Rusmil

Shattered Horizon – Review

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:

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.

Tags: fps, PC Games, Reviews, space

(Very!) Late GZ Weekender Run Down

OK, so a very late Weekender post! I’ve been carried away at work since I went to this so thought it was about time to mention it!

I arrived reasonably early on the Friday afternoon – probably about 2ish thanks to staying with family who lived locally. My first pain was finding the site – the satnav directions posted on ASCUK for the even told me to turn off the junction BEFORE the event and ended up directing me to a housing estate – not good.

However I made it and was then initially impressed at how the layout and the organisation had improved over the 4 years I hadn’t attended. The top field which we had once all camped in was now given over to the smooth running of the event – toilets, a fully licensed bar, a shop, the signing in tents and food vendors. Unsurprisingly it was all needed to cater for the many, many people attending (1,200+!)

Finding our campsite I started setting up camp and getting into the spirit of the weekend – chatting to my mates and meeting new people – unlike previous events as well there seemed to be a roaring second hand trade going on with people displaying any extra items to sell in front of tents as unlike my previous event 4 years ago, there was more moving about and chatting between teams and players.

Game Day

Saturday marked the start of the weekends games – all the players had signed up onto teams when playing and thus the 3 teams made their way to the morning safety brief at which point a plane flew over distributing propaganda leaflets! This had been planned by some of the players attending and because of this, they were given bonus points and the game hadn’t even started!

The games revolved around roving around the game site (huge game site!) trying to find items and also holding various positions at various times – points were also gathered from shooting “intel” holders and retrieving the intel they had. Base attacks were quite common.

The site is fantastic – for the first half of the morning our team held a ridge against enemy attacks as we struggled to hold to the hill for our first objective. We managed it and then successfully pulled out, netting our team some nice points. However I remember the afternoon games very much less organised – I got cut off and killed from my team mates and thus spent the rest of the day with other members of my overall team (rather than my mates who I’d been with all morning). I spent a fair amount of time dead in the afternoon – 10 minute breaks in the dead zones were actually quite a relief!

Night Game

I briefly did one night game, before feeling very ill and retiring to bed. For this I used my Scorpion and did the entire night game with just a scorpion and a small bread bag as webbing – nothing much else was needed! These games were single shot only which some players gave up and walked off when they found this out. However it was for safety concerns and I reckon it was a good choice. The games were much smaller – not everyone played the night games and those that did were split into 6 groups to play at 6 different sections of the site before being rotated around the site.

I got to use my JG Tracer unit and was very impressed with it. Yes it did give my position away with muzzle flash but it was well worth it. The single shot rule was a good rule as I managed to “bang” kill an opponent – as he turned away he knocked my scorpion which was pointed at him – he’d was close enough that I could tap him on the should when I banged him!

Sundays Game

Sundays game was brief – I left early as I had slept badly the night before but I played the mornings game which was very tense – I spent the morning defending the village with pretty much our entire team!

Overall the weekend was a great success. The games were a lot more organised than the previous event I attended and there was far less cheating than before (in fact I saw none this time!) which is much better.  Interesting to note that shotguns were a viable alternative to AEG’s in various parts of the site and it was interesting to see the number of players using shotguns!

I think it’s well worth a trip if you want to attend a massive weekend!

Tags: Airsoft, ground zero, Reviews, weekender

Inglourious Basterds Quick Review

Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France…

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.

Tags: Film/TV, Reviews

Battlefield 1943 Review

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.

Tags: PC Games, Reviews

JG Tracer Unit Review

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!

Tags: Airsoft, Reviews

JG Scorpion High Caps Review

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.

Tags: Airsoft, Reviews

Duxford Airshow "Flying Legends" and Museum – 11th July 2009

I spent the weekend down in Cambridge with an old housemate from university and on the Saturday, we went to the Duxford airshow.

It was the first airshow that either of us had been to and also the first time either of us had been to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford. Thankfully the weather held out for us and it was a great day and many others appeared to agree!

The theme of the show was “Flying Legends” and  thus the planes were of the Second World War era and before and was an amazing display of old planes.

Day Events

We got to Duxford reasonably early – about 11 when the show started at 2. This allowed us to look around the various stalls, living history groups and  the museum itself.

Starting with the museum, it has some fantastic planes in, mainly British and American. The dominating scene in one hanger is a B52 and in the other, the dominating plane is one of the Concorde (and one of my favourite planes, the Vulcan).  The Concorde is one of the pre commercial flight ones (the third one I’ve seen, the other two being at Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm museum in Wiltshire (this displays the first ever Concorde) and the other in New York in the Intrepid Sea, Air Space Museum)

Then flying show wise, we were treated to some amazing aircraft, the best on display being a total of 7 Spitfires! This display also had a Focke Wulf 190 which had the most amazing engine sound and a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

We were also treated to an amazing display by the Aerostars, a formation flying team that fly Russian (ok, Soviet) Yaks. An amazing display, but unfortunately my camera decided to not work for most of this section. That and I was amazed so I didn’t take many photos at this point!

