Ready Player One review

If you've ever enjoyed playing a role playing video game (RPG),  then you probably know the feeling of getting lost in its virtual world.   Game like   Skyrim  and the online World of Warcraft create worlds that you want to live in. These virtual worlds feel better than the real one.  That's because the real world can suck.  The virtual world is one you can control and find happiness.  This theme of favoring a virtual world versus the real one has been covered in the documentary Life 2.0 (2010)  and now in the film directed by Stephen Spielberg called  Ready Player One.

It's 2045, and America is a overpopulated and dystopian mess.  People get away from their troubles by playing in a virtual reality world called The OASIS.   This internet network was created by James Halliday  (Mark Rylance) who's part Steve Jobs and a big lonely geek.  Rylance is simply extraordinary.  He transforms himself from characters in Dunkirk (2017) and  Bridge of Spies.  (2015) into the awkward,  and sad geek.

In this world is Wade Watts  (Tye Sheridan) , a young kid who escapes his existence of living in a slum of stacked trailer homes by playing in the OASIS.  Halliday had died years before but in his will he left a way for anyone to inherit the Oasis by planting an Easter Egg, which is a hidden message, or feature in a video game.    Halliday left clues which included some left in his love of late seventies and eighties pop culture.  Wade devotes his life to finding the Egg.  One of his competitors, is the sexy Art3mis  (Olivia Cooke) who Wade has a crush on.   Unfortunately, a corporation called Innovative  Online Industries  (IOI) which wants to take over  OASIS also wants to find it.

Based on the novel of the same name, writer Ernest Cline  along with Zak Penn stuff this film with a ton of eighties pop culture references.  Look  for Star Trek, Back to the Future   and Excalibur (1981) nods. This tale being about virtual worlds there are nods to video games and systems.  The eight bit console Atari 2600 is featured.  Alas, the infamous E.T. video game and classic movie E.T.  are not.   Spielberg decided not to feature any of his film woks  which differs from the book.

The screenplay and story resembles a cross between Life 2.0 and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate  Factory  (1971).  Cline who also writes screenplays decided to stick more to a cinematic telling of his story.   Sometimes it works and other times he doesn't do enough to explain what is going on.  I mean the characters are not only looking for the Easter Egg but three keys.  And how these keys work require a gamer's guide.  Still, the film works when real people are in the Oasis where they find adventure and romance. 

Spielberg constantly reinvents himself.  I could tell you what a Spielberg movie looked like in 1980.  Big close ups.   Over the top, dramatic shots.  And while Ready Player One does have some epic shots, there are other shots that are more intimate.  I also like the way the CGI is used to depict the virtual world.  It's more animation than realistic.  That'probably is to tell the audience the difference between the virtual one and the real world.   Yet, it's the film's virtual one that is the most interesting.  Like I said, it's an  opportunity for a person to forget his real troubles and find a better world.  And it's this virtual world where one finds friendship,  adventure and happiness.

When I watched Ready Player One . and how IOI wanted to take over  OASIS, it reminded me of the current situation where there is an end of net neutrality. Science fiction often mirrors the real world. Ready Player One is a rollicking and heartfelt adventure The grade is A.

Tomb Raider review

Yeah, you've heard this before, movies based on video games are usually bad. Will the new Tomb Raider loosely based on the 2013 action-adventure game of the same name fare any better? Well, I've played the 2013 game. So, I have a unique view of this movie.

Tomb Raider starts out by showing us that Lara Croft (Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander) is living the life of a pauper and shunning her earlier life of wealth as daughter of Richard Croft. (Dominic West) He's gone missing and the Croft business wants him declared dead so she can inherit the estate. When she eventually decides to agree to declare him dead, she discovers that he went missing searching for the mystery of Himiko, an ancient emperess of Japan. She finds out that he left Hong Kong for the island of Yamatai. Lara goes to Hong Kong and hires Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) to take her to the island which is located in the south pacific in the Devil's Triangle.

This movie has a bunch of problems. The first is the script. There's no need for the story to waste time on the plot thread about Lara's life as a poor person. That takes about ten to fifteen minutes of them movie. It's a drag on the film from the beginning. Add to that the needless theft and chase scene in Hong Kong and the audience is going to struggle to stay with the movie when it gets better. That occurs when Lara finally gets to a tomb. And I don't appreciate the fact that she's uneducated. I would have preferred her as a young archaeologist. It would have made the movie more believable when she solves some of the tomb's puzzles. Then there are way too many dark scenes. Yeah, I get it. We're in a tomb but this is a movie. Light it better so the audience gets a better idea of what is going on.

I've stated above that I've played the 2013 game. The game is better. Why? Because playing Lara on the island of Yamatai allows you to explore. It's big, open and at times beautiful island filled with tombs, jungles, waterfalls, and mountains. I didn't get that from this movie which felt like a cheap action picture.

Tomb Raider follows the consistent trend that movies based on video games usually stink. It's not terrible but not good either. Wait for this movie to hit your cable service. No need to rent it. The grade is C Plus.

I'm not buying Destiny 2

I'll admit I was a Destiny addict.  In case you don't know, Destiny is a first person shooter, massively multiplayer online. role playing video game. Or try saying MMORPG FPS video game. Whew. But my addiction was broken and I'm not buying Bungie's game.

Here's why I'm not buying Destiny 2. The first Destiny had major problems. The story lacked exposition. Remember the Stranger. Yeah, she had the great line, "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." So you didn't care about anybody or anything in the world. Then there were the Raids. These were large form missions that you needed other players to perform They were sadistic. Because many times if one player didn't perform his task in a puzzle of a raid then the whole raid would fail. That led to the other people yelling at the guy who screwed up. And yes, I've messed up. So, it was me at times. Finally, there was the nerfing of weapons. Nerfing means that a developer will weaken a weapon or power. In the first Destiny, if a weapon or power became popular, Bungie would nerf it. So all the work you put to getting that great gun was for naught. This led me and other players to say, "F...k you Bungie."

Now if Destiny 2 fixed the sadistic raids and the nerfing, I might reconsider. But in the future, I'll look to the new Wolfenstein game.

Is Microsoft making the same mistake with XBOX One X that it did with the original XBOX?

At this year's E3, Microsoft has rolled out its now console, the XBOX One X. That's a mouthful. The name also lacks imagination. Anyway, it will cost a whopping $499. So what does the consumer get for shelling out all that cash. Okay, you get 4k gaming. But how many 4k TVs are out there? It is also the most powerful console ever. Beta News.

Um... the term "most powerful console" should sound familiar. When Microsoft went after Sony's Playstaion 2 with the original XBOX, it featured a console that was more powerful. Sony pwned Microsoft. Why? Sony had a great library of video games. SOCOM, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. And on and on. The PS 2 was also backward compatible with the original Playstation. Against that what did Microsoft have? Not much. But it did have Halo. If it weren't for Halo's Master Chief, I don't think XBOX would have survived. Later, Microsoft did strike gold with the XBOX 360. How? Games and online mastery.

Viewing the XBOX One X's video, I'm not excited. Microsoft seems to be making the same mistake it did with the original XBOX. Where's the emphasis on the games? Specifically, what will the games look like on this console. Yeah, the video below hints at some games. But it's not enough. I see glimpses of Mster Chief. Okay, how about some actual gameplay footage? Come on Microsoft. You'll have to show the world what this machine can do.

My reintroduction to this song from Kool and the Gang

I was vaguely aware of this song. But when I played Grand Theft Auto, I believe it was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I got to know it again. The song was "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool and the Gang. You can dance to it at the club. Thank you Lentarian for posting this on Youtube.

