Dear George Lucas,
If Disney really does go through with their endeavours to create a seventh Star Wars, could you please refrain from including Jar Jar Binks?
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely and with kind regards,
A Star Wars fan you will most likely never listen to
Which is better?
Poor in money, rich in health? Or Rich in money but poor in health?
Uneducated but employed? Or well educated but unemployed?
House of your own with economical troubles? Or mortgage with substantially steady income?
Poor yet popular, with loving family and friends to support you? Or unpopular, with no family or friends and no chance of any future relationships, romantic or otherwise, yet wealthy?
Weak in spirit, strong in money? Or strong in spirit but economically weak?
Religiously spiritual, and proud of it, but economically challenged? Or faithless, yet economically healthy?
Once professionally successful, with substantial resume, now economically defeated? Or professionally unsuccessful, with little to no job history, yet economically sufficient?
Well educated full time university student at prestigious campus, with good qualifications and many future prospects, yet overshadowed by horrendous amounts of economical government loans? Or well educated full time university student at prestigious campus, with good qualifications and many future prospects that look to go unfulfilled, with no economical government loans?
Physically hideous but wealthy? Or physically fabulous yet poor?
Economically comfortable – will not work professionally again? Or working professionally yet economically insecure?
Obviously stated, these questions all come down to the theme of money, and the potential, mandatory need for such a vital product. From where water was once considered a necessary resource, money appears to be slowly becoming the one thing that every human is fighting tooth and nail for. Now, I am not saying that never did people fight for money before. I am emphasising that never did such a battle feel as though all sides were inevitably losing.
Economical security has always been a mandate for we humans, but it would seem that never has there been such a pressure for economical power as there is today.
Taxes today are increasing exponentially, and prices are sky rocketing for almost every product that anyone can possibly think of. Those who were once living comfortably are now, on occasion, discovering how it feels to be, what some might refer to as, ‘poor’. When those who did not suffer economical troubles before suddenly begin to feel the weight of such conflict upon their shoulders, I think it is a fair time to say that the state of the economical system is changing, and not in a positive way either.
The real question I would like to pose to my readership is this; how far is too far in regards to money? As mentioned previously, the security of our money has always been a primary concern, but has the economical crisis that has shaken the global economy caused such gargantuan rifts that what has transpired will forever alter that state of our economical systems?
People used to say that money never successfully made another happy; however the state of the world today might be postulating a unanimous disagreement to such an age old connotation. The need of money today, and the means to adequately acquire it is what makes people happy, and many are beginning to suffer a great wealth of unhappiness from having the opposite scenario fall upon them.
One final question; as with many concerns that befall our societies; war, injustice, hatred, will the economical crisis cause us to lose a vital component that makes us who we are? What is the point of money and the many horrific occurrences that may spawn from it if we lose our humanity in the process?
I had not planned on writing another post for a couple more days (because I am at the moment editing a 212 page manuscript, sigh!), but it seems that I have been called out from my temporary hiatus.
A fellow blogger, Miss. Zen Scribbles (whose blog can be found at this here link: http://zenscribbles.wordpress.com/) requested a few of her happy followers to answer some caffeinated questions if they wished. At the very mention of ‘coffee’ my mind was immediately made up, and before I knew it I had a late night cup of coffee in my hands and my fingers flying across the keyboard as I attempted to do justice to such interesting questions.
The questions that Miss. Zen Scribbles answered can be found at the following link: http://zenscribbles.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/would-you-like-coffee-with-your-sugar/
Thank you ma’am for allowing me the opportunity to take part!
Right, now, on with the questions!
1: How many cups of coffee per day do you drink?
Between two and three. On occasion I have begun my mornings with coffee, but I usually prefer a cold drink in the morning. I especially enjoy coffee at midday and night.
2: What is your favorite caffeine delivery system?
I will have to say that I would prefer to take my coffee orally. What? Not serious enough? Oh, alright…I prefer coffee in a cup – hot, black, often without sugar because that can sometimes dilute the flavor.
I was a huge Riva Coffee drinker, and I was incredibly disappointed two years ago to find that the product was no longer in vogue. I am down to my last bottle now. I have recently discovered a Colombian brand which is not bad, but I often find that many brands of coffee are quite disappointing because they fail to accurately capture the richness of the flavor. Coffee is meant to be a seductress that awakens you from your slumber – not an intolerable tall drink of water incapable of awakening your soul.
3: What was your best cup of coffee?
Hmmm…I don’t have one favorite, but three…
One: as previously mentioned, I love Riva, so any cup of Riva is a good choice.
Two: cappuccino in Watergradens Town Centre, outside Target – great little place I used to drink at there. Should return there some day.
Three: Ice Coffee recipe I conceived on my own, but I’m sure other people can come up with such a recipe:
Instructions:
-first off, find a tall glass – yes, glass. Not a cup. Reminds me of Lygon Street over in the city – they always use glasses rather than cups over there, and using a glass makes me feel like I am walking down the great restaurant based suburb.
-throw in four teaspoons of coffee and either an equal amount of sugar, or two spoons – user discretion
-fill a third of the glass with hot water – stir
-fill the next two quarters of the cup with milk – does not matter which variety, light, full cream, etc. Stir again.
-now, take out that container of vanilla ice cream from the fridge and throw a few spoons on top
-done!
4: What was your worst cup of coffee?
Easy – I experienced this particular brew in November. My boss at the time purchased me a coffee at Queen Victoria Market from a Turkish restaurant – WORST CUP OF COFFEE EVER! I did drink the entire thing though, but I did warn my fellow employees that the chance of me falling onto my back with my arms and legs in the air was incredibly high. The sickly after taste of such an awful cup remained with me for an unbelievably long period of time after that. To make it worse, later that night I had a glass of the most sour wine imaginable.
5: What does your favorite mug say?
