Crysis 2 Review

Crysis 2 has big boots to fill, lets not beat around the bush. The original set the standard for what defines a next generation shooter, featuring jaw dropping physics, incredible visuals and a monstrous foe. Crysis 2’s job was not only to replicate this in the urban environment of New York, but to branch this experience across multiple platforms (this review was conducted on a PC.) Unfortunately, the series has come two steps forward, and many giant leaps back.

You are Alcatraz, a marine given a nanosuit by one of the previous game’s characters – Prophet. Alien infection has spread throughout New York and your job is to battle through various famous locations to assist your allies whilst your suit manufactures a cure to the disease. The main criticism of Crysis was that the storyline was slightly cliché, and Crytek left with promises to do better next time. What they have come back with is a story even more cliché than the last, but heaped on top of this a whole variety of revelations about the suit that simply make you go ‘….what? You can’t be serious.’

One of the key elements last time around was how the aliens were presented. Almost like a horror game, they were briefly flittered in front of you for long periods - even by the end in all out war they were still hidden behind their machines, mysterious and unknowable. You were at the forefront of human discovery, the unforgettable segment inside the alien ship made you genuinely feel like a privileged human being, the only man to ever set eyes upon this magical place. This game, with no fanfare, reveals the aliens to you with almost zero preamble and simply says ‘kill’. A game and it’s sequel’s incredible build up torn up in one moment. It feels like any other futuristic, generic FPS where you wander the streets pummelling aliens with no thought behind it.

Visually, the game is still one of the best around, but only in terms of backdrop. The graphics, while remaining high end, have been cut back rather a lot as this article illustrates rather well (http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6307286/index.html). Want to customize the graphics on your PC? Well too bad, you can only choose between low, medium or high. Upon entering New York in real life, the first thing you are confronted with is the sheer sense of scale, something the free roaming nature of the first Crysis also gave. Now, confined to linear levels where piles of rubble conveniently block every street it feels claustrophobic at points – you are a superman but your powers are completely limited to what you are ordered to do.

The game can still look great but just cannot compare to it's forefather.

 This brings me to the most important aspect, the gameplay. The way the nanosuit works has been changed considerably, and it needed it, with the radial menu not cutting it before. All abilities (stealth, strength, speed and armour) now use the same energy bar. The fact that all abilities use energy now means that any combination of nanosuit abilities is very difficult, leading to a very bi-polar nature of gameplay where you either stealthily assassinate everyone, or just wipe everyone out in a firefight using armour. Super speed is now almost the equivalent of a standard FPS sprint, which doesn’t feel very superhuman at all. A lot worse is the strength, which has been replaced by a token ability to kick or throw objects a small distance. Rather than running around a large map creatively using your abilities, occasionally throwing a chicken as if from Thor himself so it blows a hole through a helicopter, now you can just poke a table simply because of a button prompt message. This ties in with the physics as a whole, which are very notably absent. The amazing world of fully destructible scenery and often hilariously interactive creatures has been replaced by one where the buildings are invincible and the civilians in the streets cannot be interacted with at all (ie, bullets and yourself can pass straight through them.)  

As previously mentioned, there are two effective ways to complete any level – stealth or simply fight. The stealth aspect here is simply ridiculous when combined with the AI. You have the ability to instantly kill any standard opponent whilst stealthed if you are behind them. The human foes seem alright, but the aliens will frequently just stand in a completely stationary circle while you slowly pick them all off, or get stuck on walls. More than once a solitary human guard was left standing in a pile of his comrades’ corpses, with me having just disappeared right in front of him, who would then cheerfully exclaim ‘threat cleared.’ I started off shooting the guards from stealth. Then it moved on the slowly using the close combat stealth kill to destroy entire maps of enemies. Eventually this proved so tedious that bypassing the level simply by stealthing and walking past everyone became a viable alternative. Towards the end of the game, there is an objective to destroy that you must interact with from close range, surrounded by hordes and hordes of aliens. I stealthed past them, then simply uncloaked and destroyed it not two feet behind their backs. I then happily skipped back past them, with them of course having no idea that this had happened. This was simply a test, as the cunning Korean soldiers last time out would ruthlessly hunt you down with the intelligence of Skynet, but instead you are confronted with aliens who are anything but a master race of space farers. One interesting new aspect is the ability to upgrade your suit by collecting resources from the fallen bodies of aliens. This is a good move, although the upgrades aren’t quite balanced properly, being either near useless or hideously overpowered (for example the stealth upgrade, which makes your stealth seems to last forever, and helps promote the behaviour described above.)

Perhaps there would be more encouragement to play the game properly if the enemies were more interesting. If you discount bosses (of which there are effectively two) there are only 5 types of distinct enemy in the entire game. One of these is a unit you only see in literally the final moments, and one is simply a slightly tougher version of the standard alien that looks near identical. At first this is all fine, but after wave upon wave of the same opponents, it just becomes a chore. Special mention has to go to the last level, which has got to be one of the most disappointing final fights I have ever played. The game feels as if it starts off fairly well, but gets progressively worse until it is crowned by this segment. The guns fair a bit better, the microwave gun and a rocket launcher that files clusters of small missiles called a ‘Swarmer’ are particular highlights. A major improvement has been made regarding an aspect of gunplay, namely headshotting. The Korean soldiers previously seemed to have remarkably tough noggins, whereas this time a headshot will drop many foes at the first time of asking - it needed this change. The cover system has also been implemented very well, with none of that ‘I am now physically stuck to the wall’ business that so often ruins games that use it. It is just a shame minor improvements like these are so vastly overshadowed.

This is like re-living the Cloverfield monster's sneak attack all over again.

 The game also boasts a significantly revamped multiplayer, something introduced in Crysis: Warhead, the expansion. In this iteration it was most comparable to the Battlefield franchise, but this time around it is Call of Duty. It’s not like Call of Duty, it IS Call of Duty, except you can go invisible. Perks? Check. Killstreak bonuses? Check. 16 player lobbies even on the PC? Check. Ranks and unlockable weapons? Check. The list is endless, but suffice to say the difference between the games is minimal indeed. If you like Call of Duty there is no reason to not like the multiplayer, but such a blatantly obvious attempt at replicating something leaves a very sour taste on the tongue.

The word it boils down to is fun. Crysis 1 offered a million and one things and ways of doing things. It stringed this along with a flawed but believable storyline and exciting race of aliens so advanced you genuinely felt mystified by them. Now we have linear levels, no more interesting physics, two ways of killing everyone that are both executing in remarkably boring ways considering how awesome superhuman armour is, aliens that are so intelligent they can’t figure out what a wall is or why all their friends are dead, and a storyline where you are bossed about by your suit and confronted with being told things about the suit that stretch your imagination beyond breaking point. It is very clear a lot of these sacrifices, particularly the level layout, are done so that it can actually be run on consoles. The first game was targeted not just solely at PCs, but high end PCs, and it was inevitable many things would have to be taken out. Ultimately, this makes the game an incredible disappointment if you have played the first. It may sell more, but it is literally inferior in every way, and not even by small amounts, it is not the same game in the slightest. Crysis 2 feels like a bog standard, but very pretty FPS, and even a fairly good one at that. There is no reason, if you haven’t played the original, that you won’t get at least some enjoyment out of this game. However, Crysis 1 was nothing like a standard FPS, it transcended this by adding features no-one had seen before, features that are all now gone. Minor improvements have been made, but this swiftly fade into meaninglessness when confronted with the massive core gameplay aspects that have vanished. So far it is the game that has best embodied an increasingly evocative message – multiplatforming just does not work.

Score: 7/10

LoL: AxeC's Analysis Episode 2 - Do Pubstompers have a Place in the Game?

Katarina is a good example of a pubstomper.

Hello and welcome to my weekly topic overviewing aspects of League of Legends game design. Today we'll be looking at one of the more controversial sets of characters - pubstompers.

