Live Stream Launch

I just launched my livestream channel feel free to join me in playing some video games.

Livestream

Minecraft Halloween Part 2

I constructed my hell portal and suited up with some armor to attempt to go into the nether.  I was not expecting zombie pigs.

Minecraft Halloween

The major Halloween update for minecraft is coming on the 31st ill be making a video for the night experimenting with all the new things.  Get ready for the hell portal!

Castle Ravenloft

My friend's and I have been playing this board game for quite a while now.  We all love it and it is one of the best board games I have played in a while.  Castle Ravenloft is based on the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game and specifically the Castle Ravenloft campaign.  The general plot of Castle Ravenloft is that a group of adventures come to Barovia where a castle ruled by a great vampire known as Strahd von Zarovich lives.  The adventures all come for their own reasons, some for wealth or some to defeat the great vampire.  The board game is split into many different adventures all set around this core plot.

The gameplay involves every player picking a class such as the warrior, rogue, wizzard, or cleric.  Then everyone picks an adventure to complete.  You set up the adventure with a group of tiles and you start the campaign.  Every turn each hero has a time to move, fight monsters, or explore deeper into castle Strahd.  Whenever you explore into a new tile you have to spawn a monster on it or if it contains a black triangle on it you have to draw an event card.  Event cards can be good or bad, but most of the time their really bad.  Event cards generally effect the hero that picked it up or the entire party of heroes.  The group of heroes continue to explore the castle until they get to the main objective of the adventure such as killing a dracolich or stealing Strahd's treasures.

All in all this game is quite a challenge and is really fun to play with a group of friends.  It has high re-playability because of the many adventures it includes.  Games only take around an hour to two hours to complete and it is really hard for things to get boring in the game.  The game costs around seventy dollars, so it would be a great game to split with a few people who want to play it.  If you and your friends like to play fantasy board games I would suggest picking up Castle Ravenloft today.

Thanks for reading

Minecraft

I would do a regular review, but I sliced up my finger pretty badly at work.  Here are some things im working on in minecraft.

Friday Night Magic

So something a bit different from my regular reviews.  I am an avid Magic the Gathering player and wanted to try out a new deck for Friday Night Magic with the new set, Scars of Mirrodin. The deck I used was composed of tons of myrs and revolved around a strategy of getting out either an infinite mana combo with the myr's listed above or using a a battle ball to kill them off late game.  I ended up winning my first two matches and then lost my second two matches.  This qualified me for top four.  I beat the first match in top four and then had a draw with the last match.  I was quite surprised to win a FNM with a new deck that I had not tested much yet.

Dead Rising 2

Alright, so I ended up beating Dead Rising 2 last night.  Dead Rising 2 was indeed a thrill ride. For those that have not played Dead Rising 1 or 2 the basic concept is that you are a man trapped inside of a zombie breakout.  You must then navigate through the area your trapped in to complete timed objectives all while killing thousands and thousands of zombies in epic ways.

Dead Rising 2 is all about the former famous BMX rider Chuck Greene and his daughter Katey.  Dead Rising 2 takes place 5 years after the first outbreak of zombies in Dead Rising 1.  The game begins with Chuck competing in a show called Terror is Reality for money.  Terror is Reality is a game show where the contestants must ride around on BMX bikes with chain saws attached to them in order to kill as many zombies as they can in an arena.  This game show takes place in Fortune City, Nevada, a replacement for Las Vegas when it was overrun by Zombies.  After winning the competition you get your money and head back up stairs to meet up with your daughter.  This is when a huge explosion happens and the zombies in the show get released into Fortune City.  Long story short the shit hits the fan extremely quickly and the city is closed off for three days waiting for the military.

