Why I hate Activision

57 here---

I'm going to discuss something that has been on my mind lately, Activision. Now, I am not a casual gamer, nor a hardcore gamer, I'm in between those, and I do care about the industry and the games I play, because really who doesn't like playing a good game? There are many publishers and developers I enjoy rather a lot, and I used to like Activision a lot. Then they started trying to wring as much money from consumers as they can.
How do they do this you ask? Simple, let's take a look at some of their past products. First, the first game I played ever, the Tony Hawk series. Now the first few games in the series were pretty good, and there's a good reason for that: they were the same game this a new number on it. Sure, they looked better and they all controlled differently, but largely they were the same damn game. Now this was ok, this was on the N64, so repeats of the same game were ok I suppose. But that was then, this is now.
Now a days if you keep putting out the same game over and over again people aren't really going to like it. Now I know what you're thinking, "57, if you hate publishers that put out the same game over and over again, why do you love EA so much?" Good question, and there's a simple answer. EA has variety, if you look carefully at EA the only real games they repeat are sports games and "The Sims," if you look at the rest of they're productions you see a huge variety, and the sequels to those games are generally badass and add to the game play, even they're sports and Sims games can say this. Activision doesn't do this for the most part, and I'd recon that about 95% of their games don't do this.
Now let's look at some more modern titles, more specifically the Guitar-, Band-, and DJ-Hero games. It's easy to hit Guitar Hero for repetition, because there's not much you can do to change skittles coming down the screen at you. Yeah, they added boss fights and some other garbage, but other than that it's the same damn game. Why is this a problem? Last year about five or so -Hero games were released. Now, I'm not saying I hate Guitar Hero, I really enjoyed the game. It's just after the fifth or so Guitar Hero game to come at me, I got a little tired of it. Now, what gets me angry is that they're not going to stop anytime soon, because Activision will milk any -Hero franchise for as long as they can fill their pockets. And you know what's even more aggravating? They know they'll get a shit-ton of money from them.
Now let's hit the Juggernaut of them all, Call of Duty. Now, this is a venerable franchise, I've played all of them, and generally pretty good. The thing that's pissing me off, is that Activision is now about to give CoD the Guitar Hero treatment. What do I mean by this? It hasn't been a year since Modern Warfare 2 hit and we already have another CoD game being shoved down our throats, by the second place developer Treyarch. Now, this is going to sell. A lot. Why? Because when all of the CoD fanboys see a game that has "Call of Duty" in the name, they HAVE to go and buy eight copies. They won't care how much it costs because CoD, like Halo, is now CoD-Jesus praise be thy name.
But let's go back to Modern Warfare 2 for a second. Let's start with the obvious, this is one of the best selling games in history. In it's first week alone, it probably sold a few million copies; Gamestop reported it was the most pre-ordered game in their history. So what's the first thing Activision do? See the dollar signs. Millions of people, tens of millions in the states alone, were playing this game non-stop. So what do they do? Charge fifteen bucks(Twice!) for five maps, which only two or three were new. And the first five maps, for about the first week did even work properly. First you over-price your product, then when we get your product it doesn't even work! You are brilliant Activision.
Generally, for the most I see within other companies the people who are making the game care about the story and/or the game. At Activision it's about making as much money as you can from the game, now matter how badly it sucks because whatever game they put out people will buy. I like games, I have my favorite developers and favorite games. And if a developer is going to try and exploit that for their own pockets, well fuck that.

Thoughts on Blood Angels characters

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I know it's been a month or two since the Blood Angels Codex has come out, but that has at least given me time to look over and play against most of the Blood Angels characters and give my thoughts on them, how good some are, how bad others are, and how broken the rest are. I might also give some thoughts on how to improve them, but enough of this, let's get started.