First off, what is a pubstomper? It is someone who you can play in a solo queue game and absolutely destroy poor players with, but are often easily countered in ranked or by higher skilled players. Examples of these include Katarina and Tryndamere. Hopefully I'm going to be posting my ideas for changing Katarina soon, but that's for another time.

Right now in particular there seems to be a lot of upset about Katarina, so it begs the question, what is the point of these characters? They upset the players who cannot beat them, and are considered useless by those who can. Well, there are plenty of good reasons to have characters like these around. For example, being repeatedly victimized by someone whos easy to counter hopefully will eventually teach the player to learn to use that counter. In turn, this enables you to begin thinking of counters to characters who it is far less obvious on how to disrupt.

Lets look at some specific examples. Katarina obviously hinges around her ultimate. Should you be playing normal you will eventually be forced to learn the importance of using some form of interrupt, just like you would on say Nunu. Should she be picked in ranked you will possess the knowledge that you can counter pick with some like Malphite or Mal'zahar who can ultimate her straight back. Tryndamere is a little more difficult, as he is best countered in ranked. Should he be picked, hopefully you will have learnt the hard way to take lots of exhausts and laugh as he does nothing. Currently Nocturne is performing a fairly similar role, and can also be shut down with this kind of CC.

This doesn't really cover their problems at a higher level however - that they are simply not good enough as everyone has learnt how to stop them. This is true, but does every character need to be viable for competitive gaming? Why can some characters not have their use in lower level solo queue, and some in higher level ranked play? This is the way the current system works and there really isn't much wrong with it, balancing every champion perfectly for every aspect is near impossible. This is not to say that some changes shouldn't be made to some of these characters.

Currently pubstompers serve a highly unappreciated but vital role in the game. They appeal to neither end of the gaming skill level, but occupy a unique area as an obstacle for players to overcome in order to move from lower to higher levels of play. By pushing what is essentially unhealthy gameplay they promote healthy gameplay, all the while keeping the truely good and bad players where they probably deserve to be. Personally, I can't think of anything more important in this game.

Feel free to comment and discuss whether I have any idea what I'm talking about.

LoL: AxeC's Analysis Episode 1 - The Tanky DPS Problem

Irelia: a serious problem?

Hello again all, and welcome to my new weekly series overviewing different aspects of League of Legends,  with this being the first. Who am I? I'm a European summoner, not a high ELO, but with a strong knowledge of the game and interest in game design.

Tanky DPS is not a new problem for League of Legends, we all remember the days when a giant, spinning, flaming ball screaming 'DDEEEEMMMMAAACCCIIIIAAAA' would be the last thing you saw before a grey screen. This wasn't to last, and tanky DPS faded before a highly poking metagame. Now it's back, but not in the same way as before.

There appears to be some confusion as to exactly how tanky DPS are so strong, obviously they put out a fair amount of damage while remaining tough, but aren't they counterable in the laning phase? Well, they all are, but to varying degrees, this is where I feel the problem lies - the laning phase.

The difference between the old tanky DPS and the new tanky DPS can be summed up in one game mechanic - lifesteal. Let me name a few problems characters - Irelia, Renekton and Nasus. All are very lane dominant, and extremely hard to shift from it. This is simply because all have low level, instantly accessible and powerful lifesteal abilities. Characters like Vlad have these abilities, but Vlad's Q has a large cooldown. It is also far more obvious because of the nature/animation of the attack, and the amount of life stolen. These three characters are lifestealing constantly, yet not in an overtly noticable way to the opposition. This results in extreme lane dominance, which often ends in the effect of tanky DPS characters appearing fed, even when they are not.

A few other characters fall under this catergory. Olaf and Warwick are similar, but generally jungle. However, try putting Warwick in a solo lane. Last time I played this against a solo Renekton and ended up completely dominating him, mostly by virtue of having the superior lifesteal ability. I'm sure you all know how hard it is to dominate Renekton in a lane usually. I have not tried Olaf in a lane, but the effect may be similar. Other strong laners that utilise aggression based healing include Cho'Gath and Mundo. The reality is, against a solo tanky DPS, you are engaged in a war of attrition. One that, if played correctly by your foe, you will inevitably lose without aid.

Let's look at Garen, the aforementioned pinnacle of tanky DPS. Nowadays, he can still be a fairly good tank-type character, and also fairly good as a tanky DPS. However, he is outshined by the other characters, not by damage, but by durability, yet he is the only one with an actual entirely defensive ability. Again, the answer is lifesteal. If Garen had lifesteal in his current state, I would expect him to be just as powerful as those ahead of him. His health regen passive is one of the most frustrating to lane against in LoL, and achieves a similar effect, but with the undesirable method of avoiding combat. Healing hurts his laning, healing for the others promotes their lane prowess.

Gone are these days....maybe it's for the best.

 Now, the nerf to Spirit Visage seems to indicate an awareness of this problem. Tanky DPS nerfs are also supposedly around the corner, yet I feel if all that is done is some adjustment of stats and damage, the core problem will remain unresolved. Spirit Visage shouldn't be nerfed anymore as it will be borderline useless, the actual lifesteal abilities on the characters need changing.

Jarvan is a great example of my point. Jarvan is new, shiny and a strong tanky DPS. He's nasty to face but is he overpowered? Have I ever played against a Jarvan and thought jesus, this guy cannot be stopped? No. His laning is tough but not invincible, as he lacks the sustainability of the others. He is a great character, but so much easier to stop. When I say easier, I don't mean easy, I mean within the abilities of a decent team.

Generally, when there is a problem people will merely acknowledge it rather than try to determine the source of it, and I hope I've explored a little of whats behind this today. Inevitably when this meta subsides another will rise to take it's place, but such is the nature of this game. Hopefully Riot will continue to keep up their good work and try and keep the game as balanced as is reasonable to expect.

Please leave any opinions you have, any feedback would be nice, as well as different views. If you think I have the brain of a salmon and the argumentative skills of a cheese sandwich then share what you think about the subject.

Hope you enjoyed reading and that I sparked some interest in game design amongst you.

Music Review: Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever (2011)

 

www.cobhc.com
http://www.myspace.com/childrenofbodom

Genre: Traditionally a very difficult band to put into a genre. Power Metal/Melodic Death Metal.

Track List:
Not my Funeral (4:54)
Shovel Knockout (4:02)
Roundtrip to Hell and Back (3:46)
Pussyfoot Miss Suicide (4:09)
Relentless Reckless Forever (4:40)
Ugly (4:13)
Cry of the Nihilist (3:30)
Was it Worth it? (4:05)
Northpole Throwdown (2:54)

Overview

Children of Bodom are my favourite band, lets make no bones about it. I am also one of the very rare people who likes all of their work - traditionally there is a major split between fans of their older material and their new material, most lurking in the former. Their most recent albums 'Are You Dead Yet?' and 'Blooddrunk' have come in for some flak, mostly for being different rather than actually bad.

Their sound has changed a lot through the years, moving slowly from their trademark style of Alexi Laiho/Janne Wirman solos wherever possible to what one might call a more generic, heavy sound. It is generally the talent of these two that make Children of Bodom stand noticably out - Wirman has hands of lightning and none could match Alexi's fret blitzing. One might mark this change in sound to two things. Alexander Kuopalla, on rhythm guitar left the band after 'Hate Crew Deathroll', and was replaced by Roope Latvala. This was subsequently followed by the biggest shift in their musical style. Wirman also revealed recently that it was at this same time Alexi began taking other ideas on from his bandmates for how the albums were to sound, previously utilizing his own ideas most of the time. 'Relentless Reckless Forever' continues CoB's newer sound in some respects, but there are some delightful moments of nostalgia unique amongst Bodom albums. If you want a summation of the sound, the heavier tracks on the 'Hate Crew Deathroll' album are the most comparable, which to me is no bad thing.