I have four: One has the image of a panting dog on the side. Another says ‘boss’. Another has the word ‘Gangst@’ written across the side. The last is an Easter based mug and has the words ‘some bunny loves you’ upon it.
6: How do you take your coffee?
I think I previously mentioned this – hot, black, and preferably from a well known and very reliable brand.
7: When did you have your first cup?
When I was eight. A girl I knew at the time said she enjoyed having tea, so I tried that, and the following week I had a go at coffee – instant attraction. There was never a love story quite like Naughty Nefarious and his coffee.
8: Have you ever gone on a coffee date?
On a few occasions actually. I have gone with family, friends and work colleagues. Some very pleasant conversations I have experienced over the past few years have been over coffee.
Now, I am going to tag a few people to undertake this quiz as well. Here goes…
http://courtingmadness.wordpress.com/
http://ourconsciousness.wordpress.com/
http://prinsesamusang.wordpress.com/
If you wish to undertake the coffee quiz, then by all means. Additionally, if I didn’t tag you and you wish to take the quiz, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to do so…
Cheers!
I never did read the novel ‘One Shot’ from acclaimed writer Lee Child, so please forgive me if my interpretation of the film seems way off when in comparison with the text. What I do know about the character from the book is that he was apparently well over six feet in height, which actor Tom Cruise is not. Height however, has nothing to do with talent, and Mr. Cruise sure brings a lot of it in this new thriller which is adjunctively produced by him.
With a new Mission Impossible film having been announced, perhaps Mr. Cruise is looking to be involved in another franchise. There can only be so many more Mission Impossible features that writers could possibly develop, and if Mr. Cruise is looking to become involved in a new phenomenal action series, then he has certainly put his money, and his talents, into the right film. Whether or not the fans agree will depend on whether more features based upon the series of books are indeed conceived.
Now apparently at fifty years of age, one may expect that Mr. Cruise is beginning to enter a stage in his career where he could consider retiring from blockbuster action features. But if the feature Jack Reacher has anything to say about his future prospects, that idea is probably not going to come to fruition just yet. During the fight scenes, Jack Reacher moves like liquid, easily taking out his opponents, often with little difficulty and/or injury, and if Mr. Cruise was involved in a majority of the stunts, then that is proof enough that he is surely capable of continuing his action career for quite a while longer. Fingers crossed.
The film opens to the senseless massacre of five innocent individuals going about their daily lives; each of whom are shot by a retired sniper. It seems like an ironclad case against the offender; his bullets and fingerprints were found at the scene, and his vehicle matches the tire treads found there as well. Life in jail with no parole or death are the only options available to this man now, who asks for a Mr. Jack Reacher to become involved in the case.
Jack Reacher, alerted by the news to the senseless shooting, and having a past with the accused, shows up almost immediately to begin digging into what happened. He instantly believes that the accused is the shooter and will do everything in his power to bury him.
The lawyer of the accussed, Helen (played by the beautiful Rosamund Pike), who is the daughter of the District Attorney, immediately takes a shine to Mr. Reacher’s impeccable investigative qualities and asks for him to participate in the case as her primary investigator.
The relationship between both Helen and Reacher is often one of ‘will they or won’t they?’, with many options being available throughout the feature for a possible romance to be generated between the characters.
However, this film is most unlike others that Mr. Cruise often dedicates his time too; Reacher is not the stereotypical protagonist, but then again he is in no way an anti-hero either. He is, to put it shortly, quite the bad ass, and Mr. Cruise does an impeccable job at creating such a hardened hero with ruthlessly efficient combat methodologies, highly intellectual investigative skills and an unbelievable awareness of his surroundings from his prior life in the military as an army police officer.
The case against the accused however is not a normal one, and is instead shrouded in intrigue, corruption and a major set up that has ties to those who are meant to uphold and protect the law. Nothing is sacred anymore, and no one is safe. Luckily, as the tag line of the feature might suggest, Mr. Reacher has no limits to what he will do to ensure that the righteous and the just are safely secure from the hands of antagonists, and that villains get exactly what is coming to them. So with Mr. Reacher on the case, the ominous bad guys have officially met their match.
Appearing rather spookily in the eyes of the enemy, and having the ability to make the blood of his opponents boil anxiously with dread, the darkness that Mr. Cruise brings to his powerful character is furthered with the often dark night scenes that occur throughout the film, the depths of the plot and the incredibly loud sounds of guns going off and cars slamming into surfaces. At times, such great techniques within the feature will cause you to jump unexpectedly, as you are pulled into this dark world that Mr. Reacher inhabits.
Of course, darkness is not the only aspect of the film that poses as a lure. The film itself does not require drawn out action sequences or explosions to capture your interest, but does so with other great abilities; the smart, intelligent dialogue; the witty action sequences and the ways Mr. Reacher takes his opponents down; additional likeable characters the likes of Cash, played by the unfathomably well known Robert Duvall, who portrays a fun sniper at a gun range adds a sense of fun to a dark, foreboding landscape; and the in-depth characterisation that Mr. Cruise brings to his character, not to mention his good looks, which he has amazingly managed to preserve efficaciously benefit the film.
Jack Reacher is a film that immediacy captures your attention and refuses to let you go until the final thrilling sequence. To put my final opinion of the feature simply; you have to watch this film. Whether you are a fan of Mr. Cruise’s work, or enjoy intriguing, intelligent plots and dramatic action thrillers, Jack Reacher has it all and more, and frequently keeps you guessing as to who is trustworthy; and who the real enemy is.
I mentioned in my Christmas post that I received a new phone as a gift; a GT-C3520 Clam Shell.
After inserting my old SIM card into my new device, I found that all of the information stored on there; the numbers of my friends, family and acquaintances; the history of texts and calls that I had sent and received, along with my photos and recordings were all unavailable.
