Shmee.Me

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

Shmee’s 5 Most Anticipated Games For 2016!

It stands to reason that if I gave you the movies I am looking forward to this year yesterday, that I would give you the games I am looking forward to this year today! Doesn’t it? I think it does. There are a lot of good games coming out this year, but here are my top five!

5: Crackdown 3

What do you get with Crackdown 3? How about a city that you can totally destroy with all your friends! Crackdown has always been about multiplayer chaos, and I hope that and it delivers that and more this spring!

4: Quantum Break

Quantum Break is the only original IP on this list, which is kind of sad, but it also shows how much faith I have in Remedy (the creators of Max Payne) to make a fun and exciting third person shooter.

3: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

When Eidos Montreal took over the Deus Ex franchise with Human Revolution I was surprised with how great it was, so I am very excited for their follow-up Mankind Divided. I was bummed to find out this game had been pushed back to August from February, but luckily I have a ton of games to play still from last year!

2: Mass Effect: Andromeda

After Mass Effect 3’s great but not Mass Effect amazing outing, I am trying not to get too excited for this game, but come on! It is a new Mass Effect game! One of the greatest RPG franchises of all time is coming back! Only my irrational love of Hitman keeps this game from being number one on my list.

1: Hitman

IO Interactive as all but apologized for Hitman: Absolution, so they are trying to make things right by having an online, customizable, and always growing game for you to take out targets from the shadows! This sound like the Hitman game I have always wanted, so it has to be my number one game!

That is my list! What games are you looking forward to this year? Or have they all been postponed to 2017 already (Scalebound anyone)?

December 31, 2015December 31, 2015

Shmee’s Top 5 Video Games Of 2015!

2015 was the year that the current console generation finally came in to its own. There were a ton of games to play this year so narrowing the list to five was difficult, but I think I came up with a pretty good group. Here they are in reverses order!

5: Rise of the Tomb Raider

There were a lot of games bucking for this spot, and it almost went to any number of titles, but after the enthusiastic words of BlackRaven and playing ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ a bit for myself after getting it for Christmas, I can say it comfortably finds itself at number 5. This outing is one of Lara Croft’s best outings!

4: Batman: Arkham Knight

Almost everything about Batman: Arkham Knight was perfect (if you played it on a console). Almost, and that is way it sits and number four. It was few less boring Batmobile fights away from being a number one contender. Still, it was an amazing game and a great way for Rocksteady Studios leave the Batman franchise. I can’t wait to play what they come up with next.

3: Halo 5

343 Industries needed a hit after some fans were disappointed with Halo 4, and they delivered with Halo 5. It was a great effort! While some of the single player levels were a little dicey (mostly due to a dumb reoccurring boss), Halo 5 might be the best pure multiplayer shooter in a long time. I think it will be played on the pro circuit for years to come.

2: Fallout 4

Once Fallout 4 was announced, I thought for sure that it would be my number one game, but it came up just short because of a simplified dialog system. The new dialog tree removed some of the role playing that the series was known for. However, Fallout 4 is still an amazing game filled with a ton of content and it should be played by just about everyone.

1: The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

It turns out that with The Witcher and The Witcher 2 that CD Projekt RED was just toying with us. I was looking forward to The Witcher 3 going in to 2015, but I had no idea just how good it was going to be. The Witcher 3 gave us a gripping and emotional story that truly felt like the player had a hand in crafting. The Wild Hunt may not just be my favorite game of 2015, but it is one of the best games of all time.

Like I said there were a ton of great game this year, so I bet my list is different from just about everyone else’s just due to the sample size alone! I would love to hear what games you thought rose to the top in 2015!

December 2, 2015

Checking Out The Surface Book!

It has been awhile since I have given a tech review, so here we go! Work has seen fit to pair me with Microsoft’s latest computer the Surface Book, and I have to say it is the best laptop I have ever used. That doesn’t mean it isn’t without its flaws, but it is a fantastic device.

The screen is gorgeous. It is bright, and the 3000×2000 resolution makes everything crisp and clear. With the great PPI (pixels per inch), I am able to read very small fonts without issue, and that is a bigger deal than you would think. With most laptops with a high resolution you usually have to zoom the in screen in order to read anything, but that costs lot of App real estate. With the Surface Book’s excellent readability you can keep the zoom to a minimum.

The Surface Book is screaming fast as well. I have an i7 and the dedicated GPU, so it should be fast, but it is nice to know that it lives up to its potential. Apps and videos load and play almost instantaneously. I have heard that it is not great for high end gaming, but it is more than powerful enough for everything else. Plus the fit and finish is amongst the best out there. It will go toe to toe with the high end Samsungs and Apples.

There are a couple of issues though. After upgrading to the November 2015 Update for Windows 10 my screen would blink every time a video would load in a browser, and then tell me that my Intel graphics card had failed and then recovered. Not a deal breaker, but annoying. I was able to fix it with the beta driver from Intel, so I am sure that it will be on Windows Update soon, but no one likes their new toy acting up.