Review

The lead single for this album, 'Was it Worth it?', can be summed up in one phrase - a single. It reminds me a lot of their previous single 'In Your Face', it feels very simple but is quite catchy. The tone the band used to describe this song sounded to me almost apologetic for something they considered a mass appeal cop-out, which I find pretty frustrating. Usually I think CoB never pick their best songs for singles, and this one isn't an exception. The song isn't bad, I've grown to like some of the steady riffing, and the chorus sticks in your head despite being quite messy, with too many elements attempting to combine. However, the solo towards the end is atrocious - it is the worst solo in of any CoB song, ever. The video is also dire, it is simply your standard metal video of the band playing the song, with some skaters in the background that have no relavance whatsoever. I'll provide the video, but the song isn't to everyone's taste, I wouldn't advise judging the album on it.

The album as a whole maintains, and in some way exentuates, the more generic route the band is taking. The style focuses far more on riffs and rhythm guitar now than Laiho's lead or Wirman's keyboard, which have always been focal points. This is exemplified by songs such as 'Not my Funeral' and 'Relentless Reckless Forever'. Both of these are decent songs, but these guy's roles feel relegated to the background in these tracks. The tempo shifts also feel a little odd, especially on the latter which changes from slow to fast in a way that doesn't feel quite right.

My absolute favourite thing about this album are some noticable throwbacks to previous albums that I have never seen CoB do before. 'Shovel Knockout' has sections that could be taken straight out of 'Hate Crew Deathroll', while 'Roundtrip to Hell and Back' and 'Cry of the Nihilist' take parts from multiple sources. There is definately a huge mix in 'Cry of the Nihilist', from 'Hatebreeder' to 'Blooddrunk' to 'Are you Dead Yet?' This is the one thing I can truely highlight as unique about this album from it's predeccesors, which is ironic since it is taking material from them, and is a huge plus.

That said, many of the songs tread the line very finely when it comes to whether they are themed or similar and easily confused. This is mostly a problem for the first 5 tracks, except 'Pussyfoot Miss Suicide', mainly because it stands out like a sore thumb. I don't actually think it's a terrible song in itself, but the interesting rhythm may be far too gimmicky for many, and just doesn't fit with the album.

The best songs are definately 'Ugly' and 'Northpole Throwdown'. 'Ugly' shows the other songs how it's done, mixing a great, fast opening with some slower parts very well. Even though the chorus isn't handled the best it has one of the albums really good solos, something I was very grateful for, as they are not that common (compared to other CoB albums, to be fair). 'Northpole Throwdown' is an adrenaline fuelled powerhouse of a song, blazing away on both guitars. The chorus utilizes backup vocals very well, in the style of 'Hellhounds on my Trail', and also has a fantastic solo. The only shame is that it's so short. Overall, my favourite song is probably 'Shovel Knockout'.

Conclusion

The album feels very generic, that can't be denied. There are some good points, like the homage paid to previous albums, but ultimately there are some bad points I can pick at. The drums feel very redundant and my favourite thing about CoB, their distinct usage of Laiho and Wirman, is at it's least noticable in any of their albums. If you like metal as a whole you might like this album, but equally if your a big CoB fan you might not.

Personally I feel the album is pretty average. I can't look at any of the songs and say they are terrible, but equally hardly any appeal a great amount. This may change - I really hated Blooddrunk at first and it's since grown on me. Wirman confessed that he himself did not really like the album at first, but came round after a few listens, so it's definately worth giving a try. Considering CoB's extremely high standards however, I cannot help but feel somewhat disappointed, despite that fact that I have warmed to it more over repeated playthroughs.

Rating: 7/10

League of Legends Patch v1.0.0.112 Analysis Featuring Jarvan!

Hi folks and welcome to my bi-weekly analysis of the latest League of Legends patch. I've decided rather than doing the new champion and patch notes seperately, I'll combine them into one so that I can more accurately assess the champion. Previously I was using guesswork before they came out, now I will have actually seen them a few times. Anyway, on we go.

Annie: some old splash art has been updated.

Firstly, minor changes to the art, with some of the old art on characters such as Annie, Katarina, Eve and Twitch being changed. There have been some complaints about the Eve one but I think it's fine myself, nice to see these areas haven't been neglected.


Jarvan, the Exemplar of Demacia

• Dragon Strike: Jarvan IV charges through his opponent, dealing physical damage and lowering their armor by a %. This will pull Jarvan IV to a Standard if it encounters one, knocking up all enemies in his path.
• Golden Aegis: Jarvan IV calls upon the ancient kings of Demacia to shield him from harm and slow surrounding enemies. Triggers automatically if damage would reduce Jarvan below 300 Health if it is not on cooldown.
• Demacian Standard: Passively grants Jarvan bonus attack speed and armor. Active: Throws a Demacian flag, dealing physical damage and granting passive benefits to nearby allies.
• Cataclysm (Ultimate): Jarvan IV heroically leaps at his target, dealing physical damage and creating a circle of terrain around them for a few seconds.
• Martial Cadence (Passive): Jarvan IV exploits his target's opening, dealing 8% of the target's current HP as magic damage. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds.

When I first looked at his abilities, and saw the spotlight, my instant reaction was oh my god he is the most overpowered character ever. Tanky DPS right now is easily the most powerful class, and Jarvan is the embodiment of this - he has a shield that slows as well, as well as various utility damage skills, what more could you want? Despite this, somehow in games I have found him to be pretty much precisely balanced. I'm not sure whether people have just not learnt how to play him yet, but he seems to do the right amount of damage (ie, not that much) to stop him being a monster. He also lacks the component that makes tanky DPS so powerful - lifesteal. He is awesome looking and conceptually great, so I'd fully recommend getting him.

Anivia

• Glacial Storm initial mana cost decreased to 75/125/175 from 100/150/200

I said I felt the previous nerf was a bit far, and they've addressed this here.


Caitlyn

• Ace in the Hole
  • Projectile speed increased to 3200 from 2200
  • Range increased to 1600/1900/2200 from 1400/1800/2200
  • Initial cast time leading up to the channeling time has been significantly decreased 

This ability had some problems, and these changes go some way to addressing them, making it harder to block and feel more 'snipery'. Good change.


 Ezreal

• Trueshot Barrage now scales with bonus attack damage at a 1.0 ratio

This is a difficult one to judge. At first, I thought it was totally unecessary - I play Ezreal and generally always do quite well. However, compared to other ranged carries such as Ashe or Sivir it's difficult to argue that Ezreal has the same power later on. Ezreal stands out as the weaker ranged carries amongst them, yet he feels fine - it feels like the others are too powerful. Nerfing all the rest instead of just buffing him would be pretty stupid, so I can understand why they chose this option. Also, note that it's only bonus attack damage, most Ezreals won't get more than 150 bonus AD.



Garen

• Decisive Strike
  • Movement speed boost increased to 3 seconds from 2
  • Total duration available to proc the silence and hit reduced to 6 seconds from 7
  • Bonus damage ratio increased to 150% from 120%
• Judgment cooldown reduced to 14/13/12/11/10 from 15/14/13/12/11 seconds

Minor buffs, Garen's speed boost was annoying anyway so I feel this was the area that least needed increasing. I feel Garen is under appreciated right now, whenever I see him he tends to dish out some pain - he still really can hurt and be pretty tanky besides. He simply isn't the unstoppable behemoth he was before.


Janna

• Monsoon no longer slows enemies who re-enter the storm

Janna is a hard case, she is clearly the best support but it is hard to nerf her without ruining her. They already hit her shield massively and she remains brilliant, illustrating how powerful she used to be. It's a minor hit, and probably one of the few that won't affect her drastically - the slow is by far the least important aspect of the ultimate. It won't stop her being awesome, but it's something.

Loch Ness Cho'Gath

Karma

• Heavenly Wave base heal increased to 35/55/75/95/115/135 from 30/45/60/75/90/105
• Spirit Bond cooldown reduced to 15/14/13/12/11/10 from 20/18/16/14/12/10.
• Soul Shield Increased the shield strength by 10 at all ranks.
• Mantra cooldown reduced to 25 seconds from 30 seconds.