The Problems with Mass Effect: Andromeda's hilarious animation and graphics

I've been playing Mass Effect: Andromeda and burst out laughing when I saw some of the animation of game play and cutscenes. Stories about the bad animation with the game have been spreading around the internet for months. Well, it's true. Some of the graphics are terrible. Watch this xLetalis video comparing Mass Effect: Andromeda with the original Mass Effect released in 2007.



Here is some more video of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which is even funnier.



So what's causing these problems with character animations?

1. Bodies and faces are badly designed.

I'm not going to post every article by feminist hating writers that say Mass Effect: Andromeda's women were made "uglier" But check out this article from The Sun which features pictures of the model Jayde Rossi who was the template used for the main female character Sara Ryder. Now the male model Steven Brewiss who is the template for the main character Scott Ryder looks just as much as the hunk in the game as he does in real life. However, it's obvious that modifications were done to make Jayde Rossi's face less attractive. Somebody gave her thicker lips, a more angular, larger nose and a puffy face. If I were Ms. Rossi, I would sue. I would agree that it looks like BioWare made the women uglier.

And what about the body design? Well, on both male and female characters, the arms seem too long. Character Cora Harper whose supposed to be a bad ass Biotic has a bizarre body. She's short, has way too thin waist but a large bottom with very wide hips. Here's the image. And to boot, you could stick her head on a man's body and it would not look out of place. Just change the hair. Okay, it's not that bad but there's something going on here. Update. I've been playing the game and Cora's bizarre body appears when she's on planets not in cutscenes or on the ship Tempest.

Is this the revenge for Miranda from Mass Effect 2 and 3? By the way Miranda looks like actress Yvonne Strahovski because that's who she was modeled after. But I digress. Look, the effect of ugly faces and weird body types is two fold. When Asari Peebee jumps ontop of you and sticks her mug in your face, you will literally yell. Their faces make you laugh when you shouldn't be. Second, I've noticed that Cora can walk bowlegged at times. The long arms are not animated and the whole effect makes her act like a string puppet rather than a human being.

This attempt by BioWare and EA to be politically correct will backfire. Look, I am a liberal but a politically incorrect one. Video games are art. And most of them are fantasy in that they let you become the hero. This is especially true in Mass Effect since you can make the lead character look like you. And the male gamer and female gamer who maybe is a lesbian gamer wants to woo the gorgeous woman. Yeah, I get the feminist view. In real life, women don't look like they do in most video games. This isn't real life. Actress Gal Gadot is beautiful. Should they have picked somebody uglier to play Wonder Woman? Don't get me wrong. Not every film or video game should be forced to cast a beautiful woman. But let the part dictate it.

2. Mass Effect: Andromeda doesn't understand how the face and body works. I don't know if they used motion capture or not but it looks like BioWare didn't. I mean going back to Cora, she walks with her buttocks way out with those long arms. It's not natural. Sometimes the arms don't move as she walks.

However, it's the emotions on the faces that fail the game. I'm sure somebody at BioWare understands the art of acting and how it can be portrayed by computer animation. For this game, it seemed like that person at BioWare was on vacation.

Actors perform with not just their voices but their faces. And one's face moves in multiple ways to convey emotions. Just watch the great Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal. (2006) You don't even have to listen to her dialogue to figure out what she is feeling. And a lot of the reaction in her face is subtle. We don't see this in Mass Effect: Andromeda particularly in cutscenes. Faces look like mannequins. Frozen. Then there are times where eyes move back and forth for no reason. It's hilarious.

But can acting be caught or portrayed in a video game? Yes. Just check out L.A. Noire, a game that came out in 2011! Here's a trailer for that great game.



Yeah, L.A. Noire used 32 high definition cameras to motion capture facial emotions but the concept is still sound. I'm sure BioWare could have done some of this without breaking the bank or at least have an animator put more attention into the facial performances. . I don't know if BioWare was trying to save money but this is a AAA game. They certainly didn't spend it on big name stars. Maybe next time BioWare should have somebody objective look at the product before they put it out.

Fallout 4: Destroy the Sentry Bot at the National Guard Training Yard easily

Playing Fallout 4? Here's a tip to destroying that nasty Sentry Bot at the National Guard Training Yard after you get into the armory and discover that sweet power armor. When you get out of the armory, Mr. Sentry Bot has gotten out of his bunker and attacks you. Well, do this. Run back into the barracks, the building you exited to go to the armory. The Sentry Bot follows you but gets stuck in the first part of the barracks. Now, use the debris for cover and unload on it with your favorite weapon. You destroy it in no time.

Fallout 4: Destroy the Legendary Assaultron at the Electrical Hobbyist's Club Tip

If you play Fallout 4, you may have discovered the shack called the Electrical Hobbyist's Club. It's surrounded by high levels of radiation. Chances are you will have to use a Hazmat suit to go into it. There's a nice laser rifle up here, so it's well worth checking this place out. As you loot the top floors, you will discover there's a cellar.

The Cellar.

Watch your steps as you enter the cellar. First notice the bobby trap at the bottom of the steps. It will fire a rocket from a missile launcher if you set it off. Disarm it. That's the A button for XBOX players. Directly left is weight scale. That will set off the Legendary Assaulttron who will likely kill you since there's very little room to manuever down here. Worse yet, if you destroy it, the thing will set off an alleged nuclear explosion. I say alleged nuclear because I've just found a way to survive the explosion. Disarm the scale. Mr. Assaultron stays asleep.

But first, let's disarm the remaining traps. There's a trip wire in the terminal room. Directly to the left of the door to this room is a turret. I disarmed a trap to the right of the door. Ran back outside. To the left of Assaultron, is a hole in the wall. I took out my sniper and shot at the turret to destroy it.

Okay, let's get to the point. You want to destroy the Legendary Assaultron without killing yourself. Go back to the stairs. Take out your sniper and shoot at the thing until it's down to little health. It starts to catch on fire. Check V.A.T.S. to examine its health. Take out two fragmentation mines and put them around it. Go to the terminal room. Access the terminal. Activate the Assaultron. Go to the corner away from the hole in the wall. That's the corner next to the terminal. The Assaultron will move and set off the mines. It dies and explodes. You survive. At least, I did.

Loot the body. Since this is a Legendary Assaultron, there will likely be a nice reward. I got the Quickdraw Revolutionary Sword. It has 22 damage and its speed is medium. More importantly, it "Costs 25 percent less Action Points." I'm sure this is worthwhile to you players who prefer a melee build for your character.

Why you should not play Destiny. The Taken King review

Look, I'll admit I play a lot of the video game Destiny so my review of the new DLC (downloadable content) "The Taken King" and the game may seem written by a fanboy. But unlike other reviewers, my opinion is not dependent on whether Destiny succeeds or in support of big business. And frankly, I have a love-hate relationship with the game. That being said, I've really kicked the tires of this game and can support my review with details from hours of gameplay. You see I've played every major mode of the game from the campaign to the player versus player (PvP) event Iron Banner to the game's epic co-operative mission raid, "King's Fall." With Halo 5's release and Christmas video game shopping around the corner, the question becomes should anyone play this game?

Destiny: The Taken King is more than just an add on. It's a complete reboot of the game. Instead of armor determining how much damage you will deliver to the enemy and how much you can take from them, it's now an average of your weapons and armor strength. That's a Light Rating. You still have levels but that's only relevant as to what weapons, gear, and missions you can access. If you played in year one and maxed out your armor to number 34 and used powerful weapons, you found out that your new light rating was NOT maxed out. Instead you found out you were basically starting out at a very low light rating. So, you were basically starting all over again. More on this later.