The Sanguinor
First off with this guy, the name "The Sanguinor" just sounds lame. I would have much preferred "The Sanguinator" that sounds better. Anyway, this guy's stat line is impressive, WS 8, BS+S 5, A 5, and I 6. He has a 2+ armor save and a 3+ invulnerable save with a jump pack and a master crafted power weapon, not to mention he can re-roll failed to hit and wound rolls on a chosen enemy IC. Eternal Warrior means he can go through strength 8+ weapons without fear. Probably the most interesting rule for this guy is that one random Sargent in your list gets +1 WS, W and A. All for the price of 275 points.
Now, something that slightly balancing about the Sanguinator is that he does not have the IC rule, so he cannot join units, other IC's may join him, but that's pointless. So, you can direct a massive amount towards him, because you don't want him in close combat, so deal with him at range. The problem with that strategy is that there are other things that you need to deal with (like if he took a furioso with blood talons that's less than six inches away).
Now, Sanguinator is a fairly good HQ choice, there's just one problem: Price. It's generally not a good idea to take an HQ that's over 200 points without them doing something to benefit the army as a whole, not just one random Sargent. Yes, in close cambat he's good, and if he was leading a unit of Sanguinary Guard they'd be brutal, but he can't. Not to mention he can't hold a table quarter on his own, everything in that quarter would open up on him, and if there's a fifty man guard squad within 12 inches and they were ordered to first rank fire that would be devastating.
Final thoughts on Sanguinator, if you have a solid army list on its own and have about 300 or so points to spend, sure take him, but other than that he's too expensive.

Dante
The Chapter master among other characters has a pretty good stat line: WS 6, BS 5, S+T+W+A 4, and I 6. He comes with a 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, a master crafted power weapon and a melta pistol. He also makes one enemy IC have -1 WS+A+W+I, he and the squad he is with do not scatter when they deep strike, and he makes Sanguinary Guard troops. All for the price of 225 points.
I won't lie, Dante is pretty brutal and pretty good. You don't want this guy in close combat with you, he goes first is assualts, 5 attacks if he doesn't charge 6 if he does and chances are he will hit on 3+. He is a monster in close combat, and with the melta pistol he can pop tanks. Easily one of the better things Dante does is not scatter when he deep strikes, meaning he and his squad doesn't need to worry about the mishap table, so that's about a 400+ point unit (that figure includes Dante) that you don't need to worry about losing from mishap, but still worrying enemy fire.
One of the things Dante lacks is Eternal Warrior, which does make him slightly more balanced, so a melta gun will take him down. Now, going to making Sanguinary Guard troops, I have mixed feelings about this. First it makes them scoring units, which can definitely help in objective games. The problem with this is that they do not have a choice on becoming troops, if you take Sanguinary Guard in an army with Dante they are automatically troops. Not to mention expensive troops that can add any more boots to their unit, they only ever come in units of five. So, you'll have an army that's really elite and good at one thing, but not that many feet on the ground.
Final thoughts on Dante, probably Dante is a little unfair for his points, that argument can be made, but out of all the characters he's probably one of the most balanced. I'd recommend him, sure.

Tycho
In terms of a stat line for his normal form, Tycho is a vanilla captain, WS 6, BS 5, S+T 4, W 3, I 5, A 3, so on. His death company form is as follows, WS 7, BS+S+T+A 4, and I 5. Tycho comes with two forms regular and death company, you can only choose one when creating an army. Both form's wargear are the same, 2+ save with a 4+ invulnerable save, a power weapon that gets 2D6 for armor penetration with combi-melta and bolt pistol. In death company form he is fearless, has rage, furious charge but loses the IC rule. In normal form he only gives every unit in his army LD 10. Each is the same price of 175 points.
Tycho I feel doesn't really do much, yeah compared to the two above he's cheap, but cheap doesn't mean good. The only version I'd think to take is the Death company form and have him lead a death company squad, but he can't do that. In close combat he's not special unless he's death company with the WS 7, in normal form he only gives everyone LD 10, and if that's the only thing he gives that doesn't make him worth it.
Final thoughts on Tycho, if you want to try him out go ahead just don't expect much. Personally I think tycho is one of the poorer choices for Blood angels.

Astorath the Grim
Astorath is a chaplain with a captain's stat line, see normal Tycho above. He comes with a 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, a jump pack and a strength six power weapon that successful invulnerable saves much be re-rolled. He makes the 0-1 restriction for death company go away, and makes everyone's red thirst on a 1-3 rather than a 1. Not to mention he is still a chaplain, re-roll to hit in close combat for regular units and re-roll to hit and wound with death company. He does all this for the price of 220 points.
Now Astorath is one of those characters who does something for the whole army, potentially, but fearless is a double-edged sword, if you lose combat you could lose a lot of guys in the unit. Furious charge is always useful. I would rather put Astorath with an assault squad not with Death Company, yes he makes them re-roll more stuff, but to make them useful with Astorath is to give them jump packs. So, they will either be relatively cheap but only five guys, or ten guys and be really expensive. Anyway, again Astorath's weakness is being shot at, because he is one of those character's you don't want in close combat, but with his jump pack he'll get there fast.
Final thoughts on Astorath, a good balanced character that has a possible impact on the army as a whole, and he's better with a regular assault squad.

