Blogs - Rawket

I watched The Walking Dead on AMC last night. Best zombie show I have ever seen.

I recently "acquired" the complete 80s hits for my ipod and it's awesome! Even though I wasn't alive in the 80s, I can see why these songs such as We're Not Gonna Take It and Don't You Forget About Me were such great hits. Synthesizers were in almost every song as well as those fake ass electric drums. But that's how the 80s were distinctive compare to the other decades. They still sound awesome today, at least for me.

Besides music, there were a lot of awesome movies at the time (listing my faves): Gremlins, Better Off Dead, National Lampoon's Vacation, The NeverEnding Story, Back to the Future, Full-Metal Jacket, Terminator, The Breakfast Club... man I could go on forever. I still haven't seen Raging Bull and Blade Runner. I should get around to watch them one of these days.

I remember listening to this one film critic on his podcast talk about his most memorable films of the decades. When he came upon the 2000s... he couldn't think of anything on the top of his head. I can't think of anything either.

Sad.

One thing I notice on moddb is that when a mod comes out, it never lives up to the hype that surrounded it during development.

Well, this is mostly true with HL2 mods. Neotokyo had a lot hype and when it was released and it died in a matter of weeks. It was actually more popular when it was still in development. Not sure what happen, maybe people had higher expectations for it? Another more recent example is Firearms: Source. When that game came out there were like 10 servers. All 32 slots, filled to the brim. But, like Neotokyo, it too lost it's playerbase. All there is left is it's small fanbase that were from the original Firearms mod.

I guess what I am trying to say is to not to have such high expectations for a game that may not be all that great.

Developed for the Unigine by Lukewarm Media, Primal Carnage is a team-based first-person shooter where you get to play either as the mercenaries or the dinosaurs. The game focuses heavily on teamwork, so just like Team Fortress 2 you get a selection of classes to play as depending on which team you join. So far, there are two game modes, Power Grid and Survival. In Power Grid, the mercs are to activate power nodes so they can power up a radio station. Pretty much like capturing control points. The dinosaur’s objective is to stop them. In Survival, players are pitted against computer-controlled dinosaurs with the objective to protect a moving object such as a train or boat from being destroyed. Once the players reach a certain point in the map, they will enter a boss battle that will test the player’s abilities to work as a team. If all the players die, the round is over and restarted.

You get a selection of five different dinosaurs to play as. Only the raptor, the dilophosaurus and the t-rex have been revealed to the public. Each dinosaur has a specific special ability that defines their class. For instance, the raptor is an assault class. They move fast and are able to pin enemies to the ground. The dilo is a supportive class, they have range attacks and are the only dinosaur able to escape from a net on their own. The t-rex is practically a tank that can dish out a ton of damage to the enemy team. Obviously, if you are looking for a scientific accurate representation of dinosaurs, you are not going to find it in this game. Especially when the dilo can spit acid!

You also get a selection five mercenaries. Each mercenary represents a class. Only two have been revealed so far. The scientist and the heavy. The scientist fills out as the team’s only sniper, she can take out high profile targets from a distance with relative ease. The heavy is a supportive class. He specializes in close combat and can withstand large amounts of damage. Unlike the dinos, the mercs can also drive vehicles. Not much is known about the rest of the team. I know one is called the Trapper and has the ability to launch nets at dinosaurs but that's it.

I love dinosaurs and I am glad to see another dinosaur game coming out, especially a multiplayer focused one. Unfortunately, they haven’t released any demonstrations of the gameplay, which is disappointing. I already see some balancing issues with people being able to play as the t-rex. That thing is huge and it’s going to pass off just like any other class like the raptor class? I guess I will just have to imagine it in my head for now.

Since the development team is independent, they are currently not being funded by a publisher. The team has been entirely working out of their own pocket so far and donations are definitely appreciated. So if you want to help, go and donate! Donating will get you into the closed beta depending on how much you spend. Ten dollars will get you in the beta. But if you were to donate twenty dollars, you will not only get into the closed beta but you will also get a copy of the final game once it is completed and released. Not bad! If you don't want to donate, it's no big deal. Just by signing up on their forums is enough.