Too Little, Too Late.

Here's what Destiny gets right. Again, it's the gameplay. No changes were done to the games excellent gun mechanics. Firing guns and killing aliens is a blast. Developer Bungie had plenty of experience with the Halo series. And of course publisher Activision has the Call of Duty series to lean on. Jumping and the use of jetpacks gives you the ability to strategically escape and attack from other areas. Mission design is better than the previous two DLCs due to new areas to explore.

The player versus player (PvP) mode is also very good. New games like Rift and especially Mayhem are fun. Mayhem is a blast because one's supers regenerate quickly making all players dangerous not just the elite ones. It's like a pie throwing fight. While the new maps favor long distance fights, they are for the most part understandable except for the confusing Vertigo.

The story to the DLC, "The Taken King" is better. It's more compelling. In the game, Oryx, a Hive ruler, is coming to our solar system to take vengeance on you for killing his son. There's an epic space battle depicted that is a thing of beauty. The Awoken are seen in their fighter ships attacking the fleet of Oryx. It's so good it made me wish they put a space combat flight mission in the game. Anyway, it's up to you to stop Oryx and prevent him from "possessing" or controlling the human race. He's already possessed or "taken" some of your enemy alien races. I'll admit the "Taken" are scary but cheaply drawn. They're basically ink blots molded in the shape of some of the previous alien baddies.

Voice actor Nolan North is now the voice of the Ghost, your AI companion. He's very funny and he gets the material. He did record Peter Dinklage's prior Ghost recordings and he's no better in those year one scenes. But his stuff for "The Taken King" is very good.

And I've got to say Bungie does give the fans a tiny bit of what they wanted. They've increased the vault space to seventy two slots for both categories of weapons and armor. And you can turn in bounties from anywhere. oh... joy.

Here's the way I feel about turning in bounties from anywhere.


EVERYTHING OLD IS NOOB AGAIN.

But there are so many things wrong with Destiny: The Taken King, that it's hard to include all of the issues. Let's start with the big problem. How you treat your fans is important. And Bungie treats its experienced fans very badly. The big problem is that Destiny: The Taken King resets year one players to a weak position.

Let me explain how Bungie screws year one players. I'll use my created characters as an example. Before year two, my Titan, Hunter and Warlock were level 34, the highest level in the game. They had max weapons at an attack rating of 365. With The Taken King, my weapons were reset to an attack rating of 170. In the new DLC, I've seen high level year two weapons at 310. But it gets worse. Those year one weapons and armor were made obsolete. Bungie did not and will not ascend maximum level year one weapons and armor to the maximum level of year two. In essence, they made me a noob (new game player) all over again. That means I have to grind my way back to the top again.

If you were a player like me, you had a nasty surprise when you went against the enemies in Destiny. Instead of being the bad ass that you created, you found out that your year one guns did very little damage against Destiny's baddies. For example, the patrol mission where you take out a high priority target, is usually easy for me. A few shots from my scout rifle. Target down. But now I was at 34 facing a target at 40. Ten rockets and thirty minutes later, I did it. Painful. Second, your powerful year one weapons that did elemental damage are now useless. And as I predicted, you did not get elemental damage primary weapons off the bat. So you start again as a noob, slugging it out against shielded enemies without matching elemental damage. In fact, Bungie has recently announced that legendary primary weapons will no longer have elemental damage.

There's also a big difficulty spike with the new enemies. The Taken have remarkable offensive and defensive abilities. Some shoot damaging fire mortars. Cabal Taken have the ability to shoot bursts of energy to damage and throw you off platforms which can cause you to fall to your death. Then some Taken fire constant rolling balls of darkness which cause a black screen and damage. Like Fallen captains, multiple Taken can transport and do so frequently. They can throw bubble shields and tether allies to make their shields stronger. Oh , yeah, some of the enemies have elemental shields. But there's one more even stronger ability for the Taken. Some of them can reproduce like bacteria but only at super speed. Annoying. Against these guys, you have your simple kinetic damage primary weapon. Still feel like a year one bad ass?

THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN...

Destiny: The Taken King doesn't correct some of the major flaws of year one Destiny. And in one instance, the game makes a mistake from last year. First, the two major co-op missions have no matchmaking. You must form a team to play the Nightfall strike and the epic raid, "King's Fall." Okay, you could solo the Nightfall but do you really want to spend a whole day on one mission that you will likely fail?

One of the reasons, this review is late is because I wanted to play and finish the King's Fall raid. And the big reason it took me this long is that I could not muster up six people to play it. That's the problem with no matchmaking. Bungie just doesn't seem to get the fact that a gamer and his friends do not play at the same time. One friend may be at a Browns game for some crazy reason, while another maybe at the ballet when a gamer wants to play the raid. The result is that it will take weeks to play the thing because you can't get enough people to play it. Third party sites that match make are not the solution. They're not in the game. And be prepared for the elitists on those sites who will bail on you if you don't understand all the rules of the raid.

As for the raid, it's like the other raids in the game only bigger and more jumping. Did I say jumping? The leaps in this raid are truly ridiculous. Jump on moving bells. Jump on moving platforms. Jump from ledges while a big post tries to knock you off. Look, I didn't buy this thing to hold back the squad with my difficulty in jumping. This is a FPS. (first person shooter) It ain't Mario. FPS games are not conducive for this type of gaming. Then there are the usual convoluted rules to defeat the multiple bosses. And for all your trouble? You might get the crappy auto rifle Anguish of Drystan with no elemental damage perk.

I've also played the player versus player modes (PvP) of The Crucible. A couple of weeks ago, I played the monthly tournament called The iron Banner. (IB) Now Iron Banner in year one, usually gave a path to obtain the highest level armor so you didn't have to play the raids to level up to the maximum. I recall one time last year, it didn't. And we Destiny vets ignored it that month. Well, Bungie didn't learn from that mistake. Year Two Iron Banner featured 280 Light Level weapons and armor. No point in playing it since you can obtain Light level gear of the same number from a vendor or a random strike.

"THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?" Animal House (1978)

Bungie likes to inflict pain on gamers. Remember Bungie nerfed fan favorite weapons, Gjallarhorn, Thorn, Red Death, and Ice Breaker. There are other negative things that Bungie does to players. Xur no longer sells Exotic Shards to upgrade Exotic equipment. He used to sell five heavy weapon synthesis for one Strange Coin, now it's three. You cannot replay missions on gradual difficulties. It's either easy or very hard.

There's more stuff that Bungie does to make your gaming life in Destiny more miserable. The new currency is now called Legendary marks. Now you can only carry two hundred. And get this? That maximum is account wide, i.e. if you have three characters they must share it. Before, each character could carry two hundred Vanguard and two hundred Crucible marks. So, each character could buy a weapon and all could share. Now, it is difficult to purchase more than one weapon or armor since the price for these things runs about one hundred fifty Legendary marks. And Legendary marks are not that easy to get, at least in good quantities.

And while these are major problems, there are small things that Bungie does to make the gamer's life harder. One trick to generate Orbs is to got to Earth and go underground where you meet three Hive majors coming out of a room. One rocket or super and you nail all three. Generate a bunch Orbs. Now the Hive majors are spread out. Will take a perfect shot to get all three. None of this nerfing helps the gamer.

