Since I started airsoft, I’ve looked at shotguns and always thought they looked nice but were novelty items and as such, £130 to pay for them was a little steep. However, having now played for quite a while, it’s nice to see the increase in pistol and shotgun games being run around the country where players can play with the “novelty” items.
However, one shotgun that has tempted me time and time again is the Spas 12. Iconic in it’s own (some might say ugly) special way, I’ve always toyed with getting one and since the release of the cheap Chinese shotguns over the past 2 or 3 years, I’ve held out for a Chinese Spas 12 clone. Eventually my patience has paid off!
I stumbled upon a Chinese replica on Airsoft World this week and ordered it. however, it will require some work as it’s a two tone see through plastic one which isn’t ideal! However, for the princely sum of £25, I could get it and then spray paint it black and not be out of pocket to much if it turned out to be rubbish! (NOTE – I can spray it black to mkae it look like a RIF because I am UKARA registered – If you aren’t, do so is breaking the law! Please follow the rules laid down in the VCR act to keep our sport safe!)
It arrived today and I eagerly got it out the box and I wasn’t disappointed.
Alright, the colour scheme and see through plastic was a bit pants. but then I knew it when I ordered it. Possible the fact the box shows a black one means that a black one is imminent but after a few years waiting, I wasn’t going to let a see through shotgun put me off! Not when Krylon or other spray paint will solve that issue!
Impressions
For £25 this shotgun feels pretty solid. It’s a mag fed gun, unlike the TM Spas 12 which takes shells. Also this only fires 1 BB at a time, compared to the triple barrelled TM Spas 12 but when this is £100 cheaper than the TM, you don’t expect as much!
The cocking action feels fine but isn’t to tough like some of the other shotguns I’ve tried (my mates TM M3 is a real pig to cock – I think it’s because my arms are to short to sit on the slide and aim nicely). The magazine is a little fiddly to load, it took a few minutes to acquaint myself with it. The magazine is actually the gas parts – you unscrew the gas parts and remove them. You then twist the retaining cap on the base back to it’s original place, pull the BB follower down and lock it in place (by clicking the cap back round again. Fill the mag then place back in gun (at an angle so the BB’s don’t roll into the gun!) and then screw the cap back and then press the plunger in. Phew. Not something you’ll want to do under fire but the mag apparently can take up to 60 shots so you shouldn’t have to do it that often.
To load and fire is standard fair – cock it and off you go!
Power seems fine but obviously it need to be chronoed at a site. As far as I can see, like other shotguns, it doesn’t have a hop unit. However, this shouldn’t be to much of an issue. There doesn’t seem to be any sling points on the gun (except the tiny slot on the hand grip of the gun) so carrying it might be an issue.
However, overall this seems like a very nice fancy toy that will make an appearance every now and then. One of the reason’s I bought it is because it’ll top of my Half Life 2 rebel loadout nicely!
Well this is a game that seems to have crept under a lot of people’s radars. I’ve not really seen many discussions on it on the forums I’m on online and it seems a shame. I like the idea of the game as soon as I saw it previewed. So i took the plunge when the game was released and installed and started playing.
This trailer gives a pretty good indication of the gameplay and the level of customisation.
Initial Impressions
To start with, the game decided I didn’t have the required 2 GB of memory but it installed anyhow (which is good because the PC DOES have 2 GB of memory – it was showing as 1.996 GB in the system requirement checker for some reason but that’s not to much of a concern – I’ve just ordered another 2 GB to max the motherboard out). Install took a while but I guess that’s a given these days.
Starting the game, I had to create an account and link my serial code for the game to this account. At this point, I should point out that the game is a MMO (massively multi player online) game and does require a subscription. However purchasing the game does give you 50 hours free and 100 RTW points (which can be used to subsidise further game time purchases or buy stuff in game – RTW points can also be purchased for real world cash) which is plenty of time for some fun – I got my copy at Game for £16 (after a trade in and Game reward points) so a complete bargain!
