Happy Halloween 2011!!!

Have a very happy and scary and spooky Halloween everyone from both of us. Have fun and stay safe.
Quik and Fated.

Bullies SUCK!

by: QUIK

Not really geeky or game related but a subject many, many geeks and nerds are familiar with. Bullies. I feel really good today. I confronted a bully of mine (yes, you can still be bullied at around 30 years old) and I feel great about it. I hope that loser will think twice about trying to bully anyone again. I guess it’s true that bullies are really cowards who feed on the fear of others physically weaker then themselves. Geeks and nerds - stand united against bullying. If you see a fellow geek or nerd being harassed stand up for them. Talk to your counselor, dean, principal or teacher. Take a united stand with your friends from drama club, AV club, chess club etc. etc. and most importantly do not show fear. You are not alone, seek help even if it’s from your WoW or gaming guild or clan. Chances are, someone will have experience with bullies and WILL be able to help you or give you good and proper advice on what to do. Your parents should ALWAYS know that you are being bullied. If you are an adult and have a bully at your workplace or in a common group of friends (physical or psychological) team up with your work buddies that you talk about video games with (there is always one) or any old geek subject. Spend lunches with them and defend each other against stupid remarks and bully-type behavior. Tell your boss and DEMAND a safe and relaxing work environment. If your friends see someone in group being abusive and bullying you and do nothing about it they are not your friends and are not worth your time. Leave and don’t be scared to meet new people like yourself. I met my fiancee online and my two best friends I talk to daily on Skype. Doesn’t make them any less of best friends if I don’t hang out with them physically (for now).

Anyway, I hope someone reads this who is bullied and they feel better now and don’t feel as alone as they perhaps did. Bullies and mean people suck and united we can end and prevent bullying forever. Geek power boys and girls!

Hector–Badge of Carnage

Honest review by: QUIK

Are you in a mood for a couple hours of uncensored British humor, raunchy jokes as well as massive amounts of cursing and swearing in that great sort of way only the British can do? Well, so was I when I started playing Hector Badge of Carnage series and although I have enjoyed playing this game I feel as if it’s creators have missed a great opportunity to create a cult-classic. Hector is trying too hard to be a PG-13 game, a game both an adult can enjoy and one that will make a teenager blush. Unfortunately that is it’s weakest point. Although the writing is not bad and will make you often chuckle (or at least snicker) this game could have been filled with MA rated humor and language that would make the movie Snatch jealous, you know, the kind that leaves you wiping tears away from laughing. However, I am emphasizing that the writing in the game is really decent. I would say it’s on the level of Monkey Island games but with the very British theme and humor it could have been more, much more.
The gameplay is very good in Hector and the controls are some of the best I’ve seen in an adventure game. The way you use your inventory and interact with your environment is simple and logical and you completely learn it within the first minute of tutorial before each episode begins. '
The full series of Hector is available on Steam for 19,99€ and I’m sure a very similar amount on the American Steam. The price is a bit steep considering you only get three episodes as opposed to six episodes in Sam and Max Season 1 for example (which only costs 10€ more). I would definitely recommend picking up Hector but I’d wait for when it goes on sale.

Yoo Ninja! Free & Yoo Ninja Plus

Honest review by: QUIK

Yoo Ninja! Free and Yoo Ninja Plus are two games I am currently enjoying on my smartphone. Both games are available free on the Android Market (with ads) and for about $2 on the iTunes app store.

The premise is quite simple. You control a little ninja who runs across the screen left to right and can either run upside down or normally. The levels have platforms either above the ninja or below him with traps and holes in which you can fall. You change whether you run on the ceiling or the floor by single tapping the screen (the android version at least). I believe the first screen before the game starts will explain it better then I can:

The game is incredibly fun and addictive. There are no loading screens between stages and you can continuously play the game non-stop in one crazy long sitting. The stages are not very long and if you want to quickly do a single stage while commuting to work or school you definitely can. The game saves every time you pass a check point which sort of ends a stage and begins a new one. It’s casual, it’s very, very fun and for free or even $2 you can’t go wrong getting it. I’ll give these games 4.5/5 losing .5 point for maybe being a little too short but I’m honestly just being picky.

Doctor Who (2005)

By: QUIK

I am currently watching the new Doctor Who show on BBC. I must admit that as a true and proud geek I always felt a bit embarrassed that I have never until now seen even a single episode of this show. I must be honest, I am kind of addicted. My fiancee kind of  talked me into finally trying this show (she actually has a home-made replica of the 4th Doctor’s scarf! I’m so proud! ^_^) and now it’s one of my favorite science fiction shows period. We will watch the pre-2005 Doctor Who episodes together here before we move to New Jersey some time next year and I am also really looking forward to those… and X-Files… and Torchwood… well the list is pretty long, but classic Doctor is definitely in the top 5.

Crysis 2

Honest Review by: QUIK

I have never played the original Crysis. When that game came out I did not have a proper gaming PC and I the laptop I was using for everything could barely run World of Warcraft on lowest graphic settings. I always heard however, that Crysis one was a system tester for PC gamers and that although the game itself was not very good, graphically there was no other game like it. That’s the reason why I really wanted to play Crysis 2. I have a proper gaming PC now, very fast and very powerful. I wanted to test my system on some really demanding and beautiful game. Crysis did not disappoint. Graphically, this game is incredible. It was a pleasure running around inside the buildings and outside in N.Y.C. Some scenes (SPOILER: like the scene when people are evacuated from the city by the trains and at the end you jump in the car and you wait for some civilians to jump on as a giant office building is about to fall on you) looked so terrifyingly real and intense that I really felt my heart beating faster.

Is Crysis 2 a good game to play? Obviously, I can’t compare it to the original since I haven’t played it but I had a pretty good fun playing this game. Crysis 2 is fast paced, intense FPS. Do not expect to make any moral choices in this game or any choices period since this game is as linear as they come. What else would you expect though from this type of FPS? The story is a pretty entertaining science fiction plot. The gameplay and controls are decent, with two styles of combat depending whether you fight the Ceph or other humans. Whenever fighting humans I felt a bit over-powered and I took joy in quick and efficient destruction of my enemies. When fighting Ceph however, I often found myself repeating a stage whenever I got too cocky and tried to rush ahead guns blazing. The combat style is pretty average. From recently finished games by me I would have to compare it to F.3.A.R. (or Fear 3 as it’s most commonly called). Your special abilities include Power Armor and Invisibility Cloak. Both very useful and pretty much self explanatory I think. Limited energy bar in the bottom right (PC version at least) corner of the screen must constantly be peeked at in order to properly use both the power armor and cloaking. The energy bar is also used for sprinting, but since it recharges fairly quickly it is not an annoying feature of the gameplay.

In conclusion, I recommend buying Crysis 2. It’s a fairly fun game and if you enjoy FPS games (especially all you SciFi lovers out there) you will probably have fun playing it. I know that I am kind of looking forward to Crysis 3 as I am sure all of you who finished the game will agree, they are clearly hinting that there will be another Crysis . Until then, have fun destroying the Ceph, Alcatraz, or should I say ….