Disappointing's the word that wraps it up. It's innovative and a has fun element called the Creator... and here you can create everything from your creature to buildings to vehicles. However there ends the fun. The gameplay's quite weak. It's what I call the super genre game that encompasses action, simulation, RTS, arcade and the creator(I don't know what genre to classify it under) . But it miserably fails to retain the flavor of any of the elements it is made of. Individually the parts are not worth much, but their net value is enhanced by the integration of these parts into a single entity. However even then the gameplay does not hold well - it's broad but also too shallow.

The best part of the game is the Cell stage, that accounts for the arcade and the Creature that accounts for Action/Simulation. The rest, namely Tribe stage and Civilization stage feel like second rate RTSes.

EDIT:The Space stage is a lot better than the Tribal and Civ stages. It reminds me of Mass Effect

After going thru much pain(relatively speaking) I got Spore for less than $22(conversion value). I haven't spent more effort on buying any other game than this one. Had to constantly checking out the nearest store, but they didn't have Spore at all, only the Creature Creator. After a couple of hours search I zeroed in on a store that had the game, but unfortunately not on the spot. They had get it from whatever place they had stocked it up at. Had to wait for another hour till they got it from the storehouse. Phew! That's a long wait for a game. I just hope the game's worth the effort.

That means Crysis will be put on hold again. And yeah don't forget to check out my review of Mass Effect. Recommend it if u like it.

I've just completed my review of Mass Effect and have posted it on GS. Here is the link:

Mass Effect review by sandyqbg

Read and recommend if you like it.

My Gaming Update

-I installed Condemned Criminal Origins, but foung a little too dry for my taste.

-I've once again started playing Crysis. It's quite good, but I get the feeling of deja vu. It's like I'm playing Far Cry. The Nano suit sets it apart though.

-Then there's Armor Games. It's quite entertaining. Some of the games there are addicitve.

See ya

Gaming expeience has never been any more enjoyable or more fulfilling and yet have you wanting for more. That's exactly what I feel after completing Mass Effect. With about 45 hours of gameplay put in, it is perhaps one of my most intense gameplay spree. Never in the last three to four years, especially since I started collecting games, have I spent this much time on a single game.

Thoughts on Mass Effect:

Gameplay: Characteristic FPS-RPG hybrid with a lot of interesting features. There are a lot of detailed character interactions, which has a profound effect on your character development and the way your character is seen by NPCs. Mission variety is good though the a few secondary missions may seem repetitive. Control mapping is good and it does feel like a console port. Combat sequences are simply awesome and the firefights are more realistic. The only hitch was controlling the Mako(your vehicle)

Graphics: Great eye candy, but you need a good system to enjoy it in all its glory.

Storyline: The best part of the game. More than the anything else, it is the storyline that makes you want to play the game. Solid storyline with a few twists thrown in. Playing the game gave you the effect of reading a small novel.

Sound: Voice acting is good. The sound effects feel solid. The background music scores. Though it might sound subdued at first, especially compared to the effects, but it's superb, especially twrds the end of the game.

Now that I have finished the game, I wonder what I should do next. As of now I can hardly think of a game that would fill the void that ME has effect

Yeah, that's right. I will hardly be available here at GS for sometime. Thanks to 3 things:

1) My troublesome net connection which has deceided to take time off more regularly than ever.

But most importantly:

2)Mass Effect:

The game's simply too good. With an engrossing storyline and an over the top gameplay, it's hard to get away from it.

3)Naruto:

What a great anime. It's actually got me addicted to it. If I'm not playing ME then I'm watching Naruto. It's got a distinct flavour to it, with the right blend if action and drama.

See ya soon

I like the old look overall.

The Bad:

1) The Live Feeds and the Recent Images are just so pointless. It really doesn't matter what others are doing currently and the Recent Images make the page look uglier. Those two features are the worst thing GS has ever made on the profile page

2) The tracked blogs section is too small. I can't keep track of my friends' blogs, whick is really what I want to keep track off, not every post and comment they're making

3) The layout of the blog section makes you feel the blogs are so insignificant. It actually discourages posting in blogs, be it comments or even your own blog posts

4) I liked the log in section when it was placed at the top right corner of the page. I could log in quickly. Now if I want to log in I have to wait for the GS homepage to load, then wait for the log in page to load and once agin for the homepage to load

The Good:

1) I can open messages in a new tab rather than a new window

2) The comment section of the blog is better. The 'Type your comment' section is above the others' comments and it appears faster on the page. No loading the entire page once more. This is a big plus

I've written a review for Diablo 2. Check it out here

Please comment on the review and suggest improvements. Recommnd it if you like it

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Update

Died the second time in the game. It was so stupid of me. I was just revisitinga place I had finished in an earlier session of the game just to level up. Being a necromancer, I had summoned a Blood golem. It's special property is that it shares some of the health it steals from the enemies it attacks, while conversley it also shares a portion of the damage it takes. Got swarmed by a large group of quite strong Champion Dung Soldiers. I stayed back with the bow and arrow while letting my minions do the melee. My blood golem took a lot of damage and in the process my character also lost a lot of life. I reached for the health potion hotkey( number 1) but I didn't work and I got killed. Only later did I realise that I had been pressing the ~ key instead. Lost abt 30,000 gold for letting my character die. At least I was able to respawn.

