Your health is lowered at certain sections IIRC, so no matter what once you cross certain points in the level it'll be lowered, often with him taunting you. Gameplay wise, save often and play it safe. Never run into a new area, tread carefully. Use the chameleon tonic, you're basically invisible when standing still. Use the crossbow from long range, hack whenever you can, and use the aggro to turn splicers on each other. Befriend big daddy is also a huge help. The most useful guns (aside from the crossbow) were shotgun and machine gun; don't be afraid to use anti personnel rounds, or other special ammos. Buy more if needed, it really helps. Set up traps with the mine and trip wires. Use the environment to your advantage. Plasmid wise, fire burns enemies (obviously) but also weakens them to other attacks. electro bolt is a solid stun, and good for puddles. Use telekinesis to throw explosive barrels and the like.

Tl;DR Play it smart, play it safe. Use the environment, set up traps. Turn everyone against each other. Use special ammo, and fire. Electro and telekinsis big help. Would avoid bees, ice, decoy, wind trap plasminds. Use eve link and chameleon tonic.

MGSV, Witcher 3, and Fallout 4 are the frontrunners for GOTY. Through to round it out I think Bloodborne and Mario Maker have a smaller chance. Only other game to come out this year that will have a shot is probably Xenoblade Chronicles.

I found the solution! My audio control panel (Sound Blaster 3Di) locked up during the upgrade, and needed to be reinstalled. After some digging many with a similar setup (mostly alienware users or those using the same audio software) all had similar issues. I had to go back and manually download the drivers for windows 8.1. A restart later and got it working.

Its an Alienware m14x r2. Just updated to windows 10. It does not pick up anything in the audio jacks (headphones, mic/ headset) and only plays sound through the speakers. I have checked the drivers and they are all up to date. I am unsure what to do, any help would be much appreciated.

@Metallic_Blade: The game Brutal Legend, one of my favorites!

I was under the impression 2K was going ahead with more, just using different devs similar to Bioshock 2? Also to open up more discussion, the game did go through development hell and one big factor for it was last gen went way too long, as well as them trying to keep a certain graphic fidelity. The game was so much more open. Instead of just having Skylines in a designated like area so to speak, they'd be everywhere and you'd go from island to island at will, almost freely is seems from the old trailers. They simply couldn't do what they wanted. I would encourage to look up the old gameplay vids, they cut alot and I believe I read they cut enough content for multiple games, or something similar.

Gameplay wise, I enjoyed it just fine. I had a blast from beginning to end, though I do see arguments about some questionable design choices, and would agree with some of them. A channel on youtube call matthewmaotis has an excellent critique on the game, (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdNhwb7iuI4 ) and while I don't agree on all points he makes a compelling argument that infinite should have and could have been much more. I also really enjoyed the story, though I do feel like it gets twisted a bit on its own web.

Overall, I personally loved the game, but can see the arguments against it, and is interesting to see the development behind it.

@Wilfred_Owen: Ramona Flowers played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead aka my celebrity crush :P Good taste in avatars, had her as my sig and avy for a while a few years back.

One right above, good ole Alienware. A bit pricey, but still a solid brand, my laptop is Alienware, and using it right now.

Assassins Creed 1 is a game I loved (warts and all) and even went through and collected all the flags. It was very new to me, and the world and story took me in. Even though the mission structure was repetitive I still found the beat to beat game play to be fun. The biggest missed opportunity here was Altair really not standing on his own very well. He was a nearly silent protagonist and the characters around him were generally much more interesting.

Assassins Creed 2 is a game that took me forever to beat; and that's more because there is so much going on in it. Not to mention it is what every video game sequel should be. It took the premise and refined, improved, and expanded on it. Ezio Auditore De Frienze was a great lead, and had many memorable side characters and moments (Its a me! Mario!) that kept it interesting. It was such a beautiful game from graphics, to sound, to art. The story was broad and grand, and yet still relatable and personable. Everything about this game is amazing, and is easily one of the must plays of the series.