My old phone was an LG Clam Shell, and my new one is a Samsung, and with that said; only the number is the functional part of my old phone that was successfully integrated with my new device.
So, I therefore had to go and place my SIM card back into my old phone because I didn’t know most of the numbers of my friends and family off by heart and had to make backups of any files that I felt were important, which I transferred onto a USB. The numbers however I had to physically write down and later transfer into my new phone.
Some, I admit, did not make it onto the new phone, and this cleansing cycle made me wonder; why did I still have half of the numbers on there anyway when the last time I had communicated with such people, the human race was running around in leopard skins whacking each other over the heads with sticks as a way to communicate with other tribes.
I did come across one number in particular that I am undecided upon, and wish to ask the general public their thoughts on this matter.
The number belongs to a certain young woman that I used to fancy, and still have feelings for. We never did date, and even though there might have been a spark once, we left things on a rather negative note when we last spoke.
On top of this, I most likely have a greater chance of flying to Jupiter than I do of ever either seeing her again, or going out to dinner with her.
However, even with that said, should I keep her number somewhere in my phone – perhaps in one of those ‘groups’ sections? An opportunity may one day present itself I do suppose, although this is unbelievably slim. Another theory could be that having her number will prevent me from successfully moving forward with my life.
I am at a loss of what to do right now, and any thoughts and/or opinions on this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I am not geographically savvy, but I am pretty certain that many countries across the globe have after Christmas sales, and in Australia, as with a number of other countries, this particular occasion is known as ‘Boxing Day.’
I believe that this after Christmas sale is almost reminiscent of society’s way of presenting the public with an opportunity; if you failed to receive that gift which you truly wanted and do not wish to insult your friends and family by criticising their inability to take a hint, you can instead go out and purchase that which you always wanted at a supposedly cheaper price than usual.
I have often enjoyed this particular aspect of this occasion. Last year I left for the event with a cool $500 in my pocket and came home with only $132 remaining. This year I managed to limit my craziness by taking $100 less, and by some miracle on my part, managed to only spend $180 on presents that I accumulated during my travels through the couple stores that I visited.
However, even though the after Christmas sales presents this unique ability, I also have a rather negative interpretation of such an event. In fact, I think the sales could very easily be compared to the depths of hell.
How so?
One: The shops you visit are often cramped and crowded with an exceedingly huge number of people. The crowds are so vast and numerous that you often find yourself pressed up against a wall, gasping for your last, precious breath of air as your lungs fill with toxic gases, the likes of methane, BO and carbon dioxide.
Two: There are a large number of people running around, and many of them have a rather displeased look upon their faces. You often find yourself thinking ‘is that bloke gonna get me?’, ‘is that woman gonna get me?’, ‘is that toddler in the pram wielding the candy cane gonna shove that delicious sweet in my eye?’
At one point there was this short, chubby kid who couldn’t take his eyes off me as we crossed paths. My friend who was with me at the time, she said that he must have been jealous of my tall height and ruggedly handsome appearance. I asked her, if I was so tall and handsome, then why wasn’t she dating me?
She deflected the question with humour.
Three: Many of the gifts you are attempting to locate and purchase for yourself are lusted over by many other individuals, and often you will need to beat other patrons with a stick to successfully get out of there alive. N.B – other patrons don’t often appreciate being beaten with sticks.
Four: Often, stores only have a couple of check outs open. It is their way to ruining your day because their day is obviously ruined by the sheer force of the stampede that is rushing about what was once a relatively peaceful work environment, and is now tarnished by the fact that their store now looks a lot like an unpleasantly deranged asylum. With that said, the check out queues are often so unfathomably long, they make those huge traffic pile ups look like nice tropical vacations.
Five: There are very rarely any staff moving about the store, and so assistance is not guaranteed on this occasion. Any staff who are supposedly on duty you often find cowering behind large crates, their eyes looking over the tops of their hiding places in terror as they whimper ‘go away! Go away!’
Six: By the time you successfully find what you want, have fought off the attacking locals, have lined up in the queue and have survived the harsh environments, you then need to get out of there – which is made harder by the fact that there are now a hundred times more people wandering about the shopping complex than there were originally. If the zombie apocalypse ever goes down, it will probably look a lot like the after Christmas sale.
Anyway, if you did attend the after Christmas sales, or are just about to – I do hope your experiences were/are better than mine. Cheers!
I’m not religious – nor am I truly into the whole Christmas spirit. With that said however, that does not mean that I do not celebrate such an event. Just because I no longer put up a beautiful sparkling tree and other decorations about my residence does not mean that I do not choose to celebrate such an event. I mean, Christmas? It’s an excuse to be a spend thrift. For some reason I often acquire more pleasure from buying gifts for others than I do from buying presents for myself. Additionally, the act of acquiring gifts is quite fun for often you are given presents that you may not purchase yourself due to a potentially excessive price. Then there is the excuse to eat something quite deliciously bad for your health, and the additional excuse to consume large amounts of alcohol. Long story short – it is in my best interest to celebrate such an event even if my Christmas spirit has, over the past few years, dwindled.
I think Christmas is mainly for the children. Personally, I believe that I am too adult and mature to fully appreciate what Christmas once meant for me when I was a child. It was so exciting to such an extent that on several occasions I was unable to eat my own breakfast because of the anxiety I felt in regards to imagining what gifts I would receive that day. Now that I have experienced this same event a good number of times, I basically know what is going to happen because I have enjoyed it before, and even though it is Christmas, it is still repetitive.
I do however believe that Christmas is about spending time with family and friends, and thanking them for being a part of your life by showering them with gifts. This year I spent Christmas with family; namely my mum and dad. In the past I have had friends and even prior partners that I have enjoyed the event with, but this year – not so much.
That however does not make the act of receiving gifts any less enjoyable.