And it gets worse. There are stuff that borders on fraud, at least it's false advertising. Bungie told this big whopper to Game Infomer. "The conflation of gear and character level led to this place where your identity was determined by things outside of your control. We didn't want to do that." September, 2015, pg. 49. Wrong. Remember that your all important light level is an average of your armor and weapons. If you don't like a piece of armor due to its perks or looks or like using a particular weapon, tough. Get used to that crappy auto rifle until you get one with a higher level. Of course, one can "Infuse" a weapon with another by dismantling it to make it a higher light level. But guess what? It costs you Legendary marks, raw materials and it doesn't always give you the exact number from dismantled weapon. It's like this if you take a light level weapon of 290 and dismantle it so that you can "infuse" another so that it is a higher attack level, you may not always get the dismantled weapon's attack number. Depending on the difference between the two, it can be significantly lower. For example, infusing a 220 light auto rifle with a 295 weapon may cause that auto rifle to be only 275.

Here's another example of deceptive advertising in the game. Xur sells something called a "Legacy heavy Weapon Engram" for a whopping 31 Strange coins. The description reads like this, "An engram with remarkable but familiar markers. A Cryptarch would be pleased to decode it." No where does he tell you what it actually is. It's a freaking year one heavy weapon exotic with year one attack numbers. Yep, it's obsolete.

DESTINY IS A GAME MADE BY SADISTS FOR MASOCHISTS.

While I was playing I got the Sisyphus bond for the Warlock. I laughed. Why? Because playing this game I felt like Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished by the gods to push a rock up a hill. When he got the rock close to the top of the hill, the gods made sure it would roll down again and he would have to push the rock back up again. How does this apply to Destiny? So far with each DLC, you had to grind to reach the pinnacle. Reached the top with basic Destiny? Well, guess what? You had to grind and play the Crota raid. Hey, there's a new DLC, "House of Wolves." Want to reach the top level? Grind and get etheric light. Guess what happens to you with The Taken King? You get reset like a noob. Grind again gamer. And I bet when a new DLC comes around, you'll have to grind again to reach the new Light levels.

The Destiny gamer is Sisyphus.


is there a reason why Bungie makes a game with pain and reward? Yes. It all has to do with milking every last cent from you. Realize that each new DLC costs you the gamer money. Sixty dollars for the game. Twenty dollars in December. Twenty dollars in May. Forty dollars in September. This ain't art. And it certainly is not Mass Effect 3 or Grand Theft Auto 5 with their free DLC.

The model is a subscription MMO. Don't believe Bungie when they argued that Destiny is not a MMO. (Gamespot article, Nov., 18, 2013) Just remember the game is designed to addict you. (Bungie acknowledges using psychology to hook players. IGN, April 2,2015) Once you become addicted, you find that you must have the next DLC to level up your character. But it's more than that. Bungie has a ten year plan for the game. They've got to stretch it out. Extend it to Destiny 2. So they've got to slow the gamer down. Can't let him get to his goal too fast. So nerf weapons in the name of weapons balancing. None of the nerfing is good for the gamer but is good for Bungie.

Greed is not good for art. And yes, I consider video games to be art. Great art can make money but it is about expression and a respect for the audience. Destiny is all about the money. It's a drug, not art.

Please, "Just say no."

I can't recommend Destiny to the new gamer, or the Destiny veteran. Bungie shows a contempt for the customer by constantly moving the goals of the game. And every motive for anything done in Destiny is for profit. The grade is C Plus.

Another slick live action ad for Destiny, that is not true.

Paul Tassi, Bungie apologist?

First let me say I like reading Forbes writer Paul Tassi's articles about video games. But if you read his stuff, you get this feeling that he writes from a prospective of supporting video game companies rather than looking how those businesses treat the gamer. Of course, he writes for the pro-business Forbes.

This week, he freaked out over an item sold by Xur in the game Destiny. Here's his article. The item is called "The Three of Coins." You get five chances for an Exotic weapon or armor engram with the cost seven strange coins. That's the can be some of the best stuff in the game. Now to get it, you have to defeat an Ultra boss. That's a yellow bar boss with a name and symbol. What upsets Tassi is that people are farming by doing mission "The Scourge of Winter" over and over again. Gamers would kill the boss and themselves and respawn the boss quickly. Oh, the humanity.

But here's Tassi shows his pro-Bungie bias. He frets it could break the game. Really? Tassi doesn't get it. Gamers getting to where they want to at a faster rate doesn't break the game unless the goal is to stretch the game out till Destiny 3 comes out and milk every cent from gamer with DLC. Second, you don't get an Exotic engram everytime you kill an Ultra. How do I know that? After using fifteen of the items, I got only three engrams. So you see it works the way it was designed. And get this, I'm still stuck at a light rating of 244, well below the number needed to try The Taken King's raid. Tassi should also realize that a gamer cannot equip more than one Exotic item at a time. The Three of Coins and quickly farming it does not break the game or turn players into super Guardians overnight.

Tassi is a good writer but his big business bias is showing.

Enjoy that Gjallarhorn while you can, Destiny fans

I hope those of you who bought the Gjallarhon from Xur last week are having fun with it. Because it's one cruel joke from developer Bungie. You see they're going to nerf it soon. See Destiny Weapon Tuning 2.0.

By the way Bungie this blows up your specious rational for nerfing or weakening the weapon. You argued that people were being excluded from Raids and Nightfall strikes because they didn't have it. Now, I imagine a lot of people have it. So there is no longer any reason to nerf it. But here's my opinion. Bungie must extend the game to Destiny 2 and also get players to buy the September DLC, The Take King. Nerfing and making year one Legendary weapons obsolete pushes players to purchase the DLC with the promise of more potent guns. Of course, I've got a fist full of Glimmer to bet that you will have to find those good guns, and level them up. Look, the weakening of all first year weapons doesn't help the gamer. It does help Bungie milk every last dollar from the gamer.

Bungie's Big Mistake by making Legendary weapons obsolete

The upcoming DLC for Destiny, The Taken King does not allow you to upgrade existing Legendary weapons and that sucks. It demonstrates developer Bungie's contempt for gamers. (See Game Informer report, August 4, 2015.) Along with the nerfing of favorite weapons like the Gjallarhorn, this last disrespect could be the "nail in the coffin" for Destiny's projected ten year run.

To demonstrate Bungie's contempt for you the gamer, I pose this question in the spirit of the late President Ronald Reagan to the fans of Destiny.

"ARE YOU BETTER OFF BY HAVING YOUR FAVORITE WEAPON MADE OBSOLETE THAN WHEN YOU OBTAINED IT?"

Of course, the answer is "no." Let me explain. Let's say you obtain that hard to get hand cannon Fatebringer from the difficult raid, "Vault of Glass." It is possibly the best hand cannon and one of the best weapons in the game because it has explosive rounds, the perk Firefly and Arc damage. You ascend it in late May to the maximum attack rating of 365 due to that month's DLC, "The House of Wolves." You begin to use it and start to rock your enemies. Your Destiny gaming is easier and more fun. That's assuming you like your gun to do damage and not be a BB gun.

Flash forward to September's release of the DLC "The Taken King." Just four months or even less, your beloved Fatebringer is now obsolete. All that hard work to obtain this magnificent weapon is now wasted. And I mean hard work. You must reach level 20 to use it, must obtain the weapon as a RNG drop, level it up AND obtain the difficult to get Etheric Light to get this gun to the maximum level.

All of these changes to weaken favorite weapons are designed to get you to try the new weapons from the upcoming DLC.

“I definitely feel like some of our players are ready to play with some new toys,” says (Bungie) creative director Luke Smith. “And we’ve built a whole bunch of new toys. There are definitely some weapons that you are going to find better versions of – there’s going to be something that replaces that sniper rifle that you love.” Game Informer article, August 4, 2015.