On start up I was allowed to create a character – I ended up with my first character as being a member of law and order, rather than a criminal. The level of detailing on the character is fantastic! I was actually able to create a character that actually looks quite similar to me!
I know some people might want to create totally outlandish characters but I blame my current reading list for making me want to create a realistic persona (Snow Crash and Neuromancer). After selecting all I could about my character, I jumped in and played the tutorial.
The tutorial isn’t fantastic. It does explain the basics but there’s not really any help with keys and the like – I recommend reading the manual or the control settings whilst in game!
Gameplay
The game play is third person view, very much like GTA. However this suits it quite nicely and means you get to see your chacter in all it’s glory. And considering the amount of time you can spend customising your characters clothes and body art etc, this makes perfect sense!
Gameplay is split into two districts – the action or social district. The social is where you can purchase and customise cars, clothes, kill music and pretty much anything to do with your character. This doesn’t use any of your APB time so that’s good news for those that might spend ages here. Your APB time is only spent whilst in the action districts.
The action districts consist mainly (of what I can tell so far) of running contracts for contacts. You’re encouraged to join a group and run missions together but otherwise, you cant really interact with other players (well you can happily talk to the and interact but you cant shoot them). The shooting people bit comes from the mission running. Whilst on a mission or driving around the town, you may get an “all points bulletin” telling you that someone is doing a mission nearby and try and it’s your job to try and stop them completing that mission.
In this screenshot, you can see the people with green names above they’re head – they are your group. If the name is red, this means you are free to shoot them. Other players have gray names to show they are neutral to you. And yes, you can shoot out the side of the car whilst someone else drives!
The game play is quite fluid and goes on very nicely. However I wish the missions offers could be displayed for a little longer – they’re only available for 15 seconds which is sometimes a bit quick to see what you’re letting yourself in for!
The amount of guns is quite large but you have to unlock these, along with clothing so it may take a while to get everything unlocked and going. The customisations look like they’ll take a lot of time and effort (if you so wish), otherwise you can buy default gear or buy what someone else has made and is selling in the auction house.
However, the driving (I find) is quite difficult and every car I’ve tried so far seems to under and over steer completely randomly. Game play can be slowed down when trying to view a new item (however this generally occurs when you’re not being shot at so that’s not to bad!) as the program trys to get the image from the servers.
I’ve not really played enough yet to give it a more in depth view but so far, the game is showing a lot of promise.
Recently I noticed that my wireless keyboard has been playing up whilst gaming. For ages it has been fine to game with and normal day to day typing but a few times recently it has lagged and has caused me to lose some men in Dawn of War 2 that I wouldn’t have done if it had sent the orders in time. Now I like my keyboard, so much so, that I bought a wired one for work as after all, I’ll be using a PC daily so it makes sense to spend £30 on a decent keyboard. I use a Logitech Wave and I love the curve to it and the function keys are very helpful and the position of the media keys are also great.
Saitek Commander Game Pad
However the easiest method might have been to move the wired one home and move the wireless one to work. Obvious maybe? But I decided it was time to give the dedicated gaming pads a go and after some looking around, I settled on the Saitek Command Unit. I do have a Saitek Eclispse 2 keyboard already and whilst that is very nice for gaming, I don’t like it as much for day to day work because as I mentioned above, the Logitech Wave has various function buttons that make it easy to open programs and do tasks.
However, I bought the Command Unit off of eBay (brand new) and it arrived promptly. I then decided to test it out properly on Bioshock 2.
First Impressions
The device is solid weight and well built. I plugged the device in and Windows 7 recognised it and I was able to use it as basic keys to start with. However it came with the Saitek Command Unit software that allows you to change the default buttons (for each different setting) and this was installed to provide me with access to changing the keys to what I want. It would also allow me to set up key macros where a press of one button would actually set off a key chain of a few. Nice idea but I’ve not really got the games that would allow me to use this properly (except maybe Guild Wars).
