I truly love American horror comics, as they delve into the crazy minds of characters that movies have stopped doing. The art is usually brilliant, and the craziness is just running rampant. Colder is one of those comics; however, one of my favorite things about this series is the monster design.
The five-part series follows a mental patient who is being taken care of by a nurse. Declan lives with the said nurse, but he’s getting colder and colder as time moves on, and everyone thinks he’s in a coma. There are no records of him, as the series opens up with a fire that burns down an asylum during World War II. Declan later discovers he must fight an enemy named Nimble Jack, who put him in a coma to begin with. Insane people, or crazy people, are actually mentally stuck in an alternate world full of evil monsters and batshit insane stuff.
This is when the comic got really good: Declan taking his caretaker into the other world and using insane people as kind of a port key or doorway. Nimble Jack eats the souls of insane people, and his prize is Declan himself, who’s been “marinating” in insanity for him to devour. Nimble Jack actually reminds me a lot of The Joker, and I couldn’t help but notice his mannerisms, which aren’t all that bad, actually.
The comic is surprisingly well-paced and forgoes the panels of nothing with panels of heavy dialog. I felt there was a beginning, middle, and end to the five issues, which are hard to pull off. The characters are likeable, and the comic makes you think about your own sanity, which most comics don’t do. The grotesque monsters are truly unique, are disgusting, and keep you hooked, as well as the occasional gore.
Overall, Colder is a great horror comic series, and I couldn’t find much wrong with it except some slightly rushed character development, but overall, this series is quite memorable.
I have read very strange literature in my life, and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (known as JTHM from here on out) probably takes the cake. It’s not the liberal use of profane language, not the blood and guts, but the way everything is put together; it’s all of these elements that make a special formula. Johnan Vasquez is a brilliant writer and artist. Invader Zim is one of my favorite shows of all time. The clever writing, excellent characters, and amazing art style all blend together to make a tasty morsel of a show. JTHM is one of Vasquez’s first outings from the late 90s, and all I can say is be prepared.
Johnny is an angsty teenage boy who lives on his own, somehow, gets away with murdering people, somehow, and quite enjoys it. He has a superiority complex, and Vasquez regularly mocks various stereotypes such as goths, emos, hipsters, and overall teenage hormones. Whether Johnny is a reflection of Vasquez himself is a mystery, but one can’t help but wonder. The seven-series comic is broken up into mini-short stories that are about 3 pages long. These tell an overarching story, but not day by day like most other comics. We see Johnny struggle with being truly happy, and sometimes you might think he’s finally a good guy until it falls apart at the last minute—every single time.
Johnny’s insanity is made apparent tenfold by his rants. That’s what this comic is all about: rants about how these characters are better than everyone else. Johnny loves punishing people for making fun of him and torturing them in the vein of Saw (before Saw was around, of course). Despite the entertaining gore value and insane language, I felt the story didn’t really develop much, and it became a chore from the end to the end. It was the same rants of superiority in every comic, and it got tiring after a while.
That’s not the only thing that became tiring. There are two short stories told in between each of the JTHM shorts. Wobbly-Headed Bob tells of a creature who also has a superiority complex and drives other creatures to suicide. It’s entertaining but easily forgettable. The second short is a comic that Johnny writes called Noodle Boy. It was funny at first, as the similes and metaphors are so insane and make no sense that it keeps you reading. However, towards the end of the series, it just became mundane, and I skipped the last few. I also understand that the typeface is Vasquez’s signature style, but it got tiring to read, and some words were illegible. It also gave me a headache against the white paper and black ink. This is an awful typeface, and I hope to never see it again.
Overall, JTHM is an entertaining foray into Johnan Vasquez’s crazy mind, and Invader Zim fans will dig the origins that inspired the series, but with no real plot development or character advancement, this series overstays its welcome after issue four.
It’s been a long time coming, but I have held off for years on larger tablets. This is mainly due to battery life and power, but most importantly, the screen. Sure, the iPads have decent screens, but I wanted something amazing that all my larger content could look sharp on—something akin to a PC monitor. I have had my seven-inch Nexus tablets for a few years now, and they were great for reading comics and books and playing tablet-style games. I have used various other tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, but it was just awful and slow.
After purchasing the Note 5, I took a look at all of Samsung’s newest hardware. The sleek, paper-thin design of the Tab S2 caught my eye, but I was wary that it was weak and had an awful screen. I heard great things about the Tab S and Note Pro 10.1, so I took a further look. To my surprise, the Tab S2 was powerful and sported Samsung’s very popular Super AMOLED screens that I have grown to love over the years, starting with my Galaxy S4.
Some naysayers may gripe about tablets being steamrolled phones (this was said a lot about the original iPad), and honestly, Microsoft is the only company that has put a PC OS onto a tablet. Apple needs to get OSX working on an iPad, and Google needs to seriously think about getting Chrome OS onto tablets, but that’s a debate for a different time. Right now, tablets have been nearly perfected, and it’s okay to have larger versions of their phone counterparts. Think about it: What do we use tablets for? Movies, reading, and the overall enjoyment of a large screen. First, I would like to help people on the fence about tablets and think about these five things when buying one.
