Geek vs Life

Well I think I might be able to help.

While surfing around today I discovered quite possibly the greatest thing to amp me up for Zombieland (my second viewing!). гардеробиThe Miami Herald ran a story about the University of Florida’s disaster plan in case of, you guessed it, Zombies!

When I first read this I thought is was completely fake, but after a bit of research (and…uh… clicking on the link in that article) I found out that they are quite serious. All in all, its not a bad plan actually.

If you don’t want to read the Miami Herald article, you can find the PDF for the ZOMBIE ATTACK Disaster plan here.

And like I said, if you’re still on the fence of schools you might want to check out, consider U of F because, well, they can fight Zombies.

If you’re into all that Gundam stuff, and I know you are, I thought you might appreciate this:

Find out the full details on Flickr’s blog A robot rises over Tokyo

When I sat down to play Red Faction: Guerrilla, I made myself a promise. No matter how badthey were, the graphics would not be an issue in the review. Trade-offs show up in every game on the market and with highly destructible environments, graphics will always suffer.

Disclaimers aside, Red Faction has reared its head with its newest title. In a series of surprises, you’re thrown back onto Mars as a demolitions expert (surprise!) named Alec Mason who, after an unfortunate event, takes up his obligatory hammer and joins the Red Faction (surprise!).  Mayhem ensues as you fulfill the dictum of your new rebel buddies: absolute destruction of personal property that isn’t yours.

In the initial few missions, the physics engine revved into high gear and stayed there as debris flew across the screen in a mad show of force. The threadbare plot kept me convinced that sheer pandemonium was a great way to start an uprising and didn’t really get in the way during the play-through. With decent controls, expect for the wonky weapons switchover system, navigating around the sandbox world and firing at baddies works out pretty well. It’s easy to get lost in the weapons fire and explosions however, which makes it hard to tell friend from foe in the midst of trouble.

Side missions in this game serve as enjoyment and ways to unlock more weaponry, but most of what they do is try and taunt you. Taunt you relentlessly as you draw fastidious diagrams of building structures cursing yourself for not being an engineering student at MIT. Sometimes it’s a roll of the dice to get an acceptable result. After four failed attempts at one particularly rough destructive mission, I had a sudden flashback of Crackdown. The same over the shoulder camera, ninja-spawning enemies, and even the same quest narrator (no really, it is) have been polished off and ported to the PS3.

The online multiplayer aspect hasn’t quite taken off the ground yet, but it looks promising once some more DLC is released in the future. For example, the wrecking crew option, where you compete against friends to take down buildings faster and better, has a certain awesome quality to it except that like the main game, the physics engine picks and chooses what buildings fall.

I think this game can best be described as a giant stress release ball. Like after a long day of dealing with angry customers or being in a poor work environment where acting out is frowned upon. This game  is a great way to blow off some steam using explosives. Unless you are on the verge of actually napalming your place of business, this should stay a rental game.

Moral choices plague any game and so far people seem to think it’s nothing but trouble.  Personally, gaming for me is about immersion into a game and with Infamous it’s the choices that really force you into the character. Sure, there is a certain level of hilarity when you’re faced with two things that seem so far-fetched that, when narrated by the main character, make it seem like choosing what type of sandwich you want could alter your life forever.

Even so, a large saving grace in Infamous is the oddly decent plot, told by narration and comic book cut scenes. You play as Cole, a free runner (read: monkey) delivery man who actives a ball of electro-death and lives to tell the tale. Gifted with powers to do crazy stuff with all things electrical, he runs off to save the city from super-villainous gangs and solve the classical whodunit.

The dev team put a lot of time online to explain how groundbreaking the movement and climbing is, so I figured it was a good place to start. Yes, it’s true you can nimbly scale buildings without difficulty, and yes, it is also true that you can grind rails and cables at incredible speeds. You can even hover. The pieces are all there to fit together into a neat package, but instead it fits like a live chicken in a toaster. None of the parts fit into each other; making a transition from one mode to another (say a cable to another cable), is almost a guaranteed miss. And the hover abo;oty is extremely limited, making on the fly course corrections impossible. I feel like another month or two might have helped to work the kinks out, but after all the press coverage of the climbing programming I don’t think they were trying too hardto fix it.

With in-game variable difficulties, missions can be played by just about anyone. The main missions give you a feeling of the city and its people. Each main character has some development, with the villains getting full stories and distinct personalities to make them seem that much more evil. Although the total variety of side missions is limited, each one gives a sense of accomplishment when you see the gangs slowly lose control of the city. Missions range from saving people if you’re good, to killing cops if you’re bad. You see the effect of actions take root quickly. The only drawback is that once you start down the path of good or evil, it becomes hard to break away from it, especially since powers are locked in to your rank as well as which good or evil missions you have completed.

Speaking of the powers, I believe it goes without saying that shooting bolts of lightning has a certain allure to it. Even though the powers aren’t as varied as they could be, they pack a punch and enough jazzy effects to make them enjoyable. With sources to recharge from everywhere in the city, it’s fun to experiment with heavy hitting moves while on the prowl for baddies.

Infamous is great for exactly two plays, one for each alignment. There isn’t much to collect past upgrading your power course and story items; the first is ridiculous and the second definitely worth it for story buffs. Both can be done in a main game play without much deviation. High marks, try it out.

This could be you!

More details have surfaced on what will be included on the much talked about The Beatles: Rockband Limited Edition Premium Bundle. For $250, when you already have a drumset, a mic and a few guitars, there might be good reason to pause before laying down that kind of dough. So here is what you’ll get when you open the box:

• The Beatles: Rock Band game
• Hofner Bass controller: (A replica of the bass famously used by Sir Paul McCartney himself)
• Beatles-inspired and Ludwig-branded Rock Band 2 drums (w/ classic pearl finish and vintage replica Beatles kick drum head)
• Microphone & Microphone Stand (finally my hands will be free!)
• Additional special content* (*oh I do love a good mystery, I wonder if they ship you Yoko.)

Considering that most people who would be inclined to purchase TB:RB, probably already own a previous incarnation of RB (either the original or extra cordless version). There’s just so much room in someones shed or garage before having to build a house extension to house your gaming peripherals. Then there’s the whole landfill problem and eco/green/save the planet concerns… For those the game is also available in a not so special package which will retail for approximately $60:

• The Beatles: Rock Band game

Now there’s something we can all enjoy.