My pile of presents
My mother’s presents that I purchased for her
…and the gifts I bought my father. If you can’t already tell – that gold parcel – real bastard to wrap that thing was
In my view, the act of wrapping up the presents that you buy is as important as purchasing them. This opinion is one that I have always held. In my view, wrapping up a present is an act of love, for you are taking time out from your busy schedule to wrap that which will most likely not want to be wrapped, and will no doubt fight you tooth and nail to not be tucked away beneath an endless amount of wrapping paper. However, over the past couple of years I have noticed many individuals making their way to stalls within supermarkets to have their presents wrapped for them by others. In my opinion, this contradicts an essential part of what Christmas stands for. Do you have an opinion on this?
As I mentioned earlier in this post, Christmas is an excuse to indulge in that which you normally wouldn’t. Safe to say my exercise routine has been severely compromised from such a feast.
yummy?
…on closer inspection. And yes, I made Christmas dinner this year. Also, that gravy – probably has more calories than the entire meal combined
Dessert – the Pavlova.
I really love my cappuccino
After dinner, I was as stuffed as this guy. I kid you not – I looked like the side of a house
I know that many cooks often hate that which they make (or so I have been told) but I have to say I think I did a not half bad job. On the plus side my mother was glad to be out of the kitchen, for Christmas dinner is often a long drawn out process.
One thing I have always enjoyed, although I cannot entirely explain why, are the bon bons. This year however, they were surprisingly worse than usual. Only two of them contained jokes, so I was ripped off on four separate occasions (not that the jokes are ever really funny – I mean ‘why did the germ move across the microscope? To get to the other side!’ – that ain’t even Christmasy. Nor it is funny). You may have noticed a bottle opener in one of my above photos – yeah – you just know where that came from. If it can actually open a bottle, I would be deeply surprised.
On another note, the favourite gift I received for Christmas this year would have to be the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack, along with the additional six songs that I downloaded online. True, a soundtrack may not sound very impressive, but after playing the game a couple times over I had come to really appreciate the musical genius of the entertaining piece.
My second most favourite present would have to be Castle, seasons three and four. For reasons I cannot explain this series is always ridiculously expensive, so to have these two seasons purchased for me, is a relaxing weight off my shoulders.
The third favourite gift I received this year was a new Samsung mobile – a GT-C3520 Clam Shell. I realise that a phone in the eyes of many others would potentially be the most prized present received, but for me, it is simply a communicative device – nothing more. Additionally, I realise that Smart Phones are incredibly popular these days, but never have I come to truly appreciate them. I know they are capable of a wide variety of different things, but really – I find them a waste. True – you can watch films, surf the net, read and write documents, play music and do a whole manner of other things from playing games to no doubt eliminating Sunday drivers. In my opinion though, if you want to watch a film – buy a BluRay player. You want to read a book; buy a Kindle or other like device, or go out there and physically buy a living breathing book. Not that books live and breathe – that would be scary. If you want to surf the net or type a document – use a laptop. What happened to the days when phones were used to talk to people from long distances, or am I just old fashioned? But that’s my opinion, so please excuse my semi-rant for a moment there.
Lastly, I did enjoy my Christmas this year, and I hope everyone else did too.
Did you enjoy your Christmas this year? Did you see this holiday as an excuse to pig out? What are your thoughts and feelings about this annual holiday celebration?
Cheers!
Incredibly alcoholic – little kiddies, stay away!
Ingredients:
-1 tin Condensed Milk (400 millilitres)
-5 tablespoons (80 millilitres) chocolate topping
-300 millilitres bottle cream
-250 millilitres whiskey
-2 millilitres coconut essence
Directions:
-add all ingredients to a bowl and beat on low speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes
-then, beat on a medium speed for one minute
-taste! In regards to the chocolate topping, this is a personal choice. If you want your Bailey’s to have a more chocolate flavour, add more chocolate topping
This recipe makes approximately one bottle full. If you want more, simply double the quantity of ingredients.
Enjoy!
FarCry returns on an island paradise corrupted by Hellish warlords and the scum of the Earth
FarCry should most definitely be a common gaming title on the ears and lips of players who are eagerly enthused with First Person Shooters.
The original game in the franchise (released in 2004 on PC, with the HD reboot unveiled in 2010) offered the player a new experience in the First Person video game genre, with gorgeous visuals and an island paradise setting that was ruled over by merciless mercenaries and shrouded in a horrific conspiracy that could forever change the world. Going up against tyrants, soldiers of fortune and monsters that were known only as ‘Tridents’, the player travelled through twenty levels of strategic combat scenarios, covertly annihilating enemies and encampments, whilst neutralising and demolishing enemy structures and key support services.
If there was one thing that FarCry did thoroughly well, it was to convince gamers that a tropical paradise was not all it was cracked up to be, and the next time I found myself in Bali, I looked around the tropical paradise, expecting mutants to jump out at me from one corner, and mercenaries from the other.
The sequel (released in 2009 on all consoles) went in a completely different direction. With Crytech, the original designers of the game shifting their gaze to focus on the promulgation of the ‘Crysis’ franchise, Ubisoft, the game’s producers, kept the rights to the game’s name and began to develop the sequel.
Set in Africa, the player was immersed in an action role playing game experience, where their actions would inevitably result in what conclusions came to fruition. A great number of changes went into the development process of the second installment in the FarCry franchise which inevitably separated it greatly from the original, with the action oriented RPG becoming best known as the game that S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl attempted to be.
FarCry 2 was met with both skepticism and appreciation. Some enjoyed the new scenarios, the unbelievably gorgeous visuals of the savannah and the overall evolution that the game had gone through. Others however preferred the original, and were somewhat irritable that the game had changed so drastically.
On that note, FarCry 3 offers the players the ability to once more return to an island paradise. Instead of providing a synopsis of the story, allow me to quickly begin the analytical process of dissecting the game’s qualities.