For now I finished the first quest in Act II(Killing Radament). Gotta search for the Horadric Cube, Shaft and Headpiece

Stats

Basic Character C-lass: Necromancer
C-lass Specialization: Summancer
Level: 21
Gold in possession: 239,712
Strength: 52
Dexterity: 54
Vitality: 36
Energy: 48
Skills learnt: Blood Golem(L2), Clay Golem(L2), Raise Skeleton(L2), Raise Skeletal Mage(L2), Bone Armor(L1), Bone Wall(L1), Teeth(L1), Corpse Explosion(L1), Amplify Damage(L1), Iron Maiden(L1), Dim Vision(L1), Weaken(L1), Poison Dagger(L1), Skeletal Mastery(L2), Golem Mastery(L2)

(PS. GS does not allow the use of the word spelled by C.L.A.S.S)

We started on Thirsday night. Took the train to Bangalore, departing on 11PM, local time. Reached Bangalore on Friday to be greeted by rainy weather. Refreshed ourselves at a hotel and got going to the company, named Rittal India, a subsidiary of the German giant Rittal, headed by the Loh group(How many of you know Rittal or the Loh gorup?), abt an hour's travel from Banagalore. Saw how enclosures were made. It was quite a sight. Never have I seen an automated manufacturing process and it was a delightful experience. Next went to a PCB manufacturing company nearby, which was pretty useless, as the ppl there were poor at English and their explanations of the various processes were drained by the noise in the factory.

We were returning to the hotel, with high expectations for the rest of the three days planned for the IV trip. Excitement was high. We had planned some shopping, some sightseeing at Mysore and a fun day at the amusement park near Bangalore.That was when bad news came. Got message of terrorist attack in B'lore - 9 bomb blasts in various parts of the city, the first 8 of which had happened when we were just returning. At least they were all low profile attacks, with the death toll at 1 and several injured.Poof! There went the trip.

The college instructed us to return home immediatly, but we could arrange for transport only the next morning(Saturday, local time... i.e. today) And now I'm back home,2 days premature. No thanx to terrorism, which showed its despicable face there.

Yeah as the title of the article says, I'm leaving on my Industrial Visit trip to Bangalore\Mysore (How many of you have atleast heard of Bangalore?) It's a three day trip and I'll be returning on Monday morning. Actually the trip to the industry is scheduled for tomorrow(Friday) morning, according to the local time, so we'll be goofing around the rest of the time... some sightseeing and maybe a little shopping. See ya.

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction update:

The game may be old but it is a great game. Defeated Andariel at the end of Act I a few days back, but only yesterday did I take the trip east to Lut Gholein. I was levelling up my character in Act I. Gotta kill Radament next in the Lut Gholein sewers.

Stats

Name: Neo
Basic Character C-lass: Necromancer
C-lass Specialization: Summancer
Level: 19
Gold in possession: 251,117
Strength: 48
Dexterity: 51
Vitality: 36
Energy: 43
Skills learnt: Blood Golem(L1), Clay Golem(L2), Raise Skeleton(L2), Raise Skeletal Mage(L2), Bone Armor(L1), Bone Wall(L1), Teeth(L1), Corpse Explosion(L1), Amplify Damage(L1), Iron Maiden(L1), Dim Vision(L1), Weaken(L1), Poison Dagger(L1), Skeletal Mastery(L2), Golem Mastery(L1)

(PS. GS does not allow the use of the word spelled by C.L.A.S.S)

My collection of games has just increased with the addition of Crysis, Dungeon Siege and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. For the past few times I get new games, it's always like I get 2 or more games at the same time, which results in not able to give attention to all the games. And I also just finished Fable the last week.

A few words on Fable: The Lost Chapters - It was quite an experience. This is the only other RPG game that I liked after Diablo 2. The game was quite short though(just 18 hours), and the main quest was entirely linear. Of course there were a few side missions, but they didn't keep me occupied long enough. The storyline was neat and it let me do some decision making without having to pulling the hair off my head. And it didn't sidetrack me either, just like Elder Scrolls 3 did. The graphics was also neat.

Gaming Update

Games I have finished till date

-CnC3: Kane's Wrath
-CnC3
-Comapny of Heroes
-PoP:SoT
-Pokemon Red/Blue(finished both once)
-Age of Empires: Age of Kings
-Medal of Honor Airborne
-Call of Duty Modern Warfare
-Pharaoh
-Pokemon Silver
-Portal
-Fable: The Lost Chapters

Games I am currently playing

-Crysis
-Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction

First Impressions

Crysis - Genre redifining. Though my experience with the demo was not so exciting, I gotta tell you that this game's really good. It runs with no problems on my PC at medium settings and even on that the graphics are great. The new features that you get in the form of the Crysis suit give a new angle to FPS gameplay. But it sharply resembles Far Cry, with its exotic outdoor locales and waves of enemies.

Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction - The first thing I noticed after installing it was the absence of my D2 character in the characters list, but after a little googling I learnt that a patch would do the trick and got it. The new features in LoD and the new resolution spruce up the gameplay. I am now at the end of Act I, with my Necromancer at L18.

Dungeon Siege - I found it to be nothing more than sub-standard copy of Diablo. The graphics are 3D, unlike the isometric view in D2, and that's where the fault is. Poor 3D implementation was a turn off. Anyway I found the gameplay no better than Diablo. The story also started off on a corny note... a farmer saving the land