And how do you get to those new weapons? Buy the DLC for a whopping forty bucks or more depending on what version of the game you get. Look, I get the idea to make a buck but it's way too early to make favorite weapons obsolete. At this time, the game is not even a year old. We're a long way from Destiny Two so why weaken Destiny One weapons roughly every three months? Yeah, it's a way to milk every last buck from the gamer but it does not benefit them. And let me respond to Luke Smith. Those great weapons he talks about in The Taken King will probably not be available right away. I'm guessing from older DLCs, you will have to get those from complicated Raids and difficult tasks such as playing The Prison of Elders on harder levels I also question whether the new primary weapons will have elemental damage right away. If not, the Destiny player is in a weaker position at the start of The Taken King because his powerful gun from the Destiny One is now obsolete. It's going to be more pain and suffering.

Finally let me answer those who support the changes. If you read articles about the obsolescence of Destiny year one weapons, you get this feeling that some of them are for it. Here's David Thier of Forbes writing if is for the best. Okay, my fellow gamers, those that support it are usually the guys who write for the organizations that support big business, the gaming industry or depend on their survival to the success of Destiny. I, my fellow gamers, do none of that. I'm a gamer. So, I've got no financial motive for supporting Bungie's decision to weaken or nerf favorite weapons or criticizing it. Let me make this clear. I do not support Bungie's garbage. And as I have demonstrated, making your favorite Legendary Destiny wepons obsolete stinks.

By nerfing Destiny's popular weapons, Bungie shows contempt for gamers

The weakening or nerfing of videogame Destiny's favorite weapons by Bungie stinks. It's a middle finger to the fans of the game. I'll discuss some of the nerfs to some of the weapons below. Here's a link to Bungie's future changes. And let me quickly define a couple of terms for you non-gamers. PvP means player versus player. PvE means player versus environment, i.e. fighting against computer controlled enemies.

1. The Thorn

The Thorn is an exotic hand cannon. It's obtained as a special exotic bounty and the process to get it is onerous. The worse part of this seven part bounty is killing fellow Guardians in the Crucible with Void damage for 500 points. Five points per kill but minus two for getting killed. I must have screamed at the television multiple times when I got set back doing the Crucible.

The reward for your hard work is a hand canon with a great perk. It's called the Mark of the Devourer. What happens is when you hit a target, it will suffer damage over time. It's kind of like poisoning it. Think Dark Channel from Mass Effect 3. In the Crucible, it is the dominant weapon because you got cheap kills with it. Hit a guy, run away and he dies from the poison. I got cheap kills with it.

But did it need nerfing? Yes. Too many cheap kills and way too many people using them in the Crucible. Okay, here's where I agree with Bungie but only for PvP, i.e. the Crucible. But you should get a special weapon for your trouble. Instead of weakening it for all phases of the game, Bungie should have made it stronger In PvE. How about making it cut through all elemental shields? Yeah, fat chance. Now, the Thorn will probably sit in everybody's vault.

2. Pulse rifles

If you read Bungie's post, you are going to see a pattern. They are going after weapons that are popular in the Crucible. And when it comes to pulse rifles, we're talking about The Red Death. I use it because it's accurate, got great range, and has nice damage. It's a cross between a scout rifle and auto rifle. That being said, you still need skill to use it.

Bungie's nerf here is to make then less accurate. Base stability is being reduced. They admit it will require more skill to land head shots. Good bye Red Death. Looks like the Oversoul Edict will collect dust.

3. The Gjallarhorn.

The Gjallarhorn is the best rocket launcher in the game. It is because of one thing. The perk called Wolfpack rounds. First, the rocket fired homes in on the target. Then after initial detonation, there is a second round of cluster bombs that track the target and hit it again. Yes, it's a superweapon. However, it is not easy to get. It's obtained as a random drop in Raids, and Nightfall strikes.

Bungie wants to weaken it by reducing the damage of the Wolfpack rounds. I'm going to print their rationale because it demonstrates the ridiculous logic of all the nerfing.


"We definitely intended to have a high damage Heavy Weapon that was ideal for PvE destruction. What we did not intend, and what we unfortunately saw, was pick up Raid and Nightfall groups gating participation based on whether or not players had this weapon. Gjallarhorn was so strong that for many people it had become the only answer to getting through tough encounters, and therefore they were less willing to spend time with other players that didn’t have it. We strive for Destiny to be a place where a single weapon or strategy does not dictate how, or with whom, you spend your time. In the new world Gjallarhorn is still worthy of its legacy as an exotic Heavy Weapon, but we hope it promotes inclusive behavior rather than exclusivity."

Okay, this is just spurious. I've played over a hundred or so Raids and Nightfall strikes. And yes, I've seen people demand Gjllarhorns. However, it was about two times! And all my Destiny friends will say you don't need Gjallarhons to bring down Crota's shields. Now, does it make bringing down bosses easier? Of course. But do we require our Raid or Nightfall squad members to all have the Gjallarhorn? No. That's type of thinking comes from noobs. (rookie players)

4. Ice Breaker.

The Ice Breaker is a fantastic sniper rifle. Easy to use. Quick target acquisition. High impact damage. Solar damage but so powerful it does a pretty good job cutting through Void and Arc shields. But here's the great perk. Does not require ammo drops. Every five seconds or so the magazine adds one bullet for up to six shots. Well, now Bungie wants to make the time for each bullet to eight seconds. And the rationale is absolutely ludicrous. Jon Weisnewski of Bungie who wrote the post should stop working for them and go into comedy. Here's what he says about the nerfing of the Ice Breaker.

"We’ve all done it. Hunker down in the back of the map with your lunch box, picnic table, a sci-fi paperback, and Ice Breaker. Kill all the enemies, wait for more to show up, kill those ones too, put a few shots on the boss, make a sandwich, finish the strike, and then collect your reward-that-isn’t-Hawkmoon and move on. The recharging ammo of Ice Breaker has become a staple for the PvE game. We don’t want to completely destroy that, because a really great thing happens when all of a sudden you need Ice Breaker and you’re still waiting on that next round to show up. In that moment there is an interesting tension at play; you need to think about how you spend your next few seconds while it recharges. We are going to amplify that tension by increasing the recharge duration by a few seconds."

WTF? He's actually saying you're going to have more fun when the game is harder. Yeah, I'm sure we're going to be saying after failing a Prion of Elders game, that was fun waiting for my Ice Breaker to replenish its ammo.

5. Conclusion

There are more nerfs. but it's not all bad. Auto rifles, the Hard Light, and No Land Beyond receive buffs. But the nerfs are plenty bad. Still, it begs the question, "Why weaken so many popular and hard to get weapons?"

Here's my opinion. Destiny is planned to last for ten years. We don't know when Destiny 2 comes out. So, Bungie has to stretch out Destiny 1. What other way to do so but to slow the progress of players trying to get Etheric Light to level up their gear. Make the game harder. Instead of succeeding at Prison of Elders, level 35, you fail. Try again next time. Sorry, you can't get a squad together because there's no matchmaking for that level. It might take days, weeks. Are you having fun yet?

Destiny gamers should answer the following question.

ARE YOU BETTER OFF WITH THE NERFS OF WEAPONS THAN YOU WERE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE GAME?

And the answer should be obvious. It is "no." Bungie's plan to weaken guns does not make the gamer's life easier. It makes Destiny harder and more stressful. Look we can't help it if Bungie made an uninteresting game but don't take it out on the gamers. Next time, don't dumb it down. Don't phone it in when it comes to game design. Because of Bungie's disrespect, I will wait for what the critics say about Destiny 2 before buying it. This fall, I can only hope for Master Chief to save us.