Before I do that though, here is one of the more recent videos for the game which outlines the overall storyline the gamer will be involved in experiencing. For those who are unfamiliar with the overall storyline, I urge you to watch this trailer. It only goes for approximately two minutes and thirty seconds and will efficaciously fill in the blanks. I would like to note that I am not the original author of the work at the following site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJpBeBllyxA&feature=fvst
The first major change to the gaming franchise is the character. Not the name or anything, but the heroic traits that he possesses. Upon the instigation of the game, the character that you portray has absolutely no survival skills; he is a virgin in regards to violence and murder; and is a novice in any and all strategic militarian battlefield supremacy techniques.
This is a significantly different scenario than what was produced in previous titles in the franchise, with the lead characters being polar opposites to the new hero. This adjunctively helps the player become further immersed in the world for they will instantly feel very comfortable, or uncomfortable as the case may be in the shoes of the game’s protagonist.
Our hero in FarCry 3, Jason Brody, is literally a tourist. Luckily however, he learns extremely fast, and so does not remain prey for very long. To upgrade your character to a suitable standing upon the island, you need to spend experience points in one of the three key areas; the Heron, which presides over abilities consistent with long range weaponry, aiming and the accuracy of any and all firearms; the Shark, which is fitting as an image of destruction for it presides over one’s ability to survive, giving rise to greater health bonuses, healing properties, potential damage immunities and brute strength, allowing you to become fit for a full combat experience. Lastly, there is the Spider, which presides over one’s stealthy capabilities, allowing you to move faster, go undetected, and covertly evade and neutralise threatening forces.
The point system does not however work the way it does in games the Likes of Mass Effect and Dead Space, where you must level one section of your character’s particular skills as to level up the next. In FarCry 3, much of the player’s skills are unlocked by completing missions and other quests, or by achieving certain tasks; for instance, one skill asked that five enemies be killed by grenades; another asked for ten opponents to be killed by machine gun emplacements; and another asked for a Bull Shark to be neutralised. On that note, the way to acquire higher levels is to play the game, rather than gain points from achieving certain goals.
However, acquiring points is not exactly easy, as the player only gains one every one thousand skill points, which are attributed to the player from kills (special kills such as head shots and covert strikes having greater rewards), the successful completion of missions (you can acquire more by not being detected, having no friendly casualties during the operation, etc) and by acquiring many of the secret artifacts located randomly about the island.
Finding said artifacts proves to be a valuable, rewarding and fun experience, providing to you free reign to do whatever you please and explore the wide open terrain. Other games the likes of FarCry 3 might have loading sequences as the game renders new areas and prepares for new segments, but this is not the case, the continuous freedom playing an incredible part in the player’s general ability to do whatever it is that he or she may choose.
Additionally, some items, the likes of plants, or more accurately, the leave of plants, prove to be some of the most efficacious and necessary parts of the game. All leaves can be mixed together to create powerful potions, the likes of health vials, the ability to absorb more punishment from certain attacks, the ability to domesticate certain animals for a certain time period, et al.
On the subject of health, your health bars will naturally regenerate – unless you have being poisoned or crippled by some other means. In that case, health packs and other like items are necessary to ensure one’s survival.
Moreover, the controls in FarCry 3 are different again than from previous installments in the franchise. Learning these controls will alone take a couple of hours to successfully master, and even then you are likely to every so often make a costly mistake. Not long into my play through, I accidentally clicked the grenade button whilst looking for the switch weapons reticule, and thus alerted every enemy in the base I was assaulting to my presence. Switching weapons is also a bit of a hindrance, for many games that include a weapon wheel will often pause the game whilst you select the next weapon – not FarCry 3. Whilst switching weapons the world around you will continue to move, and if you are under attack , the enemy will proceed in their attempts to eliminate you.
This leads to the next aspect of the game – the difficulty. The game in general is not terribly challenging per se, but the health of your player is incredibly weak and is depleted at an alarmingly rapid rate. Jason is not up for much punishment, and even after you upgrade your health and overall strength, a good couple rounds from any weapon will remove a cube of health, and when you are being shot at by an assault rifle, you can easily imagine how quickly your life line can be reduced from maximum capacity to absolutely none. A single swipe or bite from a predator will often remove a single cube, and when under attacks from herds of animals, or a larger beast the likes of a tiger, the chance of survival is limited exponentially.
As mentioned previously, you can easily restore your health with kits which you develop on your own or find scattered across the island, however, these will prove useless whilst engaged in a firefight. You cannot actively heal whilst you are running for your life, and when you pause to heal you allow your enemy not only the opportunity to reach your position, but allow them to take pot shots at the bulls eye you inadvertently place upon your back. On top of this, if you continually receive punishment from your opponents whilst you are healing, the hit points you lose will be immediately taken away, so by the time you have healed, you may only gain a fraction of what you were supposed to receive.
However, moving back to assigning points and the overall strength of the protagonist, not everything is quite as enjoyable. At its heart, the game is more of an RPG experience than that of the second game. What that means, is that you will be continuously picking up random pieces of grot, looting the bodies of your enemies and their places of residence and completing random missions for the occupants of the island. This would not be such an intolerable hindrance at times if not for its annoyingly realistic scenarios.
The loot sack your character has at all times needs to be expanded over time else you will continuously be alerted that you have officially run out of room for the forty seventh time in the past half an hour. This can be done by skinning animals that you find across the island – you read that right. As mentioned in the last paragraph, the game is incredibly realistic when in contrast with its predecessors, but one may have to wonder if it has gone too far. True, the realism in games is often what the general public wants, but suspension of disbelief plays a powerful role in fictional pieces of media and players are well accustomed to occurrences transpiring which would be unbelievably impossible in reality – take the ability to carry objects. In games the likes of Gothic, the player is capable of carrying as much as they choose without becoming over encumbered. Basically, the billions of items the player carries weighs nothing more than a feather upon their shoulders, when in reality it would consist of a nice 3,999,999,999,999 kilograms.