1. For the Movie Lover
There are dozens of movie apps on Google Play right now, and anyone who watches Netflix in bed or out of the house should be a tablet owner. This also goes for anyone who uses Hulu or any other streaming app. This is also great for people who love ripping or downloading movies and loading them directly from the device.
2. Productivity
If you’re a busy student or work in a place that requires a lot of note-taking, then a tablet is great for you, but why not a laptop? Tablets are ultra-light, ultra-portable, and do only what you want them to do. There’s no hassle of things going wrong with your laptop, such as crashes, BSODs, or anything like that.
3. Gamer
Of course, most games are fine on phones, but there are so many great tablet games that you are missing out on. This War of Mine, Talisman, The Witcher Adventure Game, Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Desktop Dungeons, Bard’s Tale, and many more games are better suited for larger screens. Not to mention that any gamer loves playing on bigger screens.
4. Reader
Tablets became popular due to ebooks. This is what put tablets on the map, thanks to devices like the Amazon Kindle. There are many great book apps, with Amazon’s Kindle being the most popular. With millions of books available, the list is endless. Laying down and reading on a tablet is more convenient, as you can do other things in between reading. Take a break and watch a YouTube video or two, video chat with a friend for a little, and go back at it. Tablets are just great to relax with, thanks to all the things you can do with them. I personally love reading manga and comics.
5. Artist
Most artists naysay digital art, especially on tablets, but they are great for getting ideas out of your head quickly before they are forgotten. There are many great styli out there for tablets, and while you won’t be able to pump out masterpieces like on your Cintiq tablet at your desk, it can save you from frustration for not being able to get a good idea out.
With that said, these are the people that tablets are aimed at. I nay-said tablets a long time ago, thinking I was just fine with my phone, but realized the potential I was missing out on.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2’s first feature you will notice when opening the box is the form factor. This is the thinnest tablet I have ever seen, and it just looks so sleek and incredibly gorgeous. The tablet is a perfect rectangle shape with rounded edges but has a face that’s familiar to Samsung phone owners. The recent apps button and back button, with a physical home button sandwiched in between, are iconic. I was also surprised at how light this tablet was, at nearly 10″. The style is borrowed from the current Galaxy series phones, which have solid power and volume keys (not rockers) and a minimal design.
If you have a WiFi tablet, you won’t have to worry about this step, but inserting the SIM card for the 4G version was quite easy thanks to the little tool that was provided. Just pop the pin in and insert the card into its carriage, and off it goes. The SD card slot is also located just below that slot and works the same way. I was actually so grateful that this tablet came with expandable memory (up to 128GB), as I can now load it with movies, music, and comics while the internal space is used for apps and games. With my Nexus 7, it was a constant balancing act of games and apps over comics, with only 32GB to use. The 9.7″ Tab S2 comes with 32GB built-in, but that’s nothing to complain about thanks to the expandable memory.
Once I turned the device on, I was amazed at the screen quality. While it was expected, it just looked so beautiful in this size. Everything is clear and crisp, which is what you would expect from a Samsung display. I will say that the tablet is a typical Samsung Android experience, and that’s not really bad, but there are not many device-specific features. There is a fingerprint scanner, which is really nice, but I noticed the device lacked the themes that are present in the current Galaxy phones. Anyone new to a Samsung device will find everything quite convenient, but coming from using Samsung phones, I could just dive right in and start setting up the device.
The device ships with the latest version of Lollipop (5.1.1), and Marshmallow is currently in development for the device. There are several features I would like to mention that I love on this tablet, regardless of whether they are standard Android or Samsung features.
First off, the tablet has some great power-saving features as well as an ultra-power-saving mode that turns everything black and white and only allows minimal usage. The battery actually lasts quite a while for such a large device and power-hungry screen. I can go on a full charge for about a day before the device dies, which is great. I also like the palm mute feature that allows you to place your hand on the screen to mute whatever is going on. While there aren’t as many features as the phones from Samsung, I felt what was here was just right and didn’t feel too gimmicky or overbearing. The more features are added, the more the battery can drain. Another feature I liked was the private mode. Enable this, and whatever files or folders you select won’t show up but can still be accessed by apps. Hiding private photos and videos has never been easier. The Tab S2 also has a slew of security features for finding a lost or stolen device and encryption options. This is great for people with sensitive information on their devices.