I seen that zombie panic source has a black and white short comic posted on their site and I thought to myself, sure be nice if it was in color. I've been aching to do some photoshop work for a while, so what the hell, I started coloring them in.

This is what I got so far, I'm just going have one page finished for now since each panel takes me at least 4 hours to complete. What do you guy's think?

Well my memorial day weekend was certainty more interesting than last time. One of my relatives happens to own a lot of jet skis and brought them over where we were camping near Lake Lopez. Because of this, I was able to drive a jet ski for the first time and boy, those things can really move. Especially since one has a supercharger in it. After a couple of times where I lost balance and fell into the water, driving the things was easy. You just better know how to swim before you drive one because swimming in the middle of the lake feels a lot different (at least to me) than swimming in your backyard pool. Once I got the hang of it, I let er rip and held on for dear life as that sucker went 80 mph across the lake skipping over waves and jumping into in the air for a few seconds.

And now I want to buy one :C

At least they were, now paleontologists like to think they look like colorful chickens, totally not scary at all! What's up with that? Just because they found a bunch in china with the quill knobs now they assume every damn dinosaur had feathers all over their body. Also, what is up with the lack of dinosaurs in video games these days? Where is the game where you can control a dino and wreak havoc on humans? That would be tubular, right?

Well you are in luck! I just found a neat game that is coming out for PC and all console platforms called Primal Carnage by Lukewarm Media. It seems to be at the momment multiplayer focused where you can play either on two teams, dinosaurs or mercs. The dinosaurs you can play are the Velcoraptor, Compsognathus (AKA compy, little dinosaurs), Pteranodon (flying reptile), and T-Rex. Yes, you heard right, you can play as T-rex! Merc's on the otherhand, I do not know much about them and what they can do other than being able to use weapons and drive vehicles. I'm sure as time goes on they will add more dinosaurs to the roster. A game worthy to check out!

Game: Flesh
Half-Life 2 Mod
Survival-Horror
Single-Player only
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I have played many survival-horror games in my time. I love the feeling of being scared or paranoid and I eagerly search for games that will give me that experience. Nevertheless, it’s actually rare for me to be afraid of anything in a video game. I guess you can say I am a tough guy who is afraid of nothing. But, some games still succeed in surprising me. Survival-horror is just an awesome theme. They, like most of the category, each have their downsides. Usually the plot is about the same typical infection that turns people into hideous monsters that roam around a mysterious mansion that just happen to have a secret lab underneath and the occasional puzzle solving in order to progress to the next level. But, hey, that is what survival-horror is all about! It’s hard to think of something original for the player and still be scary. Most end up doing what the other games are doing. It’s not that I absolutely hate that in a survival-horror game, I know you can only be so original and be scary at the same time.
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Now on to the review: When I first heard of Flesh, I was excited. Finally, a game that isn’t about shooting zombies just to overcome obstacles and a third-person view to boot, you can’t beat that! I mean at least for a source mod, you always get a gun and shoot a couple of combine. But, upon looking at the previews of the game, it reminded me a little too much of the game Siren. A game that I hated for it’s tedious gameplay. The concept of having to hide from the monsters just simply turned me away. Since no matter how many times I kill them, they always get back up! I want to be able to explore without having to worry that some monster is going to be on my ass the second I am in the middle of looking at something. It's not scary at all, just annoying. However, I was willing to at least give Flesh a try.

You play a man, his name and where he is heading is unknown to the player. As you are driving, you come upon an apparent car accident and stop to investigate. You see someone shamble deeper into the nearby woods. Naturally, you go after him. I mean, you can't just get back in your car and drive off like I would. I was half expecting it to say Fin when I press the use key on my car. But you have to follow him regardless. As you follow a path down to a destroyed building in the woods, you come upon a seemingly abandon area with warehouses and a mansion directly ahead. There is no turning back now. It’s now up to you to find out what has happened here and escape with your life as well. As you travel, you will find notes and audio tapes that will become helpful in filling you on the story about this place’s dark history.

