Sorry!

Hello all, sorry for the lack of stuff being posted up here on our blog, other commitments have taken over as of late but normal service will be resuming shortly!


To say sorry here is a humours comic strip. Enjoy! =D

Assassin’s Creed Revelations: Ziplining onto your screens

What is one of the strongest signs that a game is really good? Longevity? Cinematography? When it's to do with the story driven part of a game, I always know that a game was really good if I couldn't put it down. That's exactly what I got playing Assassin’s Creed Revelations, I couldn't stop, and I enjoyed every minute. I completed the main plot within a few days, and while in the past I've forced myself to slow down near the end of the story, I really couldn't help myself this time.

This is the third game with Ezio as the main character, and in a way is a spin-off of sorts, or rather, they had so much additional material after making the second game, that they decided it would be a waste to not use it. I couldn't agree more, Ezio is a really lovable character who is a joy to play with, and through these additional games his character has been extensively developed, showing exactly why Ubisoft are such a good company when their audiences vote with their money to support a franchise that is fairly unique, and could have gone either way.

So, at the start of this instalment Ezio arrives in Constantinople, the former name of Istanbul, and this city is a perfect setting for what the franchise always aims at in locales; it's huge, has a variety of terrain types and heights and there was an obvious divide between wealth and poverty, which lends itself well to Ezio's desire to eradicate corruption, and help those that need it. It's also a very historic city, with a lot of blood being shed in it's name and to occupy such a strategic military and commercially well placed city.

While I don't want to spoil much about the intricacies of the plot, I'll mention some parts that really stood out for me as a player. I loved the flashbacks as Altaïr, they really pulled together some loose ends and answered those questions that a lot of players will have had about what happened to Altaïr

after the first game. While we had some interaction with Altaïr before, it was just following his eagle vision ghost, and again being able to walk in his shoes, and for such prolonged and enjoyable chunks of game play, it really concluded his story for the player, in a satisfying way that weaves throughout Ezio's time in Constantinople, as he and Desmond discover more and more about what it is to be an Assassin.

Speaking of Desmond, Revelations really built upon what it had started in Brotherhood within the building of Desmond as a fully three dimensional character. Within the Animus interface, Desmond finds that there are five doorways that are unlocked throughout the story, and these really open up a lot of the current time storyline, as well as developing Desmond himself. It's a very good thing that we get this back story of Desmond's explained to us at this point, because it seemed lacking in previous games, even though it feels completely right to have been told to us at exactly this point in the series. That's exactly what the writing team at Ubisoft that work on this series are really good at, any small negatives that you might have will be addressed in future games, because as well as their clever directorial skills, they listen to their audience.

The new additions to gameplay feel like they're there to help you along, and do a really good job at it. First you are given the hookblade, which is a really handy tool, it allows you to climb buildings quicker as well as grip on to a lot of things you couldn’t as you are falling or jumping across rooftops, as well as of course being able to use them with the new zip lines that have cropped up around the map, a fun way to break up the monotony of long journeys. Then we have the new bomb crafting ability, which makes combat easier at times, as well as sneaking about. I didn't much feel the need to use bombs during my play-through, but I know that in order to get 100% in some memories, and therefore the game as a whole, I will have to use bombs a lot more than I had to. The last of the new additions was very surprising and rather interesting; den defence, which is their take on a tower defence mini-game. I found it fun a good few times, but then I found it annoying that as I was buying shops around the city, my notoriety was rising, which meant my assassin dens would come under attack with this cool bit of gameplay. It was fun, because I like tower defence games, but I don't think you should be so punished for buying shops to increase your income, although I understand why it's there.

Then, leaping ahead a lot, in order to avoid plot spoilers, we come ironically to the end of this game. I feel that the end of Revelations brought everything together nicely as a conclusion of the existing stories, and that it leaves me very excited about the next instalment of the series, which I hope will still be within this year in order to be in time for the 2012 in game plot piece. There isn’t much to say about the multiplayer except that it builds nicely upon the existing multiplayer, with the much needed improvements to the matchmaking process, although there are still a lot to be done.

As I'm sure you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed playing Assassin’s Creed Revelations, and I highly recommend it to existing fans of the series, as well as imploring those unfamiliar with these games to give them a try, they're exceedingly good.

8.5/10 Sack-Fulls

The Social Nerds 9 - The Intervention

This week on this special edition of The Social Nerds TJ is back and Ben and Dan hold an intervention for him. We thought it was the kindest thing to do for him as his friends... Also the guys also cover this weeks gaming and tech news and talk about violence in video games and should parents be more responsible?

