Guest Review: Devil May Cry 4

Devil May Cry 4-The Repetitiveness!!!

By Guneden

Since this game has been out for a while now, I won’t go over the game itself, but just point out
some things that were good or bad. If you want a full summary then go check the hundreds of reviews
done when this game first came out. Well first off, i have to say this is really repetitive, combat wise.
Although you can use the arm to pull some throws, mostly it is just mashing the triangle button to do slash
attacks. The option of using your gun is pretty useless, as the gun does around 1/20th the damage as the sword. What I was really disappointed at was the fact that the main lead, Nero, does NOT get any new weapons as you proceed through the story, so you are stuck with the tried and tested grab/slash combo for the entire time, at least for as long as you are using Nero. The second big disappointment was the return of Dante. I don’t mind if he appears as a cameo, but for some reason the creators decided to make him a playable character for the second part of the story. This is still ok, but having him visit the same dungeons and fight the same bosses as Nero is a bit repetitive. Kinda reminds me of Gundam Seed Destiny where the previous hero totally dominates the story over the new hero…(Screw Jesus Kira Yamato). Oh, and did I mention you have to fight the same bosses 3 times in total throughout the game? Also, it doesn’t help that the places you visit are similar to those in Resident Evil 4- first the village, then the castle, the secret lab…they have really run out of ideas haven’t they? On a side note, for some weird reason when the “savior” is activated I was instantly reminded of RahXephon… The only redeeming
factor in DMC4 is probably the weapons you get as Dante. Personally I find the gaunlet almost impossible to use as it is slow+extremely short range, but the other two are quite fun to use. One is this wing thing (no you still can’t fly) where you can throw multiple exploding short swords, and the other is my favorite Pandora’s Box, a 5 in 1 bowgun/rocket launcher/gatling gun/laser cannon/missile turret. Made of pure win. Too bad Nero doesn’t get anything…

Despite all the repetitiveness, DMC4 is still worth playing if you like spamming stlyish moves with just the press of a button. Probably it is better to rent or borrow from someone else since this is a short game (finished in around 10-12hours) and the replayability is quite low (you won’t want to fight that viper-dragon boss another 3 times).

D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Router Review

After owning this router for an entire two days, I felt that I should do a little review on it. I picked this up at a local Best Buy for $95 and it’s the best damn purchase I’ve made in a long time. It was a welcome replacement for my now-dead Netgear WGT624 (Netgear = massive shit fail) and boasts several new features. First off, some specs and pics:

Wireless standards: 802.11b/g, Draft-2.0 802.11n

Bandwidth: 2.4GHz

Security: WEP, WPA, WPA2, NAT

Notable Features: 4-port Gigabit switch, 1 USB port (to transfer wireless settings), “Intelligent” QoS (Quality of Service), lots  of router settings, 3 removable antennae, wall mountable

Although the included CD was pointless, the initial setup was quite simple – I had my network up and running in a few minutes. The only annoyance I found was that I couldn’t access the web-interface router settings through Firefox 3, but Internet Explorer 7 (boo) worked fine.

This router is one of the fastest Draft-N routers around, providing better data throughput than its competitors (D-Link even goes as far as mentioning this claim on the retail box). Having been hooked up to a fast ethernet router till now, my internet connection actually seems deserving of its name (Shaw XTREME cable); after setting everything up, I noticed a great increase in wireless speed. My wireless downloads are now as fast as my wired downloads (10 Mbit/s or about 1250 KB/s).

The new security features and the plethora of settings are a nice bonus too; with support for WPA, WPA2, and even the breakable WEP encryption (not really a plus), this is as safe as it gets for most consumers. I’ve always felt the WPA on my Netgear was pretty safe, but using WPA2 made me feel that much safer.

Another feature – which I have yet to test – is the Intelligent QoS technology. Typical QoS features on other routers prioritize packets of data (for wired connections only) for different applications so one person on the network can browse the web without lagging the hell out of another’s Unreal Tournament 3 game. The D-Link version of this can use QoS on wireless devices, and has more advanced settings.

Of all the great features in this router, the USB port is almost damn useless. Its only apparent function is to transfer wireless settings to another computer via flash drive. No printer support, no external storage support. D:

So, there you have it. For $95 I think it’s a pretty good deal but then again, I’ve only had it for two days.

Soul Calibur Collectors Edition Xbox 360 Review ~ Now Updated with CaS parts available

Premium package tin

Hey guys this is a follow up to Gunedens Soul Calibur Review a couple of days ago. I’ll only be briefly covering gameplay so please do look at his review for more insight. As an aside, all images were taken by my camera phone of the Xbox 360 limited edition. (sorry for the shoddy quality of some these images)

Soul Calibur 4 Guest Review

Hey guys, today’s review come courtesy from my friend guneden! Look forward to more of his posts in the future!

