The Belated Portal 2 Review

Portal 2 is an amazing game produced by Valve. The game setting takes place in the same facility as the first Portal. But the game is slightly different, as you aren’t plagued by GLaDOS. At the start, the facility is going through a mechanical meltdown so to speak. The ginormous facility is falling apart, and Wheatley saves you. Wheatley is a mechanical drone so to speak. He maintains the facility and keeps everything in order. In short, he saves you by putting you through tests that will lead you to the outside of the facility. In doing so, you find the portal gun, as well as relearn the mechanics of the game. (As you play through, be sure to look out for hidden areas.) Unfortunately I’m not here to spoil the suspenseful moments, so let’s jump to the new features.

Valve introduced a few new tricks they had in their sleeves. They introduced the astonishing concept of “gel”. This gel has different properties according to its color. The orange, is propulsion gel. It allows you to move at tremendous speeds compared to your normal walking speed. Blue gel is repulsion gel. If you jump or bounce off a surface with this coating it, it acts as a trampoline. The same rules apply as the original “speedy thing go in, speedy thing come out.” The farther you drop onto the blue gel, the higher you go back up. The third gel is white. And it makes it so that wherever this gel is, you can place a portal. It respectively coincides with the lighter panels allowing portal placement.

The storyline of this game is just as hilarious, and absorbing as the first. I literally feel as if I could play through this game 10 times and be just as refreshed as I was the first time. The plot in this game was smoother flowing to me compared to the predecessor. In this game I felt as if it slowly led to a finale, rather than just making an insanely bad-shit-crazy last test. The little nuances of the game could just make you laugh. Such as the comical phrases you would here from the “crap” turrets. Anywhere Valve could appropriately place a witty joke, it was there, and it came with a good follow up. This game has a storyline that is just stellar, and the game itself is a fresh breeze from the craze of FPS games like Call of Duty.

Some of the things I didn’t like were that I feel as if the single player campaign could have lasted longer. But I suppose that is what the addition of multiplayer is for. I prefer this game over the first all in all, although you should have the first under your belt before you play this one. Everything evens out in a way, and who knows, there may be some add on packs to come. (HOPEFULLY)

One sentence can wrap it up, but it would be a terrible review. The one sentence is, please purchase Portal 2 because you will love it. All I can say is that it was a crazily well-made game, and extremely well balanced. It deserves even more hype than it got. Now let us join in prayer, and pray for a third portal game. /end review.

New Patch

First, here are the current patch notes... http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2723732

Second, I was going to make a post about upcoming games (still might) and one on the May 21st Rapture bungle (probably won't). However, I decided that since the new patch is just weeks or so away, that this post should come first.

Before I get into upcoming 4.2, let me take a moment to comment some on 4.1. The revamped heroic 85 versions of old raids Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman ended up providing a lot of fun including some new challenges not common with 5 man dungeons. Also, class balancing seems about right from this patch, and dps players were relieved with the return of potent AoE attacks. Finally, the dungeon call to arms system seems to have worked in lowering the queue times of the heroic dungeons released prior to 4.1, but the new dungeons still suffer from the 25-30 minute dps queue times. Overall, the patch gets 9 hot dogs out of 10 hot dogs.

Now to 4.2. This new patch will introduce a new raid and a new questing zone revolving around the story of Ragnaros and the Firelands. My initial feeling is that the idea seems really cool, and that something new is always good since Blizzard rarely fails on this game. However, I know that many long time players are starting to get annoyed with the repackaging of old content into new content such as the return of Nefarian, Onyxia, Zul'Gurub, Zul'Aman, and now return of Ragnaros. I know for me, I enjoyed most of the new content, but the question has to be asked if Blizzard is out of original ideas for this franchise. Stay tuned on that...

Now for the actual content:

New raid and questing hub! Ok, that comes out a lot more excited than I personally am for this new 10 or 25 man encounter since my current guild (and I stress current) is still stuck on Cho'gall, and haven't so much as pushed Atramedes or Chimaeron. However, for those with fully competent raiding guilds or groups, a new raid is almost always a good thing. As far as the questing hub, I haven't seen much of a preview or noticed what kind of gear or rep will be given from these quests, so whether this is good or not remains to be seen.

Lastly, some comments on the notes:

• There are various class changes that I won't comment on simply because there are a few classes with which I could care less.
• The turning of a BoE into a BoP if rolled on with a need roll is a much overdue mechanic that will help reduce the ninja factor some.
• Guild experience will be easy to gain for some of you in lower level guilds.
• All current raids are being nerfed along with t11 gear being now purchased with justice points making way for new t12 gear from the new raid. This puts the pressure on slacking guilds to get this content done before the new release.

There you have it.

X-Men First Class - A Review

Without a doubt, X-Men First Class is the best superhero movie of the year thus far.  I realize that with the competition in theaters this isn’t an incredible feat, but beyond being the best superhero movie, it may be the movie most worthy of your time and money to see.  Yes, it is a movie with people with powers that allow them to do astonishing things, but at its core it is an origins story of very interesting and flawed people that is very compelling.

The first origin we are introduced to is that of Erik Lehnsherr.  Young Erik was a Jew during World War II in Poland and we are introduced to the character at the time he and his family are being processed in a Nazi concentration camp.  Here young Erik begins to show his powers.  I won’t give away spoilers, but the events that take place in the camp not only define his life, but shape the course of the movie’s universe. 

We are also introduced to a young Charles Xavier, whom is also beginning to use his powers for the first time.  In stark contrast to Erik’s youth, Charles is one of wanting for nothing, except affection and a feeling of belonging perhaps.  It is obvious that Charles’ charmed life instills a sense of naivety and idealism that defines his actions as much as the horrors of Erik’s life define his.

I won’t outline the entire film other than to say it does a wonderful job setting up these two forces of nature and showing us how their paths, while once intertwined, are now very much divergent.  The story isn’t gimmicky as was X-Men Origins Wolverine’s was.  It was done as if it were a period piece with deep respect for the seriousness of the matters at hand, namely the aversion of World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It should be noted that Bryan Singer, whom directed the first two X-Men films in the franchise, was a producer of this film.  I personally thought the stories and issues of the first two films were what made the first films good, not the acting and the effects.  In X-Men First Class, it was definitely the story that makes the movie great.

The choices of mutants for what will be the X-Men and The Brotherhood of Mutants were interesting, it not altogether satisfying.  It felt as though the creative team tried too hard not to use too many of the same characters from the existing films.  If First Class is looked at as a prequel, the mutant selection makes sense, if not in the comic universe but the movies.  I would like to think of First Class as a new take on the universe, completely rebooting the franchise.  But the first films just came out within the last decade you say?  To that I say so what.   X-Men Last Stand and Wolverine killed any desire I had for that universe to continue to exist.  The one we see in First Class is markedly different for the better.  It feels more grown up and genuine.   

I can’t wait for the next X-Men movie to be released as long as it is in this same alternate universe with the same cast.  This movie has made me so excited for the series I would pay $15 right now to see it in theaters.  Until it comes out, I’ll have to wait with First Class reminding me just how cool the X-Men really can be.

Final grade = A