Upgrading stinks with Destiny: House of Wolves

I've been playing Destiny: House of Wolves (HoW), the DLC for Destiny. And one thing stands out. The way to upgrade weapons and armor stinks. Bungie has now made their first person shooter a futile effort in gaming.

First, let me go over how upgrading weapons and armor before last week's DLC. The max level for weapons was an attack rating of 331. The max level for a character, that is her overall armor rating was 32. Now to get to 32, you needed four 32 level pieces of Legendary armor which are helmets, chest piece, gauntlets, and leg armor. Now, you can substitute one Exotic piece of armor but only one. There were two ways of getting 32 Legendary armor. One way was to get them in random drops from the Crota's End raid. Armor from the Crota raid were upgraded with Radiant shards from that raid. The other way was to get armor from playing in The Iron Banner, a team player versus player tournament. Those armor pieces were upgraded with Ascendant Shards. Those shards were obtained from the Daily Heroic mission which guaranteed two Ascendant materials at the highest level, playing in the Vault of Glass raid or as a random drop by completing Public Events around the map. While the Crota armor was more difficult to upgrade due to there being one place to obtain Radiant shards, the Iron Banner armor was much easier. A single player could farm Ascendant materials from the Daily Heroic mission and Public Events.

But with the new House of Wolves DLC, one can upgrade all Legendary weapons and armor to a maximum of 365 and level 34 character, respectively. Now you can upgrade Vault of Glass raid gear which only maxed out at 300 and level 30. (Exotic gear can be upgraded to max levels with one Exotic Shard.) To upgrade gear you must "Ascend" them with one Etheric Light piece. (Byf video below) This all sounds good until you see how it's done.

You see, you have to find Etheric Light. You can get them right now from four places. It can be awarded by doing the very difficult Nightfall strike as a random drop. According Byf's video below it's also random in the elite Trials of Osiris, a weekly team deathmatch. It's also guaranteed with the cooperative Prison of Elders at the highest levels of difficulty, levels 34 and 35. Prison of Elders is arena based combat ala Mass Effect 3's multiplayer. Iron Banner is supposed to award Etheric Light at levels three and five but we don't have all the details on that. Plus it rolls around about once a month.

Unlike farming maps for Ascendant materials which you can do by yourself. you are forced to do it in the three ways described above. None of those methods can be reasonably done alone. Trials of Osiris cannot be done alone since you need a three man team. While the Nightfall and Prison of Elders can be attempted alone, they are so difficult that you would be crazy to try. Prisoners of Elders is difficult at the lowest level of 28. I've completed level 32 Prison of Elders, with two very good players. It was painfully hard. So think how hard it is at levels 34 and 35. To show how difficult it was, Forbes reported that Bungie employees could not complete it at level 34.

But there's one more big problem. THERE IS NO MATCHMAKING FOR TRIALS OF OSIRIS, THE NIGHTFALL STRIKE AND THE PRISON OF ELDERS LEVELS 32, 34, 35. You must have friends to play at the time you want to play. That makes it almost impossible for a sole player to upgrade his gear to maximum levels. Under the old system it was possible. One may hold out hope for Iron Banner but will you get enough Etheric Light to upgrade much of your gear and weapons? What's worse, what happens if it is a random drop? Plus, if you don't like The Crucible, Iron Banner's game mode, you will have to suffer through it. I did. That being said, I doubt it will be a random drop but if it's just one piece of Etheric Light at each level three and five, that will make upgrading a painfully slow grind.

I'm continually frustrated with Bungie's micromanaging the way to upgrade weapons and your character. Bungie continually sets goals and puts obstacles in your path. While this may sound like a way to keep you coming and addicted, eventually it will backfire. Bungie better watch out. Players may end Destiny's run at year one.

Destiny: House of Wolves stinks

If you were hoping for redemption for the mediocre but addictive video game Destiny from the new DLC House of Wolves (HoW) , you can forget it. The HoW is very much like the main game. It's okay but has huge flaws.

A. The Good.

Gameplay and gunplay mechanics are excellent. Firing your guns are a blast. And your jump packs add much to the gameplay except for one jumping puzzle which is very difficult for the Hunter class unless she uses the super Bladedancer.

B. The Bad. And boy, is it bad.

1. The Story. IF you were expecting improvements in storytelling such as exposition and meaning, forget about it. The story is told through voice over as you are doing your mission from the two vendors of the new social area called The Reef. Yes, you heard that right. No cut scenes with exposition or action. There's not even characters talking to you directly ala Half LIfe. Heck, the Queen who sent you on these missions doesn't even make an appearance! That just makes the teaser trailer below a con job because the DLC doesn't live up to the hype.

The House of Wolves DLC has an anemic story compared to its trailer below.


So what's this DLC about? Something about Fallen guy Skolas who wants to be king of the Fallen or something like that. You, of course, have to hunt him down. Why? Don't know. Don't care.

2. The game design. In Mass Effect 3's DLC, you went to different places from the normal game maps. In HoW, you are using the same maps from the main game with the exception of the last part of the last mission. Okay, there are some minor differences. Some rooms are open on earth. But it's the same stuff. Ruins of a lost age. The only difference are the bosses. And they are just a variation of other bosses and enemies. This is lazy and cheap mission design. I mean this game had a budget of 500 million dollars!

3. The new leveling up process to the maximum. Before HoW, you could level up Legendary weapons and armor with Ascendant materials and Radiant materials for Crota raid gear. Cap level 32 armor came from the Crota raid and Iron Banner event. Yeah, it was bad for the Crota stuff since you had to play the Crota's End raid. But for all the Legendary you could farm Ascendant material from the Vault of Glass raid, the Daily Heroic mission at level 30 which was guaranteed, dismantling Legendary gear and doing Public Events. So you had multiple paths to get to the level cap of 32.

Now all Legendary and Exotic gear can be leveled up to the maximum. For armor it's 34 and for weapons it's 365. This sounds good until you find out how to do it. The process is called "Ascend." For Exotic gear, you need one Exotic Shard. Those can be bought from Xur at seven strange coins. Sounds good but remember you can only equip one Exotic per class.

That means you are going to have to wear at least three pieces of Legendary gear with an Exotic, assuming you don't get the armor piece from Variks, the Reef vendor. You can also have four Legendary pieces to max out your rank. Don't know if Variks refreshes his stock if it does. To level up any gear, you now need to do two things. Upgrade the gear to the maximum and obtain one Etheric Light.

So how does one get an Etheric Light? They are randomly dropped in Nightfall strikes now set at 32, the player versus player Trials of Osiris, and the cooperative Prisoners of Elders. For Prisoners of Elders, it's guaranteed at levels 34 and 35. Good luck playing at those difficulty levels, they're extremely hard. The Iron Banner tournament allegedly allows Etheric Light at levels three and five. I say "allegedly" as I have yet to see it. (Mashable article) But how much Etheric Light can you get? I've read it's dropped at level three and five. Does that mean that's the only amount for the Banner? Don't know but if you hate the Crucible, you're out of luck here.

I have played completed three Nightfalls, and three Prisoners of Elders matches two at level 28 and one at level 32, all with different characters. I have not received one Etheric Light. That stinks. Unlike using Ascendant material, you really can't farm for Etheric Light. Plus, you can only get one guaranteed Etheric Light drop per character on the harder levels per week. It's a crap shoot. So, again Destiny wants you to grind but punishes you for it.