The game play is very similar to Dead Rising 1.  You must run around fortune city completing timed objectives both required and non required for the story.  The game is in third person and you can use pretty much anything as a weapon.  There is also a great leveling system in this game as there was in Dead Rising 1 except for the people that liked to take pictures to improve your level in Dead Rising 1 will be disappointed because the camera didn't make a return in Dead Rising 2.  Instead you get all of your experience from killing specific amounts of zombies, completing objectives, doing mini games, killing zombies with crafted weapons or special moves, killing psychos and rescuing survivors.  Whenever you level up you gain hit points, stats, or moves and a combo card.  Now on to the thing that I loved most about Dead Rising 2 that was not in Dead Rising 1 and that is the crafting system.  In Dead Rising 2 there are at least a few hundred weapons  and most of them have a little wrench icon next to it when you see it.  This means that you can combine it with another item to form a combo weapon.  These range from nail spiked bats to an electric wheelchair with machine guns attached to it.  These combo weapons just look and feel epic when killing zombies and I loved finding different combination's of weapons.  Overall in my opinion the gameplay was the best part of Dead Rising 2 and I loved every minute of it.

Dead Rising 2 had a pretty decent soundtrack that includes a few licensed songs and some great music to get you into killing zombies.

In conclusion  I would rate Dead Rising 2 an 8/10 almost everything was perfect except for the story was a little bland for my tastes and I was hoping for a more spread out area like a town.

Thanks again for reading.

Dead Rising 2

Get ready for some zombie killing action! Ill be reviewing Dead Rising 2 as soon as I get a bit further in it.

Silent Hill 3

You see that sad face?  That means its time to review Silent Hill 3.  Well I couldn't really do a let's play of Silent Hill 3 because we ended up playing it at a friends house.  I ended up actually buying it for the PC and I was expecting a lot of bugs, but surprisingly there were none to be found.  It ran perfectly on my PC and was still the game I remember it being from the PS2.

Of those that have not played Silent Hill 3 or any of the Silent Hills.  Three is not a very good one to start with just because its story relates back to Silent Hill 1.  In a nut Silent Hill is about a town named Silent Hill and how a cult inside of it keeps trying to resurrect their god.  It ends up screwing everything up and some how the main charachter gets stuck in the middle of it or has a huge role to play in resurrecting this so called god.

In Silent Hill 3 you play as Heather Mason.  You awake at the mall and meet an investigator named Douglas Cartland  who says that he has information about your birth.  It probably didn't help that Douglas looks like a creeper, so Heather goes into the restroom and climbs out the window to escape him.  The mall then turns into a demonic version of its self with monsters and lots of locked doors.  After escaping the mall and going through a few more areas you find your self heading to Silent Hill FOR REVENGE.

Silent Hill 3's story is much better if you have played the first Silent Hill and in my opinion Silent Hill 3 has the best story out of all of them.  You really get to know the main character Heather who has a deep past that has many connections with Silent Hill.

The gameplay is very similar to Silent Hill 2.  You go through the game killing bizarre monsters and solving puzzles in order to progress through the story.  Combat is some times difficult because of the way Heather uses her weapons, but after a while you get used to it.  The game is very challenging and even in normal I found my self dieing quite a few times.  The puzzles are both difficult and relating to the story.  I also liked the camera much better than I did in Silent Hill 2.  Its pretty easy to control and wont screw you over in combat.

The soundtrack for Silent Hill just keeps getting better and Silent Hill 3 is no exception.  Silent Hill 3 includes a few voiced songs and lot of creepy sound effects to keep you on your feet.

Silent Hill 3 is also short like the other games, but includes a lot of endings and this time a lot of unlockable costumes.

I absolutely loved Silent Hill 3 both of the times I played it and I am sure you will also.  Thanks again for reading.

Trailer

Should I start making let's play videos?

I was thinking about it and I might actually do a lets play video for Silent Hill 3.  It would be a great way to help people see if they would like to play a game or not.  What is your opinion?