Let’s talk about performance. The Tab S2 is the fastest tablet I have used. While the Nexus 7 2013 was fairly slow during KitKat and Lollipop 5.0–5.2, it did speed up with 5.1.1. However, the Tab S2 is as fast as my Note 5 and hasn’t stuttered at anything I have thrown at it. The tablet has some pretty beefy hardware under the hood for such a slim device. The device sports Samsung’s flagship CPU chip, which is the Exonys 5433, sporting a 1.9 GHz quad-core CPU and another Cortex-A93 chip at 1.3 GHz (quad-core). This provides ultra-fast processing and allows the buttery smooth operation that you experience. The device has 3GB of RAM, not 4 like the Note 5, which was a little bit of a surprise. I noticed no slowdown or chugging when switching and opening up a lot of apps. The tablet comes with the latest Mali GPU, the TMP760, at 700 MHz, to be exact. This will allow you to play the latest and greatest games without any slowdown.
The Tab S2 also has one of the best tablet cameras I have seen in a while. Now, tablet cameras have been notorious for being subpar to phones; mainly, this is due to tablets not being used for pictures quite as often as phones. To reduce production costs, the camera is cut down, usually to half as many megapixels as current phones, which can make the tablets thinner. The Tab S2 has a rear 8MP camera (no flash) and a 5MP front camera. Both take pictures very well, but the rear camera does not take 60 FPS video, which is a disappointment. But we do get Samsung’s newest camera software suite, which we have seen in the Galaxy S6 and Note 5. There are plenty of different ways to take photos, and the suite is quite powerful for a tablet. As a secondary source for a camera, I can say I’m pretty happy with what’s here.
To conclude, the Tab S2 has brought tablets a long way. With super-fast speeds and an experience similar to their flagship phones, Samsung fans and Android fans will have one of the best tablets on the market in their hands. Of course, this isn’t a budget tablet, and the $500–$650 price range will drive most people away compared to sub-8-inch tablet prices. If you want the latest and greatest, a gorgeous display, and extremely fast performance, then look no further than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2.
Gaming keyboards are just as important as mice; the buttons are probably the most important thing of all, and the gimmicks and extra stuff come last. The second most important thing in a gaming keyboard is ergonomics and how it’s designed physically. Some keyboards have large desktop footprints with giant wristpads, strange key shapes, and proprietary key layouts. I spent over a week shopping around for the right keyboard to replace my Alienware TactX keyboard. Not that it broke or I hated it; I absolutely love the TactX keyboard; I just wanted something new and different. First on my list was the key type. Did I want Cherry MX keys or a membrane? The TactX keyboard is an excellent Cherry MX keyboard, but it’s very loud and “clacky,” and the key height is very high. I loved how far apart each key was, but I was ready for something new.
Havit Lammergeier: My first choice but only available online
Logitech G710: A solid Cherry MX keyboard, but I didn’t like the design of the buttons
Logitech G910: A beast of a keyboard, but I still didn’t quite like the design.
My first pick was the Havit Lammergeier, which had a wonderful design and Cherry MX keys, but it’s only available online. Remember, any decent gaming keyboard is going to start at around $100. I also thought about the Razer Deathstalker Ultimate, but at $250, it was ridiculously expensive, had a laptop-style keyboard setup, and the Razer touchscreen has been abandoned and hasn’t been updated in a while. My next thought was the Corsair Chroma series with its nice LED lighting, simple design, and Cherry MX keys. However, it was just too simple for me. I wanted something a little more flashy, something with a unique layout. I also looked at Logitech keyboards, but they were also very simple in design and seemed overpriced for what they didn’t offer. After this, I looked at Cyborg keyboards, as the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 was nearly $300 and had a lot of amazing features. After testing it and looking up extensive reviews, I found that the software is shoddy and the hardware is cheap. I personally fiddled around with one, and it didn’t seem like it was made of $300 material.
Razer Deathstalker Ultimate: One of the most expensive keyboards on the market, but has cheap feeling mechanical laptop keys and the touch screen has been abandoned.
Cyborg S.T.R.I.K.E. 7: The most expensive and elaborate keyboard on the market. It feels cheap, the keys aren’t great, and the software is shoddy.
Corsair K70: A great feeling Cherry MX keyboard, but with a very simplistic design and a giant wristpad
With the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 being the most expensive keyboard on the market right now, I went and looked at some lesser-known brands such as Roccat, Gearhead, Mionix, Thermaltake, Azio, and TTe Sports. While these brands don’t make terrible products, they just aren’t the #1 brand that everyone knows, such as Razer, Logitech, Corsair, or Mad Catz/Cyborg. Several of these brands offered Cherry MX keyboards, but they just didn’t feel right; something about them felt cheap, loose, or just awkward. I then went over to the Roccat Isku keyboards, but they only offer membrane keyboards, and I was hesitant. I tapped away on a few keys and noticed how soft yet responsive they were. I continued tapping away at an Azio Levertron Mech5 keyboard right next to it with Cherry MX keys and realized how much better the Isku keyboard felt. The design was simple yet somehow unique and sleek, but all these Cherry MX keyboards looked crazy, futuristic, and had so many buttons, switches, and gizmos that it could make your head spin. With the $100 price tag, I grabbed the Isku FX keyboard specifically since it was compatible with AlienFX and had customizable LEDs.