Also the fact that the Surface Book doesn’t close all the way is odd. I understand it is due to its cool hinge, but stuff gets between the keyboard and the screen when it is in my bag. While the screen does come off, it is simply too big to be a tablet. When holding it my thumbs can’t get to the middle of the screen, and I have big hands. If you are going to use the pen and draw on it, it is fine, but you would think for that you would want the dGPU in the keyboard, so you would simply flip the screen around and lay it flat that way. It is neat that you can do it, but impractical.

Those minor issues aside, The Surface Book is still a wonderful device, and one that Microsoft should be proud of. If they can get that Intel driver out fast to clear up the issue with the November Update that would get rid of my one hesitation with recommending the Surface Book. Well that and the price. You really do pay for quality. Though in this case maybe slightly too much. I think it is worth it, you may not, and I would totally understand.

November 24, 2015

Let’s Go Back In Time And Talk About That Warcraft Trailer!

I was going to talk about the Warcraft trailer when it came out awhile ago, but I got distracted by a Pen. I am very confused by this movie. On one hand the CG orcs look pretty good, but on the other, the humans look like a bunch of guys doing cosplay (actually the cosplay guys may look better). I get keeping the look of the game, but the armor is just odd looking when on real people.

I don’t know that I am on board with the story either. I know that it is based on the first Warcraft game Humans and Orcs that came out in 1995, but it just seems odd. Orcs invade the human world from another planet, and the two races square off. Plus a lot of people know Warcraft from the MMO, but none of the other races are in this movie, so there are going to be a lot of disappointed elf fans, and the MMO is also sort of light hearted and playful, yet the tone of this movie seems deadly serious.

What I am getting at is that Warcraft looks like it is going to have a bunch of guys in goofy armor fighting alien orcs while spouting dialog like it is Shakespeare, and I am not sure that is a recipe for success. Unless they are trying to get on the new MST3K series.

November 16, 2015November 16, 2015

Shmee Wanders Fallout 4’s Wasteland!

Fallout 4 is a massive game, and as such I don’t think I will be finishing it any time soon, but I am going to let you know what I think so far. If you liked the previous Fallout games, you will like Fallout 4. If freeform wandering and questing isn’t your thing, I don’t think Fallout 4 will get you to change your mind. As for me? I love it. Climbing up a mountain or exploring a cave just to see what I will find keeps me entertained for hours. Bethesda continues to make my favorite RPG experiences.

This time around the game starts before the bombs drop, and we get to see a glimpse of the what the alternate future looked like. I would have like to explore that time some more, but soon Fallout 4 rushes us off to Vault 111 where our character is cryogenically frozen. Then upon waking, we witness our baby boy being kidnapped and husband shot (I am playing as a woman, if you play as a man your wife gets it). We are then frozen again for an unknown amount of time until we get to wake up for good and strike out to find our son, avenge our loved one’s death, and explore the post-apocalypse.

The story has been much better this time around. Just the fact they make your character as out of time and place as much as the player is, is a smart move. You and your character get to explore this new world together, and what is going on is just as new to your onscreen persona as it is to you. Plus as a father myself, a story about a kidnapped child hits much harder.

I will get the graphics portion of this review out of the way first since that is what the internet is raging about. Fallout 4 is not a groundbreaking graphical achievement. It is a step up from Skyrim, but not a huge leap. It looks much nicer than Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but mostly because they expanded their color pallet. While gray, brown, and tan still dominate, the other colors get to come out and play. It would have been nice to see Bethesda amp up the graphics like we have seen with Batman Arkham Knight or The Witcher 3, but it still looks good enough, and neither of those games feature the amount of interactivity that Fallout 4 does.

Speaking of interactivity, crafting got a major overhaul. Not only can you cook food and modify armor and weapons, you can build whole villages or settlements. This seems to be completely optional, and it does not affect the story in any way, but it is a lot of fun. It is a nice way to be able to put your stamp on the wasteland. Once you have a few villages setup you can even create trade routes. The problem with this mode is that it gives you little to no training on how to use it, and it is lacking some options. Like walls with windows. Complicated things like using electricity can have you pulling your hair out until you find right sequence of stuff to build.

The other new big feature to Fallout 4 is the fully voiced dialog. This makes the game much better overall, but sometimes you do get the unfortunate ‘Bioware Effect’. What happens is you think you are going to say one thing, but your character seems to say the exact opposite. It can be frustrating when a long conversation goes south on you. Especially when you are playing a charisma heavy character like I am.

Speaking of charisma. The Fallout SPECIAL skills and perks tree got a total revamp, and it is much easier to follow this time around. Getting the right skill doesn’t seem like such a crapshoot anymore. Also revamped is the loot system. You have way more armor slots for your character, and for a person like me that loves loot, this is a big bonus.

Like I said in the intro, Fallout 4 is more of the same, but tweaked, and in my opinion made better. Not better enough that it will change the minds of people that do not enjoy this type of game in the first place, but good enough for me to recommend this game to open world RPG fans. Bethesda has had me hooked on their games since Morrowind, and so far Fallout 4 has that hook in real deep.