Silent Hill 2

Alright, so your wife who died of an illness a few years back sends you a letter to come meet her in Silent Hill in your "Special Place".  What would you do?  I would burn the letter.  This is the beginning of Silent Hill 2.  You James Sunderland come to Silent Hill in search of your dead wife who sent you a letter.  Once you get to Silent Hill you realize just how much it has screwed up since you were last here on vacation unless your idea of vacation includes mutilated monsters that want to ravage you.

Story- 8/10
Probably one of the best Silent Hill story lines.  The story of how Henry's wife died slowly unfolds as you progress further into the game.  You also learn more about Henry and his character develops wonderfully as you take on Silent Hill to find your wife. This story has less to deal with the actual background of Silent Hill then it does with Henry's story, however you do learn quite a bit about Silent Hills past such as Walter Sullivan and the sickness of Silent Hill.

Game play- 7/10
A giant improvement from the first Silent Hill .  You actually have the option to turn off tank controls in this game, so movement is much easier than the first game.  Combat flows smoothly except for some camera issues and the inability not to switch targets gets frustrating.  You are able to hold as many items as you want in this game and the game includes quite a few weapons.  There are less melee weapons inside of this game compared to 4 and it focuses mostly on ranged weapons.  The puzzles in the game are challenging and interesting at the same time.  At some point you will be wondering what the hell do I do with a wax doll, a lighter, and a horse shoe.  The only problem I had was with the camera controls.  A lot of the time you cant even see what is attacking you and the camera a lot of the time flys back and forth.  It does give you the option of doing a 180 with the camera, but it takes a while and a lot of the time it doesn't work.

Sound - 10/10 
The creepy sounds of most Silent Hill 1 makes a return inside of Silent Hill 2.  The sound track is absolutely wonderful and keeps you on the edge of you seat most of the time.  It gives you a sense of despair with a slight sign of hope for the future.

Ability to replay- 10/10
Silent Hill 2 has quite a few endings and a lot of unlockables.  The game itself is quite short averaging around 6 hours, so in my opinion it urges gamers to replay it multiple times.

Overall- 9/10

In a lot of people eyes Silent Hill 2 is probably one of the best Silent Hill's in the series.  I urge anyone that has any sense of interest in Survival Horror games to give this one a try.  It doesn't matter if you don't know about Silent Hill and pretty much anyone can pick up this game.  I loved this game every time I played it and I hope you will also.

I will be starting Silent Hill 3 soon which is arguably my top pick in the Silent Hill series.  Thanks again for reading.

Trailer

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Silent Hill 4: The RoomSome friends and I started a play through of the Silent Hill series and for some reason we started on Silent Hill 4 The Room. . . . Silent Hill 4 the room wasn't supposed to be specifically a Silent Hill game, but Konami thought that changing it to focus more on Silent Hill would actually make it sell better. SH4 focuses on Henry Townshend a silent man that is living in the South Ashfield Heights Apartments. Ashfield is across the lake from Silent hill, so you know all kinds of crazy things are bound to pop up. Henry one day wakes up and finds that his apartment door is locked along with all of the windows. He try's to get people outside of the apartment to hear him, but it seems he is trapped in another dimension. You the player then find a hole in your apartment that leads to different worlds that relate to Silent Hill that are filled with monsters and puzzles. At the begining of the game Henry is just trying to get out of his apartment but the story slowly evolves into something much deeper and sinister. The story is highly based on the murder Walter Sullivan mentioned in the other Silent Hills. He is also the one that locked you in your apartment.
SH4 unlike most of the other Silent Hills focuses more on melee weapons. It gives you the option to have a charge strike and the shear amount of melee weapons is spectacular. If you enjoy bashing monsters with a giant pick axe of despair then pick up this game immediately. The game is quite difficult especially as the player progresses further into the dark worlds. The player will find them self dieing quite a bit until they get the hand of killing monsters. The game has a ginormous amount of secrets and endings, so feel free to replay it as much as possible. We ended up getting all of the endings in the non greatest hits version of the game. The only thing I didn't like about SH4 the room is that it was quite hard to get in tune with the main character Henry. He doesn't really talk much and we don't get much of his back story, however the story that unfolds in the world makes up for the lack of his. Overall I liked this game and would definitely recommend it to anyone that has played the Silent Hill series and enjoys the story.