Anyhow, with the gamepad installed and the software installed, I initially spend some time setting the actual pad up. The hat switch and the two buttons on the far right of the bad are adjustable – they can be moved up and down and rotated in a small arc so you can get your hand comfortable. With that done, I moved onto the software and getting it set right.
Software
Cyborg Software
On first looks, the software is simple to use. Well it would be if the software and the device actually told you the same thing. The software is split into the different columns with the rows that let you set the keys for each key on the command unit. It allows you to set the default command and with the shift command button pressed which means you have double the number of buttons on the keypad to press. This is simple and lets you quickly set the keys that you want. The command unit changes colour between the different modes – the unit has red, yellow and green backlights to show what mode it’s in. However the lights do not line up to the colours in the command unit software (which thinks the device has blue, green and red). After some trial and error, I believe that the green on the pad relates to blue on the software, yellow to green and red to red. However I could be wrong. As a result I’ve left the device on the middle setting and just created a keymap for each different game rather than coming a few games into one profile.
Once this is done however, it’s pretty simple to relate a key on the keyboard to the corresponding key on the device. Just click the box you want to change and press the key on the keyboard and then click the done button. That’s how simple it is. Profiles then have to be saved and loaded before you start playing the game. It will revert back to default after every boot so you will need to select the profile before you start the game (though it can be changed in game if you alt-tab out).
I’ve not tried the macro’s out. I’ve set some up but I’m not entirely sure how well they work (I set up the command unit to use some basic key presses that might open programs on my desktop like Win+5 to open my media player – in Windows 7, pressing the Windows key and a number will open that number program that is pinned to the taskbar). This seemed to have mixed results but looking back I might not have saved and loaded the profile and I was also trying to figure out what colour was what in the software.
Performance
I used the device to play though Bioshock 2 (which I’ve now completed) and it worked admirably. Once I’d set the controls, I managed to play through quite nicely and not having to stretch across the keyboard to select my heavier weapons was a blessing. Bioshock does make use of the F1-F8 keys though and I found I didn’t have enough to select these as well as my weapon slots but thankfully Q would cycle through my plasmids so I just had to cycle them to get to the one I wanted rather than pressing F1 or whatever. I believe this wont be an issue in other games as they’ll namely use 1-9 as the weapon keys (and normally I use the mouse button to select what I want).
Once or twice I did notice a sticky key effect where I’d press W to move forwards and I would continue to move forward after removing my hand from W. Not sure if this is the pad itself or the PC misinterpreting the results. It didn’t just happen with the W key though so it might be small issue. Certainly it only happened once or twice, usually in a big fight so I might have overloaded the device with many keypresses but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Overall it was very comfortable and having everything to hand is very nice. I’d recommend gampads in the future but would I recommend this one? Only if your looking for a cheap one I think to give them a try. The niggles are only small but it should give you an idea of if you like using gamepads or not.
I prefer it to a keyboard so I’ll be using it more in the future. Will be interesting to see how it works out in RTS games as I’d love to use the hat switch to scroll.
Well the new PC has performed admirably and whilst it copes very nicely with Dawn of War 2, I wanted a fairly modern game to try and tax my graphics card. Now when I saw that what Steam was running for free this past weekend, I jumped at the chance to try it for free.
Shattered Horizon
Shattered Horizon is an interesting idea for an FPS – rather than the age old “fight in a space station” somewhere, this shooter puts you outside in space. In zero gravity. This obviously gives you a whole 360 degrees of action and movement rather than the rather linear gravity based shooters where everything is essentially on the floor with you.
Not only the gameplay sounds good, but the graphics look fantastic.
However this comes at a cost – it’s a Direct X 11 game only so requires either Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run. No issues here as I’m running Windows 7 Professional (thanks to University discounts) , however readers might not have this.