Adjunctively, the character’s wallet is in need of expansion if you wish to carry more money, and your ability to carry arms is also in need of an upgrade, with the character initially only being capable of carrying one weapon, which can thus be boosted to accommodate an additional two upon the body of the protagonist.
So, with that in mind, the player will constantly be seeking out wild animals to assist in their ability to carry that which they require to successfully survive the island, which inevitably results in quite a bit of bloodshed and a fair bit of repetition. Safe to say that animal activists will not be impressed with what Ubisoft have done here.
True, it is not every day you can fight a Komodo Dragon or go head to head with a Bull Shark, but if you skin one animal you have basically skinned them all. Of course, any and all skins are applied to your inventory, so that which you require to build your inventory is also one of the major factors which reduces its size – ironic. It is natural to assume that an animal skin could take up one block in one’s inventory, but the idea that a leaf could do so is simply absurd. That’s right – one leaf shrinks your inventory by one, and since you will no doubt be cutting down a lot of them, expect half your inventory to almost always be filled with random leaves.
In regards to the island moreover, the environment is incredibly detailed, and to say that the graphics are gorgeous would be one of the greatest understatements ever conceived. The faces of characters are brilliantly exposed with a detail that will leave you mesmerised as your converse and dispatch your opponents, and the island in general is graphically flawless, the vibrant colour of the scenery and atmosphere drawing you in with beautiful, unflinching effects.
Errr, do you wish to go out for coffee later?
Like with the last game, the island will move from morning, noon and into the night, none of which lasts a particularly long period of time, but will ultimately affect your experience all the same as battling at night time is very different than what it is during the day.
Of course, just a note – do not be shocked by the sheer size of the island. The map you are provided generally makes the number of islands that the player is stranded upon appear to dwarf even the United States, which might suggest the longevity of time you will be stranded there. The main mission is made up of enough jobs that will probably keep you playing for around 10 – 12 hours, but the additional side quests and the continuous freedom will keep you engaged for quite a bit longer, the general length of the game being determined by the general style of game play the player chooses to exhibit.
The environment has being upgraded from previous experiences furthermore and can benefit you at times rather than prohibiting you from successfully navigating an area. When falling down a cliff, your character will immediacy begin to slide, which reduces the damage you sustain from the fall. The game will adjunctively tell you when to interact with the environment, which can include leaping up to higher ledges, and the use of vines (which players might remember from FarCry Instincts) adds an environmentally interesting approach to clambering up mountains and other such areas.
Missions in FarCry 3 are more constrained than what they were in previous games. In both of the predecessors in the franchise thus far, the player had free reign to approach mission objectives any which way they wanted, and although FarCry 3 is more free and open than any of the games before it, this specific aspect of the game has not being carried over. When playing through missions, players are forced to go about them the way the game wants. There is always one direction; one method; and sometimes even one type of weapon that must be used to ensure successful completion of the operation, else you will automatically fail.
Upon failure of an operation, the game automatically reboots the player at the last checkpoint. If that is not annoying enough though, any vehicle you had with you at the moment your last checkpoint was activated will have subsequently vanished without a trace and you will have to pursue any and all objectives on foot, which is, as one can easily imagine, often a slow and grueling process.
Furthermore, unlike in FarCry where the player was forced to discover checkpoints in order to safely secure their progress thus far, or in the sequel where the player could only ever save the game by making their way to specified save stations, in FarCry 3 the save system has changed again.
When happily navigating the islands, the player can save the game whenever they wish. This is disabled during missions, and it is then that the player is forced to rely upon checkpoints.
However, there is only one save slot, and every time the player chooses to save their progress they are subsequently overwriting their last save, so often you need to be vigilant and careful when it comes to saving your campaign else you might find yourself in a problem that you cannot escape from.
Returning to the concept of missions, in general they range from a wide assortment of duties, some of which will require significant travel arrangements to be made. Vehicles again make a helpful asset throughout the campaign, a long list of jeeps, regular old fashioned cars and sea worthy vessels being at your disposal. The new ability to fast travel to locations which you have previously conquered adds an additional helpful application to the game and allows you to go back to a store (or a locker, as both serve the same purpose) to sell and buy products before travelling back to where you were beforehand.
As a side note, just like in FarCry 2, enemy vehicles patrol the roads, and will attack you if they spot you.
On the mention of ‘conquering’ areas, this is a new part of the game. The map itself is bare at first, although certain points of key interest are displayed, everything else from routes, to the locations of certain animals and places of interest are not available. The locations of radio towers are however, each of which have being supplied with an inhibiter which prevents them from sending a signal to your map which will display everything that an adventurer will need to survive. Taking out the jamming transmissions upon these towers is a necessity in that sense to progress through the campaign.
Towers are not all that requires conquering though. There are two ‘teams’ upon the island who are fighting for its dominance and control. There is the Rakyat, the people who your character sides with at the beginning of the game, who have the banner of a blue flag presiding over their territories to symbolise their control over the area; and then there are Vaas’s Pirates, the enemy, who run beneath a red banner. Segments of the map outlined in a red colour reveal areas occupied by the enemy, and parts of the map clear of any red show where the Rakyat have dominance.
Like in a tournament, one of the game’s goals is to seize control of the enemy controlled sectors by invading them, killing the enemy occupants and in doing so, seizing control and having the Rakyat officially move in. Once an area has being cleared of hostiles, the enemy do not secure dominance in that sector again.
Die you rotten bastards!!
The enemy in general is rather intelligent moreover, but the AI can be easily beaten if you covertly evade their actions. Enemies patrol encampments and other such areas, but do not bother to turn around if you silently creep up behind them, allowing you to progress through entire areas without even using a bullet.
