one of my vassals... who are you?Ash: Who wants to know?Duke Henry: I am Henry the Red. Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northlands and leader of its peoples.Ash: Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things: Jack and shit... and Jack just left town.
Keith
