From Dust: god is a hyper active mouse

From Dust is a very strange name and it is also a very strange game and from last years' xbox summer of arcade this game is a god game with an interesting concept as at the very start of the game you are created by the people you lead around by you changing their environment. The base story behind this game is a race of creatures that look like humans with boxes instead heads who create a guide called breath (you) from their ancestors magic so that you can help them get learn about what happened in their ancestors past where they gain new skills (not you) to help progress faster. The gameplay is very simple as the god you can pick up materials in one location and put it down somewhere else to get the people from totem to totem then to the exit, it plays much like a puzzle game for the most of it and not very much a god simulator like 'sim' series which was a little bit of a let down to me as I felt I had too little control over any thing even moving the earth. The control system on the Pc is the worst so I had to get out my ps3 controller to even play the game with getting annoyed at controls once I done this it was quite easy showing how much of port it was to pc ignoring the fact it came out 3 months after the console version. Above I also mentioned how little control I had over moving stuff mainly with the water mechanic I wanted to make a deep lake so that water "stores" the water and make rivers more easily, this is because of they way that when you place the material down it spreads out very quickly dispersing making more than half of the materials wasted.

I know I have not made multi paragraphs but this is because I could not make it into concise paragraphs as it is such a short game with very easy to understand controls and story. I have got a few new games to review that are FREE GAMES as we all like free games until next time Slice of Kris out.

Heroes Might and Magic VI; Dead or alive we are all gullible

History of Heroes of Might and Magic

Origin

Heroes of Might and Magic VI is the latest in the series that has had a lot of changes since it's origin with the might and magic role playing game, who's lore then lead into the Heroes series which is mix of strategy and rpg which is gives it extremely long game time. The IP it's self has been past from developer to developer keeping the same formula yet sometimes missing what made the series really great first was The new world company which was owned by 3DO which was what THQ is today makes pretty much anything until the forth title. These were very unique games each progressively improving on gameplay and the formula until heroes and Might and Magic 3 which is the best Heroes game made being both balanced and expansive with choice. Then the entire series went into decline with the 4th game with a bankrupting company disappointing the cult of fans. Ubisoft then bought the IP for 1.5 million dollars comparing that to the worth of Call of Duty is chump change.

Under new management

Ubisoft's first crack at the series showed how much trouble this series is to make as it is hard to balance and keep the game enjoyable the game still managed to get 2 expansions showing that the love for the game was still there but still had not reached the same caliber as Heroes 3. Now Heroes 6 is out by a new developer under Ubisoft's Black Hole Studio a dreadful name for a studio cause it seems like where thing go to end but this Heroes game seems to be able to compete with Heroes 3 with the improvements out weighing the things that are missing from the game. I know that this history was a little long winded and I have left out all the backstory's and other similar games inspired by this game might make a full history of post when I have more time to research.

yes this is not my picture but it is a really good one of all the Griffin kids and their dead dad

Gameplay

Heroes and Might and Magic 6 is set in a world with orcs, elves, demons, and the undead like you would expect a fantasy game to have with heroes leading and army against other nations in all out war, with as the general controlling your economics, armies and alliances (although alliances can only be made at the start of the match if play against humans alliances can easily be made if only temporarily). The army verse army battles can show intense skill from not losing any men to winning a battle against the odds, are incredibly rewarding picking the precise spell combination to shatter your opponents strengths and turn them to a weakness. As above I have said this is a Strategy RPG this is because as your hero improves so does the army he wields with unique skill tree giving numerous options for your unique taste the strategy comes in with the combat and even manoeuvring your armies so that you can catch your enemies off guard or to fight on your terms and management of unit production and construction so that you benefit the most.

Dead dragons cannot wait for alive ones

Story

The story in this game is hard to review as each campaign is 4 parts and each  part take about 4-8 hours to beat I am 50 hours of gameplay in still have no gotten halfway through all the campaigns. I recommend that you beat the tutorial campaign as it gives you all the backstory for the entire game I have beaten the Undead campaign and am halfway through the Haven campaign which are the humans and after beating the Undead campaign first it spoiled some of the story of the haven when they intertwined. The base gist of story is the duke of Griffin had four children then his wife left to find her brother, then the bind twins predicted the return of the demons in the great eclipse the emperor ordered the duke of Griffin and the duke of Wolves to stop fighting ordering a wife for the other then 3 years later 3 months before the great eclipse the dukes fight again. Then the duke of Griffin's daughter kills him which sets off the entire plot about who is the true mastermind behind the return of demons and manipulation of minds to kill people I will explain the in deep the story line with lots of spoiler because I have a good feeling none of you will play this game.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are not super awesome graphics but they will not make your vomit that is about nice short segment right.