However, the sheer volume of certain groups can sometimes make this almost impossible and additional strategies need to be implemented. On occasion enemies will even call in reinforcements, which you certainly do not want occurring.
When in open combat the enemy will take cover, throw grenades to draw you from the cover you have taken, and flank your location, Your compass however, which shows the locations of pissed off bad guys is so good at doing its job, that you can always clearly tell where the enemy are flanking you from, which makes them so much easier to dispatch.
Depending on the weapons that you have unlocked (or are at present using), these will primarily be the arms that the enemy take up, which, much like in the second game is FarCry’s way of giving back to you what you use to dismiss the enemy. The magazines your opponent’s drop though are not worthy of mentioning, for a couple of rounds is not nearly enough to sustain you through a war, and replenishing your ammo at stores and lockers is often a frequent quest.
In regards to the weaponry, there is a wide assortment of pistols, SMG’s, assault and sniper based rifles and other equipment which can be used at your leisure. Although slots need to be developed to accommodate for more equipment, the player will often feel most at home with that which they no doubt initially equip upon their character. Some items can additionally be upgraded with equipment the likes of scopes, silences and additional attachments to enhance the general accuracy of the weaponry at hand to make your character more dangerous in battle.
Moving onto the driving force of the game, the major goal is to secure the release of your friends from the island. Although Jason and his friends believed the islands to be a beautiful paradise, the sudden realistaion that it certainly fails to live up to their original expectations is present by the fact that they have each being captured and are subsequently scattered about the island and are in dire need of rescue. This in turn is the primary mission for the player, but like with all games, the general notion of ‘I’ll help you if you help me’ plays a significant role whilst interacting with the inhabitants of the islands.
What I will say about the storyline is that it can at times be more emotionally in-depth than the previous experiences in the franchise, and over the course of the game you learn about the lives of each character and how they each came to be in the situation they are in now. The story is driven by themes of friendship, family and love, which influences Jason in attempting to save his friends, even at the cost of his own life.
The fabulous orchestral musical score which on occasion rumbles through the game enhances this experience and empowers these emotional moments and themes with an incredible sense of urgency.
In conclusion, FarCry 3 appears to combine aspects of FarCry 2, Red Faction 3 and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic to create an experience which is better than James Cameron’s Avatar (the videogame) but perhaps not quite as enjoyable as FarCry 2.
Image References (Harvard style)
-Andog Hype 2012, Far Cry 3 unveils two new characters: Dennis and Citra, viewed 21st November 2012
<http://www.analoghype.com/video-games/playstation-3-news/far-cry-3-unveils-two-new-characters-dennis-and-citra/>
-Cheat Code Central 2012, Far Cry 3 Preview, viewed 21st November 2012
<http://www.cheatcc.com/ps3/rev/farcry3preview.html#.UKvuqYaDfIU>
-Wikipedia 2012, Far Cry 3, viewed 21st November 2012
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry_3>
Team up with Aria and Nyreen to take back Omega
Size: 1.99 Gigabytes
Price: 1,200 Microsoft Points
It was not long into the Mass Effect 3 campaign that Aria, the so called ‘Pirate Queen’ of the ominous Terminus station Omega sent a message to Shepard’s private terminal, requesting the player to meet her in Purgatory on the Citadel and to not keep her waiting. After running around the centre of Galactic government, Shepard successfully unified the three primary mercenary bands in the universe under her command, whilst at the same time she specified why she was on the Citadel; how the Illusive Man, the ring leader of the circus that is Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group comprised of terrorists and other antagonists, was now ‘at the top of her shit list’, and was thus going to pay ‘for every minute (she had) spent in this bureaucratic hell hole’ for stealing Omega away from her.
After helping Aria twice during the second game, once, by unveiling to her how the Blue Suns, the Eclipse and the Blood Pack were planning to unanimously destroy her after the death of Archangel; and again by helping to save her former adviser, Patriarch, it was rather obvious that once more Shepard would be required to perform another duty for the powerful Assari this time around.
The campaign, which consists of four levels of game play with additional cinematics, begins with an e-mail from the illustrious Aria, asking Sheppard to return to the Citadel and meet her in Dock 42 so they might discuss her ‘pet project’. After several weeks of preparing the counter offensive assault to take Omega back from Cerberus, Aria is officially ready to take back her station, and although Aria relinquishes control and allows herself to be bossed around by Shepard during the game play, she still does have a few addendums; the least of which being that none of your crew are to accompany you during the game.
Having little trust with regards to your affiliates, you will instead find yourself braving the fight against Cerberus with a team consisting of none other than Aria herself, and a Turian Huntress named Nyreen, who is additionally the leader of a rebellious group on Omega titled the ‘Talons’, who have being attempting to fight Cerberus for the right to control the station.
Primarily the game will be played with Aria, who you are able to personally level up in the Squad menu, with new abilities the likes of Lash, Flare and Biotic Protector being readily available for use. To say that Aria’s powers are extraordinary would be a terrific understatement, with whole garrisons of enemy troops often being literally wiped out by but a blast of her biotic capabilities.
Nyreen on the other hand randomly assists you as often as she goes off on her own, and so half the campaign will be spent without her personal assistance as she wages the battle in other areas across the station.
Over the course of the game you are able to find out about the background of both unique squad members and their in-depth history together, however, if you are interested in discovering bucket loads of information on Aria you are going to be terribly disappointed, the information being slim at best.
Additionally, over the course of the campaign, Aria will come off as a cold, manipulative and unemotional monster who is willing to sacrifice innocent lives for the sake of her vengeful mission against the Cerberus forces. Nyreen on the other hand is the polar opposite, and instead worries frantically about the lives of civilians, and during conversations when you are forced to make paragon and renegade choices, will be the voice of reason, whilst Aria maintains her freezing cold demeanor and criticises many of your paragon choices.
