Thursday 13 September 2012

Now Playing... Guild Wars 2 (Part 1)

 Well, what can I say. For starters it's pretty damn good! The graphics are nice, which is a big plus, it has a nice array or characters and classes to choose from and - now this is probably the most important aspect is that there is NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE! Being a modest WoW veteran (after 6 long years and almost flunking college) I was pretty happy about this.

Imagine how much money I potentially 'wasted' on subscription fees playing World of Warcraft. Well maybe that's being a tad unfair, as I enjoyed the hell out of playing World of Warcraft back in the day. And I don't regret paying out my hard earned cash to do so.

In the beginning I imagined the GW2 would be a bit like WoW. I mean I was impressed with WoW, it was a great mmo and I thoroughly enjoyed it until, after Wrath of The Lich King when things got a bit tiresome. You know the deal, collect 10 of these, kill 90 of these, collect 10 million of these.... And plus the playability of WoW was good too. Though by the end I was kind of sick with all the E-peening, whining and moaning about this, that and the other. And so I instinctively thought that GW2 would be the same, but better somehow. But no!

It all began on one sunny day in the Astronomy shop, where I work at the ROG when a colleague, friend and WoW vet told me about this game, Guild Wars 2 that he had recently purchased. He went on to tell me how amazing it was. How fantastic the graphics were, the integration of 'dynamic events', the design of the world being 'awe-inspiring'. So he raved and plugged this game until I was like 'OK, I think I'm going to have to go get this game'.

Since my departure of WoW and after several dreams about playing it again, I really had the mmorpg itch. And WoW was at my fingertips. Beckoning me. But no, I was done with that, that time has passed and needed something new and fresh. And that saving grace was Guild Wars 2. I have only been playing it for about two weeks. Coming home after work and playing for a few hours. The nice thing about having no subs fee is that you don't feel obligated to play every single night without fail so I can make the most of the cost. With GW2 there isn't that obligation, it feel's freer, more relaxed. I can take a month off and not feel that I have wasted ten quid or so! Nice huh!

To sum up, this is a good mmo, there is a good selection of characters to choose from and the UI is pretty easy to navigate around (once you get used to it of course), plus a ton of cool features that the games offers. At the moment I haven't explored much. In fact by looking at the map the world is pretty damn big! Lots to explore and enjoy. I will probably add more reviews at a later date when I have explored a bit more.

I guess Blizzard better buckle up, because the competition is getting tough!

Saturday 8 September 2012

Now Playing... Professor Layton and Specter's Call

Currently I have been playing "Professor Layton and Specter's Call" (or The Last Specter for the US version) on my newly purchased 3DS (Cosmos Black version of course!). 

Specter's Call, like the other Prof. Layton games is all about the puzzles and the absorbing storyline. The one I'm playing now revolves around a town called Misthallery where a mysterious giant has been terrorising the town. Your job is to discover who... or what is behind it by speaking to the quirky townfolk and obtaining clues by solving their puzzles.

There are approximately 170 puzzles that are obtained by Misthallery's people, plus a bunch of hidden puzzles, mini games and trophies to grab along the way.The difficulty level of the puzzles fluctuates throughout the game - so it doesn't seem to get difficult the more you progress. With each puzzle there is the opportunity to grab Picarats - which are the puzzles' score rating. The higher the Picarat score the harder the puzzle and with these points you are able to unlock in-game bonus features. Savvy!

During the game there are also some very nice animated cut-scenes that help build the story. I am thoroughly enjoying this game and play it every day in my lunch and tea breaks at work.