She needed some help, and they have been cautious in this approach. Karma has so much utility she could easily become the best character in the game if buffed too much, so I think this is the right way of going about making her stronger. I saw a post recommending Riot crushed her AP ratios but buffed all her abilities a lot to encourage playing as a full support, not as an AP champion, which I think is a great idea.


LeBlanc

• Ethereal Chains ability power ratio increased to 0.5 from 0.4 for both damage components

Teeny, tiny buff. Shes pretty heavily underrated, if people start using her they will realise shes pretty damn strong. She is, however, still Kassadin's inferior cousin.


Maokai

• Twisted Advance levelup tooltip now correctly displays the increase in mana cost
• Fixed a bug where Maokai's death animation would not play if he is slain during Twisted Advance

Mordekaiser

• Mace of Spades ability power ratio increased to 0.4 from 0.2

Another tiny buff. Morde is still a pub stomper, don't be put off playing him by his 'nerfing to the ground', I still often carry with him. This will only help that, but everyone seems to carry a conception hes not good anymore. The reality is he was, and always will be, great at solo queue low ELO, and rubbish at high ELO. I see more and more Morde's building hybrid with Hextech Gunblade nowadays, I think it's insane but it seems to work, so it may be worth giving a try.


Singed

• Fixed a bug that was causing Poison Trail to have a 1 second cooldown upon activation

Sivir

• Fixed a bug with Boomerang Blade that was causing certain items to not show their bonus attack damage in the tooltip

Urgot

• Fixed a bug with Acid Hunter that was causing missile lock to shoot further then intended

Veigar

• Primordial Burst ability power ratio increased to 1.2 of Veigar's ability power and reduced to 0.8 of his target's ability power

Made him a bit more useful against non-mage targets, but he really remains nothing but a counter pick. Theoretically he's a great champion, but he requires too many levels and farming to be useful in time.


Zilean

• Fixed a bug where the particle on Time Warp would not persist through the full duration of the movement speed modifier at later ranks

Items

• Fixed a tooltip bug where Haunting Guise said it provided 180 Health and 20 Ability Power, when it actually provided 200 Health and 25 Ability Power
• Morello's Evil Tome cooldown reduction increased to 20% from 15%
• Sight and Vision Wards can now be stacked 5 per slot
• Tiamat
  • Attack damage increased to 50 from 42
  • Mana regeneration per 5 seconds increased to 5 from 4
  • Shop tooltip is now more descriptive, matching the inventory tooltip
• Spirit Visage increased healing and regeneration effects reduced to 15% from 20%

Morello's Evil Tome is still not as good as Deathfire Grasp and Tiamat is still rubbish due to it's tiny splash area. These are simple facts. Spirit Visage really is taking a pounding of late, it's an item I really like but is beginning to teeter on the verge of being a Haunting Guise style useless mid game item.


Summoner Spells

• Ghost duration decreased to 10 from 14

This won't change much, 14 seconds was overkill anyway. If you need more than 10 seconds to escape from an opponent with Ghost, you are probably dead already.


General

• Death Timers have been reduced on Summoner's Rift to 12-50 seconds from 28-50 seconds
• Minions
  • Melee minion magic resist now increases 1.25 per 3 minutes (up from 0.5)
  • Ranged minion armor now increases 1.25 per 3 minutes (up from 0.5)
  • Cannon minion armor and magic resist now increase 3 per 3 minutes (up from 2)
  • After 20 minutes, cannon minions now spawn every 2 waves (up from every 3 waves)
  • Cannon minions and super minions now reduce turret damage by 65% (up from 50%)
  • Fixed a tooltip bug "This unit receive..." with cannon minions and super minions
  • Minions now deal about 50% more damage to turrets
• Turrets
  • Turrets deal about 10% less base damage to champions
  • Turrets now have 20% armor penetration
• Fixed several typos in the Options Menu 

The turret change is good, although 20% armour penetration is hardly going to be a vast deterrent to tanky tower divers. The death timers change I am unsure of. It has been made to stop lane passivity and I understand the logic. However, I look at it the following way. If I kill an opponent early game, lets say at mid, generally I'll be on low hp. I'll farm up the remaining creep wave, go back and buy items, then return. By this time the opponent has either returned or is seconds away. Why does it need to be made shorter? It is already easily short enough considering that, in fact I thought it was pretty much dead on. For me, this does not encourage aggressive gameplay, it encourages suicidal gameplay, that is not good.


With regards to the minion changes, this is another step towards trying to make lanes less passive. The result, however, may be an increase in overall game passivity. Now, should you try and group up for a teamfight, you may all have to split up to defend towers rather than fighting. It brings more tactical elements into the equation, which I like, but equally means it is difficult to fight unless all your lanes are pushed. If you do, you risk losing a tower easily. It also helps lane pushers - before high ELO this is already an overpowered tactic if carried at correctly, as people are not organised enough to effectively respond. This is another idea that I can understand the thinking behind conceptually (the other being the death timers), but ultimately I do not think will work in practice. I remain positive though as Riot have a clear direction where they are headed - it's not a bad one, but they are taking the odd wrong step. It's understandable, but I have faith in them. I think back to when I first started - when Twitch on the enemy team meant you had automatically lost, when Garen could happily stack 5 Sunfires, and I can't help but feel some progression. I think people need to look back at how things have been previously, and appreciate how far the game has come.

Hextech Anivia

Battlefield 3 and Skyrim Gameplay Footage Arrives

Two absolute awesome trailers have just been released for the upcoming games Battlefield 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Both previously had short teasers, now theres some gameplay, and boy do they look good. Battlefield only gives us a tiny peek at the graphics, but I'm so excited by the 10 odd seconds of gameplay that I can see, it should indicate how good it looks. Skyrim looks very much like it is following in the footsteps of Oblivion, this is no bad thing, and if it can rectify the problems with the first game this will really be one you enjoy. Check them both out below.

New Medal of Honor

The Call of Duty franchise faced a big rival last year in the form of the brand new, revamped Medal of Honor game. This challenge looks set to be sustained this year with the confirmation of a new Medal of Honor game. Call of Duty has previously adopted a yearly release schedule and it seems Medal of Honor may well be looking to do the same, with the ambition to overtake it as the FPS played by the most people being clear (for the record I despise Call of Duty).

The previous Medal of Honor did not differ enough from Call of Duty for me, both being fairly generic FPS games. Call of Duty, I believe, does not improve due to it's release schedule meaning every game being a recycled version of the previous one - I don't see how a yearly release schedule for Medal of Honor would result in anything different. That said, the popularity of the series cannot exactly be denied, so if you enjoyed them, as many of you will have, you have a lot more to look foward to.

Sourced from Gamespot.

Dead Island Trailer

This beautiful and strangely moving trailer has just been released to the public, creating rather a lot of hype. Nobody had heard much of it before but now it has certainly got everyones attention, and looks like it could be a great game, if the type of artistry put into the trailer is put into the game itself. Watch and enjoy.

League of Legends Patch v1.0.0.111 Analysis

High Command Katarina: a new skin I am no doubt going to buy.

Hi there and welcome to this weeks League of Legends patch analysis. I've left out the client changes as I can't exactly provide analysis on them, but they all sound good. As a summary their adding Co-op vs AI amongst other features for the client, and changing XP/IP rewards to give out an amount matching how long you have played for. Check out the official site for more details.


Maokai, the Twisted Treant

• Sap Magic (passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, Maokai's next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing him for a percentage of his maximum HP.
• Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward, damaging and slowing his enemies.
• Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.
• Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground, warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.
• Vengeful Maelstrom (ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

I've already discussed Maokai in my article below, the spotlight pretty much confirms my initial thoughts.