This what the battles looks like

Final Words

This is not a game many people will like but if you like Risk and Dungeons and Dragons mixed together you might like this game but if you do buy it do not get it for the campaign or single player get it so you a and a group of friend can sit down one night and play 8 hours or more on one map trying to beat each other to a pulp. If you do get together to do this make sure you also have other games to play as some people may get eliminated very quickly and people tend to take 20 minutes to do their move times that by 6 people you get the drift. Have not found a new game to review but when I do I will but I do have some smaller games I bought over the Christmas break to fill this gap until my next bigger game buy until next time Slice of Kris out.

Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception

This is the third game in the Naughty Dog series Uncharted and it may be the last not because it is a bad series but because it has run it's course in things to do. Uncharted 1 you versed pirates, Uncharted 2 you versed mercenary's and Uncharted 3 you verse the entire English secret service which means if they do make a forth game it will have to be drake verse the entire world.

New Features

Unlike the previous uncharted game they wanted to make the fighting more cinematic from picking up near by items to hit people with them and gave the enemies more health so that they seem more on par with Nate when you fist fight. The location changes a lot more than I would like so you never really feel in twined with the environment your about to fight in just so they could explode it sink it chase you out with pissed off giant spiders. Last new thing is no new supporting cast member ohh wait there is Charlie but they just expect you to ignore the fact that they do not introduce this character or anything about his past like they did with Nate's previous partners in crime. Now on with the review and I can tell you what a actually think about this game.

Story

Drakes Deception's plot revolves around Drakes past and all his relationships sort of deteriorating over his obsession on trying to find the treasure not caring for his own safety which puts his friends in danger and we repeat this phrase "why do you care". It starts with explaining that Nate's necklace with the ring on it is one half of some decoder to some super weapon just because it always has to be some super world ending weapon this then leads him to a really old house in France and a old castle in Norway or some place as all random castle look the same gray and lots of water. This then leads to a sick Drug trip in Arabia best scene in the game yardi yardi yarda plane a plane blows up and you end up in the desert fighting with secret tribesmen then obligatory overlord boss fight at the end. None of this story holds together though because unlike the previous games there are way to many location changes so you never get to explore an area without enemies then come back later in the dark and their are enemies everywhere or enemies everywhere when you first come there and no enemies when you come back for the clue you did not know was there at the time.

Gameplay

There is a lot more stealth combat ohh and that whole new Features raps this section up but still same cover based shooting regenerative health as this Uncharted is famous for. Oh fine I will also say unlike my least favourite game series Assasscreed(Assassin's Creed) the parkour is fantastic and realistic in most cases with the random jump that seems stupid, but also leads me to one of my most hated things the scripted climbing materials breaking behind Nate he even points this out at the very beginning "this pipe should hold my weight" come on guys we know your going to make bend or break try surprising us with it not breaking for once. The stealth scenes and gun fights are so much longer and more annoying with the bad choice of either stealth kill ten guys who will see you or fight thirty guys armed to the teeth every time a stealth section comes I cringe. Their are some great new puzzles involving the best lighting I have seen in a game to date and made me have to think for a little bit over just solving it by accident on first try my favourite one being having to line up the pieces to form a shadow man on the wall.

Graphics

As much as I did not like the location changing every thirty seconds they did a fantastic job creating these set pieces then exploding them I mean it is just like Minecraft and we all love minecraft or at least used to by that I mean making huge structures then blowing them up with TnT cause that is just how we roll. (I just noticed in the last sentence I was writing with sort and an announcers voice in my head my bad back to normality.) Every in-game graphic cut scene was done with motion capture suits this includes those mini cinematic fights that I hate so much as I am gray-scaled screen and want to get back to my safe safe cover. The environment effects are decently animated from storms meaning SAND STORMS also as I have stated above in gameplay the lighting in this game is fantastic giving it a very cinematic experience which is what this game is all about from camera angles to acting and story like most people have compared this game to a summer blockbuster by Michael Bay which is a very accurate description. 