Lessons Learned

Being our first airshow, neither of us knew what to expect.  However after spending the day there, we learnt a few lessons! Firstly, you’ll probably want a fold out seat. You may not get a great view at all times sitting down all the time but standing up for 4 hours straight can be tiring! You wouldn’t think it until you try it.

Second, take cash. Stupidly I didn’t take any cash and couldn’t use my cards – mistake!

Thirdly and lastly, sunglasses. Even if it’s overcast, it can be hard on the eyes to look at the planes. We struggled to watch some of the planes fly full circuit because of the sun behind clouds.

Unfortunately, it was an experiece that is hard to sum up in words and pictures and you have to attend to really get the best from. However a few of my better pictures are shown above.

Tags: military, Reviews

Kalash RK-03 Review (AKS-74)

My new toy finally arrived! It took a good while longer due to me getting it downgraded at the shop (Airsoft World) before getting hold of it but it saved me diving into the gearbox to drop the power of it down – still something I’ve not been able to do yet with any success.

Anyhow, I had been holding out for the release of the Kalash AKMS but decided I couldn’t wait and ended up buying this one instead. And I’m sure glad I did!

As an aside, I bought some real steel plum handgrips for this which annoyingly arrived at least a week before the gun did! With the arrival of the gun, I could dig it out, have a gander and then change the furniture over Which is exactly what I did.

First Impressions

When delivered, the parcel man asked where it had come from, as the parcel stated “Do Not Fly” – an ominous warning to those who didn’t know what was in it!

I promptly opend the parcel and immidiately had to laugh at the box – as the picture shows, it states that it’s not for use against humans – a shame as that’s the main reason I bought it for! Ignoring the warning, I then opened the box. The sight that greeted me was very good. The wood looks a bit pants but as I had plum furniture to put on, I wasn’t majorly fussed.

I hadn’t read the Airsoft World page very well so when I noticed it had a sight rail, it was a bit of a (pleasent!) surprise. A purchase of a Kobra red dot sight maybe on the list for a future purhcase.

The AK also comes with a sling – I’m not sure if I trust it but it’s nice to see it’s a copy of the real Russian slings (with a buckle at one end and a clip at the other)

Out of the Box

Getting the gun out the box, I was surprised at how heavy it felt.  It’s a clone of the VFC model and it shows. The gun is absolutly rock solid, no wobbles or anything, something I’ve come to expect from folding stock guns, even AK’s to a small degree.

Getting the attached battery out, I attemtped to shoot it but the battery was (obviously) flat – getting my other stick battery out, I gave it a quick go and all seems fine – cant really measure the RoF but it’s good enough, if not higher than what I need – I run my full stock  AK 74 on 7.2V batteries to try and drop the RoF to mimic the real RoF of the AK.

Having the gun out, I decided to put the real steel plum handguards on. Here’s where I got confused – the AK strips down like the real gun. There’s no screws to undo here. In fact it confused me so much, I needed to find instructions. I used this excellent guide. Certianly it applies for the front of the gun but not sure how it compares to the rear and thus the gearbox.

New Furniture

So with the gun in pieces, I added the new furniture – it required some modification to fit on. The lower handgard just required some filing so it would fit into the AK but the top handguard was a real pain. Internally, there are some reinforment strips which reinforce the guard – this needed to be removed so the furniture would fit. However, I finally fitted them and got the final product!

My only downside is that I’ve got a black pistol grip – the real steel ones don’t fit airsoft AK’s without quite some modification (due to the motor) and the Kalash didn’t come with a plum grip as some of the other cheapsoft makes do. I know Gunner have a plum set but it’s for the entire set. I’ll bide my time and see what I can get.

In the mean time, I reckon this is the best AK I’ve ever owned and I believe it’ll rapidly become my most used gun.

Tags: Airsoft, Reviews

ArmA2 – Continued

Right, after my initial impressions – see my post, ArmA2 – Initial Impressions, I’ve managed to get the game working nicely so I can now play the game and I must say I’m fairly impressed.

As you can see in the above picture, I’m in a  vehicle with Russians – this is a major plus with ArmA2 – you have the single player campaign, along with the extra scenarios which are good fun.

In addition to the single player campaign and scenarios, you have the armory.  Roaming the world with a weapon of choice, with challanges thrown in to unlock the other weapons within the armory – some challanges are hard to achieve! However some of the best ones are the clay pigeon/skeet shooting challanges – espcially when your a BMP-2 gunner or on a mounted DShK machine gun!

The game is huge, I believe this will take up a large portion of time to play, espcially with all the side issues.

As a note, the planes are a real pain to fly!

I seem to have sorted out the issues I’ve hard. I updated to the latest nVidia drivers and I dropped the quality back a tad (even though I hadn’t touched them from the recommended settings) – Now it’s working, I intend to play with the setting so I can get the highest I can with no problems.

Tags: PC Games, Reviews