Akali

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Mark of the Assassin could persist after her target died

Amumu

• Base damage increased to 47 from 45
• Base armor increased to 18 from 15
• Tantrum passive physical damage reduction increased to 2/4/6/8/10 from 1/2/3/4/5
• Despair mana cost reduced to 8 from 10 at all levels
• Despair now has a new particle to match the area of effect

It's funny really, Amumu has fallen largely out of the limelight but not really due to nerfs, other tanks just seemed to take over. He was still a good champion, and maybe this might nudge him back towards being played again. Mostly seems to buff his jungling.

Anivia

• Fixed a bug where Flashfrost stunned for 0.75 seconds instead of 1 second as the tooltip stated
• Fixed a bug where unlike other skillshots, Flashfrost could not be cast from out of range
• Glacial Storm
  • Initial mana cost increased to 100/150/200 from 25/35/45
  • Cost per second reduced to 40/50/60 from 50/70/90
  • Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 2.5
• Rebirth
  • Armor/magic resist modifier changed to -40/-25/-10/5/20 from -40/-20/10/40
  • Rebirth now always shows the passive in the passive slot, and an additional buff in the buff bar with the current status (ready, active, or on cooldown)
   
  

Controversial stuff here. The idea behind Glacial Storm was to stop Anivia players 'pulsing' it to chill opponents before hitting them, but the amount of mana it costs now really seems excessive. It's also unclear whether the reduced slow duration means a reduced chill duration, because if it is only 1 second that's barely enough time to actually hit them after they are chilled. The rebirth changes I don't really think solve the problem. It's more of an issue early game, particularly when she dies behind towers. Late game if she becomes an egg Anivia would usually be surrounded and raped anyway, yet it is only the late game that has changed.

Dr. Mundo

• Fixed a bug where Infected Cleaver's PvP.net description was incorrect

Fiddlesticks

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Interesting they are nerfing him now, he has become more common. Shouldn't put you off using him though, his passive means your opponent will still have less magic resist than you.

Irelia

• Fixed a bug where the Transcendent Blades cooldown tooltip was incorrect

Just a small comment here. It's not relating to this change. By god she needs to be nerfed. The 3 real problem characters at the moment are Irelia, Nasus and Renekton. All 3 of them are insanely tough, but can put out an amazing amount of damage despite this. I realize that cooldown reduction items have been hit in an effect to counter these, but I don't really feel any of the items hit are often used on these characters. The main problem, I believe, is their lifesteal. It just makes them near impossible to kill and keeping them out of lane difficult.

A few games ago I played Mord, and had a Jax by my side in a 2 v 1 solo lane against Nasus. I spent the entire time sitting between him and our creeps so that his farm was at an absolute minimum. Other than repeatedly killing him, I could not have made it any more difficult, and out of the 3 aforementioned characters, farming is most important to Nasus. Despite this, he still later destroyed my team. The feeling is that they always seem fed, even if they have done very little. It's an issue that needs to be addressed at the moment, more than any other.

Karma

• Spirit Bond now properly assigns assist markers to allies that receive the haste bonus
• Fixed a bug where Spirit Bond would break friendly spell shields and not apply the haste bonus
• Fixed a display bug where Spirit Bond's beam would appear at Karma's feet for enemy players

Kog'Maw

• Fixed a display bug with Bio-Arcane Barrage attacks on several skins

LeBlanc

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Sigil of Silence could persist after her target died

Nasus

• Fixed a bug where attack damage granted by Fury of the Sands was not showing in your stats/character sheet
• Fury of the Sands now updates the buff tooltip to explicitly state how much attack damage granted

Olaf

• Fixed a bug where Undertow could hit the same target twice

Pantheon

• Heartseeker Strike now deals damage slower - it takes 0.5 seconds longer to deal full damage
• Grand Skyfall now has a small area near the center that deals full damage (previously it was impossible to deal full damage to any target)

The HSS change is a somewhat bizarre one. They changed his stun duration so the HSS could not achieve full effect after a stun - doing this as well feels a little over the top. His original channel time was 0.8 seconds, so the added time is more than half of that, a fair bit.

Rammus

• Powerball speed reduced by about 15%

Probably deserved, previously Powerball could outrun ghost, now you might stand some chance of getting away.

Renekton

• Fixed a bug where Slice and Dice would remember your order after casting, causing him to move toward previous locations

Vandal Twitch: the as yet other unannounced skin

Ryze

• Overload
  • Cooldown reduced to 3.5 from 11/10/9/8/7
  • Base Damage reduced to 30/55/80/105/130 from 50/90/130/170/210
  • Mana cost changed to 70/70/70/70/70 from 30/65/80/95/110
  • Missile speed increased to 1400 from 1200
  • Ability power ratio decreased to .2 from .45
  • Range increased to 675 from 600
• Rune Prison
  • No longer deals damage per tick and deals 60/95/130/165/200 damage up front (down from 80/120/160/200/240 over the duration)
  • Ability power ratio changed to a flat .6 from .4/.6/.8/1/1.2 (depending on snare duration)
  • Now deals 5% of Ryze's maximum mana in bonus damage
  • Cast range increased to 625 from 600
  • Duration reduced to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 from 1.2/1.5/1.8/2.1/2.4
• Spell flux
  • Ability power ratio per hit reduced to .35 from .38
  • Cooldown increased to 14 from 9
  • Mana cost reduced to 60/75/90/105/120 from 60/80/100/120/140
  • Cast range increased to 675 from 625
  • Base damage reduced to 50/70/90/110/130
• Desperate Power
  • No longer grants ability power but now grants 15% spell vamp
  • Area of effect damage percentage reduced to 50% from 65%
  • Cooldown changed to 70/60/50 from 50/50/50
  • Duration changed to 5/6/7 from 8
  • Now grants a passive 75/150/225 mana
• General
  • Reduced base magic resistance to 30 from 35
  • Fixed a bug where Ryze's base mana regen did not get updated properly during the previous patch's revamp
   
  

Big remake here. The idea was to turn Ryze into a sustained caster rather than a burst. Many people are already complaining about a 'nerf', but the change to Overload could really hurt. Combined with a Lichbane, and Rod of Ages + Archangel's Staff now unbelievable items for him, prepare to feel damage. He still has some of his early game power, but seems to be more angled towards late game now. The addition of spell vamp to Desperate Power I'm unsure about. It may yet work, but I don't really see it sustaining him through a teamfight, which seems to be the intention.


Sivir

• Boomerang Blade
  • Damage reduction to each subsequent target increased to 20% from 10%
  • Now scales from bonus attack damage instead of total attack damage
  • Base damage increased to 75/120/165/210/255 from 20/70/120/170/220
  • Attack damage ratio increased to .95 from .75

 This is apparently a nerf, but the increase in damage is almost as much as the starting attack damage bonus that was taken away. It looks more like a buff to me, a very odd change that suggests thoughtlessness.

Tryndamere

• Fixed a bug where Undying Rage could not be used while suppressed

Many people have claimed this wasn't a bug but a feature, however this apparently was always the case until a few patchs ago where it was accidently changed. Alas, prepare to see your Malzahar's head cleaved in twain.

Vladimir

• Crimson Pact Bonus ability power gained reduced to 1 ability power per 40 bonus health from 25 health
• Sanguine Pool no longer grants a speed bonus on use
• Fixed a bug where Turrets would sometimes idle while Vladimir was pooled
• Fixed a bug where Sanguine Pool would occasionally not properly draw aggro upon exiting his pool

Makes him a bit more bearable but doesn't solve the fundemental problems with his design, but I doubt anything other than a total rework will.

Zilean

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Any nerf to Zilean is welcome for me, I hate the bearded sod.