Gameplay Trailer

Valkyria Chronicles

I started playing Valkyria Chronicles for the playstation 3 a few days ago and I am immediately impressed with the graphics in this game. They are done in a way that looks kind of like a hand drawn piece of art. I know the first thing people think when they see this game, "great another weeaboo game". The artwork and how the characters act is indeed like an anime. This does not take away the fact that the game has a very well thought out story, but if you really do despise anime you will at least enjoy the gameplay. Valkyria Chronicles starts with a young man walking down a dirt path towards his home town Bruhl in Gallia. This young mans name is Welkin Gunther and he is the main hero of this game. Valkyria chronicles takes place in a fantasy land that looks a lot like Europe split into two giant territory's the Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance in the east and quite a few allied democracies known as the Atlantic Federation in the west. These two forces are fighting over a resource known as Ragnite. Ragnite is used to fuel pretty much everything electronic. The Principality of Gallia a neutral country in this war is suddenly attacked by the Empire because a large amount of Ragnite is located in Gallia. Welkin the hero is swept up in the war when his hometown Bruhl is attacked and he helps the townspeople to escape. He is then drafted into the local militia to help fight the empire.

Valkyria Chronicles is at heart a tactics game. You start out each mission by placing squad units in specific locations. Every turn you can move a specific amount of units to defeat the enemy army. Each unit has specific functions such as the shock trooper armed with a machine gun for offence or the Lancer armed with a giant rocket launcher for killing tanks. You must use your units to defeat the enemy and capture their base. The gameplay is very complex in the fact that you have to use cover to your advantage and each unit has weaknesses to specific types of gunfire. You cant just run a scout in front of a shock trooper and expect to not be killed within seconds. The gameplay is very well thought out and is one of the best parts of this game.

The sound track is mostly orchestral music with a few vocal songs thrown in. The music fits in perfectly with every situation it is used in. Overall it adds to the game experience and helps get the player into the game.

If you enjoy tactics games or games that have an anime feeling to them pick up Valkyria Chronicles today for the ps3.

Gameplay Video

Introduction

Welcome to Gamer Operations! In this blog I will be reviewing current video games as I play them and every so often I will review a classic. I am looking forward to playing a ton of games to update this blog and I hope you the reader will enjoy my reviews.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

The first game I will review I actually just finished a day ago. I first played the demo a few days before the actual game was released. I fell instantly in love with the dark atmosphere and the chilling sound effects the game had. Just to give a basic overview of the game. The main characters name is Daniel and he has just taken an Amnesia tonic which has made him forget everything . At the start of the game you wake up inside of a dark castle. Daniel must then traverse through the castle in search of Alexander all while trying to keep his sanity. Amnesia isn't your basic survival horror game mostly because of the fact that you don't have any weapons. You have a health indicator,a sanity indicator, and an inventory. How sanity works is that it will lower whenever you are in complete darkness or you see disturbing things. The lower it becomes the harder it is to move or see efficiently. The game is mostly comprised of tons of challenging physics puzzles such as fixing machinery or creating acid to clear the way from a living wall. There are also a lot of monsters in the game that can kill you in a few hits. In order to get past them you have to sneak past them or run for you life. The story of Amnesia is quite dark and also very perplexing. Along the adventure through the castle you find multiple journal entries and articles that help explain the story. It is up to you the player to piece everything together. The soundtrack adds to the games atmosphere which is terrifying to say the least. The only drawback to the game is that it is too short for its price. The game is only around 6 to 7 hours and the price is 20 USD on steam. However, if you want to be scared out of your mind pick up Amnesia: The Dark Descent for the PC today.


Gameplay Video