At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies
inside a biohazard lab.
In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in the
heart of St Peter’s basilica.
In Africa, A US Senator’s son is slain at a Ghanaian
Red Cross camp.
These three murders on three continents are linked by
a horrifying tie: all the victims are marked by a Druidic pagan cross burned
into their flesh.
The bizarre deaths thrust Commander Gray Pierce and
Sigma Force into a race against time to solve a riddle going back centuries, to
a ghastly crime against humanity hidden within a cryptic medieval codex.
Aided by two women from his past, Gray must piece
together the horrifying truth. But the revelations come at a high cost, and to
save the future, Pierce will have to sacrifice one of the women at his side.
That alone might not be enough, for as he soon discovers, it seems the only
road to salvation may lie with…The Doomsday Key.
GOOD:
1.Writing style:
When I first
started reading the book, it instantly reminded me of Matthew Riley’s Ice Station. James Rollins writes with a
similar style of quick action packed paragraphs filled with simplistic
descriptions. This specific writing style provides the ability to portray
massive amounts of information and terminology that can be quite complex in an
easier to understanding and entertaining way.
2.Real Life Issues:
James Rollins
cleverly incorporates his fictional plot with present day issues, which consist
of: food security, overpopulation and the continuing conflict between different
religions, as well as the conflicts between religion and science. Having
studied a semester of sustainable development in university, I felt an
appreciation on how Rollins maintains the honest dangers and consequences of
food security and over population. As a result, the fictional storyline is
heavily grounded by the realistic issues that are presently in play, which can
decide the fate of us and the world.
3.Character design:
The characters
involved in the storyline are quite memorable and enjoyable to read. Rollins
designed the characters with great thought as; both the main and minor
characters are all inter-related and relevant to the overall plot. There are
moments of delight when minor characters are revealed to have a more
significant role than initially portrayed.
Ultimately, if
you enjoy novels that provide an entertaining and relaxing read, such as Ice Station then The Doomsday Key will provide an initial burst of nostalgic
excitement, which is followed by interesting links to real life issues. I was
constantly engaged with the many side plots that gradually intertwined together
to create a well written ending, as such The
Doomsdays Key is a worthy read.
Dark Horse Books
are releasing Nintendo’s Hyrule Historia Book early 2013. The book is said to
illustrate concept art for the entire franchise including the recent Skyway
Sword. It has also been said that the Limited Edition would include
introductions from Shigeru Miyamoto and other features.
All I can say is
that I want it! Being a huge fan of concept art, owning Hyrule Historia would be
a fabulous addition to anyone’s geeky collection. For some reason I get an
overwhelming sense of awe looking at any concept art, as the sketches portray
the amazing skill and talent of the artist. Art books have the power to make anyone want to pick up a pencil and begin drawing, no matter their skill
level. To end this, all I can say is, “Take
my money!”
For newcomers
who do not know what Geek & Sundry is, it’s an awesome YouTube channel that
everyone should check out! The channel provides fun videos that range fromthe well-known web series by Felicia Day (The
Guild) to board gaming (Tabletop) and entertaining hangouts, such as MetaDating
(hosted by Day9) and that’s just the tip of it.
I have only
recently discovered Geek & Sundry and The Guild, which is intriguing
considering that The Guild in particular has been going for 6 season so far.
Nevertheless, I am absolutely delighted that I am able to enjoy such geek
filled entertainment on an almost weekly basis (Mon-Fri). To prove how awesome
Geek & Sundry is, I want to show the Geek & Sundry introduced items I
have so far.
1.The Guild: Knights of Good
Comic Vol. 2
I have always
wanted to read The Guild comics, but never really did. Thankfully a few days
ago, I went to the ‘local’ comic store in the Brisbane CBD and went searching
for them. (The use of the term ‘local’ is somewhat biased, considering that the
comic store I mentioned was in the city 15 mins from where I live.)
Unfortunately I was told they only had volume 2, which kind of made me sad, but
I still could not resist the urge to buy the comic. Who cares if it’s the second
volume, it’s The Guild! So, here are a few AWESOME elements of the comic:
i.Comic Book as a medium:
Using the comic
book medium as a way to show the prequel stories of the guild characters was a
very smart and creative method in my opinion. If these earlier storylines were
done in a separate web series, I feel that they would not have been as
entertaining. Most likely the prequel series would have distracted viewers,
going in between the present Guild episodes to the prequel series.
ii.Comedic expression:
One thing that
this comic was able to do that other comics do not focus on, was making me
laugh. There were times when my friends gave me awkward looks as I laughed out
loud, while reading this comic. The transition of the comedic elements from the
web series to the comic book is flawless and is clearly well written by Felicia
Day and Jeff Lewis. (You should also check out Jeff Lewis’ 5 minute comedy
hour. First episode almost made me suffocate from laughter!)
iii.Behind the Scenes Snippets
Being a huge
admirer of comic art, animations, and artwork in general, I was pleasantly
surprised and grateful that the comic book included snippets of the working
sketches done by the various artists. I personally felt that by having this
section alone makes The Guild comic above others. Nothing shows appreciation
than to actually illustrate the thought process and collaboration of the
various artists.
2.Tabletop: Munchkin
Hosted by the
Wil Wheaton, Tabletop is a series that is primarily about introducing board
games to the public. Inviting 3 guest appearances, Wil and the guests play a
selected board game for that episode, which have included so far: Small World,
Elder Sign, Settlers of Catan and the one I’m going to talk about, Munchkin.