Conclusion

In the end Uncharted 3 is a great end to the series but I much preferred the pacing in the first Uncharted game, I expect big things from the new game series coming out by naughty dog also I am alive comes out very soon it is an intense survival parkour gritty post apocalyptic game I defiantly recommend this game on your to buy list this season. Going to be doing a part review with Heroes VI Might & Magic because the Campaign is so long not because the story is long just each map takes about three hours beat. Until next time Slice of Kris out cya guys.

ABOBO'S BIG ADVENTURE

If ever in your life you were a fan or a hater even if you just know 1 game on the original NES this flash game by newgrounds is the game for you. It is about a boss character in double dragon that gets beaten on a conveyor belt by the main characters very easily. This game then has abobo travel through a lot of NES games to get back to the double dragon world parodying many of the most annoying features of games like the electric seaweed in ninja turtles to bloopers in Mario over all a very fun game with entertaining animation and programming.

so give it a go ABOBO'S BIG ADVENTURE until next time there are a number of game reviews in the works including some classic game reviews.

Slice of News 7/01/2012

Been a while since I did a news post and a lot has happened since last one so time to get the news.

Gaming

First off PSP Vita has not been doing too well since release in Japan considering how powerful this handheld is it is a little disappointing in it's second week it sold less than the original psp and Nintendo 3ds resulting in a possible price cut in less than one month. It was priced at around 400$ US which is about the same as PS3 right now so it is plane to see why so many are not buying it as it over priced for a handheld which is not a phone and having the same niche market as a touchpad. In other news Star Trek mmo has gone free to play as of Friday the 8/01/2012 which is just slightly in the future of releasing this following the trend of micro transaction mmo's showing that free to play model is the choice for mmo's yet star war is not I give it about 2 years before it changes. Speaking of Star Wars mmo it has 350,000 concurrent subscribers since it's release in December going with sales figures super meat boy from newgrounds has 1 million units sold 3ds has 4 million unit's sold since it's release some time of the middle of last year lets say June. In SOPA(stop online piracy act) news many game studios are removing their support for it big media studios are still for it though. Speaking of piracy here is some of the most pirated games of 2011 Crysis 2 (3,92mill) CoD:MW3 (3,65mill) Battlefield 3 (3.5 mill), FIFA 12 (3.3mill) and Portal 2 (3.2mill) so you can kind of see why gaming studios want SOPA just something not as drastic as SOPA.

Entertainment

A tv shows are starting back up again and the line up for spring has been set out my most noted starting in January 30 rock and Sherlock returning; March Cougar town and Archer returning; April Bob's Burger and Game of Thrones returning and not yet given a date The Avengers Earth's mightiest heroes there are more but these are the ones I care about. Movies coming out early 2012 are not many but Puncture with Chris evens (captain america), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Daniel Craig (James Bond) The Muppets with Jason Segel (Marshal from How I Met Your Mother), and lastly Batman Dark Knight Rises with Christian Bale.

That is about all the news I care about I could try and find out more about technology coming out and new films starting production but I am not fully interested in doing that until next time I hope you enjoyed this Slice of News.

The Binding of Isaac: basement edition

About the Publisher

I recently got this game on the steam sales for four dollars this game is another game in the series of games being released by newgrounds which is an online flash hosting site and they have published several HD versions of their better flash games first was Alien Homid which was a side scrolling shooter like metal slug. Next was a game called castle crashers which is a four player side scrolling beat'em up like battletoads or double dragon except it has great RPG element that round out the experience. Then they released Super Meat boy which is a intense platformer with Mario influence this is the hardest platformer and a very well made game finally they have released Binding of Isaac which is rouge; Zelda 1 dungeon  type of game.

Gameplay

Binding of Isaac is a high replayability game with a twisted storyline with the gameplay telling the entire story which is a staple of how well a game can do this it has a random generator for everything in this game which is the main reason for the replayability. There is four RPG elements range, damage, attack speed , movement speed and health there are also numerous number of items that upgrade these elements or give your character a special attack there are too many of these but I can divide into a few groups. First group is bullet manipulators that change your "tears"(I will explain this soon) to different types of attacks usually that enhance your damage, next is food which upgrades your max health there are also items that reduce your max health. Most of the items though manipulate your RPG elements either positively or negatively they also change your cosmetic appearance then there are the items that give you a special power either active ability or passive abilities. Lastly their are pills or tarot cards which do any number of things both good and bad and they change each time you restart the game so do not rely on remembering what stuff does what. In Binding of Isaac there are also bombs and keys so that you can open chests and doors or advance through the area but not essential to win the level. In each level their are 5 different areas plan area with monsters to defeat before you can progress, secret area which gives you a random stuff, game area which has mini games in it either defeat monsters or gambling, 7 deadly sins boss area (just a mini boss), gold item room it is a safe room but contains a power up item in the centre lastly boss room which contains the boss you must defeat to progress to next level these are all randomly generated the difficulty of them depends on what level you are on.