Mephiston
Mephiston has a brutal stat line, WS 7, BS 5, S+T 6, W 5, A 4, and I 7. He only has a 2+ save, a plasma pistol, force sword, and only three psychic powers (Wings of Sanguinius, Sanguine Sword, and Unleash rage) all of them he can a turn and does not has the IC rule. And in close combat any enemy IC in the assault must take a LD test at -4, if he fails Mephiston can re-roll failed to hit and to wound rolls for that assault phase. All for the price of 250 points.
Broken. Just a broken character. For all he does I expected him to be more like 275 points, because let's face it in assaults he will kill entire squads, and he has. I saw a video where Mephiston alone took on a thirty man ork squad and won. Not to mention that re-roll to hit and wound LD test ability. The two things that relatively balance him out are the lack of an invulnerable save and the no IC rule. At least you have a good chance of killing him at range before he gets into close combat. Going to his price, he is expensive for the army, he's a land raider. and that again is a little much for a single guy, and single guy that can't join others.
Final thoughts on Mephiston, a broken and expensive character. Against a swarm army, sure take him, he'll kill a massive amount of orks, and maybe even the swarm lord.

Seth
Once more, Seth has the stat line of a regular captain, see once more Tycho above. He has a 3+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save. The only unique wargear Seth have is his strength 8 chainsword that rends. In close combat any attacks towards Seth that roll a one means that that unit has to take a strength 4 hit. Seth may also replace his base number of attacks for the amount of enemy models in base to base with him, even vheicles that move more than six inches take an automatic strength 8 hit. All this for the low price of 160 points.
Seth is one of my favorite characters from the Blood Angels codex. What he does is great, and he's dirt cheap. He's not broken at all, and can pop a land raider, what more do you need? probably put him with some vanguards without the jump packs in a land raider, that way he's protected and can assault to massive damage.
Final thought on Seth, great character, probably the most balanced in the entire codex and is a ton of fun to use, and can be used for most situatons.

Lemartes
He's basically a chaplain in stat line, WS 5, BS+S+T 4, W 2, A 2, but I 6. He has a 3+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save with a jump pack and he has a master crafted power weapon. He has the chaplain special rules, re-roll to hit and to wound(with death company). If he goes down to one wound, his strength and A go up to 5. All this as only an add-on to the death company for 150 points.
The only way to make Lemartes good is to give everyone in the unit jump packs, and then you're pushing more than 250 for about four guys. Lemartes would be good as a regular chaplain choice, not as a squad upgrade. The thing about Space Marine squad characters is that they should be regular IC's but are squad choices that make the squad overly expensive. I once saw a death company, eight guys including Lemartes for 515 points. I'm sorry, I don't care how good they are, I don't pay 500 points for eight guys.
Final thoughts on Lemartes, absolutely not. He's not good as a squad upgrade, as regular character sure, but as a squad upgrade he's not worth it.

Corbulo
His stat line is ok, WS+BS 5, S+T 4, W 2, A 3, I 5. He just has a 3+ armor save, a chain sword that rends, and a blood chalice that gives everyone within 6 inches furious charge and feel no pain, on Corbulo the feel no pain is 2+. He also has the ability for the player to re-roll one failed roll, which could be anything from seize the initiative to a failed armor save, however this an only happen once a game. All this as a squad upgrade for Sanguinary Priests at 105 points.
Corbulo does seems kind of worth the points, along with two other priests for one elite choice that seems worth it, however he's better for keeping himself alive, and with the IC special rule, in close combat he won't last long because people will want to take the feel not pain rule away. Sure, a rending chainsword, great, but that only works on a six. The only thing Corbulo contributes is the one re-roll, and since that only happens once it's really not worth it.
Final thoughts on Corbulo, just take a regular Sanguinary Priest instead, Corbulo isn't worth it.

There you go, my thoughts on the Blood Angels Special characters.