First Impressions
Loading the game up and starting playing and the game lives up to my expectations. Considering I hadn’t heard of it before, I assumed it was a fairly simple affair and I wasn’t wrong.
There is only one weapon – an assault rifle that has fully auto fire and also a sniper capability. It also has an attached grenade launcher with 3 different grenade types (EMP, Explosive and ICE). Controls are fairly basic and just like in space, when you stop pushing forwards, you wont really stop moving forwards so the controls may take people a slight getting used to.
Gameplay is quite fast and frantic and there are a few different game modes, such as assault (attacking fixed points) and the standard death match. The levels are quite large and open with lots of differing routes around the levels.
After a While…
The space and zero gravity aspect works very nicely – whilst your assault rifle doesn’t have any kick back as such, firing it in sniper mode will send you spinning wildly. Therefore you can land on any scenery an secure yourself to it so you can fire as a sniper quite safely without spinning into a meteor field. With no health or ammo pickups, flying off into spaces isn’t really a great idea!
Ammo seems to be unlimited for the assault rifle but you need to reload after every 60 rounds. You have 3 grenades per life and the different grenades come in handy – you can time them to explode when you want and they can bounce off scenery. The ICE grenades are essentially smoke grenades, they make a large area unnavigable for a while. EMP disables a spacesuits control systems making the player move very slowly and the explosive do as they say!
All the technology you are wearing comes at a a price – the suits radar can detect your team mates and enemy alike. That is until you switch to silent running, where all suit systems are turned off so it’s harder to move, however you don’t appear on enemy radars. Check this video for an example:
However this comes at a cost – it’s a Direct X 11 game only so requires either Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run. No issues here as I’m running Windows 7 Professional (thanks to University discounts) , however readers might not have this.
Conclusions
Shattered Horizons is a simple FPS – for £15 on Steam, you don’t expect massive, genre changing, gaming. Yet Shattered Horizons manages to set itself apart from other FPS games with the addition of the zero gravity element. It all combines everything for a simple to pick up shooter.
Don’t expect deep character development or anything – this is a pure shooter which is pure and simple and addictive. It does feature a stats feed (mine are here), however due to the simple nature of the game, there’s not much to track (unlike Battlefield 2′s award and medal system).
Overall, well worth the money (I paid £7.50 as it was half price this weekend) if you want a shooter that is different to the current offerings.
This weekend I managed to get out and test some new gear and to actually play a game!
I went to my new local site, Grange Farm. My previous trips here have always been good fun and this was no different. This was the first time I got to use my SMERSH webbing and I was very impressed.
This is the SMERSH as it arrived to me.
SMERSH seems to be a the webbing of choice with current Russian special forces and it comes up time and time again in pictures.
I’ve been wanting a set since I’ve seen it and after some saving, I managed to purchase a set second hand on the Red Alliance forums. This webbing isn’t cheap. We’re talking about £100+ a set but this IS real deal kit and not Viper knock offs.
My first impressions of the webbing is it’s quite heavy. Without anything in, this weighs quite a bit, a lot more than my M23 Pioneer chest rig and probably heavier than my 6SH92. It is also very comfy, even with the weight.
The next game in the Halo line has been released last night. Halo ODST features you as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, rather than the old Master Chief character.
If you like Halo, you’ll like this. In essence it’s more of the same but that’s no bad thing for a winning formula. Small tweaks improve it what is essentially
I’m excited about this game and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the adverts that really got my attention (check out the attached live action trailer to see what I mean!) or maybe it’s the fact that I can dual wield my favourite guns, the SMG’s but this time, they’re silenced!
I was led to believe the name Tarkov means demon in Russian and that the talking is in Russian but after some more research, I now believe it’s actually Hungarian.
The name game mode is similar to Left 4 Dead but different enough to still be good – espcially as it mixes up the amount of enemies you face, add’s random difficulty multipliers etc. And you can play with 3 mates to make a squad of 4 ODST’s to take on the covenent. Very similiar to the last stand game mode of L4D but slightly less hectic!