Story

 Now to explain how this game's gameplay tells a story as you play first is the how you defeat enemies by crying at them shows that the protagonist is in a unfriendly situation the mini bosses seven deadly sins show that he is destroying his own emotions next is the item that improve him usually cause bodily harm or make him look even more depraved for example his mother's lipstick he places it on his lips and it makes him shoot faster meaning he is crying even more than before and the food that he eats is usually dog food with caption of dinner under it. Each of these things reflect that this child's horrible living standards with as much as a cut scene next is between each level their is a tiny cut scene used to hide loading time but in each ones they show someone either neglecting him or teasing/bullying him now the last peg in the great design of this game is at the end of the intro cut scene you see a naked boy pin a peace of paper to the wall and smile which shows that none of this game is real it is an escape from his even worse life. For such a small game to have such clearly coded stuff is fantastic and I would love triple A games to do the same in their games I know that this is a lot harder to do because they do not have a single man mindset for the entire game.

Summary

I do recommend you get The Binding of Isaac it is fun and addicting game that is both hard and fulfilling a much better game than I expected I have told myself that newgrounds may be a bad site but the polished diamonds from it are great as every full port flash game to product game from them have been fantastic. I have been playing Heroes 6 a lot this will be the next game triple A game I review and if you can help it do not buy Dungeon and Dragons: Daggerdale it is the worst made game ever but u want to review it because it is so bad and it shows how not to make a game and allows me to vent untill next time enjoy this Slice of Kris.

first post of 2012 (personal post)

Whud up guys so it is January first my family time is coming to close had fun with them if they are reading this spent most of my time the last week going I really want to get my how I met your mother fix over just re-watching my series I must of re-watched at least 6 series at least halfway though and over 20 movies some I had not seen before some in the cinemas. All while eating a whole lot of food I will be glad when classes start up again to give me something else to think about instead of why am I buy more games on steam sales I am clearly not going to play. Speaking of steam sale the most addicting game I got is binding of Isaac I really want to get the Christmas achievement for that but man do it suck at it there will be a review of it very soon I also got Sherlock Holmes game it is a point and click adventure games which I always want to get into but never can because I get stuck so very often and looking up walkthroughs ruin my immersion in the game that and you cannot go to this place right now with no locked gate in the way just like I should not go there right now saying that to themselves and always go but why I want to.

Enough about steam sales stealing about 60$ from me and I will tell you my favourite new movies I have watched Tin Tin which is great because I loved the comics when I was smaller so this movie I wanted to see and it did not disappoint I also watched green lantern I can see why people hate it as they chose the wrong main bad hero they should of made parallax just be looming and had the fear psychic guy get developed more like when he was losing his sanity i was just thinking who is this guy and why should I care that his world is crashing around him instead they focused way to much on the romance (enough Chris going off on a tangent to much right now). Last movie that i watched and was note worthy was con air which I had not seen and that was a very well done movie characters developed nicely plenty of well paced action only thing I did not like was when they escaped in the fire engine bit at the end I felt that was just sort of a hat on a hat like you finished the story nicely then bam another chase scene for no real decent reason.

As I said above I really need my how I met your mother fix huge fan of the show incredibly annoyed and happy they just keep going and going and never meeting that damned mum but Christmas specials like Dr who were fantastic was not the greatest episode but was a nice change of pace than all this is cannon to the plot i enjoy every now and then an episode that has nothing to do with anything. Sherlock UK series comes out soon so excited first season was great so I expect great things 2012 let the end of the world begin with a bang and end with a pop.

In the future I plan on doing some new stuff which will be reviled later more reviews and occasional news stories might even try my luck at making some videos or one man podcasts might even write some more of my book what ever it may be I thank you and I hope you enjoy these slices of Kris until next time guys may you have a merry end of the world.