Right out of the box, the software was extremely easy to install. No CDs were included (who needs them these days?). So just a quick driver download was needed on the website. The software was installed on Windows 10 64-bit with no hitches at all; after I opened the software, it prompted me to do a firmware update on the keyboard, which went smoothly. This was probably the easiest hardware driver I have ever had to install; even Razer’s software can have problems from time to time. Once the software was opened, it looked overwhelming. The Isku is designed for people who love macros and keyboard shortcuts. There is a dedicated row of shortcuts on the far left, but the Isku has a special Easy Shift+ key function that can double all your shortcuts. On the bottom of the keyboard, there are three “Thumbster” keys that allow you to do whatever you want with them. These are great for reloading in games, crouching, or switching to your favorite weapons. They are located just right, but I feel you will need to have larger hands to reach them.
The Isku FX allows up to five profiles to be switched on the fly; this is for people who may have a lot of shortcuts for different games. Blue LEDs are at the top left to tell you which profile you are on, and no, there is no dedicated profile switch key; that’s what all these macro buttons are for. Next to the profile LEDs is a live recording button. Press the button, and a guy with a gravelly voice will walk you through the macro recording process. This is great and takes away those confusing menu screens to record macros; however, that option is still here. At the very top are your media keys, a browser button, and a button for My Computer, but again, you can change these if you want. Next to these is a button to turn the LED lights on and off, which is a nice feature. The rest of the keyboard is a pretty standard affair.
As for the rest of the software, the macro options are insane, and it even lets you program buttons by milliseconds of when they activate. It’s crazy. Another tab allows you to use the F keys as more macros if the 16 before weren’t enough. Another tab allows you to alter the “Easy Zone” keys, which are around WASD, to completely change what they do normally or add a secondary macro via the Easy Shift+ key. This is great if you are playing an MMO with a mouse and don’t want to use the top number keys or switch to the keypad. This is also useful if you are using a program that has a lot of shortcuts; now you can have them all right next to each other. The Advanced Control tab allows you to change the lighting effects, enable AlienFX, and select various other options. The Roccat software also comes with an achievement system, which is odd, but it’s here. There are 16 achievements in total; I have yet to unlock any, but it’s very interesting and kind of strange.
The keys feel fantastic, and I can’t stress this enough. Membrane keys are usually shoddy, but these click very quietly, have a lot of response, and don’t feel mushy. I felt the keys were a little closer together than most Cherry MX keys, but not by much, and I quickly got used to this and forgot all about it. I also like how I don’t have to press the keys down so far, as people with smaller hands tend to cramp up on Cherry MX keys.
Overall, the Roccat Isku FX keyboard is amazing, and surprisingly so for a membrane keyboard. If you are on the fence about membrane keyboards or are a hardcore Cherry MX fan, I suggest giving this keyboard a shot. Out of several membrane keyboards I tried, this was the only one that felt decent, so I understand the hate behind those kinds of boards. The software is some of the best out there for hardware, and there are so many customization options it will make you dizzy. Even if you don’t use macros, this is a wonderful keyboard, has great lighting effects, and is well worth the price.
As kids, we all dreamed of being like James Bond or our favorite sci-fi character with cool watches that could show videos, talk, and do various other things, let alone surf the internet. Google made this all possible with the Android Wear OS, and many phone companies jumped on board and saw the profit. This isn’t just an over-glorified calculator app in 8-bit black-and-white text that you got out of a cereal box. This is a legit high-tech futuristic piece of hardware that will just keep growing and getting better over time.
While there are many smartwatches out there from LG, Huawei, Samsung, Sony, and Motorola, I personally think watches should be round; why square? While shopping around for smartwatches and watching them over the last year, I noticed that the square watches are rather ugly and cheap-looking. I got my hands on a Samsung Gear S2 and a Sony watch, and they just looked and felt cheap. The Moto 360 made me cautious as they make awful smartphones and have terrible software, but it looked great, and the recent price drop due to the Moto 360 2 coming out today helped. All I can say is that I didn’t expect this thing to be as useful or as good-looking as I originally thought.
However, there were issues right out of the box, and it wasn’t a fun start. I should rate this watch much lower due to the issues I had getting the thing up and running, but it was an easy fix once I figured out how to fix it. Three hours of searching around online and wishful thinking, and maybe some luck, did the trick. See, the Android Wear OS has been updated quite rapidly over the last year, going from 4.4W.1 to 5.1W.1 in less than a year. My Moto 360 shipped with the original buggy Android Wear OS on it, and I couldn’t get it to update. The Google servers no longer recognize the original Android Wear OS, so you get the Google Services have stopped working and various other crash notices on the watch.
