On the run up to Christmas, Call of Duty: Black Ops sales figures surpassed the $1 billion worldwide milestone. In short, the game is about as hot as molten lava. Hundreds of thousands of gamers are regularly online, fragging away to the latest offering of this successful franchise.
Upon opening my copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops, I was instantly met with disappointment. The instruction manual… it was HORRIBLE! I understand that the video game manual as an art form has crumbled over recent years, but still! I fondly remember such manuals as Metal Gear Solid, filled with wonderful illustrations and articles. Why is this though? Games have become so much more visual and intelligent, don’t they deserve some physical material?
Business cards are a tried and tested method of spreading your brand and leaving a lasting impression on a prospective client. Although this tutorial doesn’t delve into the arts of logo design or corporate identity I hope it provides some inspiration to new (and old) designers.
MineCraft is developed by Mojang Specifications, who until November 15th do not even have an office! MineCraft started off as a one man project, this man was Notch. His first inspirational sprout for developing MineCraft came from a game called ‘InfiniMiner’ where teams would race to get points and get the most precious ores. MineCraft has moved on rapidly from that moment and is nearly in BETA stages.
There is no plot to MineCraft, other than to build to your hearts’ desire. You don’t need to mine anything, but eventually it becomes fun. You can create huge castles, or tiny houses, it thrives with your imagination.
Usually people judge a game by its graphics. But this is not the case for MineCraft, all of the textures are drawn at 16px by 16px meaning the game is as classic as a Master System game. I quite like how different this game is compared to the latest releases (E.g. Black Ops!).
Strangely the music has been written and produced by a guy named C418, (who also fixes dialysis machines for a living). The music and sounds are very retro making MineCraft a great Indie game.
The controls are especially easy, WASD to move around, use the mouse to look around, left click to smash blocks, right click to place blocks. Simple.
Gameplay in MineCraft is extremely addictive, You start on a randomly generated landscape, with nothing but your fists to smash blocks with. Your first goal is to gather some wood. Start out by making a wooden hatchet, which then in turn allows you to chop wood faster. This allows you to make more tools, then mine harder materials, working your way up to Diamond and Obsidian. By day MineCraft is a peaceful landscape, with sheep, pigs, cows and chickens roaming around, by night, its swarmed full of zombies, overgrown spiders, and skeleton archers!
What do I rate the game you might ask? Well, look below.
Graphics - 6/10
Sound/Music - 9/10
Controls - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Replay Value - 10/10
Total Score - 9/10n
What does it Cost?!! Well, for the measly price of €10 / $8 / £6 (Estimates) You can be having fun running around on a randomly generated island trying to fight for your life and get involved in the soon to be BETA! Before the price goes up for the eventual release!
Well I don’t usually discuss videogames on here but I think I will make an exception.
I have fond memories of playing the classic Sonic games in my youth, I remember my jaw dropping at the 3D-esque visuals of the Sonic 2 special stages, or the behemoth final encounter at the end of Sonic & Knuckles.
Now arrives Sonic 4 – Episode 1, advertised as the real sequel to Sonic & Knuckles. My immediate reaction when playing the game was “this looks gorgeous”, the visuals are bright, vibrant and full of character. The controls feel slightly different to the Megadrive classics but I soon warmed to them, Sonic looses velocity quickly in mid air when the D-pad is released.
In Sonic 4, the visuals are bright and highly saturated
The new “homing attack” felt unnecessary at first, but the new ability soon becomes second nature. Enemy combos can be racked up with precision and spring buttons can be targeted at break neck speed. It might move the game away from the classic platform format but it helps Sonic maintain his iconic speed.
Sonic's new "homing" ability helps keep him on the go
Things take a turn for the worse in the special stages. I was pleased to see that seven chaos emeralds were up for grabs and I couldn’t wait to see what the special stages looked like. Throughout the Megadrive and Game Gear games, the special stages have always tried to push the bar with visuals, often attempting an almost 3D perspective. With sonic 2 you had the running tunnels, with Sonic 3 you had “Get the blue balls”. Unfortunately Sonic 4 – Episode 1 relives the original Sonic format of the rotating gem maze. I couldn’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was. I convinced myself it would be a souped-up Sonic 2 style tunnel running, alas I was fighting against the timer in a kaleidoscope of utter frustration.
The music so far has been somewhat forgetful. I could hum you the tune to such classic levels as Sky Sanctuary Zone, Doomsday Zone, Lava Reef Zone etc But in Sonic 4 – Episode 1, despite making an attempt to sound “old school”, it doesn’t stick in my mind. I won’t hold this against the game though, it could just be my ear wax problem
In order to connect with the classic games, Sonic 4 – Episode 1 tends to borrow quite a lot from original title’s media, in particular Sonic 2. I find this quite odd as the game is clearly advertised as a sequel and not a remake. It does add to the nostalgic feeling but it makes you wonder if the developers were scared to wander too far from the early blueprints.
Sonic 4. Zone 1 - Act 3
Despite this review sounding mostly negative, where the games strength lies is its gameplay, and it certainly leaves you wanting more. I’m very frustrated that I have already experienced every level and that there are no more surprises.
If this game had a few more zones I would be so much happier, but when the game is so fun and the levels are so short and few you can’t help but get a bad taste in the mouth.
Overall I would give Sonic 4 – Episode 1 7.5/10
Had the special stages been a little more fancy I would have gladly added an additional 0.5, had there been another 2 Zones I would shower it with even more points. A worthy Sonic game which still deserves an impressive score but it just falls short of my personal expectations. A must-buy for the fans though.
The test pieces in this video were printed in a contex 310 3d printer. Each model is just under an inch tall and comprised of at least 200 printed layers. The process involves printing a bonding solution onto a thin layer of powder about 0.09mm thick.
The test run turned out pretty great, Although these were scaled down to less that 20% of their intended modeled size to make printing quicker they still had lots of detail. The printer has a build plate just short of the size of an A4 sheet and can print models up to 11 inches tall, so you can imagine how big the models can be. I will grab some footage of it actually printing next week.
Its CREATIVE FAILS 1 year anniversay week! So, a special occasion calls for a special review! 8-bit chris takes you on a walk through of one of his favourite Japanese films. Enjoy