Items

• Fixed a bug where Vampiric Scepter improperly showed it could build into Malady
• Sight Wards and Wriggle's Lantern wards now have a green top
• Vision Wards now have a pink top
• Doran's Shield
  • Fixed a bug where it said it provided 9 armor but actually provided 8
  • Armor increased to 10 from 8
  • Health regen per 5 seconds reduced to 8 from 10
• Frozen Heart
  • Combine cost reduced to 650 from 800
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 20% from 25%
• Glacial Shroud
  • Combine Cost reduced to 425 from 575
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 15% from 20%
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity cost increased to 700 from 550
• Quicksilver Sash magic resistance increased to 56 from 48
• Randuin's Omen cooldown reduction decreased to 5% from 8%
• Spirit Visage cooldown reduction decreased to 10% from 12%
• Soul Shroud cooldown aura reduced to 10% from 15%
• New Item: Morello's Evil Tome
  • Builds out of Fiendish Codex and Blasting Wand (Total Cost of 2350)
  • +75 ability power
  • +12 mana regeneration per 5
  • UNIQUE passive: 15% cooldown reduction

 The cooldown reduction hits don't really affect those it was aimed at, except maybe Spirit Visage. Boots of Lucidity did need changing though as they were stupidly cheap. Quicksilver Sash obviously buffed to make it used more, but it was always a brilliant item anyway. Now it's even better. Morello's Evil Tome is ok, but just an inferior version of Deathfire Grasp. That said, they are already looking at buffing it before it has been released. Riot's testing procedures do concern me sometimes.


General

• Added a new UI to better convey Shields on the health bar.
• Surrender time on Summoner's Rift reduced to 20 minutes from 25
• Surrender time on Twisted Treeline reduced to 15 minutes from 17
• Smite now deals true damage instead of magic damage
• Updated tooltips for Akali, Annie, Ashe, Caitlyn, Cassiopeia, Jax, Malphite, Rammus, Singed, and Zilean

 The smite change might not affect as much as you think, it means slightly more damage to Baron and Dragon. Be prepared to adjust for this. The surrender time change is interesting. I'm not a fan of surrendering as many people do it pre-emptively, but with the changes to the way IP is given out this might be less prevailant. It's very rare that a game is totally over before 20 minutes, but admittedly not much fun when it is.


Thanks for joining me this patch, and hopefully I'll be writing some new articles soon. Until then summoners, try and make sure you have Renekton solo and Irelia jungle every match!

League of Legends: Maokai Abilities and Analysis

Abilities:

Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward damaging and slowing his enemies.

Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.

Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.

Vengeful Maelstrom (Ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

Sap Magic (Passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, his next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing Maokai for a percentage of his maximum HP.

Analysis

You know what, I think he sounds really powerful. He can clearly lane, his passive gives him sustainability, his mines can ward against ganks and his Q + E combo could really hurt. It reminds me of a kind of reverse Alistair, where he uses his E to close the gap and then Q to headbutt back, rather than pushing back on the dash.

As well as this he could be a really good ganker for the same reason - a dash stun and a knockback could really cause some chaos. Perhaps the tree could be a jungler? Hilarious Riot. A potential little trick I imagine he could use is a bit similar to an AP Shaco's JitB traps. Maokai could plant a whole series of saplings then knock the enemy into the bush for some carnage.

Lastly, his utility is exceptional. Not only do his saplings grant great map control like a support, his ultimate may well prove to be one of the best defensive abilities in the game. It could prove exceptionally powerful against melee teams, but perhaps not so much against AoE teams, with the area effect causing your allies to cluster together inside it. Perhaps you could all hide in the small bush in front of Baron, all inside his ultimate, and launch a surprise. Time will tell, but I think he'll be one of the strongest characters released in a long time, he has it all.

Well, he has it all except looks. He looks a bit weird.

The 'Death' of PC Gaming

Heres a short article I've just written for my university newspaper, and thought you guys might enjoy it.

The death of PC gaming is a phrase I hear thrown around a lot these days, and not by people who play on computers. It seems to be the common opinion that consoles have completely taken over and there remains a last, battered few who still persist with the PC. I come before you as a PC player to explore the actual evidence behind this - am I part of a dying breed or a largely unknown yet thriving community?

Let’s start by having a look at some of PC gaming’s biggest giants. Routinely, when polls are held as to which developer is the best across all platforms, three come out on top – Blizzard, Valve and Bioware. These three also happen to be some of the biggest PC games developers. Blizzard, in itself, is a PC only company making huge titles such as the Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft series (including World of Warcraft). The console arm of Blizzard is Activision – the makers of most of the recent Call of Duty franchise. Their projected earnings for 2010 were around $4.28 billion, a staggering amount.

Starcraft 2: product of a dying platform? I don't think so.

Valve, as well as developing genre-definers such as Half Life and Counter Strike, provides the Steam service. Steam is a program that allows you to download and subsequently run games through it, including most large games released by any developer. Steam users at last count were over 30 million and Valve made an estimated $1 billion last year. Bioware are well known master story tellers producing Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. However, both Valve and Bioware have only made tentative steps towards console platforms. Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, had previously derided Sony’s Playstation but has now mysteriously changed his mind (I’m sure you can guess the reason we all suspect). Bioware are just getting round to releasing the phenomenal Mass Effect 2 on Playstation, but the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series remain the companies’ only stabs at the Playstation and Xbox. The developers seem to appreciate there is clearly a lot of money in the console arena, but their aim still seems to be to cater to PC users.

There is also an incredibly strong community within PC gaming. A perfect example of this is the game Minecraft. So far, by attracting the interest of the community alone, it has more than a million players and hundreds of mods being pumped out for it. What makes it special is the fact that it has not even been released! It is produced by the tiny, new developer Mojang Specifications, and is available to buy online and play as a beta version (the stage before full release). Modders, people who independently produce modifications for games, provide new ways to play any game and near infinite replayability. The mod ‘Defense of the Ancients’ for Warcraft 3 became so popular it has spawned an entire new genre of games, and Valve’s hit Counter Strike began as a mod.

I don’t look at it as the death of PC gaming, I see it as the rise of console gaming. PC gaming will always be more of a niche appeal, something that provides for a community of modders and dedicated players with their own culture. Consoles however, have far more accessibility, being both cheaper and a lot easier to use. It’s no surprise that this is a winning formula, but the ascendancy of one platform does not crush another, especially when it has the most dedicated user base of all. Whatever happens, do not write us off.

Counter Strike: a child of all that is good about the PC community.

10 reasons why 2011 is going to blow your mind.

Hi once again and, slightly late I'll admit, here are the games that I'm really looking foward to in 2011. Sequels are very much the theme, so if your a fan of any of the series listed, your in for a treat.

10 - Dragon Age 2

The first Dragon Age was just masterful. Bioware are the absolute epitome of what it is to make a thrilling story within a game, and the sequel has a lot to live up to. There were some gameplay issues with the first, for example if you took 2 mages the game was a cakewalk, if you took any less it was impossible. Any fixes to these would be welcome. The new graphical style, I'll admit, doesn't look very good to me, which is why I'm putting it at 10th.

9 - Crysis 2

To this day, since the release of Crysis, no-one has ever bettered it's graphical magnificence. Sure the plot was a bit cliche but the gameplay, particularly the unbelievably interactive physics, meant that it was such a spectacle it was difficult to see anything else. I like the look of the sequel more than the original - Crytek pledged to try and make a better story out of it and the setting is an urban one, which at the same time looks better than the jungle whilst not killing your PC if you put any anti-alaising on. It's supposedly easier to run due to better optomization than the first, but the fact it is going multiplatform is an understandable worry for PC gamers.

8 - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

 

Everyone's favourite slashing, womanizing witcher, Geralt, is back. The series carries a theme of being an 'adult RPG', which sounds rather seedy. There is a fair amount of romancing involved, but ultimately the adult refers more to the dark and serious nature that it takes. Frankly, the original was such a breathe of fresh air that almost nothing like it had appeared before, and to see it come from such a small developer (CD Projekt RED) as their first proper game was staggering. Genuinely, only Bioware can claim to produce RPG's with as much quality as the first Witcher. The Witcher 2 boasts a new combat system (I thought the old one was fine to be honest), some great looking, quicktime event themed boss fights and a continuation of it's unique plot style.

