Star Trek Online

Ship Sub-Type: Carrier

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Ever wanted to swarm enemies with waves of bombers or co-ordinate frigates to devastating effect? Star Trek Online has plenty of options – here’s an info-dump to get you started! Carrier Types: Carriers, Dreadnought Carriers and Flight-Deck Carriers all come equipped with two hangar bays, but sacrifice manoeuvrability and lose out on some abilities you might have expected (no Sensor Analysis on a science focused carrier, for example.) Dreadnoughts, Multi-Mission Vessels and Strike-Wing Escorts usually have a single hangar but get to keep all their abilities, making them a good option if you just want to dabble in the carrier … Continue reading Ship Sub-Type: Carrier

Shadowrun

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

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Second in the Shadowrun series adapted by Harebrained Schemes, set in Germany with a cast of cyborgs, orks and wizards, Dragonfall is a bleak but fascinating game. Good: Shockingly atmospheric, this game captures the lethal and uncaring nature of the setting. Criminal syndicates, murderous AI’s that can kill you via the internet, Aztec inspired blood mages and even the nightmarish cyberzombie – there’s plenty of ways to die. Some incredible characters are available to support you – everything from a former punk mage to an ex-military sniper or a full body-mod cyborg combat-medic. Not only do they have distinct personalities, … Continue reading Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Shadowrun

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

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A top-down isometric offering in the world of Shadowrun, a time in our not too distant future where magic has re-emerged, technology and cybernetics are commonly available, crime can pay and megacorps rule the world. Good: A wide variety of options for character creation exist, and as long as you keep semi-focused on one area, you should have no problem in terms of effectiveness. Be a cybernetic-enhanced elf ripping heads off with a length of monofilament wire and style, a human combat mage throwing fireballs and frag grenades with equal aplomb, or an orc rigger commanding a squad of assault … Continue reading Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Elder Scrolls

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

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Good: A solid plot and a lore-rich environment underpin this game, and the amount of content is massive – but that’s pretty standard fare for an Elder Scrolls game! There’s the usual assortment of guilds to join (thieves, assassins, fighters, mages etc) each with a plot-line worth a good few hours of play, along with plenty of properties one can purchase as your own base of operations. Coupled with a wide variety of skills and approaches, you’ll almost certainly find something that suits you. Speaking of skills, you train them by doing them – fight in melee and you’ll naturally … Continue reading The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Path of Exile

Glance: Traps and Mines

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Mines and traps are a little bit complicated, functioning rather differently than other skills. That said, they can deal a lot of damage extremely quickly – if you get the hang of them. Detonation: Mines are thrown by the character must be manually detonated, whereas traps will detonate by themselves when a target moves into range. When you have a mine deployed, you’ll automatically gain access to a Detonate skill above your normal skill bar (you can also get a Detonate skill gem if you want to use cast when damage taken) that will cause all your mines to explode … Continue reading Glance: Traps and Mines

Path of Exile

Glance: Early Skills

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Getting started can be a bit daunting, and many builds take a lot of skill points to get going. Here’s a few suggestions for early game skill picks that can carry you forwards. Level requirements are in brackets. Arc: (Spell, 12) Chaining electrical damage with a chance to shock for even more damage. Pretty straight forwards, bounce chains of electricity between foes to clear an area quickly. Interestingly, Arc deals bonus damage based on the remaining chains, so it can be decent against a single target as well. Support with: spell damage, elemental damage, lightning penetration. Blade Vortex: (Spell, 12) … Continue reading Glance: Early Skills

Uncategorized

Concept: Gameplay Loop

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Ever wondered what actually makes the gunplay, fighting and questing sections of a game actually fun? Many games rely (when you get right down to it) on the player performing a series of repetitive actions over and over again to constitute the gameplay – with MMO titles being particularly bad offenders. These games are often built around a “gameplay loop” which is what I want to talk about today. Defining a Gameplay Loop: A sequence of events or objectives in a game that is reused throughout the title. Almost every MMO uses “go to location > kill a bunch of … Continue reading Concept: Gameplay Loop

Miscellaneous Reviews

Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines

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So, this is an old game – and one that was never truly finished. The graphics can be dodgy, bugs abound and you’ll probably want to apply one of the community patches for either fixes or to restore content, but I’m still going to recommend this game. Good: This is one of the most atmospheric games I’ve ever played. Narrative twists and turns, superbly written characters with their own motivations, and expertly crafted locations that really capture the diseased underbelly of the World of Darkness setting. Each clan feels balanced, with each of the available Disciplines (vampiric powers) you can … Continue reading Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Guidebook, Warframe

Archwing

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Archwing is a small subset of the content in Warframe, but you will occasionally be exposed to it. The general consensus among players is that it’s not fun and shouldn’t have been introduced, but I suspect a lot of that comes from the default gear you get – an assault rifle, sword and the dullest of the archwings. Here’s a more interesting set up: Itzal or Amesha: The fastest and technically most fragile option available, the Itzal can outrun any threat or deploy a cloaking field to keep you out of harm while stationary. Area damage and crowd control (along … Continue reading Archwing

Path of Exile

Build Concept: Burning Bones

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This Scion/Witch build makes use of minions to do the heavy lifting, while periodically bathing the battlefield in flames. There’s no need for uniques to make this build work. Key Passives: You’ll want to focus on anything that boosts minion health and damage, the passive ‘Spiritual Aid’ near the Templar area and the ‘Minion Instability’ passive just up from it. Using these passives, we get to apply our minion damage bonuses to our own powers, and our minions will detonate when badly injured for fire damage. Skeletons: Support Raise Skeletons with an Infernal Legion gem to make your skeletons deal … Continue reading Build Concept: Burning Bones