A Call to Dunwall

When Dishonored was released in 2012, I paid almost no attention to Arkane Studios tale of betrayal and revenge in the plague ridden, steampunk city of Dunwall. Ive never been a huge fan of FPS (First Person Shooter) type games, and when I saw Dishonored is a stealth game (a first person sneaker?) I was even more doubtful. I love stealth games but until recently, they have been games like Tenchu, Hitman and Mefal Gear Solid, titles played in 'third person' (ie players can see the character the are controlling).
I really had no interest in Dishonored until a few months ago when I tried (and loved) a demo of another FPS stealth game, Thief on Playstation 4. (And being honest, I only tried Thief because of the lack of good titles that was on current gen at the time but I'm glad that desperation turned into a revelation).
When I saw Dishonored on a PS3 sale at the ridiculously low price of a touch over £6, I decided that a trip to Dunwall was in order. It was instant love. So much so that I barely leave the city during my gaming time simply because, apart from the beautiful oil painting type style of graphics, the replay factor (for me anyway) is enormous. Oh, and the games characters (voiced by some Hollywood names like Susan Sarandon) are all fantastic.
The story is simple: Corvo, the Lord Protector to the Empress, is framed for her murder but on the eve of his planned execution, escapes with help from loyalist conspirators and goes all out for sweet sweet revenge (wearing one of THE greatest looking masks of all time). But its not all about killing. In fact you can complete the game with 'Clean Hands' (zero kills) but this doesn't mean the baddies get a free pass for their wicked deeds. In fact, often sparing the life of your intended target/s, might grant them life but to be honest, its a fate worse than death.
And Arkane Studios have devised some very cool (and lethal) powers for Corvo and the murderous Daud to use. Both wear the mark of the Outsider, a kind of half angel, half devil spirit, and by the Void, these powers are so fricken cool! Blink (teleporting), Possession, Bend Time, hell you can even summon a plague of rats to dispatch your hapless victim.
Dishonored might be set in a very grim Dunwall, where plague is rife and corpses litter the streets, but its still so much darned FUN. Corvo is like a Victorian, steampunk version Batman who bounces around Dunwall dealing justice to the corrupt and wicked. Of which there are many. Indeed Dunwall doesn't suffer the good and as the legendary assassin Daud points out, "its a city that eats innocence".
Talking of Daud, you can play Daud's story (as Daud obviously) in the two DLC (Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches) to learn the full story of Dishonored, and they are both excellent added content (usually DLCs can be lazy extras).
Another refreshing thing about the game is there are no true boss battles. Corvo and Daud can both dish out fatal, one hit moves on targets owing to their supernatural powers and personally I find it a breath of fresh air (well as fresh as can be in a world inhabited by rats and plague victims, or 'Weepers' as they are known).

If you are like me and have initially been put off by FPS stealth games, then fret not. Dishonored is a great game where everything slots perfectly into place. And as its three years old, you can pick it up for peanuts.
Of course there have been rumours of a sequel but part of me hopes this never happens because if it turns out to be rubbish, it could take some polish off the original game. Sometimes less is more, there have been too many successful games/movies that have piled sequel upon sequel because it sells but its usually at the cost of the franchise. We can all name a series that have out stayed their welcome and gotten worse with every instalment. I'd hate this to happen with Dishonored. But we shall see.
All I do know is the first trip to Dunwall is a trip you soon won't forget in a hurry.

Uncle Salty Crabs

So the Hong Kong crime caper, Sleeping Dogs, is coming to Playstation4? Well you know what? Amidst all the negative nancies complaining about there being too many remakes emerging for current gen consoles, I for one am pretty excited about this one. It plays like movie classic Hard Boiled with you as a karate  kicking cop yer Crissakes! What's not to love? GTA Japan anyone?
Actually (and this is only my opinion of course), but Sleeping Dogs is better than that. "Better than Grand Theft Auto?" You ask. "What could be a better sandbox game than GTA?" Well the setting for one. My personal love for Japan aside, Hong Kong is the perfect backdrop having plenty of 'flavour' from the East to make it exotic while still having a fair dose of Western culture to keep it familiar. Sure you'll hear Japanese music on the radio (beautiful it is too), but flick a few channels and you can hear everything from Mozart to Black Stone Cherry.
There's nothing ground breaking about Sleeping Dogs but what it does, it does well and is a welcome break from creating mayhem in California. Comparisons with GTA are inevitable and while vehicles are lacking, (petrol heads will be disappointed),  it makes up for in other, some would say cooler ways. Side missions and things to do when not killing folk for example. In Grand Theft Auto the player can relax with a round of golf or do yoga (yes YOGA). Reports of a knitting circle are unconfirmed.
Sleeping Dogs has much more suitable past times for a career criminal however. Maj jong poker on a private ship. Kung fu brawls that would make Bruce Lee happy. Oh and cock fighting. Controversial perhaps but no real roosters were harmed during the making of this game. It all fits so well.
I've played some great videogames recently, including the mighty BioShock Infinite (easily in my gaming top 10), but Sleeping Dogs is the one that revved my thrill clock to the limit. I had a f**king blast on it, so much so that I will be visiting Hong Kong again pretty sharpish. And the fact it reminds me of classic Shenmue is bonus.
I'm not saying the game is a stellar 10\10 gold, and it does have some (minor) niggles but nothing that ever comes close to spoiling a wonderful experience. Every gamer should play Sleeping Dogs, and I'm in raptures over the fact it is being rebooted for PS4.
The only thing I can imagine some being upset about is the map. Its fairly small when compared to say Red Dead Redemption but then again, that can be a blessing too. After all who wants a huge map filled with nothing to do?  This is just me of course but after completing the missions in GTAV, I wasn't in a hurry to get back to Los Santos. Like I said, yoga isn't exactly laugh a minute (no offence to yoga loving hipsters reading).  But the whole Hong Kong city vibes hooked me in proper and I loved just wandering the markets listening to food vendors (the pork bun man is legendary) sell their wares, and seeing dodgy DVD sellers tell you they have the latest movies.
A big mention is the hand to hand combat which makes fighting in other open world games feel boring. It does a good job of making you feel like a martial arts master and even getting surrounded by 10 thugs you never feel too worried (in fact the more the merrier).
To cap it all off, Sleeping Dogs is like being in 80s movies American Ninja and Remo Unarmed and Dangerous. And for a guy growing up back in those neon tinged glory days when Commodore and Spectrum ruled the games world, this is indeed good news. (There's also a cool retro DLC pack).
So a reboot for PlayStation 4 is very welcome news for this gamer. I have a feeling these current gen consoles are just what the game needs because machines have the 'oomph' to bring Hong Kong truly alive. Whisper it, but I reckon it could do better than the GTAV reboot. You read it here first.