Soul Calibur 4 (PS3 version) review
by Guneden (Gun-Eden)

Soooo…after playing like 4 hours of this game i gotta say its “not as good as it could’ve been”. The first thing i noticed was the use of in-game graphics for the opening, which is not quite what i expected, as the in-game graphics arnt superb considering it IS ps3….plus its extremely short, showing random people that have nothing to do with each other whatsoever facing off against each other (darth vader meeting Mitsurugi in the middle of a volcano area? (What the heck?)  If u guys are wondering…NO lightsabers cannot chop through katanas in this game just cause bandai namco says so. Anyways i proceeded with story mode (not like theres any story to begin with and its so made-up complicated anyways) and found instead of the 9-stage somewhat coherent story we get in SC3, it has been chopped to 5 consecutive battles with a little cutscene at the end. Not that im complaining, cause who cares about the SC storyline anyways? (if you’re interested i’ll just sum it up to “everyone beats the crap out of either knightmare, Algol, or Siegfried and gets the soul edge/calibur”)
Unfortunately for me, they have taken away the long strategy rpg thing from SC3 and replaced it with a survival tower of sorts, with the option of ascending or descending.

HP TX2524CA AMD ATi 320gb 4gb TX2500 Variant

At the behest of a friend, I will update the blog with a post. Since i have no real motivation on what to blog about,

mine doesnt have the ultra branding

I’ll simply review my laptop.

The HP TX2524CA is a tablet pc featuring AMD’s Puma Platform (I believe).

Specs:

• 2.0Ghz Turion X2 Rm-70 Processor 65nm
• Integrated HD3200 Graphics Processor
• 4GB Ram
• 320Gb HDD
• 12.1″ Wacom Penabled Touch screen
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Lightscribe DVD Drive
• Built in 2mp webcam.
• 8 in 1 card reader.
• Altec Lansing Speakers

For a laptop which costed me $1100CAD, I think these specs are pretty decent. I realize I could have purchased it elsewhere, but the inconveniences did not warrant the money savings. To keep this post short, i will only point out what this laptop is good at, and bad at.

Cons:

• Warm!! On my custom power savings mode (5-10% MAX CPU power consumption) The laptop is still about 40c. On HP recommended i find its around 55-65c. On High performance its around 60-90c depending on what your doing. Gaming on high performance takes the laptop to 89c !! I bought a few laptop cooling pads which i am trying out.
• Processor is not the fastest thing in the world. It is not by any means a SLOW processor, it is just that things could go faster with intel parts or simply Turion X2 Ultra. (Which costs about another 200$ extra)
• The Wifi adapter is too new. Altough not really a con, i simply cannot use Linux Distro Backtrack 3 because it does not yet support draft-n chipsets. This is preventing me from attempting to crack a WEP AP.
• Windows Vista Home premium. This OS is such a resource hog. On my personal ULTRA power saver mode (10% CPU power conumption MAX) it takes up 25% cpu just idling. On High performance, it takes 10%CPU at idle.
• Battery life is not the greatest either. Max battery life on my custom super slow web browsing and chatting only mode is about 2hrs.

Pros

• Penabled Wacom Touchscreen is awesome. The touchscreen kicks the crap out of the synaptics touchpad. It is super convenient to use when a mouse isnt available.
• The Turion X2 processor is plenty capable. 1080p decoding is a breeze and Photoshop CS3 are all easily done on HP recommended power mode. When I dock it with my cooling pad, I run it on high performance and its just fantastic. I also simply love the Turion Sticker (which just smashes the shitass centrino sticker). You may argue that the C2Ds are faster but simply put, I.Dont.Care. The Turion X2 is fast enough for photo editing and gaming and thats good enough for me.
• HD Decoding with the integrated ATi HD3200 is great. It also handles Vista Aero perfectly with 0 lag, unlike its predecessor.
• Fantastic Wifi adapter. I have only compared this laptop with my Aunt’s Macbook Pro, and my wifi adapter is simply better. At the same place, I can get a wifi signal and logon while my Aunt’s macbook pro cant. The Draft-N support is also a nice touch. (i know im contradicting myself with the above stated con)
• Very portable. At 12.1″, this tablet is incredibly portable. I have held it and used it in slate mode for 1.5hrs and have had no problems with it at all.
• The 4gb ram is awesome. Photoshop CS3 runs like a charm. 320gb Hdd is a great amount of room for a laptop of this size.
• The build of this laptop feels sturdy to me. The design is also very nice and sleek, although it gathers quite a bit of fingerprints.

Conclusion:

• Performance         7/10 – To be honest, the processor is not lightning fast. I can live with it though.
• Visual Computing          9/10 – I absolutely love the Smooth HD decoding capability and 3d gaming capabilities.
• Portability               8/10 – It is a bit heavy compared to other tablets, but thats also what i like about it.
• Other Hardware             9/10 – The standard 4gb ram and 320gb HDD is just fantastic.
• Overall                  8.3/10

Any who that concludes the review of this laptop. Anyone else wanna review their laptops? Be honest.