4. The multiplayer modes. There are two multiplayer games with HoW. The cooperative Prisoner of Elders is an arena map where you face off against five waves of enemies. The difficulty levels are 28, 32, 34 and 35. It's extremely difficult even at level 28. Enemies swarm and flank you. And there are only three to a fireteam. There are no good areas for cover. Get the picture, it's near impossible at 34 and 35. Then there's this. NO MATCHMAKING AT LEVEL 32 AND BEYOND. So if you want to get in a match at your convenience to get Etheric Light without friends, you are out of luck.

Forget about the Trials of Osiris if you're not one of the best players in the world. I kid not. It's a three versus three deathmatch. There are problems not just with its elitist pedigree. (Check out the club for the Best of the Best, nine victories in a row.) One, there's no matchmaking. You must form a squad. Two, it's punishing. You must win nine matches to get the best stuff. Lose three and you're out. Look, I've suffered through Iron Banner and this thing is that but on steroids. Not interested, so no need to play this for the review since I'm not one of the best in the world and neither are many of you. Plus, I'm sure this type of thing will bring out the cheaters such as the lag switchers and modders. I've played many player versus player matches where I've seen them.

C. Conclusion

Destiny: House of Wolves is not an improvement but more of the same. Terrible storytelling. And now a fate based way of leveling up to the maximum levels. The game maybe addictive but is sadistic. The grade is C Plus. For us addicts, it's a B minus.

Destiny jumps the shark

So a couple of weeks ago, I'm playing the video game Destiny, specifically the Wrath of the Queen's bounties. That's where you hunt down targets across the maps. Well, I read the description of one target, Kaliks-12. Here's the quote:

"Kaliks-12 was high Servitor of Skriviks Ketch. It was captured during the Cybele Uprising with its mistress." (Video below)

Hold on. It's a servitor. In Destiny lore, these things are big ball like robots. (Video below) It is not an organic. So how does this affair thing work? I mean the thing has no penis. How does servitor sex work? It's simply ludicrous to write that the thing is having an affair. Folks, Destiny has jumped the shark.

Lizard Squad humiliates Microsoft

You may have tried to play that video game you got for Christmas and was not able to connect online. Well, don't blame your router. Business Insider is reporting that the hacker group, Lizard Squad, has taken down XBOX Live and the Playstation Network. I had trouble last night with XBOX Live, However, both networks may be back today, Christmas day.

First, let me admit I was wrong when I wrote that Lizard Squad would get crushed by Microsoft, the owner of XBOX Live. Lizard Squad threatened XBOX Live that they would bring down the network on Christmas Day and it looks like they did. I will assume that Microsoft knew of the prior attack and threat. Because if it didn't then some lawyer has a class action lawsuit on his hands. But I digress. I am going to surmise that Microsoft had some countermeasure in place. And yet a group of hacker trolls defeated and humiliated the most powerful software company in the world.

But what does this mean in a larger sense? In light of the Sony hacking, and now the antics of Lizard Squad, should we fear? Yesterday, it's a major media company. Today, it's a video game network. Tomorrow, perhaps it's a banking network. And are our government networks safe? Until the United States brings Lizard Squad and other hackers to justice, no one can be sure.

You stink Lizard Squad

It looks like for the second time this month, the hacker group Lizard Squad has hit XBOX Live. If you've been trying to play XBOX Live this morning and last night, you've probably been thrown out of the service and been unable to connect. Well, it's not your Internet connection. According to Neowin, it's the hacker group Lizard Squad. And they did it when the 2014 Game Awards was set to air. How's that for strategic planning?

It gets worse my fellow XBOX players. XBOX Live will go offline then come back online. Then after a few hours, it seems Lizard Squad attacks again. They've threatened more sabotage this weekend with a tweet that reads, "This will be an entertaining weekend."

This is one of the problems of the Internet. You get trolls and you get these guys, the hackers. Ha, ha. (sarcastically) Lizard Squad you got us. But you want know something my reptilian friends? I don't need XBOX to have a good weekend. I can go to a movie, or go out to the pub or watch football. But you will eventually be caught. That's because you're messing with Microsoft. These are the guys who run the PC world. It ain't Sony. You're interfering with the company's ability to make money through financial transactions not just players gaming with each other. They will crush you. Enjoy eating that prison food. And by the way, you guys are using Twitter to brag about your exploits. You really don't think they can't track you, do you? Who's the idiot now?

Destiny XBOX 360 review

Destiny, the video game, has been out for more than a couple weeks now. The game developed by Bungie, the guys behind Halo, is one of the most hyped games in years due to its pedigree and new manner of playing it. It's new to a degree since it's an online first person shooter that has RPG and MMOG elements. Certainly, this form of gaming is not trail blazing for the XBOX, as Defiance (2013) came out first. Bungie didn't want day one reviews because they claim the game must have thousand of players for it to gestate. I've played the game through campaign mode and multiplayer. Time for this blog's review. So , the question is does Destiny live up to the hype or at least live up to the aspirations of the kick ass live action commercial for it? (Embedded below.)

"Destiny! Destiny! No escaping that for me." Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) in Young Frankenstein (1974)

The prologue to Destiny starts with the introduction of the Traveler, a big spherical living being, at least I think it's alive that comes to earth. It's benevolent and helps man to achieve a new Golden Age where man is able to colonize the planets of the solar system. But hundreds of years later after the Traveler's arrival comes the pursuing Darkness . Okay you know with a name like that you can guess it's evil. What else are they going to call it? The Pinkness? But I digress. The forces of the Darkness causes a collapse of human society. You wake up in a ruined Russia by your Ghost (Peter Dinklage) who is kind of a cross between Guilty Spark from Halo and Bit of the Tron film. It's a good performance by Dinklage as he must be part machine and sentient life form. He informs you that you are a Guardian with a smart ass raccoon as your only friend. Um... okay that's Guardians of the Galaxy. Anyway, this leads to you exploring the planets and blasting bad guys.

That premise would be great assuming Destiny will enlighten us with exposition. But that's one of the major problems of this game. There's no explanation of anything. You just take the word of your Ghost or Guardian "supervisors" that certain aliens are bad and they need to be blasted. I didn't care about my character other than the fact I got to create his face which by the way is always a cool feature. But I also didn't care the other people in this half baked story. I can't even remember the other characters in this story. Mass Effect, this is not.

And here's another thing that bothers me about the story. It's supposed to be science fiction. But you got plants and buildings on Venus. Really? In real life, Venus is a hellish place. Temperatures there reach 788 degrees F. The atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulphur dioxide. Yeah, I get the concept of terraforming but Destiny's story doesn't tell you about that. So, how about a little science in the science fiction?

You will be treated to some gorgeous graphics. And I'm talking about the XBOX 360 version of Destiny. Yeah, the XBOX One version has more detail but you really won't notice the difference. I mean you spend most of your time killing aliens. Regardess, the colors of the planets are rich. There's much detail for them whether it's the rocks, plants or pools of liquid found on Venus. I felt like I was on alien worlds. Human and alien structures are all interesting though some of the buildings are repetitive since they're almost all ruins. Yet, they are rendered so well they beg you to explore them. You will love the look of your character and his or her costume. Helmets are kind of goofy though. How does a Warlock see through his helmet without eye sockets?

Interesting sound is what you would expect from a science fiction shooter. Weapons make futuristic sounds. Enemies sound quite foreign. But what I love about the sound is the soundtrack by Martin O' Donnell and Michael Salvatori. If you remember Halo's distinct themes you get more of the same. Destiny's music is lush, mysterious, heroic and dramatic. It adds to the conflict.