Right out of the box, the watch’s battery was dead, so I had to charge the thing. After about 3 minutes, I got the charging symbol on the watch screen, and after about 30 minutes, I booted the watch up. I have to say that it’s really cool to see a watch boot up and show more than just time; it was quite the experience. After booting up, I set up the Android Wear app on my Galaxy Note 5 and linked the two via Bluetooth. The watch’s battery was at about 40%, so I figured I’d play with it. The first thing I did was check for a system update, and there was one, but it would crash when it got about 5% done. I reset the watch back to factory defaults because it was an endless loop of crashes and errors after each restart. This is where the three hours of research came in, as I could not update the watch to 5.1W.1, and it turns out the latest Android Wear app doesn’t work with that older version. I had to install an older version of Android Wear as the watch downloaded the update through the phone via the Android Wear app. The problem was that the watch was stuck, wouldn’t do a factory reset, had endless crashes, and would shut down. I thought I was going to have to call Motorola tech support when, for some unknown reason, it finally reset on its own. Everything seemed to work fine, so it was obvious that the newer Android Wear app was causing issues. I then downloaded the update, which took about an hour, and everything was fine. I updated the Android Wear app, and I was set.
This kind of stuff is what most common users won’t be able to figure out, and Motorola needs to fix this issue by either recalling their first shipments of the watch or getting together with Google to support older versions so they can update. Also, note that during this fiasco, the watch died about three times, as it’s not meant to be used constantly like a phone. The watch also charges wirelessly, so you can’t use it while it’s charging as the battery will drain faster than it can charge. Thankfully, the watch charges fully in about two hours but will last all day if you use it right. The initial fiddling and setting up will drain your battery a couple of times, but after that, I pulled it off the charger at 1 PM, and at around 8 PM, it was at 53% battery. I later spent about 90 minutes adjusting apps on my phone, which would push updates to the watch. I would also go into the watch to make sure the settings went through. It dropped down to 42% after the adjustments, which isn’t too bad for a 320 mAh battery.
Let’s talk about what a smartwatch actually is and does. This is supposed to be “Your life at a glance,” which is Android Wear’s official motto. This isn’t something you sit down and play around with all day like a phone; you just do simple, quick things like reply to texts, read emails, check the time, do weather updates, do fitness tracking, change tracks on your music, use Google Maps navigation, etc. Various apps will support Android Wear and install its app on your phone. Most major and popular apps support Android Wear already, and it all works better than you think. When you get a text, your watch will vibrate and show the text on the face. You can swipe right to ignore, left to reply with Google Now, or open the app on your phone. This is how every app works for the most part: just the essential information without pulling your phone out of your pocket every 2 minutes.
Using the actual watch was a bit confusing, I would say. The watch has a pull-down drawer that allows you to change your notification settings, swipe left for gestures, watch brightness, and even settings. There’s even a theater mode that will keep the screen off until you press the hardware button. I also used a custom mini launcher, which allowed me to swipe right for a custom launcher that put the apps in a circular grid rather than a scrolling list that the default launcher has. Honestly, the default launcher isn’t that great. After this, I can swipe up for my weather and once again for my Google Fit tracking stats. Now, this is the confusing part that most people don’t understand: most of the major settings are controlled by the apps on your phone. There’s no Google Play Store on your watch; everything is downloaded to your phone or tablet. The phone then beams the Android Wear app to your watch, and it installs.
Another, and probably my favorite feature, that makes smartwatches so amazing are the custom watch faces you can use. I personally used the WatchMaker Faces app to download faces that users made that looked incredible. Anywhere from video game and anime faces to digital and analog faces that mimic real-life watches. This app allows each face to use various stats, such as the weather, stopwatch, timer, battery levels, etc. Standard watch faces from the Google Play Store are also just as great, but I’ve found WatchMaker Faces to be the best face app out there. The Moto 360 allows an ambient mode (which is shoddy) to detect when your face is near the watch, or you can use a gesture that will turn the face on when you raise your arm, which I also didn’t prefer as sudden movement kept turning on the screen, killing the battery. Sadly, there’s no way to adjust the sensitivity of the gyroscope, so just touching the screen to see the time worked fine for me.
Now let’s talk about the hardware a little bit. The Moto 360 comes in various colors and styles, such as metal and leather wristbands, and various body colors, from stainless steel to gold. The watch is actually a little thicker than your typical watch, but think of what’s inside this thing. While it looks fine on people with larger hands, it looks a little silly on people with smaller wrists and hands due to the thickness. It’s honestly very stylish and looks like a watch, but you will notice something different about it that makes people ask what it is, mainly wondering why the face is blank. The watch itself has some impressive hardware inside: a 1 GHz Cortex A8 CPU, 512 MB of LPDDR RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, Qi wireless charging, a 9-axis accelerometer, a heart rate sensor, dual microphones, Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4 GHz WiFi, an ambient light sensor, and a capacitive touchscreen. The resolution is 320×290 at 205 PPI, which is pretty standard for a display this size, but it has a great backlight and looks sharp.