Ok, it’s not a thinking man’s FPS like ArmA2 or even Battlefield in some sense, but then Halo was never intended to be this!
I would say the major downside for me is that ODST comes with a multiplayer disc which includes all the downloadeable content for Halo 3, which for those that have already paid for and downloaded it, is a real pain in the backside. Not enough new stuff was included on this disc really to make up for that, however if I’m honest, the multiplayer disc is somewhat extra to the new Firefight online mode and single player/co-op campaign mode on the ODST disc.
Anyhow, I forsee this taking up a reasonable amount of my time until at least COD: Modern Warfare comes out later this year.
Alright, so this isn’t a strictly true story (in fact it’s not true at all!), it does however make a very good film.
It’s a cross between a Western and a world war 2 film. This certainly comes through from the very beginning with the score being very similar to Ennio Morricone’s score for the spaghetti westerns. In fact in interviews, this was precisely what Tarintino was after in the filming and he in fact did want to call the film “Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France” but didn’t, instead settling for a chapter in the film to be called that.
The Bastards themselves are a group of Jewish Americans dropped behind enemy lines to sow discord amongst Nazi’s by showing them no mercy. Which works quite nicely. The second story arc focuses on a Nazi film propaganda première in Paris. Both story arcs clash explosively towards the end of them film in a very convincing fashion.
The film overall is quite comical. In some places I feel that perhaps it shouldn’t be funny, but cant help but laugh. I cant decide whether it’s supposed to be a war film, a comedy, a western or what. However regardless of the genre, the film is very well done, even if the subject matter is potentially controversial (well Nazis are in all war films but scalping Nazis? Thats possibly a bit controversial…)
Bit of a short (and bad) review but I cant think much else to describe the film, except that it’s well worth a watch. In my mind, it’s the best Tarintino film to date, replacing Reservoir Dogs.
As a long time PC gamer, I’ve always mocked consoles for the lack of extras they get and the assorted downsides to them, such as no keyboard and mouse control.
However I swallowed my words whilst at University, getting to play my housemates 360. The games had the downloadable content (ok, not to the same availability of PC mods mind) and were instant plug in and play. This was compounded with the DRM I was facing on my PC and with the cripplingly long install times for games – I want to put the disc in and go. Therefore I recently took the plunge and bought a 360 myself. And glad I did. The gamepad has taken some getting used to but the Live system is so much easier and better for getting mates together for games. It’s like the Xfire system for the PC but not everyone uses that but with Live, you are forced to all use the same system, so joining in game games with mates is as simple as 3 button presses.
One of the games I’ve had for a little while but loving it is Battlefield 1943. Available only to Gold xbox Live members (probably because it’s online only!), it’s a quick download from the Games Marketplace. It’s currently made it’s money back with the time I’ve spent on it.
I cant say I ever played BF1942, I only got into it during BF2. However it remains very true to the BF2 character. Character choices are simple, there’s only 3 classes and no unlocks so everyone in that class will have the same weapon. Don’t let this put you off, the extra weapons aren’t required. The maps are well balanced and it’s nice to see Wake Island (apparently that was a BF1942 map but I only remember it from BF2) appear.
It took some getting used to however last night I managed to get the top score in a server. Which is surprising due to the lack of experience I have with a gamepad and the ability of some of the players on the servers. However the excellent features of BF1942 come into play when playing as a party (Live calls it a party – a group of players who can chat to each other ala Ventrilo on the PC) and playing as a squad (the familiar Battlefield squad). Playing as a squad and with the chat provided by Live, the game really takes off. The best thing about party play is the ability to only speak to your team mates. These means 14 year old kids aren’t spamming the airwaves with crap so there’s clear communication between you. It’s a shame it’s such an effort to do anything similar on the PC. Storming the Mt Surabachi in the Iwo Jima level or the airfield in Wake Island, it’s so much better screaming war crys and tactical information with mates.