7 - Duke Nukem Forever

As Duke himself says in the trailer - after 12 years, it better be good. You know what, it actually looks like it might be. This is a game that is so legendary, I would buy it to mount it on my wall no matter how awful it is. It is the mythical holy grail of games, the Chuck Norris if you will. Nobody ever thought they'd see this, and yet it's coming. Everyone thought the final product, if it did come, would look like a horrible mash up between the various engines and graphical styles of the years it took to produce, and yet it doesn't. If you want to a man, if you want guns, aliens and to rescue hot chicks, there is nowhere else to go. Always bet on Duke Nukem.

6 - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Lets not beat around the bush. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had it's flaws. The AI was at times borderline idiotic, and when you levelled up a certain amount, rather than many new monsters that 'troll' has now become an identical looking 'angry troll'. That said, the modding community was huge, and with a load of mods running this game was brilliant. What it set out to achieve, that giant free-roaming RPG world but from a first person perspective was so ground breaking I didn't care about those things. What Bethesda have shown with the Fallout series since then, is that they have entirely learned from their mistakes. None of the problems with Oblivion appear in Fallout. If Skyrim takes all that was great about Oblivion and combines that with the good parts from Fallout, it really could be a genre definer.

5 - Defense of the Ancients 2

You probably won't see this on many of this other lists, it's coming in fairly somewhat under the radar, but any list that omits this is INSANE. Defense of the Ancients created an entire new genre by itself, a mod that was so good it spawned two full blown games (League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth), yet DotA remains the daddy. DotA 2 is being developed with Valve, and everything Valve touches tends to turn to gold. The formula for DotA works brilliantly and DotA 2 will likely leave much untouched besides the graphics. What Valve really want to grapple with is the notorious community. Generally there is a negtive atmosphere overhanging these 3 games, but Valve are implmenting systems such as rewards for helping new players to encourage positive gameplay. I really don't see how this game can be anything but a massive hit, considering how it's predecessor already is, and is just a mod.

4 - Portal 2

Portal was a triumph, I'm making a note here, huge success. It really was hard to overstate my satisfaction. No but seriously if you want a better example of a short but engaging and brilliantly scripted masterpiece, look no futher. If Portal 2 could even emulate the first it would be an instant buy, yet Valve are looking to beat it. Co-op was long thought of as the one missing piece from Portal, and yes, it's here. There is just so much untapped potential it beggars belief, with an infinite array of puzzles that can now be composed with a second player entering the fray. That's ignoring the single player campaign, which promises to be a bit longer this time around. Portal isn't just still alive, it's going to be killing you.

3 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

 

In terms of an RPG styled as an FPS, the ancient beast that is the first Deux Ex has never been bettered. There was literally nothing you could not do. You want to kill the integral plot characters? Do it, the game finds its way around it. Crysis attempted to emulate it's choice of stealth or action, but ultimately did not manage it at all. Deus Ex is the ultimate tactical game. You can do anything, anyway, all the while being treated to the breathtaking visuals and incredible interaction that this new outing boasts. In the year where a franchise as old as Duke Nukem is being revived, it is only fitting that Deus Ex, possibly one of the greatest games of all time, gets to have a go too.

2 - Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 2 was just so....so.....Bioware. It was beautiful. The story was so incredibly intense and compelling, yet the characters so relatable it is a journey you will never forget. With the ability to move your saves across each game, your decisions impacting upon the future, it's a journey you don't have to forget. Mass Effect 2 really made strides in terms of gameplay over the first, and if Mass Effect 3 continues this theme then we have one of the games of the 21st century. The trailer features the best CGI I have ever seen, ever. I know it's a cinematic trailer and proves nothing but I couldn't help but wee a little in excitement. Time will tell, but if theres one group you can trust to deliver the goods, it's Bioware.

1 - Diablo 3

No-one, not even Valve, can boast a track record like Blizzard. I'm not a fan of World of Warcraft, but even still, you have the Diablo series, the Warcraft series and the Starcraft series. Bam, just like that, 3 of the biggest series' ever in PC gaming. Blizzard are quite famously never rushed into finishing a game, and they proved last year they can always up their game, doing the impossible and beating Starcraft with it's sequel. Warcraft III is still one of the most highly competitive games in existence. Diablo 2 is now 14 YEARS OLD, I just can't believe that, and still has a large online playerbase. Just like Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 looks for all the world to be the next step. Both series' predecessors were arguably the best in the genre, Starcraft 2 is the world's pre-eminent strategy game, if you were going to place your bets on Diablo 3, saying it will be anything other than crazily good would be madness.

League of Legends Patch Notes v1.0.0.110 Overview

Hi again guys welcome to my patch overview, a little something I'm gonna be doing every couple of weeks as the patches are released. Those of you who play League of Legends will know how important the patches are as they tweak so many vital aspects of the game. Without futher adue, here they are with my analysis.

League of Legends v1.0.0.110

Karma, the Enlightened One

• Heavenly Wave: Karma sends forth hidden blades from her fans, dealing magic damage to units in a cone in front of her. Mantra Bonus: In addition to dealing damage to enemies, Heavenly Wave will also heal allies in the cone based on a % of their missing life.
• Spirit Bond: Karma bonds an ally or enemy creating a beam between them. Allied anchors have increased movement speed and enemy anchors have reduced movement speed. Enemy units that come in contact with the beam take magic damage. Karma strengthens the bond to double the effect of the movement speed modifier.
• Soul Shield: Karma summons a protective shield that absorbs incoming damage. Mantra Bonus: In addition to casting the shield, energy radiates out from the shield dealing damage to enemy units around Karma's target.
• Mantra: Karma empowers her next ability to do an additional effect. Mantra is available at level 1 and does not require a skill point.
• Inner Flame (passive): Karma gains increased Ability Power corresponding to her % of missing Health.

So far Karma looks like a great champion, maybe a little too powerful. I really like what they've done with her design for two reasons. Firstly, via use of abilities such as Spirit Bond they've made a support champion that requires skill to play, which is quite difficult. Also, because of the Mantra system, while her concept is very simple she has a second layer of depth that provides a level of choice good players can take advantage of. It's quite comparable to Renekton's fury system in how it achieves this. Her only problem is for a champion that has so much support utility she really does a lot of damage, a bit like Sona when she came out.

Akali

• Twin Disciplines no longer deals bonus damage to towers

Slight nerf but I imagine this was unintentional anyway. Akali should have Sheen/Lich Bane for taking towers anyway.

Cassiopeia

• Twin Fang range increased to 700 from 675

You know I used to feel that Cassiopeia was a useless champion but boy have I seen some do a lot of damage recently. It's only a small buff but they're trying to draw attention to what I've now come to realise is quite an underrated champion.

Ezreal

• Rising Spell Force now has a particle to indicate the amount of stacks
• Fixed a tooltip bug that stated Ezreal was gaining 15% per stack instead of 10%
• Fixed a bug where some of Ezreal's spells were displaying incorrect text on cast

Just graphical update and bugfixes. 



Galio

• Resolute Smite's area of effect size and projectile speed have been increased slightly

Slight buff, but he probably needs more than this. Don't be fooled, his ultimate is still an absolute killer, but since his nerf hes just become a flying R button.

Gragas

• Fixed a bug where Barrel Roll was not properly drawing aggro from towers and monsters

Bugfix.

Jax

• Fixed a bug where Jax would lose health while leveling in some instances

Bugfix.

Katarina

• Death Lotus
  • Base Damage per dagger increased to 50/65/80 from 40/50/60
  • Ability power ratio reduced to .25 from .3
  • Attack damage ratio reduced to .5 from .55

As an avid Kat player I was horrified when I heard they were changing Death Lotus, but I'm ok with this. Slight early game buff, slight late game nerf. I still believe they need to reduce the ultimate's channel time, maybe nerf it's damage a bit, and buff Bouncing Blades' base damage.