When actually using the watch, it feels quite responsive; the touchscreen works like your phone would, is quite sensitive, and doesn’t require stabbing your finger to get things done. I’m not too impressed with the wrist gestures, as the screen wakes up constantly, killing the batter, and using gestures to swipe your cards seems pointless and looks quite silly, but it’s there if you want it. The battery life is also extremely sensitive, and any heavy use will drain it very quickly. If you use the watch as intended, with just a few quick glances, it will last all day.
Overall, the Android Wear suite is quite nice, there are a ton of customization options, and the Android Wear app is a great hub to control what your watch does and get all the information you need from it. The actual Android Wear OS is great, is surprisingly responsive, and does exactly as it’s intended, giving you information about your life at a quick glance. Obviously, going forward, the biggest challenge is battery life and faster hardware; I also would have liked a mic on the watch, but maybe next time.
Note: This is a re-review due to my original Halo 3 review being very brief and not up to par with how I write these days.
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: 343 Industries/Bungie
Release Date: 9/25/2007 (X360), 11/11/2014 (XONE)
Available On
Nearly four years in the making, Halo 3 was one of the most anticipated games of the last-generation console launch. While it didn’t quite make the November 2005 360 launches, it did garner huge sales and broke records at the time. I remember playing Halo 3 shortly after its release and thinking it was the best of the trilogy. Now, after playing Halo 1 and 2 remastered, I have to say Halo 2 still stands superior. While Halo 3 is better balanced and has a better dual-wielding system, it’s shorter in length and feels like too much of the same. How many times do we have to “stop” the flood? How many Halo rings do we have to land on? It keeps getting boring and tiresome, and for me, the series has hit a fatigue plateau that it needs to get out of. While the Brutes are a more relevant enemy and there are more Flood variations, I’m still tired of it all.
Despite those complaints, the game is still solid, no matter what. It’s challenging, for sure, and there are some added elements that change it up just enough to justify calling it a sequel. Remember those giant scarabs from Halo 2? Now you get to battle several of them in the game. We can now drive Scorpions and new Covenant vehicles such as Choppers, but sadly, we can no longer drive Wraiths. These balancing tweaks help make the gameplay better, just like only certain weapons can be dual-wielded. Dual Needlers can still be rocked around, as can Brute machine pistols, Brute shotguns, more energy weapons, and improved UNSC weapons.
The game is shorter than the last games, but each level is completely different. One level has us on a Halo ring, another on the derelict Ark, so it doesn’t get too boring, but everything is very familiar. The whole point of the game is to stop the Flood and the Prophet of Truth from firing the Halo rings and killing everything in the galaxy. While the story is just as brief as the last games, I still found myself disappointed in not seeing or hearing about more lore. The series hasn’t exactly been expanded upon; it just stretched out through the trilogy, which I felt was disappointing.
Graphically, Halo 2 remastered looks better than Halo 3, but this isn’t a surprise. Halo 3 was criticized for not having “next-gen” graphics at the time of launch and was claimed to just be marginally better looking than Halo 2. Halo 3 doesn’t get a remaster here, and the gorgeous pre-rendered cut scenes are gone, which is a huge letdown. Honestly, Halo 3’s graphics are kind of all over the place with decent character models, but some textures look awful in spots and the physics seem weird and too floaty—even for Halo standards. Halo 3 received some lighting enhancements, and certain areas look pretty good (mainly outdoor areas), but don’t expect to be wowed by the looks of this game at all.
Overall, Halo 3 does what it was supposed to do: let us finish the fight against the Covenant Prophets and the Flood. The ending is satisfying enough, and I felt the game was shorter than previous installments, but somehow it was just right for this game due to the same feel it has. Sadly, the game was not remastered and feels inferior to the remastered versions of Halo 1 and 2. There’s just enough variety and changes here to make it feel like a sequel, but not the earth-shattering sequel that Halo 2 was.
Right out of the gate, I have to say that this game is extremely difficult. It took me nearly a year to get through this game because of just how exhausting the game is to play through. Fifteen grueling chapters clock in at about 15 hours. You play a man named Sebastian who enters an asylum with two other detectives to find out why a massacre broke out there. You are then stuck in a bunch of nightmares; you’re chasing a boy named Leslie and running from a man named Ruvik. That’s it. Have a good night. The story makes zero sense; there’s no comprehension, and it’s very disorienting. You go from crazy room to crazy room, down hallways and arenas, with no sense of why you’re doing this.
Apart from the insanely vague story, the game does give off an amazing sense of atmosphere. Creepy intestines hang from the walls, eyeballs float around on ceilings, and enemies are some of the scariest stuff since Dead Space, but I have to say, the atmosphere is awesome. Unfortunately, that’s about all that The Evil Within has going for it, despite trying to bring back the old-school survival horror vibe, which it fails to do. This is done with a lot of stop-and-go cut scenes and endless hallways, and then you’re slammed with a bunch of action and no ammo—yeah, it’s one of those.