It’s what computer gaming was invented for.
Overall Battlefield 1943 is a good game. However it lacks in some respects. It is simple (no bad thing but sometimes a choice of weapons are nice – however thats where Battlefield Bad Company comes in…) and it’s multiplayer only (so there’s no easy way to practice in the aircraft before hitting the online servers). Also, after first purchasing, there did appear to be graphical “artifacts” at the start of each level but these appear to have now been fixed.
However as the game only cost about £8, these downsides can be ignored. It’s just a shame that they’ve already decided that it wont get extra downloadable content.
My JG tracer unit arrived today and I must say I’m very impressed with it.
I’ve made a video showing it in action (not much different to the Echo 1 posted below) but this one is mine.
The unit itself is quite sturdy but I’m a bit wary about the threads when you take the unit apart to put the batteries in. Bar that it’s a well built unit, with no barrel wobble and no jams or stoppages.
The muzzle flash is a nice touch and the BB’s glow nicely. However in the video I only use the BB’s that came with the tracer unit itself and thus better quality BB’s may improve the (already decent in my opinion) glow.
Now I just have to wait for a night game to use it! I like it mounted on my scorpion so much, it may become a permanent addition!
My order from eHobbyAsia arrived today and after going to the Royal Mail office to pay the VAT and Royal Mail handling charge (£5 VAT and £8 fees! Gah!), I got to check out the Scorpion mags that JG have been producing for their own Scorpion. Apparently these fit the TM one (which I own) and I wanted to try them and as I was ordering some plum MAG AK74 midcaps from Hong Kong anyhow (no-one sells them in the UK!!), I thought I would tag a few of these onto the order.
The JG mags are the normal size magazines, similar to the one the TM version comes with. I’ve always been a fan of these “normal” mags over the box mag as I think they make the gun easier to handle and nicer looking, but have been put off by the price of the Mauri standard mags (about £20 each) – These worked out at just over £4 each!!
The build quality of these mags seem quite good. They aren’t as heavy as the Mauri mags but I think this is because they are mainly hollow inside for the BB’s! Like a normal hi cap mag, these mags have a winding wheel on the bottom. I would have preferred a midcap/lo cap style with no winding and the winding mechanism only allows the mag to accommodate an extra 30 rounds (80 instead of 50) but beggars cant be choosers.
JG Mag on the Left, TM on the Right
The JG one is slightly longer. This doesn’t seem to affect in the gun at all but it does look slightly odd when it is in the gun, but only compared to the TM mag. Without a side by side comparison, there’s little difference. Fitting in the gun is a bit of a tight squeeze. The JG mags do fit but require a bit of “jiggling” to get them to fit nicely. This is likely to be reduced with normal usage I would imagine.
Filling is done through a hole at the front of the magazine. Then the magazine requires some winding as any other hi cap. Once thise is done I test fired the magazine. It fed well but did require quite a bit of winding. This isn’t a magazine to use if you don’t want to wind it. I probably had to wind on after every 10-15 round burst, however it made it easier to wield one handed as a pistol type gun.
Getting the mag out of the gun was fine, however it appears the mag release isn’t fully engaged, possibly due to the tightness of the mags in the mag well. This wasn’t an issue as the mag is tight in the gun even without the mag release fully engaged. I can only assume the mag catches on the mag is slightly larger or in a different place to the Mauri one.
Overall I think the mags are a good addition to the armoury and allow the Scorpion to be used a bit more flexibly. I think I’ll need to use them in anger a few times to get a proper measure of them but it’s the first steps towards getting decent normal size magazines for the gun.
Since I started airsoft, I’ve looked at shotguns and always thought they looked nice but were novelty items and as such, £130 to pay for them was a little steep. However, having now played for quite a while, it’s nice to see the increase in pistol and shotgun games being run around the country where players can play with the “novelty” items.
It arrived today and I eagerly got it out the box and I wasn’t disappointed.