Miss Fortune

• Fixed a bug where Strut sometimes wouldn't show a particle while active
• Fixed a bug with Bullet Time where it would occasionally scale off of ability power instead of attack damage even though attack damage provided slightly more overall damage

Bugfixes.

Mordekaiser

• Fixed a bug with Iron Man where the tooltip said it had 5% decay but was actually 3%
• Shield generation increased to 25/27.5/30% from 20/25/30%

Only a small buff to his shield but one that he needed. Seems a little odd that they wrecked his shield and are now slowly putting it back the way it was. It really cries of a reactionary change made with little testing. However I mock those who think Mord is useless now. Even at his most nerfed I was still wrecking with him, I might write a guide on him one day. It's just a matter of build.

As a short little piece of advice for now I build either Boots of Swiftness or Mercury Treads depending on the situation. Then I build a Giant's Belt followed by two defense items, usually Thornmail and Force of Nature unless they are all AD or all AP.  Giant's Belt is then upgraded to Rylai's Crystal Scepter, followed by a Frozen Mallet, and finally a Guardian Angel. Recently I've been experimenting with Leviathan seeing as I always seem to get a lot of kills but it hasn't been too successful.

Olaf

• Fixed a bug where Undertow could not deal damage to the same target within 1 second of the previous hit

Bugfix.

Rammus

• Powerball slow duration reduced to 3 seconds from 4
• Powerball slow percent reduced to 20/25/30/35/40 from 28/36/44/52/60

Somewhat necessary. It won't make a difference a lot of the time as he'll taunt you at the end, but for when you weren't being taunted it really was quite a powerful slow.

Renekton

• Cull the Meek
  • Cooldown changed to 8 seconds from 12/11/10/9/8
  • Base damage increased to 60/90/120/150/180 from 40/70/100/130/160
  • Attack Damage ratio increased to 0.8 from 0.6
  • Healing reduced to 7.5% from 15% (Fury-enhanced heal unaffected)
  • Champion healing increased to 4x from 3x
• Ruthless Predator cooldown reduced to 13/12/11/10/9 from 14/13/12/11/10
• Slice and Dice armor reduction changed to 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% from 10/15/20/25/30
• General
  • Health per level increased to 87 from 82
  • Base health increased to 513 from 508
  • Armor per level increased to 3.8 from 3.2
  • Base armor increased to 19 from 17.2
• Fixed a bug where Renekton was gaining bonus attack damage while wounded

Massive, massive early game buff and slightly late game buff. The change to Slice and Dice makes him a bit worse at killing squishies but a lot better at killing tanks. I still really like his design, but they may have taken it a bit too far in buffing him, as he was only a little way off being good.

Shaco

• Fixed a bug where Deceive could be dodged

Bugfix.

Soraka

• Astral Blessing
  • Base heal changed to 60/120/180/240/300 from 80/130/180/230/280
  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.9 from 1
  • Buff duration reduced to 4 from 9
  • Armor buff increased to 20/35/50/65/80 from 15/20/25/30/35
• Removed Innervating Locket from her tips

Some people have complained about 'nerfing' Soraka this patch. To those people, what are you smoking!?!?!? 35 to 80 armour, thats HUGE! Yes it's only 4 seconds now, but thats almost a free Thornmail in terms of armour for what could be a vital 4 seconds. Combined with the heal  that could get you out of almost anything. Think about when your saving someone, they very rarely need more than 4 seconds to escape. If they do, their probably dead anyway.

Teemo

• Move Quick - Ability Rework
  • Passive - Now grants 10/15/20/25/30% increased movement speed until struck by a champion or turret
  • Active - Teemo gains double his passive move speed for 4 seconds. This bonus is not lost on hit

Nice idea, but I'm really not looking foward to more Teemo harassment. I hate the annoying little bugger.

Vladimir

• Sanguine Pool
  • Slow percentage reduced to 40% from 50%
  • Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 1.5 seconds
• Tides of Blood health cost reduced to 30/40/50/60/70 from 30/45/60/75/90
• Fixed a bug where Vladimir would lose health when leveling in some instances

Vladimir is NOT OP. This is the main issue that seems to be plaguing LoL at the moment. Hes very annoying to play against, but really not overpowered. Hes impossible to harass, but doesn't do that much damage and can be countered with intelligent play. Don't forget if you have someone with healing reduction like Miss Fortune or Katarina put them in the lane against him. I think these changes were fair enough. Tides of Blood really is crippling if Vlad's use it at all early game. He probably won't be a positive prt of the game until a total rework.

Items

• Boots of Speed now shows Ionian Boots of Lucidity as a build option instead of Ninja Tabi
• Doran's Shield
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Armor increased to 9 from 8
  • Health regen per 5 seconds increased to 10 from 8
• Doran's Blade
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Damage increased to 9 from 8
• Doran's Ring
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Mana regen per 5 seconds increased to 5 from 4
• Last Whisper cost increased to 2290 from 2090
• Fixed a bug with Lich Bane where the cost was inadvertently increased and the mana gain lowered
• Rabadon's Deathcap cost increased to 3600 from 3400

Huge changes. Lets get the smaller ones out the way. Last Whisper and Deathcap both deserved it, both were way too good for how much they cost. The boots display change fair enough. Now for the Dorans' items......wait for it........these changes are......BRILLIANT! Think for a second, before you cry about how the item you always take now is no longer the obvious choice. Surely that's a good thing. Players now have so much more choice, there is no obvious starting item, opening up so many more strategic avenues. You can go for Dorans' for early game dominance but now their not as good it might set you behind compared to other people leaping straight into their builds. Dorans' items also give you less health than a potion heals. They are still viable, just not the obvious item for everyone to get at the start.

Summoner Spells

• Rally
  • Fixed a bug where Rally provided ability power whether or not you had the mastery
  • Fixed a bug where Rally was granting less ability power and attack damage than it stated
  • Each unit now gains ability power and attack damage based on the caster's level, rather than each individual unit's level

Hasn't really changed much, still never going to be used.

Masteries

• Strength of Spirit mana to health regeneration converted reduced by about 33% and clarified the tooltip to show that it was regeneration per 5 seconds
• Meditation mana regeneration reduced by 40%
• Veteran's Scars health reduced to 12/24/36/48 from 15/30/45/60

In line with the rune changes about to follow, and I'll deal with the underlying more then. They are trying to promote more action early game, although whether this leads to more aggression or more defense due to less health is unclear.

Runes

• Clarity Runes reduced in effectiveness by about 33%
• Quintessences of Fortitude reduced in effectiveness by about 20%

A lot of people are going crazy over this, but they seem to have entirely misread what's happening. Underneath it explains how base mana regen is going up. With this, people using mana regen runes actually are not really affected much, it's a tiny nerf if you use regen seals and glyphs. It's more like a buff to characters who don't use mana regen runes than a nerf, and this is fine really. A lot of carries etc had to take mana regen runes which just seemed out of place.

General

• Fixed several spells that did not preload properly, causing a delay the first time used in game
• Adjusted many champions' PVP.net attack, defense, spell, and difficulty ratings
• Removed many PVP.net tags (like heal, stun, and pet) and made the remaining tags more accurate
• Updated many Champion's recommended item lists
• All Champions with mana had their base mana regeneration increased by 2.5 mana per 5 seconds and mana regeneration per 5 seconds per level increased by 0.2
• Dragon is now immune to disables

I've covered the whole base mana regen issue just above. The other changes are nice enough, I haven't really seen the new recommended items so I can't really comment, I'll have faith in Guinsoo that he knows what items are good on who. The big one here is the change to dragon. It doesn't seem like much, but I believe it means Blitzcrank can't pull him anymore, which was a unique selling point of Blitzcrank. I haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm pretty sure, and if so it's something of an indirect nerf.

Thanks for reading guys, I'll be back with with this when the next patch is out. Meanwhile we can be looking foward to Moakai and Jarvan IV!