Dark Eldar rumors

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For a while now there have been rumor after rumor coming down the wire about the next codex release, saying it's going to be Dark Eldar. Like my Dark Eldar friend I hold the opinion of "I'll believe it when I see it." But I'm not going to simply ignore the rumors pertaining to the Dark Eldar, mainly because they sound solid. Here's what I've heard so far:

In terms of time until a release, the rules are done, GW is now redoing all of the model line (Which by God it needs)
DE are getting around 4-5 new special characters
All former special characters are getting new models
Kruellagh is being dropped from the list
most weapons are becoming poisoned, one stat line should look like this:
STR 3; AP 5; Poisoned (4+) for all troop weapons
There is now more emphasis on poisoned weapons rather than speed, however all transports are still fast skimmers
There is going to be a epidemius upgrade system for individual squads, E.I. the more enemies a single squad kills the better that one squad becomes
Mandrakes will most likely remain untouched, but will possibly get a better save

That's all I know of right now, check back for more.

Transformers: War for Cybertron Review

In the mid to late 1980's a show hit TV that was not only very popular, it was awesome. This show was generation one Transformers. Since then it has had about three or so separate series that have slightly expanded the Transformers universe, all, except the most recent in my opinion, were really good. You see I love the Transformers, ever since I was a kid I loved the transformers. I watched the first movie about fifty or so times, I even have most of the Transformers toys. The one problem I had with the Transformers universe was the fact that they could never put out a good Transformers game. That changed with with War for Cybertron.
Millions of years ago on Cybertron the war between the Decepticons and Autobots has ravaged almost every place on Cybertron. It is now that the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, discovers an ancient and very powerful resource known as dark energon, and from there the Decepticons rampage across Cybertron and the story goes from there, in two six chapter campaigns, the Decepticon campaign and the Autobot campaing. The nice thing about WFC is that Hasbro has confirmed that this is official Transformers cannon. Which is nice since it fills in a lot of gaps, such as how Megatron met Star-Scream, how Optimus met Bumble-Bee and how Optimus became a prime. The attention to detail in the story is very nice, Optimus is steadfast in his beliefs and refuses to leave anyone behind, while Megatron is an insane, almost, megalomaniac willing to throw as much as he can at anything to attain power. It all fits nicely. Voice acting is also very well done, all the characters sound the way they should. Optimus sounds like Optimus, Megatron sounds like Megatron and, most importantly, Soundwave sounds like Soundwave.
The gameplay is unique in that it's uncommon, being that is one of those few third-person shooters that fore-goes cover. That itself was good decision, making the game move faster in combat. The look of the levels gets a little same-y, but in terms of layout it's very wide open and spacey, with various weapons set across the map. Elevations vary, making some spaces good for close range weapons, others for sniper rifles. There is a variety of weapons, all fairly standard, shotguns, assault rifles, gatling guns, so on and so forth. Shooting is standard, right trigger to shoot, left to zoom in and aim. Controls are simple as well, A is jump, B is throw grenade, X is reload and interact, and left stick is melee. Right stick is Transform.
Now, there are not sole levels designed to be for car/tank form or for regular form. There is one level in the Autobot campaign where being in car form moves the level faster, but the rest of the game is not really like that. The interesting thing about WFC is that the levels are made to be tackled in a variety of forms, moving from part to part how you want it, be it in regular form or car form.
Graphically this is a nice looking game, the style is very unique and very well done. Each side of this conflict has their own distinct look, Autobots have a more rounded, even squared look to them, while the Deceptcons have more of a sharp triangular look to them. Each giving clear indication to their side. The environments themselves look pretty, the developers took time to use the unreal engine to this level and it shows. As said before, after a while the environments look a little bit same-y, but then again you are fighting in places controlled by the same faction as the last level.
The multiplayer is as standard as any other shooter can be, with classic modes such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and so on. The interesting thing is that there is a horde/Nazi-Zombie mode called escalation. Horde in that you are faced with wave after wave of enemies with a team of people. Nazi-Zombie in that there are loot drops for better weapons, different areas to unlock and so on. Both a Horde and a Nazi-Zombie mode is now slightly requirement for shooters, but not as they are combined in WFC.
All in all, War for Cybertron is a really good game, and is the game that most Transformers fans have been waiting for. I can easily say that this is a solid recommendation.

Challenge: 9.0
Graphics:9.4
Atmosphere:9.0
Sound:9.2
Storyline:9.1
Overall:9.1