The gameplay is quite simple. Since you don’t have any weapons or the ability to defend yourself from these monsters and getting touched by them will kill you instantly, you will want to avoid them at all costs. Your character can crouch and turn off his flashlight, effectively making you invisible to the monsters unless you are in a well-lit area. Although, sneaking past the monsters are not too difficult, they are quite stupid. In fact, I was able to just run around them and they eventually give up chase. Some actually try to chase you but get stuck and just end up looking at the wall. Which is amusing, but this can and hopefully will be fixed in a future patch. You also have the mysterious ability to see through the eyes of the monsters which makes it easy for you to study their patrol routes. It will also let you know if there are any potential bad guys near you, which is nice to know when you are figuring out a puzzle. Speaking of puzzles, there are puzzles dotted throughout the game to break up all the sneaking you do. Some are incredibly easy to solve while some are frustrating and really force you to think. You should be able to figure them out though, unless you hate puzzles.

The sound is amazing. The ambiance makes you feel like you are really there in the woods or in a dark and creepy mansion. There is some nice choice music as you explore the areas that sets the mood of the area you are in. There is also intense music for whenever the monsters discover you, effectively letting you know they saw you. There are also some excellent voice acting found in the game, audio tapes are plentiful throughout so you may listen. I can really feel the emotion from listening to the tapes and I actually care for whoever is talking! I just wish there was subtitles for the hearing-impaired like me so I can understand them completely on what they are trying to say. Some parts of the game I can barely hear them talking from all the ambiance music playing in the background. Although, this isn’t totally game breaking, you can still play the whole game without listening to any of the voice overs.

Graphics are also excellent. It’s rare to see a game that can actually make you feel you are not in the same boring City17 again, typical for source mods. So I am glad to see some nice new textures and models in Flesh; they look very well done and professional. But, I still see some are directly from HL2, which I understand. It can't all be original. HL1 mods are the same way, but that's what makes it what it is: a mod. Animation is also new but the way you move and the way the monsters move around, it's sort of comical! I know, I know, it's suppose to be scary. I hardly care much for animations, its nice that it's not just the same animations from HL2: deathmatch, so it's better than nothing. The map design on the other hand is very intricate and detailed. I got lost in the woods, but they are very simple layouts once you explore every nook and cranny. The game also features some spectacular special effects that makes the environments become alive. As you progress throughout the game you will visit a wide vary of locations in the game that show off the incredible special effects that Flesh uses.

If you are looking for a new change of pace from your typical everyday shooter, you should give Flesh a try. It will take you about 2 to 6 hours to complete, depending if you are really exploring or already know where to go. I find this game very refreshing and interesting. I couldn’t put the game down once I started, I just wanted to know what happens next! But if you are just looking for another zombie shooter and don't really care for the story. This game may not be for you.

STORY: A
GAMEPLAY: B
SOUND: A
GRAPHICS: B

LENGTH: 2 - 6 hours

OVERALL: B+

I believe people need to be blunt in order to effectively critique something these days. I mean, diamonds encrusted in shit is still going to be shit. Shit that has perfume sprayed all over it is still shit. You can’t just keep sugarcoating things just so you won’t hurt other people’s feelings. Otherwise it‘s just going to end up flat on it‘s face. Won't they feel embarrassed then?

I learned that I have to leave my emotions at the door when it comes to creating something, so I won’t end up getting my feelings hurt. Because as far as I know, there is always going to be that one guy who doesn't share the same view as the others. I have seen my share of horrible models or textures in some mods. I don’t usually say anything, but when I read a comment where someone say, "omg its awsome!" and the creator agrees that its awesome, they are either A. saying it in sarcasm or B. they are absolutely insane.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand people can only be so skilled at something. But if the creator thinks there is nothing wrong with it, then there is something wrong with the creator.

So stay blunt!