I skipped Brotherhood and Revelations. I doubt I will go back to them. I attempted to play Revelations at one point and found the old controls off putting and made me realize how much the series improved with...

Assassin's Creed 3. This one I feel gets a lot of undue hate. It certainly isn't perfect, the Desmond sections are meh, and the ending even more disappointing. The slow start is a bit of a drag; but I do find it very interesting still and works nicely. I do wish we got to Connor faster still. Connor is another lead I found to be great. I loved his brashness and personality. The side characters were all very interesting again (except you Paul Revere) and many had their own agendas and painted the American Revolution in an interesting light. Was Connor really doing the right thing? Did he ally himself with the proper cause? Were the Americans in the right? The game asks a lot of questions not only about rebels vs the british; but the Assassins and Templars as well. They also refined the controls a hell of a lot, and introduced 'tree running' among other mechanics. My favorite additions in the weaponry is the tomahawk and bow and arrow (very sad to see them gone in Black Flag, but it would make no sense to have a pirate using those.) Of course it introduced sea battles, a fun twist which was fully realized later. This is my personal favorite of the series.

Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag: i can't give a full opinion on. I am still playing through it. I do enjoy Edward as the lead, and all the side characters are great so far. The sailing is even better and i'll often just pillage my way across the sea. Gameplay is a solid evolution of AC3 and the present day sections are interesting. It looks great and plays even better.

Thats all of the series i have played.

@d_parker: 16 is generally the youngest one can get a job in the US (or at least Illinois), at 15 he'd have to go through the whole thing of a permit, plus there isn't any hurry for him to join the work force yet. Of course that is my perspective on it, he could be somewhere where 15 is a normal age to begin working:P

Anywho, I'd say focus on the grades first off, of course always shoot for the top but maintain at least a 'B' average (that'll depend on your school's grading system on what is the percentage is on that.) The extra effort should get your parents attention that you ARE at least trying harder and putting more effort in. I know it sounds lame but putting in that little bit of effort will pay off. Plus if you plan on pursuing education after high school it'll help to learn how to study. I never studied a day in my life (Outside of a number of rare cases), and when college came around it bit me in the ass. I didn't know how to properly manage my time when it came to looking over material.

Also, since your friends are gone try and branch out a bit and get a new friend group. There was a stretch of time me and my old group drifited apart for a few years. In the mean time I became friends with another whole group, and have some amazing friends from it. Just gotta push out the comfort zone a bit; maybe try hitting up a classroom acquaintance after school some time.

And at the end of the day, they still might be how they are, in which case i don't have any advice for you. Either way, they are trying to look out for you.

• Brutal Legend: Not exactly "hated" (sits around 80 on MC I think) but I feel was needlessly scorned. Many didn't really give the RTS aspect a chance and never really tried to dig deeper. Though this is the fault of marketing. IIRC, the only time the Action/RTS gameplay (how the game ends up being) was shown was once during E3 on x-play. Otherwise the fact of how the game played was never talked about in marketing and was hyped up as simply Jack Black Heavy Metal game. The demo that people could try only showed off the Action gameplay, with no hint at what the game was trying to accomplish. So when it's revealed the game was doing more than just a brawler, it was unexpected and not what was advertised. Honestly, if people went back and gave it a fair shot I think they'll appreciate the game for what is, and not what is was advertised as. The action/RTS is unique and so much fun; and all three factions play so differently from each other. Otherwise, my only complaints with the game itself is the single player campaign just ends (much more was planned afterwards that had to get cut) and while it works, it is obvious it's not the intended ending to the game. And that alot of side quests tend to repeat, and that unique interesting side quests tend to be harder to find.

• Assassins Creed 3: First I will say i don't care too much for the Desmond sections, the ending is abrupt (for Desmond) and disappointing, and I am still unsure how to feel about the games slow intro and taking a few hours to introduce us to Connor. That being said, I think the controls are improved on amazingly, Connor is a very interesting character and my personal favorite of the Assassins. Tree running works really well, and just a host of other things really make it my favorite AC game. It has its fair share of issues I grant you. But it certainly isn't awful like others would lead you to believe.