However, if you successfully keep up a paragon reputation throughout the campaign, you may be able to slightly tweak Aria’s lack of consciousness so that she becomes a little more, well, civilised, but again, this comers at the price of her criticism.
Moreover, unlike the Extended Cut, this particular DLC is not an emotionally powerful experience, so players will only have to bring themselves to the fight, rather than additionally bringing a box of tissues (or in my case ten). In fact, emotions of any kind (with the exception of hate and loathing) are not focused upon in the slightest. The entire campaign is basically a grudge match between Aria and the Cerberus forces. Even on the occasions when saddening occurrences transpire, the amount of in-depth concentration which is applied is barely significant, and even though during the rest of the game these emotional scenarios were focused upon quite strongly, these instances are severely overlooked during this DLC package.
Moving on, your primary enemy throughout the campaign comes in the form of General Oleg Protrovski, who unlike other Cerberus Commanders does have a seemingly militarised code of honor, although, at the same time he is still very willing to make horrific sacrifices to achieve victory, and thus the goal of the campaign is to seize control of the station from him.
The Illusive Man rather unfortunately does not make an appearance of any kind, and some may feel the levels are incomplete without his unfathomably egotistical personality and antagonistic wit.
Every Cerberus opponent you have faced before, from the basic foot soldier to the dangerous Nemesis; from the agile Phantom to the incredibly powerful Atlas will make a number of appearances though throughout your efforts to retake Omega. At times, the number of enemies who stand against you are considerable, and potentially outnumber the strength of the army protecting the Illusive Man’s base which you assault at the game’s conclusion. The number of Atlas’s you will face is greater than that of any other fight and dwarves previous encounters.
Although the campaign, yes, can be challenging, this is also contradicted by the notion that you will frequently find yourself drowning in medical packs, and so you will rarely find yourself without a full collection of medi-gel in your power wheel (on a side note, the amount of medi-gel is almost drowned out by the sheer number of credits that number in the tens of thousands which can be found over the course of the campaign). Additionally, your team is incredibly competent to the extent that during my play through, not one of them fell at the hands of the Cerberus soldiers.
On another note, a new addition to the Cerberus army, the Rampant Mechs, are very fun to go up against, and are more capable than the basic mech artillery you were forced to frequently endure during the second game. These Mechs are well armored and carry powerful shotguns that do considerably damage at close range, and if that is not enough, they come equipped with powerful Omni-tool based weaponry which can shred your shields if they come within an inch of your body. Even in death these Mechs are a nuisance, and it is frequently best to keep a good distance between both your character and them whether they are running around on both legs or have them pointing up in the air.
Another opponent that makes a debut in the campaign is the Reaper creature known only as the ‘Adjutant’. These (often) failed Cerberus experiments look a lot like a cross between both the Cannibal and the Brute, and can literally tear into you with their sharp claws and leap considerable distances to close in on your location. From afar they are able to shoot moderately potent biotic powers from their right arms which can temporarily disarm you, their attacks continuing to affect you for a few seconds after you have being hit (much like the biotic attacks by the Banshees). However, these creatures only make a couple of appearances, and it is disappointing that they appear infrequently throughout the campaign due to the challenging nature of such an opponent who deserved a much larger role.
The Omega DLC will provide you with somewhere between three and five hours worth of additional game play, and by the end your character will be granted some powerful war assets that could potentially tip the scales in your battle against the Reaper menace.
If there is one thing that the campaign does well it is build your interest and keep you entertained, and judging by the hype and excitement that has being attributed by the online media that is no surprise. However, this is also the campaign’s weakness.
Although you will recognise a couple of the surrounds that you fight through from your original trip to the station back in the second game, you will be barred from exploring most of it. On top of this, the amount of the station that you do fight through feels considerably small when in contrast with the sheer enormous scale and size of Omega. Due to this, you, the gamer, will often continuously ask for more; more action; more places to explore; more in-depth character driven narratives; more of the exciting Mass Effect experience; the issue is that the Omega DLC whets your appetite, and nothing else. By the campaign’s conclusion you will be left with an insatiable hunger for more, and thus will be unable to satisfy your appetite.
Omega is an entertaining addition to the Mass Effect universe in its own right, with a couple side missions to complete for some of the folks in Omega, and additional objectives which include fighting through a mine dripping with Ezo deposits (which may remind gamers of Dead Space 2 and Doom 3), destroying shields and defenses, deactivating land mines and neutralising garrisons of Cerberus combatants.
However, when in comparison to Mass Effect 3 as a whole, the Leviathan DLC, or even the Extended Cut, you will find your lust for the Mass Effect universe remains, and your wish for an incredibly potent experience goes unfulfilled.
On a final note, since the Bioware team who developed the Mass Effect franchise are primarily beginning to focus on new ventures, and Bioware Monteal has now announced they will be working on the new Mass Effect game, fans of Mass Effect 3 may wish to smoke this DLC while they have it – for there may not be another DLC for this game again. Judging by the fact that in four months time the game will be celebrating its one year anniversary since its release, and DLC’s for previous titles were discontinued half way into the following year respectively, this assumption is made even more likely.
In Summary:
Good:
-New entertaining and powerful enemies
-Challenging atmosphere
-Never before seen environments
-Plenty of credits are left lying around
-Aria’s powers are beyond amazing
-Potential war assets can be acquired by campaign’s end
Bad:
-Entire campaign is an unemotional experience
-Relatively short
-The four levels can feel small in comparison with the significant size of the station
-Exploration of both the station and characters is limited
-Adjutant Reaper enemies deserve greater role
-Sheer amount of medi-gel dissolves many of the challenges
-You, the gamer, will be left wanting more
Image References:
-Mass Effect Wiki 2012, Mass Effect 3: Omega, viewed 26th November 2012
< http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3:_Omega>
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