This game wants to bring survival horror ammo scrounging to a game that has a lot of action, and this is very bad. It just doesn’t work. Even if you are smart with your ammo, conserve, and use melee when the option is available, it just doesn’t always work. The game is highly unbalanced, with long stretches of nothing and then several arenas full of bad guys. Now there is a stealth element added in, but it fails most of the time. Enemy paths are random, they are placed poorly, it’s hard to get to them because the sneak animation is aggravatingly slow, and it doesn’t end there. The game is devoid of puzzles, meaning there is no challenge outside of combat. On top of all this, gunplay itself isn’t very fun, as the camera zooms too close to Sebastian’s shoulder, making quick aim disorienting and difficult, the animations are janky and can’t be interrupted, and it takes forever to level up your abilities and weapons—it actually requires a second playthrough.
I feel sometimes I’m too hard on the game, as it isn’t terrible, just extremely difficult and unpolished. The graphics are also something to be desired; they feel very dated but have some nice lighting effects. However, the textures and models are all over the place, but nothing in here looks truly next-gen, even on PC. I feel that this game is a little hard to explain as there’s so much going on and each area is completely different. That may be the only thing saving this game outside of the gruesome horror scenes and interesting boss fights. With no way to understand the story, players will try to latch on to other elements, but at the end of the day, you sit back and wonder if it was worth it.
Weapons in the game are your standard affair: a shotgun, revolver, sniper rifle (bolt action, of course), rocket launcher, magnum, and crossbow. The crossbow is probably the most interesting gun in the game, as you can create bolts from scraps you find by disarming traps. These become vital during boss fights and when you’re surrounded by bad guys. One interesting, yet unnecessary, element in the game is burning bodies with matches. If you have some, you can do an instant kill by burning the body. This is useful against tougher enemies to save on ammo. There are also your typical secrets to find—hidden keys, map pieces, etc.—stuff that most people don’t care to collect.
Some players may appreciate the hardcore challenge, but most will balk. But the game is worth a playthrough for the atmosphere and roller coaster ride of gore, guts, and weirdness. Be prepared for a nonsensical story and extremely unbalanced difficulty. If you can stomach the unpolished gameplay, then you could have a pretty entertaining experience.
Rogue-likes are becoming very popular these days. They are simple and quick challenges with lots of replay value, almost like back in the day. You usually have a simple RPG system, combat, and a basic level design. Once you die in the game, you start all over again, usually in randomly generated dungeons. Rogue-likes are extremely addictive due to their fast-paced nature, but they also have a niche fan base due to their brutal difficulty. Coin Crypt takes this concept with a simple UI, 8-bit block graphics similar to Minecraft, as well as an interesting currency system.
In my first playthrough, I didn’t know what to do; there’s no tutorial—you just go. I ran into a baddie and fought him. Your character is holding out a giant hand, and in it is a coin that represents a combat move: attack, defend, magic, heal, etc. Holding down the button the coin represents while pressing RT to execute is quite satisfying. After I beat my first baddie, I ran around buying coins from coin banks to continue my journey. I then ran into a boss right away and lost due to his higher HP and attack strength.
My second play-through was a little more successful; I wound up filling my bag full of coins and got out of the dungeon with 220 coins richer. These coins can be applied to buying new characters, and then it’s back at it again. While Coin Crypt is fun to burn away an evening of gaming, I found it tiresome and too simple in the end. It didn’t have a unique style to it like Rogue Legacy or even mobile games like Tallowmere and Mage Gauntlet. The Minecraft art style has been done so many times that it’s there now just to attract fans of that game.
Overall, Coin Crypt is a fun rogue-like for people who love quick yet challenging games but don’t expect much more than a neat idea that will burn out in an afternoon.
Raiden is one of the original popular shmups that delved away from fantasy settings and more towards a realistic military setting. Raiden is fast-paced, controls smoothly, and has some great enemy layout and level design. To top this all off, Raiden Legacy has four Raiden games that are all a complete blast to play.
The first game is the original Raiden. Using 16-bit graphics and sound, it may look dated, but it plays wonderfully. The sprites are crisp and clear, and the sound is great. It starts off slower than the newer games, with power-ups and faster-paced enemies taking a while to appear. This may seem familiar with some of the recent free-to-play or freemium bullet hell games today. The bosses are fun, there are plenty of jets to choose from, and I found it had a personality over the newer Raidens that made it stand out and unique.
Next up is Raiden Fighters. This is a more updated, newer-looking Raiden that you would see in arcades. The game looks crisp and clean, and there are plenty of power-ups to go after. It is definitely different than the first Raiden and feels different as well. Just like all the other games in this collection, there are plenty of control options, and each game has arcade, mission, and practice modes. It’s always a good idea to get a handle on each level, enemy placement, and power-up management before mastering a level.