Rambo Trilogy Game Trailer

Bring on the explosive bows!

Yo 1980s action movie fans, here's something to tickle yer guns! Bad ass Green Beret, John J. Rambo is coming to a current gen console near you next year (Jan 17th) thanks to British publisher Reef Entertainment. And despite all the naysayers predicting the game to be a sloppy and average affair, I personally think its going to be a blast. Admittedly im a Rambo fanboy who regularly cracks open one of the movies (even Rambo III) to accompany my Saturday night drinks, so I will be easier to please, but come on! Watch the video trailer avbove, even grumpy old Col. Trautman would think this game looks decent.

Craig Lewis, commercial director at Reef said: "We have big ambitions for Reef and the Rambo IP is the first step in establishing us as a worldwide player. Rambo will be a triple-A title on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC and will capture the gritty atmosphere and full-on action which made the Rambo movies so successful."

Let us hope so mate, I am positively drooling at the thought of being to able to play through the meatier bits of the Rambo trilogy, while guzzling a few (too many) brewskies. Hunting cops through dense forest? Raining down those explosive arrows on hapless soldiers in Vietnam? Pass the bandana and elephant sized survival knife, let's do this!

Resistance: Fall Of Man

Fight them on the beaches!

The Chimera are aliens who have not come in peace. Nor are they looking to phone home. All the fanged terrors want is to invade earth and eradicate all human life. Bugger. Oh and they have deadly automatic pulse rifles and other highly advanced weaponry to aid them in their dastardly mission. Double buggery.
The first game in the series, Resistance: Fall of Man (2006) takes us back to 1951 Britain as Sgt. Nathan Hale and troops attempt to stomp Chimera ass and send them packing. Afterall humans and 9ft tall murderous aliens are never going to make it work. And thus begins a spiffing trilogy (so far*) of First Person Shooters (FPS) games for Playstation 3. Ashamed to say im late to this party and have only recently got around to buying the first two games but better late than never and on the plus side I did manage to snag both for a bargainous £2.80! (When PS3 first arrived on the scene I was busy playing third person action stuff.) Ive always had a weird relationship with FPS games in that Ive never been their biggest fan but in spite of this been hammering them since Alien Trilogy and Medal Of Honour on the original Playstation donkeys years ago. Also if you were to look at one of my game shelves and see the amount of FPS titles I have in my collection, you would think I was the biggest fan. Weirdz huh?
Im not a total Resistance virgin, I played the demos and from those I knew I would be taking the longterm fight to Chimera sooner or later in the full games because lets not mince words here: these games f**king rock! Who the hell wants to be plugging terrorists in Call Of Duty when you can be lobbing Hedgehog Grenades into the angry faces of lizard extra-terrestrials? Sign me up for some of that shit quick as you like!
In fact thats one of the things which attracts me to Resistance so much. I really like the humans v alien scenario, pitting our primitive 50s weapons against superior alien technology. In the early part of the campaign before you get your hands on the baddies stuff, gunfights often feel like you'd be better off using a peashooter or catapult against Chimera. And you know what? Its awesome! David versus Goliath but always Mankind has spirit on our side.


*Following the release of Resistance 3, Insomniac left the series with studio head Ted Price stressing that they felt Resistance had "reached its logical conclusion in terms of the story that we wanted to tell".


School sweetheart

Fixing THAT Pesky Error

Its annoying and frustrating but below is an effective way to solve Error (80029780) Playstation Error (80029780)
Make sure you have 1 space on for your account to activate before following the Step by Step process.

Step 1: Create a new email (live, google, etc)

Step 2: Go on your playstation console.

Step 3: Sign in, go under Account management.

Step 4: Change your email to the new one created.

Step 5: Within a few minutes or 24 hours, you can re-activate your console successfully.