Stalker 2: Scar

[Part of the Wasted Land story]   

My first stop in Pripyat is to assist the vanguard (another faction) defend their base from monolithians. Despite this their leader is very anti-ward and refuses to provide info, so Colonel K gets me to snoop around the vanguard's past operations and I find and report in details to an underground passage taken from a crashed helicopter (which I have to steal from a chimera who has made it his home).

There must be a leak though, because I soon come across hostile Spark forces vying for that same maintenance passage, led by Richter who meets his end in the gunfight. Colonel K and a squad of Ward arrive soon after, advising the now late Dr. Dalin was the traitorous snake. The next segment to get to the C-Consciousness requires lots running between bunkers between emissions, monolith defenders and two surprise bosses who get in the way as neither wants Ward to succeed:

Strelok himself, now wielding a powerful artifact is much like a wizard now - zipping around the chamber and throwing lightning anomalies left and right which really batters my gear. I end him from afar. And Scar, who has gone crazy after realizing his shining zone is not real, needs to be TV migraine induced to die just like Strelok did with Dark previously. With that Colonel K sacrifices himself to eliminate the C-Consciousness program, and I'm free to leave with a pretty decent report on what transpired within.

Duty above all.

Stalker 2: Surprise

[Part of the Wasted Land story] 

Apparently "FIBER" is the pass code that translates to "please kill me" or something, because all the Ward guards at the base immediately attack and I'm forced to murder them in self defense! Colonel K soon arrives to sort things out, explaining they are protecting the FIBER program (which implants missions like Dark's one) from those who would abuse it until they can work out how to track the affected people (some having already escaped the zone) and to shut it down afterwards.

With that regretful misunderstanding out of the way I'm next tasked to get through Yaniv station and on to Pripyat in the North but due to the increased monolith threat they won't just let anyone through, as the monolith themselves find out when they attempt to take Yaniv station and fail miserably (without any participation from me).

Richter is here too, upset with my Ward allegiance and voicing how he should have left me in that anomaly field all those weeks ago (because Ward wants to "kill the zone"). He still helps get the border open though by suggesting I trade passage for a special detector that only needs leg work (in the Red Forest) to retrieve. As a bonus, I also finally find an Exo-Suit of my size and can get it and my more advanced firearms upgraded with the Yaniv technician, Harpy. I believe she is the best in the zone, and she definitely invoices like it!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

FPS the movie?

A very theatrical shooter that lets players be regular soldiers with no superpowers (well, apart from semi-regeneration). I very much like the replayable tutorial mission in this as it is very important in upping the players skill level (for any FPS game) before they hit the field. Compared to the other FPS games I've been reviewing lately, Call of Duty 4 is not a long game - but it is a difficult one.

The graphics, game play, ballistics, AI and voice acting are all top notch. It's almost always on the rails though with only one way forward - just like a theme park ride. While I don't quite like the multiple perspectives the story entails, it is serviceable. The "flash back" mission to Pripyat is perhaps one of the best levels I've ever played - not just because it scratches that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. itch.

Look out for those Monolith soldiers...

The biggest drawback is it does suffer a bit from clown car baddies, where sometimes there seems to be no end to them coming out from literally nowhere, and can be intensely frustrating. Still one of the best FPS games I've played and one I definitely recommend, I give it 4 Calls of Duty out of 5.

A Good Day to Die Hard

[Post #14 of the Blaugust Challenge!]

The basic story here is that police veteran John McClane has an outing to Russia to find his estranged son and by doing so causes many violent deaths and enough property damage to rival Terminator 3! Unfortunately the plot is a little convoluted and for the first 10-15 minutes you might be wondering what the hell is going on. Fortunately it explains most of it well enough, but there are questions left unanswered such as: "Are there no police in Russia," and "Can you really survive taking x amount of damage and not going to a hospital?"

Instead of Bruce Willis, here's the eye candy of the movie! ;)

Acting wise it's passable but Bruce Willis looks a bit tired, grumpy and basically "been there, done that" which to be fair - his character has. I really disliked him yelling out incomprehensible stuff during the chase scene though. If that was to solidify that he's "a little crazy" then it did its job well. Overall though there are two main problems for me. Firstly, the bad guys are stupid. Yes, bad guys are expected to be stupid to a degree but wow, these guys take it to a whole new level. Some would probably qualify for the Darwin Awards.

The second problem is a bigger one, especially for an action movie of the "Die Hard" franchise. There are not enough BAD GUYS! Especially towards the end, I was wondering what happened to all the hired help. Maybe they were so stupid that they killed themselves off screen? That can't be right. According to the kill count, McClane kills around the same number in the previous two movies (and more than the first) so ... what gives? Basically, he kills them too easily. Too quickly. Possibly even offscreen. You don't even realize they died. Due to this I give it two and a half bullets out of five and would think it is one of the weaker "Die Hard" movies.

Blaugust Bonus: Speaking of Russia I've always wanted to visit Pripyat and Chernobyl, mainly because of the STALKER franchise (No not the rogue tenno in Warframe). That first person game series that put you into the heart of the deadly zone is one of my favourites, as those who have been reading this blog for awhile might know. Of course there aren't any (or should I say, as many) horrors out there in real but I thought it would always be a nice place to explore. In accordance to this, just like my one brother likes anything with a picture or the word "Dragon" on it, I'm pretty drawn to any movies, games or documentaries that take place in and around Chernobyl. Other than concerned family that tell me not to actually go for myself, the main reason I don't is the cold. I don't like the cold, and I've never seen snow in real because of it.