The future of video games?

The first thing about Destiny's gameplay that grabs you is the gun mechanics. This is certainly where Bungie has learned quite a bit from its Halo games. Firing a weapon is a joy whether you are aiming or free firing. Aim. Put your bullets on target. Melee is fun too. Finally a melee attack that instantly kills lower level enemies or ones that have very little health left.

But maybe Bungie should have just stuck with guns. Because Destiny introduces superpowers kind of like Mass Effect but with much less success. First you can upgrade the superpowers but since they don't explain to you how to do that, you're stuck having to research this. And the superpowers kind of stink. They regenerate every four or so minutes. And unlike Destiny's glossy ad below they are not so powerful that they wipe out a boss with one blow. You've got to degrade an enemy boss to a sliver of armor for one power, one kill. Then there's the armor. It's confusing since each piece has stats for regenerating grenades, superpowers or melee powers. And there other things or items that improve your lot in life but since nobody explains this stuff, you're just going to be confused on what they mean. Spinmetal? Hadronic Essence?

What about the missions? Extremely repetitive. Most of the time you are guarding your Ghost as he hacks something and you get attacked by bad guys. Then there are the boss missions. Kill alien boss while he spawns minions to harass you. Speaking of spawning, aliens will spawn in areas you have cleared. Kind of discourages going back to explore areas. Okay, there is fun as you and your buddies take on missions. The questions is how long will this fun keep your interest in the future.

The Social Network

Destiny is supposed to be a social game. But everybody is not talking at me and I can't hear a word they're saying. I mean you see random players and nobody talks or maybe they can't talk? For example, the Tower is an area where players upgrade weapons, get bounties, equipment etc. I've tried to talk but get the silence of outer space. I get more social interaction from the mean streets of Grand Theft Auto V. And speaking of the Tower, there's nothing to do there. You can dance outside but who cares. Meeting some interesting NPC (non-player character) or even have a mini-game would be welcome. Since you can dance how about a dance game?

The multi-player aspect of Destiny comes in two flavors. Co-op or player versus player. Going against other players is enjoyable since your weapons fire as well as they did in the campaign. In other words you have a chance here. Finding your opponents on the map can be difficult. And chances are you're going to get whacked and humiliated by an eleven year old. Co-op is great since your buddies can help you with a difficult boss. And trust me, you don't want to play missions on the Hard Diffculty setting by yourself. You will end up taking two hours to bring down a boss.

Being a game that must exist online creates a new set of problems. If you have trouble with your home network, or Internet connection, you're screwed. And this happens to everyone in online gaming. You're about ready to take down that alien boss when you lag out or get disconnected. That's already occurred to me while playing Destiny. Doh!

Hype and Glory.

You've heard me compare Destiny to Mass Effect specifically I should say Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 3 gets it right. The online multi-player works with the single player campaign. From a plot aspect, Mass Effect 3's online gaming is consistent as you join forces to fight the aliens threatening the galaxy. That being said you can play the campaign without going online. And one more thing. Mass Effect's story is rich, smart and emotional. I cared about the NPC characters in the game.

A great video game should have two components. A rich single player game which does not require online access. And a fun multi-player that is online and can also be done as a network. Bungie did well with Halo 3. And as I have pointed out, Mass Effect 3 works perfectly. I think the video games that will stand the test of time and be successful will be like Halo 3, Mass Effect 3 and Grand Theft Auto V.

Destiny does not live up to the hype. It's an uninteresting but well made first person shooter. To really enjoy it, you will have to put in more effort to get into it than a great video game. The grade is B.

Too bad Destiny is not as cool as its live action trailer.

Wolfenstein: The New Order Tips for Chapter 6, London Nautica on the Uber difficulty setting

Today, we discuss the hardest parts of Wolfenstein: The New Order, Chapter 6, "London Nautica." The difficulty setting is the hardest, i.e. "Uber." First, review my general tips for Uber. Second, let me say both "London Nautica chapters, Six and Fourteen are some of the hardest levels in the game.

1. Main Hall

Once Bobby, destroys the front of the building, make your way to the opening of the London Nautica. Before you get there, you get attacked by a guard robot. Throw a Tesla grenade at its feet. While it is shocked go around the back and shoot it, aiming for the circular vent or area below its neck. One dead robot. Now loot its metal for armor and look for ammo scattered about. You're about to go into the Main Hall.

Go into the Main Hall. A door opens and a heavy robot with soldiers attack you. Run to your immediate left. Go through the vestibule and enter a room full of ammo. Stand behind the glass door to the closet of ammo. From here, you are going to kill the ten to fifteen soldiers who will try to rush you position. Remember, "patience." They throw grenades at you but if hug the door, you will take little damage. In the meantime, kill soldiers dumb enough to run into the closet. You will also see soldiers on the stairway across from the room. Take them out. Once it's quiet, get ready to run.

Run out of the closet, back into the hallway. The heavy robot is still there, but we'll deal with that later. Run and I mean run up the stairs to your left. A door opens and a soldier manning a gun turret opens fire. Kill him and take over the turret. Okay, here comes he second wave. Kill them with the turret. If you have to, fall back into the door behind you and run into the cafeteria, looking for cover from the kitchen area or salad bar. Wipe out this second wave.

Now all that's left is the heavy robot. You now have the advantage. You have the higher ground as you are upstairs. Remove the turret. Shoot the robot from the safe distance of the cafeteria. Now loot the whole area. Move on. Eventually you will encounter the last part of this Chapter, the hangar.

2. The Hangar

Before you crawl in the duct that leads to the chopper hangar, get all the armor from the lab and one opposite from duct. Okay, now arm you pistol with the silencer and drop down into the hangar. Immediately crouch behind the cover of the railing. There are platforms with the choppers. On one in front of you is a soldier. To the right is a commander. And on the same, platform you are on is another soldier. He's actually the closest to you. Oh yeah, there are two guard robots here. One on a platform and another on the floor.

Take your silenced pistol. Stay crouched. Move the targeting reticle over the soldier on the platform across from you. Free firing causes the reticle to turn red. Shoot. Now look to your right. Target the commander. You can take out the soldier the closest to you first. Anyway, take down the first commander with your pistol. Then kill the soldier next to you with the pistol or a take down. There's one more commander. He's to the far right in front of the control room. Shoot him with the silenced pistol. If done correctly, you've killed the first wave by stealth.

The rest of the way cannot be done by stealth. Drop down. Throw a Tesla grenade at the feet of the guard robot. Quickly, shoot the circle on vent on the back with an assault rifle or shotgun. One dead robot. Now take cover beneath the platforms from the other robot. It's too stupid to jump down. Move between platforms to get a good shoot at the circular vent from the back. A few shots from a sniper or assault rifle and it's over for this robot.

Now comes the second wave of soldiers. I think it's about ten to fifteen. Run to a control room. I use the one where we took down the second commander. Run to the far right of the room and crouch. They can't shoot you from the floor and the soldiers must rush into the room. Kill them as they enter with a shotgun. After you've killed about five to seven of them, you can peek out of the windows of the control room and snipe the rest.

After you've taken down the soldiers a big heavy guard robot busts out of a door across the way. The Laserkraftwerk (LKW) is the key to victory here. Run to center platform. Don't worry the heavy robot is confused by you running somewhat close to it. This platform has two chargers for your LKW. Alternate between the two while using the platform for cover. Give that robot a dose of fully charged shots. Boom, down it goes.

The hanger section is actually easier than it looks. Just be patient.