Posted by Smash | 0 Comments
Fall In for Fallout 3
Playing Fallout 3 was an unique and wholely rewarding experience. Bethesda Gameworks, know for it’s immersive, robust storyline, delivers all that and much more in this fantastic RPG, available in the Xbox 360 and PC game formats.
An unusual twist on the standard “Dungeons and Dragons” RPG, Fallout 3 places the player in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, and provides a background that leaves the character, as well as the player, enthralled and confused about the bizarre world around him. The main character is born and raised in “Vault 101″ one of several underground dwellings meant to survive a nuclear fallout; while also providing the designers some demented scientific experiments. Your character, leaves his home for good one day, in pursuit of his missing father and is exposed to the strange and fantastic world around Metropolitan Washington D.C. set in the not-too-distant future.
Bethesda’s developers masterfully craft this world that seamlessly blends 1950’s kitsch public service announcements with the most gaudy of modern pop-culture to produce a wonderfully garish result. Just one example of this are the retro bobble heads, featuring an in-game collector stand where players can proudly display all 30 collector items within the game
The bobble heads represent just one of the many aspects of the game that allow such a detailed, rich experience. Conforming to the standard RPG characteristics, players have 7 basic attributes: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck (S.P.E.C.I.A.L.) as well as 13 skills: Barter, Big guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee, Repair, Science, Small guns, Sneak, Speech, and Unarmed. Players must configure their character tailored to their individual desires. Personally, I chose a weaker character who excelled in charisma, bartering and luck. While this afforded me more goods, it weakened me by being less capable of wielding all of the equipment throughout the game. Finally, as players level-up, they also can round out Perks; specialized skills/talents ranging from animal friend, an ability to befriend animals, to a sniper ability, improving the chance of executing critical hits. My personal favorite is “Mysterious Stranger” giving the player random encounters from a mysterious man in a trench-coat who appears to finish off enemies during combat. Each visit, logged in a stat screen, produced a “Hell Yeah!” from me each time.
All of these vast player attributes can easily provide gamers with untold hours of game play as one explores the various skills and how they change the interaction within the game. But this is Bethesda, known for its vast side-quests and immeasurable worlds. By the story’s end, I had uncovered over 120 unique locations within the game map, and easily had dozens more left to explore. Even more fascinating are the random character encounters, such as a friendly mutant known as “Uncle Leo”, perhaps homage to the infamous Seinfeld character of the same name. Rounding out this world are the incredible graphics, especially the monsters. Good luck when you encounter a Behemoth; I wasted 3 mini-nukes, 4 missiles and about 5 lives the first time I crossed paths with one.
After all is said and done, the weakest part of Fallout 3, lies in the main story quest itself. A thin premise, searching for your missing father, leads the player through the world but ultimately completes the game with a defined ending. With this, the player has no ability to return and continue exploring the amazing world, except by loading a previously saved game. Similarly, players who want to enjoy Down-Loadable Content (DLC) must play those add-ons from previous saves; a somewhat disheartening experience.
All in, this game is a thoroughly rewarding experience which allows a player to lose themselves in 50 or more hours of game play. Bethseda Gameworks created an immersive experience in a world that you can’t get enough of. Learning about this world was equally enjoyable as exploring and learning about one of my other favorite Xbox 360 games, Bioshock.
Read MorePosted by Smash | 0 Comments
Cockeyed!
I have long wanted to complete a review of one of my favorite sites on the internet: Cockeyed. Always entertaining, whether it be nerdy science features like How Much is Inside?, where you can learn just how much beer is in a keg or Science Experiments, one of my favorite is where he made a phony speed trap in his neighborhood, Rob Cockerham, site creator and mad scientist never fails to deliver the goods.
I first found Rob’s site after watching the movie “Cast Away” where, apparently Rob had the same thought I did; “How hard is it really to make fire?” Except Rob did what I, and most people, are far too lazy to do- actually try it! On his site he chronicles a six day adventure of trying (and mostly failing) to make fire without matches.
One of the best bits you’ll find in Rob’s site is his ‘Fake Found Money’ test- seeing how (dis)honest people really can be. But perhaps his most noteworthy achievement is that he now has the attention of Cash4Gold for exposing their scam.
More recently, I had nerd fun taking his “One Page Fiction Quiz” Part 1 and Part 2. Take the challenge and let me know how you scored. On the first, I got 5 out of 7 and on the second I got 6 of 7. Apparently I picked Danielle Steele twice and Ayn Rand not at all! 
Either way, if you enjoy your blend of humor and geek, be sure to check out Cockeyed.com periodically like I do. Even his Halloween costume stories are entertaining!
Posted by Smash | 0 Comments
un-Arrested Development?
So the rumor’s appear to be true. The Arrested Development movie, looks to be back! In a pre-Oscar interview on Sunday night, Ron Howard said "It’s on!"
More detail can be found here: http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/02/alright_so_were_really_doing_a.php
BTW – what a worthy reason to dust off this site and put it back online!
Read MorePosted by Smash | 5 Comments
2007 Fall TV
I know virtually nothing about any new shows this season. Dex reminded me that KVille was the Antwon Mitchell cop show (Anthony Andersen). That’s about all I can tell you.
Somewhen on somewhere is New Amerstdam. That looks good. Sadly I don’t know when it is turning up on the schedules. Mid-season. Is that good news or bad news for the show?
PDF if you want to simply view
Excel format if you want to mark up your own.
Posted by Smash | 4 Comments
Last Comic Standing
I actually have never seen a single episode of this, and I don’t really intend to. Lately some notoriously bad acts have been showing up on the web, but this one is worthy of mention, if you ask me!
Read More