Munchkin is a
rather simple RPG styled board game, which was introduced early on in the
series. The reason why I am talking about this game in particular is that,
Munchkin is the first board game I bought BECAUSE of the show. After the
Munchkin episode was released, my friends had to endure countless whingeing and
trips to the closest board game store, as I look at the game and mumble, “It
will be mine! It will be mine!” Sometime later I finally bought it and here are
my thoughts why it’s enjoyable:
i.RPG elements:
As an avid PC
gamer, RPGs are one of the most enjoyable and time consuming genres available.
The ability to equip weapons and armour that changes character stats feels
gratifying. Thankfully, Munchkin enables you to have a snippet of that fun, but
in a more compacted and simpler way.
ii.Game scenarios:
Munchkin can be
played in many ways, all depending on the players. From personal gameplays, I
have observed two common scenarios that can occur.
Scenario 1: You
just so happen to have extremely friendly and selfless friends, where everyone
helps everyone. This sort of gameplay tends
to end quickly as one player easily wins by being ‘carried’ to the top.
Scenario 2: Combination
of nice people and jerks. (Not saying that those who play mean are really
jerks, they just embody that personality *Cough*.) This scenario usually takes
longer and is where shenanigans occur that make the game fun and interesting.
Denying my
friend’s win became a common strategy of mine, where I constantly place a curse on his character and
increase the level of the monster. This rose to my friend swearing and waving
his hands irritably and the rest of us laughing our heads off. Needless to say,
sometimes a little bit of douchie-ness can make the game hilarious.
3.Sword and Laser
A fantasy and
sci-fi book series that introduces monthly picks, discussion and interviews got
me into reading again! I usually go into reading phases, where I continuously
read books (usually a book/ week) and ignore everything else (even gaming). Recently
I was finally able to buy Nocturnal
by Scott Sigler, which was one
of the books featured on Sword and Laser. Hosts, Tom Merritt and Veronica
Belmont gave such informative opinions that just makes you want to read the
book and find out how and why they got their opinions.
Ending this
extremely long post, I am sad that I was not able to keep listing the shows
that Geek & Sundry provide to the public. Felicia Day, Kim Evey and Sheri
Bryant aimed to bring the general public and the geek community, original and
creative videos and did they? Absolutely! Evidently so, considering the items I
bought, but also because I have not seen a network so far that can inspire me
to play board games, read and write more and the utmost important being
creative! So check them out and please subscribe!....stop reading this and go! K GOGOGOGOGO! <-- SC2 :D
For further
information check out the links and please SUBSCRIBE!:
Many critics
suggested that Max Payne 3 was one of the must play games, so when Max Payne 3
was on sale during the autumn steam sale for a low price, I just had to buy it.
Being a newbie to the franchise, I was quite impressed and generally excited
with the overall experience that Max Payne 3 was able to provide. Nevertheless,
I’ll quickly point out what I found outstanding and the issues that annoyed me.
GOOD:
1.Storyline/ Cut scenes
A major factor
that propelled me through the game was the interesting storyline and the
fluidity of the cut scenes. Unlike other games, Max Payne 3 was able to
incorporate cut scenes that do not ruin the feel of the game, by suddenly cutting
to random cut scenes. Instead, the cut scene transitions are almost flawless
and was able to keep me hooked to the story, as if I was watching an A grade
action film. Additionally, the soundtrack compliments both the gameplay and cut
scenes beautifully.
2.The Ending
I just had to
make the ending its own point, because I found it absolutely BADASS. The various
objectives the leads to the ending made me tremble with excitement as epic
music plays as you fight your way to the main villain. I do not want to leak
any spoilers, simply because it is that good. I finished feeling like the
biggest badass that no other game could for years.
3.Bullet Time Effect
A main gameplay
feature that Max Payne 3 allows is bullet time effect. A common feature in
recent games, what Max Payne 3 does effectively is make any and every fight
turn into the matrix. Who doesn’t want to shoot down 10 guys as you float
across cover, and to be able to do that whenever I like is just plain
entertaining and the potential to do shenanigans is endless.
BAD:
1.Flickering Lights
The game uses an
effect where the game overlaps itself into stuttering colours, which I assume
is to emphasise the current emotional state of Max. Unfortunately it has been
overdone slightly, and I found it quite annoying. If I wanted to feel drunk and
be blinded as if I was in a night club, I’ll drink and go clubbing. Not when I’m
playing a game. My eyes got quite irritated and I was slightly detached from
the storyline, however it did not ruin the overall experience.
2.Last Stand
The last stand
mechanic in the game is both a blessing and a curse. When you are about to die,
the game allows you to go into bullet time so you can kill an enemy, which
keeps you alive. The bad thing is that you can only shoot the guy that does the
final blow. A common issues I found is that if I already killed the guy who
shot me, I have no choice but to die and restart from the save point. I
understand that the mechanic makes it easier to execute, however with the
bullet time effect activated it’s more like an annoyance when the issue I
brought up does happen.
No matter the personal
negativities I found annoying, Max Payne 3 is indeed what the critics say. I
cannot find a major flaw to the game, which would cause anyone to rage quit or
lose commitment. Overall the combination of well written and presented storyline,
and entertaining gameplay made Max Payne 3 a game that makes the player feel
completely badass. Max Payne 3 deserves
an impressive rating of 9/10.