All this and more only on The Social Nerds!

Hosts -
Ben Sainty - @TheDoomSpoon
Daniel Smith - @Lord_Aten
TJ Scrivener - @TJScrivener

Contact us?!
Web - Thesocialnerdsblog.blogspot.com
Email - Thesocialnerds@gmail.com
Tweet - @TheSocialNerds

RAGE - First Impressions

RAGE... I bet some of you haven't heard about or seen this game? Well to be honest you can be forgiven. It was released back in October 7th of last year and although there were plenty of adverts for the game they were so fast and crazy that I dont think anyone actually realised what it was advertising, dont get me wrong I like the fast and furious nature of the ads but I just wish they showed a bit more game play and features to warrant me buying it straight away.

But anyway that aside I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and found... not one....not two...but three discs! This can only mean one thing.. a big game! 2 discs are for the single player campaign and the third for multi-player and co-op. Also included is the manual and a code for RAGE Wasteland Sewer Missions, which as it states unlocks the missions to the sewers of the wasteland..full of scary mutants...nice.


Anyway once you finally finished installing the discs to your hard drive (its recommended you do) you can get stuck in! Before I go any further I should briefly explain the game and what its about, RAGE takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, described as similar to the movie Mad Max 2 and other popular video games such as Fallout and Borderlands. You play as a survivor of the 2029 Apophis asteroid impact who has just woken up inside an Ark (Arks are basically underground cryogenic life boats to save VIPs in order to rebuild Earth). You awaken to the realization that your Ark has malfunctioned and that you are the only survivor from it. The game consists of first person shooter and driving segments, you use your vehicle to travel to different locations and from mission to mission.


I wont go into to much to do with game play as I have only played about 2 hours of the game, this is a first impressions review, I will write a game play review later on. First thing to mention about playing this game is the very good graphics, it manages to make a total wasteland look very pretty and vibrant with colours and shades. Also I like how easy it is to pick up the controls to driving the vehicles, even when trying to blow up bandits with your buggy its very easy to shoot and drive at the same time. From what I have played so far it has been pretty fast paced and atmospheric, the ingame music helps too which changes depending where you are and what situation your in.


All in all a good first impression, this game has a lot of promise and im sure has a lot of play value with its co-op and online racing features which I will be covering at a later time.


Currently I would give this a 7.5/10 just on first impression basis, I do hope this game lives up to what it should be like.


Thanks for reading.


Written by Ben Sainty (The Doom Spoon) 

The Social Nerds 8 - Defiling is Wrong!

This week on The Social Nerds Dan and Ben have been left to their own devices as TJ was not available, but still they muscle on through the thick and thin of gaming and tech news. They discuss the current situation with SOPA and where file sharing should turn from here, they also run through the games that will make them wet themselves with excitement through this year.

All this and much much more here, only on The Social Nerds!

Hosts -
Ben Sainty - @TheDoomSpoon
Daniel Smith - @Lord_Aten
TJ Scrivener - @TJScrivener

Contact us?!
Web - Thesocialnerdsblog.blogspot.com
Email - Thesocialnerds@gmail.com
Tweet - @TheSocialNerds

The Social Nerds 7 - Fish Have Herpes

This week on The Social Nerds Ben, Dan and TJ are back to their usual banterings and news discussions but there is one BIG difference.... NO CRAIG'S LIST! This week the guys have something quite different lined up.

Find out what it is here on The Social Nerds!

Hosts -
Ben Sainty - @TheDoomSpoon
Daniel Smith - @Lord_Aten
TJ Scrivener - @TJScrivener

Contact us?!
Web - Thesocialnerdsblog.blogspot.com
Email - Thesocialnerds@gmail.com
Tweet - @TheSocialNerds

The Social Nerds 6 - Dan Stop Posting Ads On Craigs List!

This week on The Social Nerds Ben, Dan and TJ cover all the latest in gaming and tech news as well as discussing topics such as is there life after death? Is there a god? and was that really a picture of Dan on Craigs list?!

All this and much more only on The Social Nerds!

Hosts -
Ben Sainty - @TheDoomSpoon
Daniel Smith - @Lord_Aten
TJ Scrivener - @TJScrivener

Contact us?!
Web - Thesocialnerdsblog.blogspot.com
Email - Thesocialnerds@gmail.com
Tweet - @TheSocialNerds