The third game in the collection is Raiden Fighters 2. It feels quite similar to the first Fighters game and honestly could have been excluded, and the package would have been fine. The graphics and sound are nearly the same, but there are different jets to use, enemies, and levels, so it is kind of a new game. Still just as solid as the other two and worth a playthrough.
The last game is Raiden Fighter Jet. Fighter Jet is more, well, jets, I guess. You fight a lot more air enemies than ground enemies, and it looks and sounds the best out of the four. After you get to the fourth game, it will start to feel a bit the same, and it will start to become a blur in the end. However, these are fun shmup experiences, and they work great on mobile phones. The control settings are customizable (I preferred Touch 200), and the game just looks awesome in portrait mode on high-res screens.
Overall, if you’re a shmup fan, this is a must-have. Keep in mind that this is a more realistic military-style shooter and less fantasy, but still a great game.
Master Chief is one of the most iconic characters around, and despite being on a Western-heavy console brand, everyone knows who he is. The green Spartan made waves back in November of 2004 with Halo 2. Halo 2 pretty much defined online console multiplayer and was the driving force for Xbox LIVE throughout the Xbox 1’s lifecycle. I still remember Peter Moore lifting up his sleeve and revealing Halo 2’s release date as a tattoo on his arm; it was unique and cool, and probably something he regretted later on. Halo 2 also received more hate than any other game I can think of, and sadly, I’m one of those people. See, I was a hardcore Sony fanboy at the time and loved my PS2. While it was a superior console, it lacked show-stopping online games like Halo 2 and an FPS exclusive (Killzone was not what FPS PS2 owners needed).
Halo has fantastic sci-fi lore, and I didn’t appreciate this until I got much older. If you read the comics and novels, you will realize just how deep and fantastic the Halo universe is. Halo 2 expands on the first game tenfold in nearly every way. The story is more fleshed out, has fantastic pre-rendered cutscenes, and has some incredible voice acting. The campaign was longer than the first game and offered more variety. For starters, dual-wielding was introduced and was one of the first games to make it work right. Each trigger on the Xbox allowed you to fire each gun independently as well as mix and match your favorite guns. More weapons were introduced, as well as the new Brute enemy. From start to finish, Halo 2 is one of the most diverse FPS campaigns I have ever played, from forests to interplanetary ships to jungle ruins and even cities. There’s so much to see in this game, and it’s also quite beautiful.
One thing I could never get past was the continued use of the same covenant over and over in each game. However, this allows you to remember and learn the AI quirks of each enemy so that when you play the next game, you already know their strategy and how to play the game. The Covenant are some of the best enemies ever made in an FPS because they require you to use strategy and everything in your arsenal. Enemies will duck, hide, and run away from you, which was almost unheard of back in 2004. Of course, with the Anniversary update, the AI is improved, and it feels like a fully updated game that could release tomorrow, despite the graphical age the games have aged very well gameplay-wise (Halo 1 is up for debate on that one).
The story behind Halo takes place after the first game, with the first Halo ring destroyed; however, a new protagonist joins us as the Covenant Elite Arbiter, who was tasked with protecting the ring and failed. He’s been made a martyr and must help activate the Halo rings to stop the incoming flood. Sadly, the flood is back and more aggressive than ever. I somehow didn’t mind them so much in this game, as they are not thrown at you for several levels at a time but given to you for a level here and there, and man, are they some of the most annoying enemies in gaming history. The little, tiny “poppy” floods, the big “pregnant” floods, and those ones that rush you. Now the Brutes have turned, so expect these floods to be even harder to take down. At least they are more balanced out and not thrown at you in seemingly endless waves.
Another huge update was the vehicles, as in Halo 1, they handled like crap. Each vehicle now has a boost feature, and they handle so much better and are easier to shoot with and maneuver. They are also given to the player more often and become vital tools at certain levels, just like your guns. I also found the shield was used better in this game as it recharges much faster, and health packs are no longer a concern anymore. Master Chief can take a little bit more of a beating after his shield has been used up.
The visual enhancement in Halo 2 is even better than that in Halo 1. The game looks amazing with completely redone environments, textures, lighting, and sound this time. Switching between classic and new modes was like night and day—I could never go back to the old Halo 2 again. With these new updates come the Halo toys you can find, as well as more skulls and terminals. These unlock achievements are quite tricky to find. The worst thing I can find about this game is the difficulty spikes. Some segments required constant restarts to find the right combo of how to hit the enemy or retry a new strategy. This led to many frustrations, but they weren’t as frequent as in the first game. I also didn’t like how most skulls can’t be acquired on anything but the hardest difficulty.
Overall, Halo 2: Anniversary is a must-play for Xbox One owners or lovers of the FPS genre. Halo defined the series for a reason and isn’t quite as shallow as haters would like to think. There’s a whole universe here that people are missing out on, as well as some of the best FPS action known to man.
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Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !