[{"content":"I got this game through Game Pass for $1, and I finished it fast. I started in late December and rolled credits on Sunday, January 5, 2025, at 9:27 AM. Safe to say I got my dollar’s worth.\nThis is easily the best Indiana Jones game ever made for PC. I’m really happy it exists. The last one I tried was Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb back in the day. I really wanted to like it, but the controls were clunky and it just hasn’t aged well. After that, I pretty much gave up on the idea of a good Indy game. It took 22 years for another game to be made, and we have come a long way.\nIndiana Jones and the Emperor\u0026rsquo;s Tomb\nI’m glad MachineGames made this. I loved Wolfenstein: The New Order, so I knew they are capable of making a good video game. That said, you can kind of feel them playing it safe with the story and characters, like they were apologizing for their art. Might be why some choices feel like they are pushing corporate morality.\nNever apologize for art\nOver the years, somehow it got very difficult for me to follow video game stories, mostly because a lot of video game stories are bad and boring. The plot is about Nazis hunting for Noah’s Ark. That’s pretty much all I remember from memory. The story felt kind of convoluted and didn’t always make a ton of sense to me, but it does take Indy to some really cool places.\nThe opening is one of the best parts. They turned the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark into a playable level. I wish it was a bit longer, but it was awesome. The music is great too — it really captures the movie feel.\nThe visuals are fantastic. This is the id Tech engine (same as Doom) and it looks amazing in a lot of spots. The game sends Indy all over the world like the films. The game starts in Connecticut, and concludes in Ziggurat of Ur. The levels are really well made, especially the cliff level in Sukhothai and the short section in China are stunning. There are some underwater sections as well, and they are well made too.\nGameplay is solid but not top-tier for me. The weapon system feels weird and ammo is pretty scarce, so you end up doing a lot of hand-to-hand and melee fighting. That part can actually be fun. Having an AI sidekick during stealth gameplay is always risky, and this game doesn’t pull it off. The companion character really hurts the experience at times. In addition to looking silly, she completely breaks stealth. Enemies will shoot at her but she cannot be killed, or sometimes enemies just ignore her as she is crouch walking right in front of them, which makes the game feel goofy and poorly done. The character herself is pretty boring, and a lot of the dialogue is heavy on exposition. You could completely remove her from the game and nothing of value would be lost. Not every developer can pull off a companion like Alyx (and Dog) in Half-Life 2.\nThere are also invisible walls, instant fail states, and boss fights that only work one specific way. No room for creativity. You do exactly what the developers want, or you fail. That holds the game back from being truly great.\nThere are side quests, puzzles, and collectibles, but I mostly ignored them. You can earn money to buy gear and stuff, but I only did the bare minimum (like buying the camera early on).\nVoice acting can go from great to boring. There are two characters in the game that absolutely deliver: Indiana Jones and Emmerich Voss.\nTroy Baker does an amazing job as Indy. At times he sounds so close to Harrison Ford that it’s kind of wild. Marios Gavrilis is also excellent as Voss. Whenever those two shared the screen, the game became entertaining. Those scenes felt like an actual Indiana Jones movie.\nThis is a solid action-adventure game that every Indiana Jones fan should play. At the full launch price of $70 or $100 for the premium edition (completely ridiculous), I wouldn’t recommend buying at that price — it doesn’t reach all-time great status. But at around $10? Totally worth it.\nWhat I enjoyed most was the combat when the game didn’t get in its own way, the excellent levels, the Indy/Voss scenes, and the music.\nI’m really glad this game got made. I hope they make a sequel that fixes the rough spots — especially the companion. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t mind not having any companion character at all, but if they insist on it, they should the character look and sound better, and keep out of the actual gameplay, maybe like Farah in Prince of Persia where she’s there but not constantly in your way, because it is not easy to create something in the same league as Half-Life 2, and if they can\u0026rsquo;t get it right, don\u0026rsquo;t even bother wasting time and resources.\nOverall, fun Indiana Jones adventure that fans will enjoy, especially if you can get it cheap.\nVerdict: Buy it one sale.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/reviews/indianajonesandthegreatcircle-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI got this game through Game Pass for $1, and I finished it fast. I started in late December and rolled credits on \u003ccode\u003eSunday, January 5, 2025, at 9:27 AM\u003c/code\u003e. Safe to say I got my dollar’s worth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is easily the best Indiana Jones game ever made for PC. I’m really happy it exists. The last one I tried was Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb back in the day. I really wanted to like it, but the controls were clunky and it just hasn’t aged well. After that, I pretty much gave up on the idea of a good Indy game. It took 22 years for another game to be made, and we have come a long way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Indiana Jones and The Great Circle (PC) Review"},{"content":" Tomb Raider 3\nThursday, September 7, 2000, 1:30 PM Tomb Raider 4\nTuesday, May 29, 2001, 12:29 PM Tomb Raider 1\nThursday, May 2, 2002, 12:08 PM Tomb Raider 2\nThursday, November 28, 2002, 6:57 PM Max Payne\nMonday, February 3, 2003, 11:13 PM Soldier of Fortune\nTuesday, August 26, 2003, 12:19 PM Return to Castle Wolfenstein\nSaturday, September 13, 2003, 1:54 PM Delta Force Land Warrior\nWednesday, December 17, 2003, 3:56 PM Tomb Raider Chronicles\nThursday, March 25, 2004, 1:25 PM Ghost Recon\nWednesday, April 14, 2004, 12:17 PM Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines\nSaturday, May 1, 2004, 7:30 AM Quake 2\nThursday, August 12, 2004, 10:12 PM No One Lives Forever\nSaturday, November 6, 2004, 2:29 PM Desperados\nTuesday, November 23, 2004, 5:23 PM Delta Force Task Force Dagger\nSaturday, February 5, 2005, 2:11 PM Outlaws\nFriday, February 25, 2005, 9:00 PM Outlaws Bounty Hunter\nTuesday, March 15, 2005, 3:37 PM Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty\nWednesday, May 25, 2005, 12:32 AM Tomb Raider Unfinished Business\nThursday, December 29, 2005, 3:06 AM GTA 3\nFriday, March 24, 2006, 11:30 AM Terminator 3 - War of the Machines\nSaturday, July 22, 2006, 5:41 PM Desert Storm\nWednesday, August 9, 2006, 4:07 PM Half Life\nWednesday, October 25, 2006, 7:54 PM Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast\nThursday, November 30, 2006, 10:11 AM Medal of Honor Allied Assault\nThursday, January 25, 2007, 9:49 AM Call of Duty\nThursday, February 1, 2007, 4:56 PM Call of Duty United Offensive\nMonday, February 5, 2007, 10:52 AM Prince of Persia Sands of Time\nMonday, February 26, 2007, 7:49 PM Soldier of Fortune 2\nSunday, March 18, 2007, 11:04 PM Unreal Tournament 2003\nFriday, March 23, 2007, 2:22 AM Need For Speed Underground 2\nSaturday, May 19, 2007, 5:23 AM Red Faction\nTuesday, June 12, 2007, 10:19 PM Deus Ex\nThursday, August 2, 2007, 8:17 PM Commandos 2\nMonday, August 13, 2007, 1:21 AM Red Faction 2\nWednesday, August 29, 2007, 8:03 AM Half Life 2\nTuesday, October 30, 2007, 6:37 PM No One Lives Forever 2\nTuesday, November 27, 2007, 2:35 PM Half Life 2: Episode One\nFriday, December 21, 2007, 4:26 PM Diablo\nThursday, January 3, 2008, 9:30 AM Portal\nWednesday, January 9, 2008, 10:37 AM Halo\nWednesday, January 16, 2008, 10:20 PM Max Payne 2: Fall of Max Payne\nSaturday, January 26, 2008, 7:43 PM GTA Vice City\nWednesday, March 5, 2008, 1:40 AM Half Life 2: Episode Two\nSunday, March 9, 2008, 12:46 AM Splinter Cell\nTuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:28 PM Half Life: Opposing Force\nMonday, March 31, 2008, 10:49 PM Far Cry\nThursday, May 1, 2008, 9:31 PM Prince of Persia: Warrior Within\nTuesday, June 3, 2008, 2:14 AM Half Life 2: Lost Coast\nMonday, March 16, 2009, 3:31 PM Call of Duty 2\nThursday, March 19, 2009, 11:19 PM Diablo 2\nFriday, April 17, 2009, 11:24 PM Crysis\nWednesday, April 29, 2009, 3:36 PM Need For Speed Most Wanted\nThursday, May 28, 2009, 8:05 PM Quake 4\nSaturday, June 6, 2009, 11:49 PM Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction\nSaturday, June 13, 2009, 1:43 AM Gears of War\nWednesday, June 17, 2009, 10:09 PM Caesar 4\nSaturday, July 25, 2009, 12:33 PM Quantum of Solace\nFriday, July 31, 2009, 1:03 AM Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare\nSaturday, August 1, 2009, 3:18 AM Wolfenstein\nThursday, September 3, 2009, 3:02 AM Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge\nFriday, September 25, 2009, 7:39 PM Crysis Warhead\nFriday, September 25, 2009, 11:28 PM STALKER\nFriday, October 2, 2009, 5:30 PM Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth\nSunday, October 25, 2009, 10:50 PM Mass Effect\nThursday, December 10, 2009, 8:44 PM Bioshock\nTuesday, February 16, 2010, 9:45 PM Need For Speed Shift\nTuesday, March 2, 2010, 12:22 AM Brother\u0026rsquo;s in Arms: Hell\u0026rsquo;s Highway\nWednesday, March 17, 2010, 10:28 PM Company of Heroes\nThursday, May 6, 2010, 10:54 PM Fallout 3\nWednesday, July 14, 2010, 3:04 PM Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2\nWednesday, August 11, 2010, 7:30 PM Far Cry 2\nFriday, August 20, 2010, 8:48 PM Torchlight\nWednesday, September 1, 2010, 6:48 PM Mass Effect 2\nSunday, November 7, 2010, 11:22 PM Call of Duty Black Ops\nWednesday, November 24, 2010, 2:42 AM Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts Operation Market Garden\nThursday, November 25, 2010, 11:52 PM Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts Liberation of Cean\nSunday, December 5, 2010, 4:40 AM Company of Heroes Tales of Valor\nThursday, April 7, 2011, 9:41 PM Medal of Honor\nTuesday, April 26, 2011, 11:49 PM Battlefield: Bad Company 2\nSunday, May 8, 2011, 2:23 AM Portal 2\nSaturday, June 4, 2011, 10:27 PM Need For Speed Undercover\nSunday, July 17, 2011, 12:09 AM Metro 2033\nSunday, August 21, 2011, 4:05 PM Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3\nSaturday, December 24, 2011, 8:14 PM Deus Ex Human Revolution Missing Link\nSaturday, January 21, 2012, 12:28 AM Deus Ex: Human Revolution\nThursday, January 26, 2012, 11:32 PM Crysis 2\nSunday, March 11, 2012, 3:52 PM Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (2010)\nMonday, April 9, 2012, 7:27 PM Just Cause 2\nSunday, April 22, 2012, 12:55 AM Battlefield 3 Coop\nFriday, August 3, 2012, 10:55 PM S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky\nTuesday, August 21, 2012, 8:21 PM Battlefield 3 Single Player\nTuesday, October 23, 2012, 8:03 PM Trine\nTuesday, November 20, 2012, 1:56 PM Mass Effect 3\nSaturday, March 9, 2013, 7:53 PM Call of Duty Black Ops 2\nThursday, June 20, 2013, 11:05 PM Medal of Honor Warfighter\nMonday, July 1, 2013, 10:08 PM Call of Duty World at War\nSunday, July 21, 2013, 11:39 PM Battlefield 4 Single Player\nMonday, November 11, 2013, 8:50 PM S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat\nSunday, February 1, 2015, 2:41 AM Far Cry 3\nWednesday, April 22, 2015, 11:38 PM Watch Dogs\nSaturday, August 22, 2015, 7:46 PM F.E.A.R\nSunday, February 7, 2016, 2:37 PM Need For Speed 2 Shift Unleashed\nSaturday, March 12, 2016, 3:10 PM GTA 4\nSunday, May 22, 2016, 4:03 PM Battlefield Hardline\nFriday, July 8, 2016, 11:24 PM The Witcher\nSaturday, December 10, 2016, 10:06 PM The Witcher 2\nSunday, February 5, 2017, 3:10 AM Dear Ester\nSunday, February 5, 2017, 6:55 PM Batman Arkham Asylum\nSunday, May 21, 2017, 12:17 AM Battlefield 1 Single Player\nSaturday, July 1, 2017, 5:54 PM Wolfenstein The New Order\nTuesday, July 4, 2017, 2:00 PM Max Payne 3\nFriday, July 7, 2017, 10:11 PM The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing\nSaturday, October 28, 2017, 9:54 PM Spec Ops: The Line\nSaturday, November 11, 2017, 12:31 PM Call of Juarez Gunslinger\nSunday, November 12, 2017, 10:58 AM Witcher 3\nSaturday, April 7, 2018, 11:24 PM The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone\nSaturday, April 21, 2018, 8:58 PM The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine\nMonday, June 25, 2018, 12:15 AM Mad Max\nSunday, August 12, 2018, 7:33 PM Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon\nSunday, August 19, 2018, 2:30 PM Homefront\nSaturday, September 1, 2018, 4:16 PM Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor\nWednesday, December 26, 2018, 8:23 PM Hard Reset\nMonday, December 31, 2018, 12:52 PM BioShock Infinite\nSunday, January 13, 2019, 3:51 PM Tomb Raider (2013)\nSunday, February 10, 2019, 9:14 PM Tomb Raider Legend\nTuesday, April 30, 2019, 7:31 PM Just Cause 3\nSunday, August 4, 2019, 2:48 PM Firewatch\nMonday, October 11, 2021, 2:15 PM The Wolf Among Us\nSaturday, October 16, 2021, 7:46 PM Crysis 3\nTuesday, March 15, 2022, 7:42 PM Assassins\u0026rsquo;s Creed Black Flag\nSaturday, April 16, 2022, 1:15 PM Assassins Creed Rogue\nFriday, May 6, 2022, 11:17 PM ABZU\nSaturday, May 14, 2022, 1:39 PM Age of Empires III Definitive Edition\nSaturday, July 16, 2022, 10:36 PM F.E.A.R Extraction Point\nSunday, July 17, 2022, 6:05 PM Age of Empires III: Warchiefs\nFriday, July 29, 2022, 3:45 PM Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties\nSunday, September 18, 2022, 1:55 PM Cyberpunk 2077\nSunday, September 18, 2022, 4:38 PM Life is Strange Episode 1\nSunday, October 2, 2022, 4:34 PM F.E.A.R Perseus Mandate\nSaturday, October 8, 2022, 10:00 PM Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Unity\nFriday, January 13, 2023, 9:43 PM Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Unity: Dead Kings\nSunday, January 15, 2023, 6:36 PM Gun\nSaturday, January 28, 2023, 12:20 AM Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\nSaturday, February 25, 2023, 11:13 PM DOOM (2016) Monday, May 8, 2023, 8:55 PM Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order\nSaturday, June 3, 2023, 8:38 PM Alan Wake\nThursday, June 29, 2023, 9:10 PM Alan Wake American Nightmare\nSaturday, July 1, 2023, 11:39 AM SUPERHOT\nSunday, July 2, 2023, 3:31 PM Half-Life Blue Shift\nSaturday, September 16, 2023, 1:39 PM Frontlines Fuel of War\nSunday, October 1, 2023, 9:09 AM Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes\nSunday, October 1, 2023, 4:00 PM Tomb Raider Anniversary\nWednesday, November 1, 2023, 8:29 PM Red Dead Redemption 2\nSunday, November 5, 2023, 5:19 PM Titanfall 2\nSunday, November 12, 2023, 6:49 PM Wolfenstein The Old Blood\nWednesday, November 22, 2023, 7:31 PM Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst\nSaturday, December 16, 2023, 9:53 PM The Darkness II\nThursday, December 21, 2023, 5:23 PM Call of Juarez\nThursday, December 28, 2023, 10:03 PM Assassins Creed Origins\nSaturday, March 9, 2024, 10:59 PM Rise of the Tomb Raider\nSaturday, April 6, 2024, 2:04 PM Doom Eternal\nFriday, May 3, 2024, 11:10 PM Call of Juarez Bound in Blood\nSaturday, May 11, 2024, 7:43 AM The Forgotten City\nMonday, June 17, 2024, 9:57 PM Dishonored Monday, July 1, 2024, 5:49 AM Batman Arkham City Saturday, July 27, 2024, 2:21 PM Borderlands Saturday, August 3, 2024, 11:18 AM X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition\nSaturday, August 3, 2024, 5:37 PM Dishonored Knife of Dunwall\nSaturday, August 10, 2024, 7:29 AM Dishonored The brigmore Witches\nSaturday, August 10, 2024, 10:54 PM Assassin's Creed Odyssey Saturday, December 21, 2024, 10:44 AM Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Sunday, January 5, 2025, 9:27 AM F.E.A.R 2 Project Origin\nSunday, January 19, 2025, 1:55 PM Assassin's Creed Syndicate Saturday, June 7, 2025, 10:23 PM Shadow of the Tomb Raider Sunday, June 29, 2025, 10:30 AM Dishonored 2 Saturday, October 11, 2025, 11:03 PM Dishonored Death of the Outsider\nSunday, November 2, 2025, 1:33 PM RoboCop Rogue City Saturday, April 18, 2026, 4:36 PM ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/other/completedgames/","summary":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThursday, September 7, 2000, 1:30 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 4\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTuesday, May 29, 2001, 12:29 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThursday, May 2, 2002, 12:08 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThursday, November 28, 2002, 6:57 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMax Payne\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMonday, February 3, 2003, 11:13 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoldier of Fortune\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTuesday, August 26, 2003, 12:19 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReturn to Castle Wolfenstein\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSaturday, September 13, 2003, 1:54 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelta Force Land Warrior\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWednesday, December 17, 2003, 3:56 PM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider Chronicles\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Completed Games"},{"content":" A Plague Tale: Innocence; 12h 17m Age of Mythology: Extended Edition; 41h 54m ARMA 3; 31h 47m Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: China; 7h 53m Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: Russia; 7h 35m Bastion; 8h 15m Batman: Arkham Knight; 30h 57m Batman: Arkham Origins; 18h 34m BioShock 2; 12h 56m Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain; 14h 3m BloodRayne; 7h 43m Borderlands 2; 52h 27m Borderlands 3; 42h 47m Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood; 7h 33m Burnout Paradise; 22h 17m Cities XL Platinum; 31h 19m Colin McRae Rally; 10h 21m Company of Heroes 2; 20h 16m Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition; 27h 50m Dead Space; 12h 6m Death Stranding; 57h 42m Desperados 2: Cooper\u0026rsquo;s Revenge; 24h 32m Desperados III; 33h 5m Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 1: Late To The Party; 2h Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 2: Five Steps Ahead; 2h 16m Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 3: Once More With Feeling; 2h 53m Deus Ex: Mankind Divided; 30h 4m Dragon Age II; 38h 18m Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition; 72h 54m Dragon\u0026rsquo;s Dogma: Dark Arisen; 50h 57m Dying Light; 31h 28m Empire Earth; 36h 34m F.E.A.R. 3; 6h 32m Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition; 119h 53m Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition; 82h 41m Far Cry 4; 30h 46m Far Cry 5; 29h 25m Forza Horizon 4; 51h 40m Frostpunk; 16h 9m Full Spectrum Warrior; 9h 31m Full Throttle Remastered; 4h 18m Gotham Knights; 26h 55m Grand Theft Auto V; 45h 22m Grim Dawn; 43h 48m Halo: The Master Chief Collection; 58h 48m Hard West; 19h 38m Helldorado; 13h 15m Hidden \u0026amp; Dangerous 2; 19h 45m Hidden \u0026amp; Dangerous: Action Pack; 19h 7m Hitman; 18h 33m Hitman: Blood Money; 13h 37m James Bond 007: Blood Stone; 6h 24m Just Cause 4; 25h 5m Mafia; 17h 38m Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; 80h 3m Middle-Earth: Shadow of War; 37h 25m Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition; 13h 3m Moto Racer 2; 3h 57m Murdered: Soul Suspect; 8h 53m Need For Speed Heat; 24h 49m Need for Speed: Most Wanted; 13h 56m Nioh 2: Complete Edition; 87h 17m Building Simulator; 50h 25m Planescape: Torment; 42h 4m Prey; 27h 1m Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands; 8h 17m Project: Snowblind; 5h 46m Psychonauts; 14h 50m Rage 2; 17h 45m Red Faction: Guerrilla - Re-Mars-tered; 15h 5m Risen; 37h 2m Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood; 17h 11m Saints Row IV: Re-Elected; 26h 43m Saints Row: The Third; 26h 6m Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun; 27h 59m Sifu; 11h 55m Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition; 23h 57m Soma; 10h 8m Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy; 10h 49m Star Wars: Battlefront II; 12h 56m Star Wars: Empire At War - Gold Pack; 31h 28m Subnautica; 41h 32m The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition; 84h 19m The Lord of the Rings: War in the North; 15h 6m The Outer Worlds: Spacer\u0026rsquo;s Choice Edition; 38h 37m Thief; 18h 15m Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition; 46h 57m Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2; 9h 23m Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2; 10h 1m Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory; 13h 53m Tomb Raider: Underworld; 10h 59m Torchlight II; 27h 52m Trine 2; 10h 18m Tropico 4; 61h 23m Tyranny; 34h 34m Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War; 12h 48m Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II; 20h 21m Watch Dogs 2; 29h 50m XCOM: Enemy Unknown; 34h 9m Yakuza 4; 31h 4m ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/other/gamingbacklog/","summary":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Plague Tale: Innocence; 12h 17m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAge of Mythology: Extended Edition; 41h 54m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eARMA 3; 31h 47m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAssassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: China; 7h 53m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAssassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: Russia; 7h 35m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBastion; 8h 15m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBatman: Arkham Knight; 30h 57m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBatman: Arkham Origins; 18h 34m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBioShock 2; 12h 56m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain; 14h 3m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBloodRayne; 7h 43m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorderlands 2; 52h 27m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorderlands 3; 42h 47m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrothers in Arms: Earned in Blood; 7h 33m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBurnout Paradise; 22h 17m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCities XL Platinum; 31h 19m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eColin McRae Rally; 10h 21m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCompany of Heroes 2; 20h 16m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDarksiders II: Deathinitive Edition; 27h 50m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDead Space; 12h 6m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDeath Stranding; 57h 42m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperados 2: Cooper\u0026rsquo;s Revenge; 24h 32m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperados III; 33h 5m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 1: Late To The Party; 2h\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 2: Five Steps Ahead; 2h 16m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 3: Once More With Feeling; 2h 53m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDeus Ex: Mankind Divided; 30h 4m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDragon Age II; 38h 18m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition; 72h 54m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDragon\u0026rsquo;s Dogma: Dark Arisen; 50h 57m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDying Light; 31h 28m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEmpire Earth; 36h 34m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eF.E.A.R. 3; 6h 32m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFallout 4: Game of the Year Edition; 119h 53m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition; 82h 41m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFar Cry 4; 30h 46m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFar Cry 5; 29h 25m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eForza Horizon 4; 51h 40m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrostpunk; 16h 9m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFull Spectrum Warrior; 9h 31m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFull Throttle Remastered; 4h 18m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGotham Knights; 26h 55m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGrand Theft Auto V; 45h 22m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGrim Dawn; 43h 48m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHalo: The Master Chief Collection; 58h 48m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHard West; 19h 38m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHelldorado; 13h 15m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHidden \u0026amp; Dangerous 2; 19h 45m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHidden \u0026amp; Dangerous: Action Pack; 19h 7m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHitman; 18h 33m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHitman: Blood Money; 13h 37m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJames Bond 007: Blood Stone; 6h 24m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJust Cause 4; 25h 5m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMafia; 17h 38m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; 80h 3m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMiddle-Earth: Shadow of War; 37h 25m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMortal Kombat: Komplete Edition; 13h 3m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMoto Racer 2; 3h 57m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMurdered: Soul Suspect; 8h 53m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNeed For Speed Heat; 24h 49m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNeed for Speed: Most Wanted; 13h 56m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNioh 2: Complete Edition; 87h 17m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuilding Simulator; 50h 25m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlanescape: Torment; 42h 4m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrey; 27h 1m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands; 8h 17m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProject: Snowblind; 5h 46m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePsychonauts; 14h 50m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRage 2; 17h 45m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRed Faction: Guerrilla - Re-Mars-tered; 15h 5m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRisen; 37h 2m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRobin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood; 17h 11m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSaints Row IV: Re-Elected; 26h 43m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSaints Row: The Third; 26h 6m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun; 27h 59m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSifu; 11h 55m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition; 23h 57m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSoma; 10h 8m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStar Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy; 10h 49m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStar Wars: Battlefront II; 12h 56m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStar Wars: Empire At War - Gold Pack; 31h 28m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSubnautica; 41h 32m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition; 84h 19m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Lord of the Rings: War in the North; 15h 6m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Outer Worlds: Spacer\u0026rsquo;s Choice Edition; 38h 37m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThief; 18h 15m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTitan Quest: Anniversary Edition; 46h 57m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2; 9h 23m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2; 10h 1m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory; 13h 53m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTomb Raider: Underworld; 10h 59m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTorchlight II; 27h 52m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrine 2; 10h 18m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTropico 4; 61h 23m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTyranny; 34h 34m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War; 12h 48m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II; 20h 21m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWatch Dogs 2; 29h 50m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eXCOM: Enemy Unknown; 34h 9m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYakuza 4; 31h 4m\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e","title":"Gaming Backlog"},{"content":"I once wrote a short review of DOOM, but that didn’t capture how good this game really is, and I need to yell more into the void about how much I enjoyed it.\nBack in 2004, the hype for Doom 3 was through the roof. It was during the golden age of gaming. Half-Life 2, Doom 3 were both set to be released in the same year. Doom 3 was the Crysis of that generation. Following the release of Doom 3, the reception was a little mixed. It did not reach the heights that most thought it would. Visually impressive but divisive gameplay wise. It leaned heavily into horror, and I enjoyed parts of it, but I never finished it—mostly because of the spiders. After the Resurrection of Evil expansion, the franchise went quiet. The industry shifted. I think it would be fair to say that Call of Duty changed FPS games. id Software were no longer at the top of their game. Rage underperformed, and John Carmack left the studio in 2013. Rumors suggested Doom 4 was becoming a COD-inspired game, and I lost hope. I didn’t want “Call of Doom.”\nReminiscent of Doom 3\nThen the surprise reveal happened. I believe it was E3 or QuakeCon in 2015. The new Doom looked fast, and aggressive—it wasn\u0026rsquo;t trying to be Call of Duty. There was hope!\nThe game was released to great reviews in 2016. Even though it used a checkpoint-only save system (no quick save/quick load), it still looked promising enough to restore my optimism.\nI didn’t buy the game at launch. I picked it up on June 10, 2022 for $4.99—absolutely worth it. It sat on the shelf for a little bit, and picked it up in April 2023 and I finished it on May 8, 2023. I played on a 3080 Ti at 3440×1440 with max settings, and the game looked incredible. The id Tech engine was put to very good use.\nI completed the campaign in about 15 hours on Hurt Me Plenty, which I think is the ideal difficulty for most players.\nDoom (2016) is pure gameplay. It never wastes your time. From the moment you step out of the chamber, it’s nonstop action. There is a story, but it never interrupts the flow—I remember maybe two cutscenes. I love this. Most stories in games are very bad and boring. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what the story is about in DOOM. It felt like a complete after thought, and that\u0026rsquo;s a good thing. DOOM should be able to gameplay and level design. If the writers could come up with an interesting story, great. If not, the story should be this - you play as the Doom guy, and he is angry, and wants to kill everything and save Mars. That\u0026rsquo;s good enough.\nHell\nThe level design and art direction are excellent. There are very few games that approach this level of creativity. At highest settings, this is one of the best looking games ever made, and its also very optimized. On my machine, I was getting 180 (my monitor\u0026rsquo;s max) without any noticeable frame rate drops. DOOM deserves to be played at the highest settings (resolution, frame rate and graphics quality). Its one of the best looking games ever made.\nTitan\u0026rsquo;s Realm\nIn addition to fast gameplay, there are plenty of secrets and optional challenges. I didn’t chase all of them, but there’s a lot here for players who enjoy exploration.\nThe soundtrack is phenomenal—easily on the level of Halo, Deus Ex, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and Doom Eternal. I hate that Doom Eternal has an even better soundtrack, because I didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy the game it as much. I find myself listening to Doom Eternal soundtrack more often than not. Just wish the game was a true successor to DOOM.\nIn conclusion, every FPS fan should try this game. I recommend picking this up on GOG.com . Always support DRM free games whenever possible!\nI’ll eventually pick up Doom: The Dark Ages. I know it’s different, but I’m sure it’ll still be fun—even if it doesn’t reach the same heights as DOOM.\nThis post is published on Apr 24, 2026 Friday 10:25:27 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/reviews/doom-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI once wrote a short review of DOOM, but that didn’t capture how good this game really is, and I need to yell more into the void about how much I enjoyed it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBack in 2004, the hype for Doom 3 was through the roof. It was during the golden age of gaming. Half-Life 2, Doom 3 were both set to be released in the same year. Doom 3 was the Crysis of that generation. Following the release of Doom 3, the reception was a little mixed. It did not reach the heights that most thought it would. Visually impressive but divisive gameplay wise. It leaned heavily into horror, and I enjoyed parts of it, but I never finished it—mostly because of the spiders. After the Resurrection of Evil expansion, the franchise went quiet. The industry shifted. I think it would be fair to say that Call of Duty changed FPS games. id Software were no longer at the top of their game. Rage underperformed, and John Carmack left the studio in 2013. Rumors suggested Doom 4 was becoming a COD-inspired game, and I lost hope. I didn’t want “Call of Doom.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DOOM (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Sunday, June 29, 2025, 10:30:00 AM.\nI’m writing this years after release, so this isn\u0026rsquo;t a traditional buying recommendation. I picked up the Definitive Edition for free on the Epic Games Store (EGS), which included all DLC costumes and content.\nThe story is boring. I watched the early cutscenes, but Lara’s motivations against Trinity (lol) felt vague and the plot never came together. The situations Lara ends up in are extremely contrived—enemies repeatedly fail to kill her when they easily could, giving her impenetrable plot armor from the very first plane crash onward. The writing is poorly directed, the supporting characters (especially the native kid) have bad voice acting, and I ended up mashing the space bar every time they appeared. Camilla Luddington’s voice acting for Lara is quite good, but everything else is weak. In the end I completely tuned out the narrative and just enjoyed the ride.\nI think I figured out why the story is awful\u0026hellip;\nCore gameplay is fun. Combat, exploration and puzzles are fun. The problem is all the extra stuff they bolted on. The half-baked RPG/crafting system is boring filler that adds nothing of value—it feels lazy and clearly exists only for marketing. The attempt at open-world elements is shallow and pointless; it just pads the game instead of focusing on what Tomb Raider does best. The young Lara flashback sections should have been skippable cutscenes but instead they make you play a dumbed down version of Tomb Raider. The initial Mexico sequence is a bit of slog because you are just walking and talking—it is pretty though. Some set pieces (like the jaguar attacks) take control away from the player, and a few stealth sections feel goofy. It was surprising and disappointing to see the iconic dual pistols absent once again. I’d honestly prefer the \u0026ldquo;goofy\u0026rdquo; weapon systems of the old Core Design games over the current implementation.\nThe music is decent but forgettable—nothing on the level of the classic Core Design games.\nNow for the things that make this game good, and sometimes borderline great - visuals and level design.\nThis is where the game truly shines. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is easily the best-looking Tomb Raider game ever made. The environments are very vibrant and the underwater sections are incredible. South America is an excellent choice, and I like the art direction. When you combine the top-tier visuals with strong puzzle design, you get a genuinely great action-adventure experience. Exploring these levels makes me wonder how great a remake of Tomb Raider 3’s India levels would look in this engine. Its unlikely that we will get a true remake of Tomb Raider III, and even if we did, they will ruin it to appease people online will never buy or play their game. The spine needed to stay true to the creative vision is largely absent in modern gaming. The primary focus of games (and other media) these days is not to entertain—but to preach corporate support to the current thing.\nDespite the weak story, bloated systems, and padding, the game is still a solid recommendation, especially if you get it cheap or free. It’s the best-looking Tomb Raider ever made and a lot of fun when you overlook the narrative and RPG bloat. The stunning visuals, strong level design, and enjoyable core gameplay completely carry it. I had more fun with Shadow than I did with Rise of the Tomb Raider.\nIf you can ignore (or skip) most of the story and just focus on the adventure, it’s a very good game. I would happily have paid $5 for it—anything more feels like overpaying for all the unnecessary filler.\nThe only Tomb Raider game left for me to finish now is Tomb Raider Underworld. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I will ever play Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/reviews/shadowofthetombraider-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSunday, June 29, 2025, 10:30:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m writing this years after release, so this isn\u0026rsquo;t a traditional buying recommendation. I picked up the Definitive Edition for free on the Epic Games Store (EGS), which included all DLC costumes and content.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story is boring. I watched the early cutscenes, but Lara’s motivations against Trinity (lol) felt vague and the plot never came together. The situations Lara ends up in are extremely contrived—enemies repeatedly fail to kill her when they easily could, giving her impenetrable plot armor from the very first plane crash onward. The writing is poorly directed, the supporting characters (especially the native kid) have bad voice acting, and I ended up mashing the space bar every time they appeared. Camilla Luddington’s voice acting for Lara is quite good, but everything else is weak. In the end I completely tuned out the narrative and just enjoyed the ride.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PC) Review"},{"content":"When I first heard about RoboCop: Rogue City, I expected it to be a terrible movie tie-in game — bad controls, a poor PC port, and an unoptimized, buggy mess. So when reviews started coming out and the game was rated highly, I was genuinely surprised. Could this actually be good, like the Batman games?\nI played it via Family Sharing on Steam, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes action games.\nThere are some absolutely epic moments, like gunning down enemies with the Auto-9 while the classic RoboCop theme plays in the background. Ramping up against robots with the theme blasting and explosions going off everywhere feels incredibly satisfying — it’s pure 80s nostalgia done right. The music, soundtrack, and audio are excellent overall.\nSpecial mention goes to the voice acting, especially Peter Weller returning as RoboCop. It was awesome to hear him again, and he proves he’s the only one who should ever play the role.\nThe developers did a fantastic job with the visuals, making excellent use of Unreal Engine 5. Some locations look photorealistic, and there are plenty of clever callbacks to the original movie. Even though I’m not the biggest RoboCop fan, there’s a lot here for fans of the franchise.\nThey created a semi-open world where you can walk the streets of old Detroit, which looks every bit as rundown and grim as you’d expect. The visuals do a great job capturing that atmosphere.\nOne thing I didn’t like was the busywork. Because RoboCop’s movement is slow (which makes sense for the character), walking back and forth between objectives can get very boring. This is the main reason I mostly skipped side quests — the slow pace made them feel tedious. There’s also some repetitive busywork around HQ, like walking around, talking to officers, heading to the parking garage, and then fast traveling to the next location. The game could have been tighter in this area.\n(Note: The game is set after the events of RoboCop 2. I haven’t watched the sequels.)\nI didn’t pay much attention to the story and skipped most cutscenes. Even though Peter Weller’s voice acting is great, the plot itself didn’t interest me. I didn’t care about the internal police politics or the corporate overlord’s plans for a “utopia.” I just wanted to use cool weapons and take down enemies.\nSpeaking of weapons, the Auto-9 is fantastic. You upgrade it throughout the game, and by the end it becomes an unstoppable force. There are also several fun pickup weapons like the rocket launcher and .50 cal sniper rifle. The only downside is that at the start of each mission, you lose the equipped pickup weapons and default back to the Auto-9 and a standard shotgun.\nI also didn’t bother upgrading most skills — I focused mainly on armor, vitality, focus, and combat. Doing the main story plus a few side quests gave me enough skill points for the upgrades I wanted.\nBoss battles are not too bad, but they can be a little irritating at times. The final boss battle has no checkpoints, so you have to complete the entire fight without dying. It’s not too complicated, but I had to try it a couple of times.\nOverall, this is a fantastic game, especially for an AA title. I highly recommend it.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/reviews/robocoproguecity-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I first heard about RoboCop: Rogue City, I expected it to be a terrible movie tie-in game — bad controls, a poor PC port, and an unoptimized, buggy mess. So when reviews started coming out and the game was rated highly, I was genuinely surprised. Could this actually be good, like the Batman games?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI played it via Family Sharing on Steam, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes action games.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RoboCop: Rogue City (PC) Review"},{"content":"Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 06:40:23 PM CDT Installed the game just now from Steam.\nGoing to play for a while and then get something to eat.\nApr 18, 2026 Saturday 09:41:12 PM CDT Ok, I am about to play now.\nGame has some tecnical issues. Found a youtube video to fix the problem. Game freezes when running in DX11 mode.\n\u0026ldquo;D:\\SteamLibrary\\steamapps\\common\\Batman Arkham Origins\\SinglePlayer\\BMGame\\Config\\BmEngine.ini\u0026rdquo;\nAllowD3D10=True\nAllowD3D11=False\nhad to do that make the game work.\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtCbJ0B7IF8\nGoing to take a break for the night. Will play more tomorrow early in the morning.\nApr 19, 2026 Sunday 04:44:42 PM CDT Migrated a lot of content from the old blog. Wrote a review of RoboCop Rouge City. Going to play some more now.\nFight with killer croc is pretty good.\nNot a huge fan of UI. I wish I customize it better. I need to look into it. Going to take a little bit of a break and play more maybe later tonight.\nApr 24, 2026 Friday 07:18:33 PM CDT Another session about to commence.\nI wanted to spend time playing more, and doing other things less. So here we go.\nNavigating using the map is super clunky. I dont like it.\nRumors about technical issues are real. Sound just went away. Can\u0026rsquo;t hear ingame audio. Can hear audio in the menus though.\nThe quality seems to be noticably lower than Arkham City.\nThere is a bug that will make Batman smaller in size hard locking the game. So dumb.\nDone for a little bit. Going to render some videos now, and go to sleep. Will make a plan for tomorrow. Got a lot of work I need to finish tomorrow.\nThis game is definitely made by a B tier studio. Noticeably lesser in quality compared to Arkham City.\nApr 25, 2026 Saturday 09:43:23 AM CDT Going to play some more now.\nMenu navigation is totally meant for a controller. Super annoying when using keyboard mouse.\nTaking a little break to work on the website.\nApr 25, 2026 Saturday 04:15:10 PM CDT Another session\nFight with Deathstroke is annoying and the same crashed.\nApr 25, 2026 Saturday 05:30:44 PM CDT Updated website. Going to give it another go.\nFinished the fight. Annoying but its was OK.\nHard locked the game because I can\u0026rsquo;t exit a room because pressing Space wont open the door. Restarted the game and that made it work. I have a feeling there might come a time when I cant proceed because of these bugs.\nGoing to take a little break. Played the game for 4.8 hours total.\nApr 25, 2026 Saturday 07:46:29 PM CDT Played some more. There is this bug where Batman becomes tiny. Can\u0026rsquo;t reach doors or other items. Need to restart the game. The game is fun, but I am not sure if I want to continue to play this.\nApr 26, 2026 Sunday 10:16:01 AM CDT Going to play more.\nMy computer crashed. This hasnt happened in a long time. Unrelated to the game. Happened when I was moving the VM window around.\nAbout to start now.\nOk, I actually like the story. This is where the Joker makes an appearence for the first time in Batman series. I like how they did that part. Very cool.\nI think I know how this game is going to end. Its basically the beginning of Arkham Asylum. Its funny how I remmeber the beginning of Arkham Asylum after all these years. Played the demo of that game in 2007 I think?\nApr 26, 2026 Sunday 12:18:42 PM CDT Playing more.\nCopperhead section where batman is slow is boring.\nI think I broke the boss fight by killing her outside the stupid zone. This is so boring. Taking a break.\nApr 26, 2026 Sunday 01:52:22 PM CDT Going to give it another go.\nDone with the fight. Going to take a break.\nApr 26, 2026 Sunday 04:13:22 PM CDT One more round. Got to the hotel. Joker in the penthouse. Going to update website content. Will play more later in the evening.\nApr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:33:02 PM CDT One more round. Might not get a chance to play for another week.\nFriday, May 1, 2026, 6:51 PM CDT Time to play some more. Finished all work stuff. Going to spend some time just playing. Friday, May 1, 2026, 9:05 PM CDT - taking a little break. Got a phone call, spent some time on the phone talking to family.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2026/04/2026-04-18-batmanarkhamorigins-diary/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"apr-18-2026-saturday-064023-pm-cdt\"\u003eApr 18, 2026 Saturday 06:40:23 PM CDT\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstalled the game just now from Steam.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoing to play for a while and then get something to eat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"apr-18-2026-saturday-094112-pm-cdt\"\u003eApr 18, 2026 Saturday 09:41:12 PM CDT\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOk, I am about to play now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGame has some tecnical issues. Found a youtube video to fix the problem. Game freezes when running in DX11 mode.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;D:\\SteamLibrary\\steamapps\\common\\Batman Arkham Origins\\SinglePlayer\\BMGame\\Config\\BmEngine.ini\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAllowD3D10=True\u003cbr\u003e\nAllowD3D11=False\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehad to do that make the game work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Batman Arkham Origins Diary"},{"content":"Apr 05, 2026 Sunday 03:29:01 PM Going to play some more today. Was supposed to work on some slides for a presentation, but I cannot work on it now because I need input from others.\nI am also very glad that I get to write my thoughts about games and publish them.\nApr 05, 2026 Sunday 04:18:46 PM Following the Cyber Trail. Entered a sewer. What will a video game be without a sewer level?\nWalking around the city and solving puzzles is the most boring part of the game.\n\u0026ldquo;I had this nasty dream that I was a homeless guy living in the sewers. Oh wait!\u0026rdquo;. That was funny.\nApr 05, 2026 Sunday 04:52:54 PM Stopped for the day. I will play more either later in the day or early tomorrow.\nDid a side quest about a murder mystery. The reason I realized I don\u0026rsquo;t like playing side quests in this game is because of the movement. It often requires going back between locations and the walking so slow. This is understandable, but, not fun.\nI am going to breeze through the rest of the game. Steam shows me that I played for 8.4 hours. I think past the half way mark.\nWhen I finish this game, it will be the first game of 2026.\nApr 17, 2026 Friday 08:48:25 PM CDT Going to play another session. I have not played this game in a while. I want to finish this and move onto the next game. I am trying a live blogging setup. Let\u0026rsquo;s see if that works well.\nAbsolutely beautiful visuals. The Omni Consumer Products HQ is beautiful.\nFiller content is not very engaging to me.\nGot a phone call. Had to pause.\nNo idea what is happening with the story.\nApr 18, 2026 Saturday 03:26:32 PM CDT Finish writing some unrelated content and published it. I will play some more now.\nPlaying the mission where I have to prevent the bad guys from blowing up a bridge in detroit.\nDisarming the bomb puzzle is boring\nHate how secondary weapon gets reset between missions.\nThink I am in the last level. Action is dialed to 11.\nApr 18, 2026 Saturday 04:32:29 PM CDT Finished the game.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2026/04/2026-04-05-robocoproguecity-diary/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"apr-05-2026-sunday-032901-pm\"\u003eApr 05, 2026 Sunday 03:29:01 PM\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoing to play some more today. Was supposed to work on some slides for a presentation, but I cannot work on it now because I need input from others.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am also very glad that I get to write my thoughts about games and publish them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"apr-05-2026-sunday-041846-pm\"\u003eApr 05, 2026 Sunday 04:18:46 PM\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the Cyber Trail. Entered a sewer. What will a video game be without a sewer level?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RoboCop Rogue City Diary"},{"content":"The Detox A few weeks ago I started a digital detox. I stopped reading the news, skipped every hot take on the Iran war or on how President Trump “should have handled” it, and ignored the endless commentary from people detached from reality. None of it added value; it simply occupied precious brain space.\nSherlock Holmes captured the feeling perfectly:\n\u0026ldquo;What the deuce is it to me? You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.\u0026rdquo;\n— A Study in Scarlet\nTo keep my “brain attic” clear, I quit reading headlines entirely. The Middle East could have been collapsing, the market could have been crashing—I remained happily ignorant. I also stopped checking my portfolio. I know I won’t make decisions based on daily noise, and watching volatility added nothing useful.\nOn April 16, 2026, while stuck in the Charleston, SC airport on my way home, I finally glanced at the market. The S\u0026amp;P 500 had closed at 7041.28. My 100% US-equity portfolio had quietly hit a major milestone.\nMarket on 2026-04-16\nI still remember the infamous 2016 CNN headline: How a Trump Win Would Sink Stocks. On November 8, 2016, the S\u0026amp;P 500 closed at 2139.56. The next day it rose more than 1% to 2163.26. That was the moment my trust in mainstream financial commentary died.\nOne of the greatest self-goals of all time.\nToday—2,460 trading days later—the S\u0026amp;P 500 closed at 7126.03 (April 17, 2026). In nearly 2,400 days, not a single week passed without someone predicting imminent collapse, World War III, or the next civilization-ending pandemic. None of it materialized anywhere near the scale the experts claimed. Could something catastrophic still be around the corner? Of course. No one knows. That’s precisely the point. The talking heads pretend they do; the rest of us simply live with uncertainty.\nMarket on 2026-04-17\nThe age-old wisdom of ignoring headlines, setting sensible goals, and steadily pursuing them has worked. My own planning and discipline could only take me so far; the macroeconomy had to cooperate. What good is a bull market if you panic-sell at the first dip?\nFor context, the S\u0026amp;P 500 hit a record 6144.15 on February 19, 2025. By April 8, 2025, it had fallen to 4982.77 in what became known as the Libration Day crash. Panic was everywhere. Armchair economists on X suddenly became tariff experts, predicting financial Armageddon. President Trump was openly using tariffs as leverage for better trade deals, yet the credentialed class chose hysteria instead.\nBattlefield YouTubers became market experts.\nWhen the market hit its lowest point, the panic was in full swing. Trump called them PANICANS. Appropriate. I did buy the dip a little bit, but I did not have the cashflow, and I had to sit on the sidelines a little bit. At least, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t selling (or making any changes to my asset allocation) like those geniuses on TV and X.\nOn June 27, 2025, S\u0026amp;P 500 closed at a new all-time high of 6173.07. This marked full recovery from the tariff scare draw down (and set a new record). The index had already turned positive for the year by May.\nComing to the current situation, we see a similar trend.\nDate Market Reaction Event Description January 28, 2026 7002.28 Pre-war all time high. February 28, 2026 The drop begins Oil is high, stocks are low. March 30, 2026 6316.91 Lowest close during the Iran war scare (down 9.8% from Jan 28 high; worst levels since late 2024). April 8, 2026 Rebound U.S.-Iran ceasefire/truce signals emerge; major relief rally begins as investors price in de-escalation. April 15, 2026 7022.95 New all-time high; S\u0026amp;P 500 surpasses previous record (Jan 28 high) and crosses back above 7000. Full recovery of all Iran-war losses + new record set. All the while, there were people online who were predicting the end of the world. Whether they truly believed these delusions or they were doing this for attention is hard to say. I am not in favor of wars, that said, if a war is inevitable, I\u0026rsquo;d rather America win by crushing its enemies. Can all this change on Monday April 20, 2026? Yes. I know I will not be doing anything different, I will stay the course.\nA Personal Milestone Its rather amusing that those that are not consumed by partisan politics are happy with the current situation and hopeful about the future. I also achieved an important personal financial milestone.\nThis was achieved by not doing much during the market turmoil. I decided to reward myself. I went to buffet place - spent $12, and ate 5 plates of food. I typed this entire post while I was having dinner. The joys of eating alone.\nBarbecue to start\nFollowed by Italian. It was bad.\nMexican. It was bad.\nChick-fil-A. Jesus chicken.\nOrange ice cream, pecan turtle cheesecake, and coffee.\nGoing forward I want to think less about numbers and more about life. The last few years have been a relentless pursuit of targets. Progress felt good, but it never brought real happiness. There is no one I can share this milestone with, and bragging feels tacky anyway—only judgment follows.\nI refuse lifestyle inflation. Buying things creates stress, not joy. Instead, I want to spend more on experiences. Going out alone for a meal was uncharacteristic for me, yet surprisingly pleasant. I plan to do it more often. A few dollars here and there won’t matter at this stage.\nWins in life are rare. I am going to celebrate them. I know I’m not the only person quietly marking financial milestones—plenty in the FI community do the same—but I have no interest in FIRE. I like the “FI” part; the “RE” part holds no appeal. I want to do meaningful work for as long as I can.\nAnother, larger milestone is still ahead. When I reach it, I’ll celebrate that one too.\nThis post is published on April 18, 2026, Saturday, 10:11:19 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/2026-04-27-milestones/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"the-detox\"\u003eThe Detox\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few weeks ago I started a digital detox. I stopped reading the news, skipped every hot take on the Iran war or on how President Trump “should have handled” it, and ignored the endless commentary from people detached from reality. None of it added value; it simply occupied precious brain space.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSherlock Holmes captured the feeling perfectly:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;What the deuce is it to me? You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\n— \u003cem\u003eA Study in Scarlet\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Micro and Macro Economic Milestones"},{"content":"After some trial and error, my new website is now live.\nI’ll slowly migrate posts from my old blogs, preserving original dates where possible and making only minor edits.\nI am hoping this is the last platform I ever need.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/04/2026-04-12-helloworld/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter some trial and error, my new website is now live.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ll slowly migrate posts from my old blogs, preserving original dates where possible and making only minor edits.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am hoping this is the last platform I ever need.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hello World"},{"content":"This is what I consider the peak era of gaming in my life. Battlefield dominated most of it. This post is try and post all my thoughts, almost 15 years after.\n2011: The Alpha Battlefield 3 open alpha was announced in mid 2011, and there was a lot of chatter about this on Twitter and other gaming forums back then. Competitive gaming was not something I Was into at this point. The whole idea confused me. I had a lot of single player games to play, so I exclusively played them.\nSide note - 2011 Twitter was nothing like X in 2026. It was mostly a lot of mundane stuff. There were no culture wars happening, and it was very edgy. You couldn\u0026rsquo;t get a bluecheck unless you were deemed worthy, and tweets were only 140 characters. I think X as a platform is better, but I wish there was more fun gaming content. Donald Trump was a real estate tycoon, reality TV star, him becoming the President of the United States is the farthest thing from anyone\u0026rsquo;s mind. I say this because the golden age of Battlefield ended for me because President Trump influenced in some manner the downfall of Battlefield, at least in my opinion.\nGaming in general was very different. This was a hobby for passionate gamers, and most of the discussion centered around things like graphics, hardware, mods etc., and game journlists are not the laughing stock they are today. Injecting politics into gaming was seen as a dumb thing to do because gaming was an escape. Why would I ever want politics in my video games? I am playing video games partly to escape from all the real world nonsense.\nI bought a GeForce GTX 570 in April 2011, and I wanted to play an FPS game with great graphics. Somehow Battlefield entered my conscious thoughts, and I decided to give it a try. At this point, Crysis is still the best single player FPS out there. I believe Crysis 2 was released, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t own it yet, and also, I read that it wasn\u0026rsquo;t a PC focused game like the first one was.\nI realized I need to use EA Origin to download the game, and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t available on Steam. I hated the idea but because the game was free, I decided to try it. Its not like I was ever going to buy a Battlefield game anyway, right? Who has time for multiplayer games anyway, with so many great single player games to play.\nSo I went ahead and downloaded Origin, went through the account creation process, and then downloaded the game. I remember this very vividly to this day. I started the game, and a browser window opened. I had no idea what the heck was happening. This was BattleLog. Something I dearly miss today, but I hated it at the time. I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. Why would anyone want to open a browser to launch a game? I couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out what to do, but I started clicking around and I eventually figured out that I needed to click on server and join it, and so I did.\nIt put in a Rush match on Operation Metro. I was completely blown away by the graphics. They were amazing. I had to turn some settings down to get decent frame rate, but it was still looking absolutely amazing. It was hands down the best looking game I ever played. There was one problem though - I had no idea what to do. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what Rush meant (at that point, I never played Bad Company games). I was lost. I did not know how weapons worked, and it was a miserable experience.\nHere is a video showing how bad I was at the same when I first played it.\nI decided it wasn\u0026rsquo;t for me. I gave up on it.\nBattlefield 3 Part 1 After the disaster that was the Alpha, I decided Battlefield and multiplayer gaming wasn\u0026rsquo;t for me. I played singleplayer games, and went on with life.\nIn december 2011, Battlefield 3 entered my gaming conscious again. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember what led to this, but I wanted to give it another go. Something about the game just caught my attention. Was it the gun play (which i was horrible at)? Was it the gritty military aesthetic? Was it the stellar graphics? Can\u0026rsquo;t say, but I ended up buying it. On Thursday, December 1, 2011, I purchased Battlefield 3 on Amazon for $49.51.\nAfter I downloaded the full game, and I installed it, I opened Battlelog again. This was still something I thought was silly and I hated the idea of launching the game via the browser. I started browsing Battlelog, and I remembered that back when I played Battlefield 2 demo with bots, I played the conquest mode (even though I didn\u0026rsquo;t really understand what conquest meant. I used to play conquest like TDM). So I decided to look for conquest games in the server browser. Having found one, I joined it, and I remember it put me to Grand Bazar. I remember thinking the map looked amazing. I was still very bad at the game. I finished near the bottom. Maybe got one or two kills. Quite sure I played as Engineer, and tried to use the RPG on infantry, expecting it to work like Quake 3, and of course it didn\u0026rsquo;t. I got killed almost immediately.\nI hated being bad at the game. I then played a round of Operation Firestorm. I got killed in every manner imaginable. I was terrible at the game.\nDepressing. I am never played this game again. I should just stick to single player games.\nNoshar Canals TDM June 2012. I got wisdom tooth surgery, I took a few days off from work. My wife suggested that we try Battlefield 3 together as a squad. I did not have anything better to do in life, and she was going to go back to school in a different country in a couple of weeks, so I thought it will be fun to play with her. I had absolutely no intention of playing Battlefield 3 once she left, because I didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy being terrible at the game.\nShe was playing on a laptop and I was playing on my desktop. Her laptop at the time was not powerful enough to run Battlefield 3 even on medium settings, So she turned the settings way down and we decided to try a smaller game mode. We happened to find a TDM server running Noshar Canals. We joined the server, and we started playing it. I understood the game mode, and because there were no vehicles, I played support and my wife played Assault.\nI slowly started to understand the mechanics of the game, how the unlocked worked, how to help teammates etc. I started to play more assault and discovered the god tier M16A3, which became my go to assault rifle. There were still aspects of the game I was just not familiar with - playing as an engineering, using vehicles, sniping, game modes like conquest etc. I didn\u0026rsquo;t care. I was just happy playing TDM. My wife and I spent many hours over the next few weeks playing Noshar Canals TDM.\nThis continued when she left to go back to school. We played Noshar Canals TDM when we were on different continents. This map holds special memories because of the time I spent learning to play Battlefield\nYouTube In addition to the Battlefield discussions on Twitter, and Reddit, I noticed that there was user created Battlefield content on Youtube. The most notable video was the rendezook from stun_gravy. It was unbelivable. How can someone jump out of a jet, RPG another jet and get back into the jet? How did they even know this is possible? This wasn\u0026rsquo;t staged. This was in a multiplayer round. I was speechless.\nThe golden era of Battlefield also gave us some of the best Battlefield content on Youtube. Always looked forward to videos from these channels. Every day there was a video from one of these channels, and I would come back from work and look forward to watching their videos. None of these are dedicated Battlefield channels anymore. They have branched into other things, and that is understandable.\nhttps://www.youtube.com/@intheworksmedia https://www.youtube.com/@Westie https://www.youtube.com/@LevelCapGaming https://www.youtube.com/@rivalxfactor https://www.youtube.com/@Matimi0 https://www.youtube.com/@FRANKIEonPCin1080p https://www.youtube.com/@TheRussianBadger https://www.youtube.com/@ponylionhd https://www.youtube.com/@jackfrags https://www.youtube.com/@Stungravy https://www.youtube.com/@StoneMountain64 Conquering Conquest I still was mainly playing TDM at this time. I never got the hang of Conquest, and it was too chaotic. Around this time, the excellent Close Quarters DLC was released. This DLC was focused on smaller maps, Domination game mode, and micro destruction. I played the heck of out of this DLC. Loved 3 of the 4 maps. Did not enjoy Scrapmetal a lot. I don\u0026rsquo;t mind it, but its nowhere near as good as the others. Operation 925 was my favorite map in this DLC.\nPlaying domination made me understand conquest. I knew Armored Kill DLC is around the corner. When I watched the launch trailer of Armored Kill DLC, I knew I wasn\u0026rsquo;t getting the full Battlefield experience playing just Domination and TDM. The trailer for this DLC was epic. I watched some youtube tutorials on how to play Conquest and be effective. I knew I had to jump into this game mode and figure things out myself and I should not let some bad rounds deter me from playing this mode. I just have to enjoy the ride.\nOne of the first Conquest rounds I played after my new found resolve was Caspian Border. I still played support on conquest because I felt like this class was best suited for new players. LMGs have unlimited ammo, and you can resupply teammates, and you are always contributing to the team. I pretty much just followed people around, gave ammo, and managed to hold my own for a bit. This set the Battlefield journey in motion.\nFrom then on I played conquest large, and I played other modes just to unlock weapons. I would diligently watch weapon reviews and try to incorporate them into my game. I would also try to imitate the gameplay of the youtubers, and that was a lot of fun. This got me hooked on learning the map layouts, figuring out gameplay and weapon combinations. I found myself immersed in this world of Battlefield. I was watching Battlefield history videos, watching gameplay recordings of older games. I was fascinated by this game. I finished 9 single players games in 2012, 4 games in 2013 and none in 2014. Battlefield went from being a game I never thought I would play to being my main game.\nCapturing Battlefield Moments I wanted to record gameplay and upload videos to youtube. I used FRAPS before. The first video I recorded using FRAPS. It was a round of Quake 3 deathmatch on nightmare difficulty. I recorded a few clips here and there, and uploaded them to my old youtube channel, but it was under the controlled environment of a single player game. So I remember a video from JackFrags about recording gameplay using Dxtory, which was much better than FRAPS. So I started recording game play videos. This became a side hobby that I pursue to this day. It was still a cumbersome process though, and you have be recording all the time to capture those Battlefield moments. I learned the basics of video editing and if memory serves me right, I used Sony Vegas Pro for editing the clips.\nThis post was started on 3/29/2026 on Amtrak en route from Austin to Fort Worth, TX.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2026/03/2026-03-29-goldenageofbattlefield/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is what I consider the peak era of gaming in my life. Battlefield dominated most of it. This post is try and post all my thoughts, almost 15 years after.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"2011-the-alpha\"\u003e2011: The Alpha\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBattlefield 3 open alpha was announced in mid 2011, and there was a lot of chatter about this on Twitter and other gaming forums back then. Competitive gaming was not something I Was into at this point. The whole idea confused me. I had a lot of single player games to play, so I exclusively played them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Golden Age of Battlefield"},{"content":"In my opinion the first Dishonored is one of the best single player games ever made. Sequels have a tendency to be not as good as the original. Sequels such as Crysis 2, F.E.A.R 2, Doom Eternal, Deus Ex Invisible War etc., were not as good as the first games.\nGoing into Dishonored 2, I didn\u0026rsquo;t know much about the story or the gameplay changes. I wanted to experience the game without knowing much about it.\nI finished Dishonored on Monday, July 1, 2024, 5:49:00 AM, and its DLCs on Saturday, August 10, 2024, 10:54:00 PM. I started Dishonored 2 in 2025 and finished it on Saturday, October 11, 2025, 11:03:00 PM.\nWhen I started the game, everything felt familiar in a good way. The UI was slightly different, but the customization options were just as great.\nThe gameplay itself felt mostly the same, which is good. But the level design is where Dishonored 2 truly shines and I think its better than the original. This game features one of the best levels I have ever played in a single player game. When I think of great level design, this particular level will always come to mind.\nThe graphics are noticeably nicer, and the art style benefits from the new setting. The game takes place on a Mediterranean island, which is much different than Dunwall. I\u0026rsquo;ve always been partial to this kind of environment. Witcher 3 Blood and Wine, Just Cause 3, Caesar III, Caesar IV are among my favorites.\nKarnaca is a fantastic setting. The bright coastal areas look incredible, while the dingier districts show the unpleasant side of life. The coastal mansion level in particular is stunning.\nIn hindsight, I probably should have played as Emily. Her new abilities would have given me something different to experiment with. Playing as Corvo felt familiar, but it also meant I wasn\u0026rsquo;t doing much beyond what I already knew from the first game.\nOne of the things I\u0026rsquo;ve always loved about Dishonored is how unexpected gameplay moments can emerge naturally. For example, I was sneaking through a mansion and encountered a clockwork soldier. I shot its head off, and while it couldn\u0026rsquo;t see anymore, it was still alive and flailing around. That led to a completely unexpected chain of events. In most games, this would have been a fail state. In Dishonored 2, it\u0026rsquo;s just another moment you adapt to.\nThe PC version had issues at launch, but I played it nine years later on hardware far beyond the recommended specs. I had zero technical problems. The game ran smoothly on ultra settings at 3440x1440.\nThe story is fine. Within the first 15 minutes, Emily Kaldwin is deposed by her aunt, who claims to be the rightful heir. It feels contrived. There\u0026rsquo;s also the Crown Killer mystery, which is resolved in the most boring way possible. None of this ruins the experience, but I do remember the story being goofy in places. Still, the gameplay more than makes up for it.\nDishonored 2 is a better game than the original, and fans of single player stealth/action games should absolutely play it. It is one of the best games ever made.\nThis review is written on Amtrak, en route from Austin to Fort Worth, TX and published at Amtrak station 1001 Jones St, Fort Worth, TX 76102 on 3/29/2026 via free Greyhound WiFi. First published on blogbytes.net. This post is published on Apr 04, 2026 Sunday 20:07:00 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/03/reviews/dishonored2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn my opinion the first Dishonored is one of the best single player games ever made. Sequels have a tendency to be not as good as the original. Sequels such as Crysis 2, F.E.A.R 2, Doom Eternal, Deus Ex Invisible War etc., were not as good as the first games.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoing into Dishonored 2, I didn\u0026rsquo;t know much about the story or the gameplay changes. I wanted to experience the game without knowing much about it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dishonored 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Got this game for free on Uplay. Finished it on Saturday, June 7, 2025.\nUbisoft needed a win after the disaster of Unity at launch. Syndicate released the following year, had a smooth launch, and was generally well received. Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed purists weren\u0026rsquo;t thrilled because the parkour lacked the depth Unity offered. After watching some videos on YouTube, I agree that Syndicate\u0026rsquo;s parkour is noticeably more simplistic. The grapple hook was a little controversial. I understand why it exists, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t bother me too much, but Unity handled traversal better. Tall structures in Unity had stationary grapples placed in specific spots, which still required effort and gave you a sense of accomplishment when you parkoured your way to the top of Notre Dame.\nSyndicate includes all the major London landmarks, but it\u0026rsquo;s possible to breeze through them with almost no resistance. At times, it feels like a noclip mode.\nAfter playing Syndicate, Origins, and Odyssey, I realize how important level traversal really is. Making traversal super easy doesn\u0026rsquo;t automatically make a game better. I don\u0026rsquo;t think Origins or Odyssey are better games just because you can climb any surface like Spider-Man. Compare this to Red Dead Redemption 2, where the player has to think about how to navigate the world, look for pathways, and engage with the environment. In Origins and Odyssey, you just walk up to a wall and start climbing. No thought required.\nThis is why the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is so much better than almost any AC world (except maybe Black Flag). The developers designed the world so the player is rewarded for exploration, and it actually felt like an accomplishment. In AC Origins, aside from the pyramids, nothing really comes close, and Odyssey was basically easy mode.\nCompared to Unity, I didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy Syndicate as much. The story was boring (Unity\u0026rsquo;s was boring too, but this felt worse). Switching between characters got old fast. I played as Evie because I liked her abilities. In true Ubisoft fashion, they force you to play as the other character for certain missions. Very annoying. Why spend so much time customizing and leveling up a character only to be forced to play as someone I had no interest in? They pulled the same thing in Origins.\nI had no trouble running the game at the highest settings at 3440x1440. What\u0026rsquo;s strange is that the game doesn\u0026rsquo;t look as good as Unity. The graphics feel washed out, and this persists throughout the entire playthrough. Unity and Black Flag have vibrant, pleasing colors, while Syndicate looks muted by comparison.\nI heard the DLC for this game is really good, but I haven\u0026rsquo;t played it and have no intention of buying it.\nI wouldn\u0026rsquo;t buy this game if you haven\u0026rsquo;t played Unity and its DLC. My recommendation is to play Unity first, and if you still want more of the same - but not quite as good - then maybe spend $5 on Syndicate.\nThis review is written on Amtrak, en route from Austin to Fort Worth, TX and published at Amtrak station 1001 Jones St, Fort Worth, TX 76102 on 3/29/2026 via free Greyhound WiFi. This post is published on Apr 06, 2026 Monday 07:28:38 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/03/reviews/assassinscreedsyndicate-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGot this game for free on Uplay. Finished it on Saturday, June 7, 2025.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUbisoft needed a win after the disaster of Unity at launch. Syndicate released the following year, had a smooth launch, and was generally well received. Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed purists weren\u0026rsquo;t thrilled because the parkour lacked the depth Unity offered. After watching some videos on YouTube, I agree that Syndicate\u0026rsquo;s parkour is noticeably more simplistic. The grapple hook was a little controversial. I understand why it exists, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t bother me too much, but Unity handled traversal better. Tall structures in Unity had stationary grapples placed in specific spots, which still required effort and gave you a sense of accomplishment when you parkoured your way to the top of Notre Dame.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassins Creed Syndicate (PC) Review"},{"content":"I didn\u0026rsquo;t post anything in 2025. Since starting this blog in 2011, I\u0026rsquo;ve rarely gone an entire year without writing something, so it feels strange to see a gap that long.\nGames I Played in 2025\nIndiana Jones and The Great Circle F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Syndicate Shadow of the Tomb Raider Dishonored 2 Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Indiana Jones and The Great Circle I played this on Xbox Game Pass, which I picked up for $1. I finished it in a few days without doing many side quests. The companion character was predictably annoying and dragged the experience down. The graphics were excellent, but the gameplay had issues and the weapon system felt clunky. Overall, it felt like a $5 game.\nF.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin A console-ized version of F.E.A.R. The story is completely insane - anyone who has played it knows what I mean. It\u0026rsquo;s a good game, but nowhere near the league of the first.\nAssassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Syndicate This will probably be the last Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game I play for a while. It\u0026rsquo;s not bad, but it\u0026rsquo;s not as good as Unity. The graphics feel noticeably worse, and switching between characters is a gimmick that didn\u0026rsquo;t add much. The story is boring. Unity was a much better game.\nShadow of the Tomb Raider Excellent graphics, but a very boring story. The RPG mechanics feel unnecessary, and I wish they had removed them entirely. My next Tomb Raider game will be Underworld, which I plan to play in 2026.\nDishonored 2 One of the best single-player games I\u0026rsquo;ve ever played. I think it\u0026rsquo;s better than the first. I played as Corvo, and it felt like a worthy sequel in every way. It\u0026rsquo;s rare for a sequel to surpass the original across the board, but this one does. An all-time great for me.\nDishonored: Death of the Outsider More of the same - in a good way. A very solid game. I didn\u0026rsquo;t understand parts of the story, but the level design is excellent. I\u0026rsquo;ll watch a YouTube breakdown to fill in the gaps.\nLife 2025 was a bittersweet year. Some great things happened, and some very sad things happened. A death in the family was difficult to deal with, and life will never be quite the same. I also traveled a bit - Austin, Atlanta, and Chicago. Austin wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a vacation; it was more family-related. Chicago was great, and I plan to return in 2026.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t played many games this year. Battlefield 6 is probably my most-played so far. I\u0026rsquo;m also playing RoboCop: Rogue City and enjoying it. Gaming feels strange lately - I want to play more, but I\u0026rsquo;m not finding the time or the motivation. I miss the days when I played games instead of watching YouTube.\nI want to stop worrying about the world, the wars, the market, and just enjoy games like I used to. The problem is that every social media platform has turned into a political cesspool. I\u0026rsquo;m still partial to X (Twitter), but I try to check it only once a day to preserve my sanity. I miss the days when Reddit wasn\u0026rsquo;t what it is now, when forums still existed, and when PC gaming wasn\u0026rsquo;t a rich man\u0026rsquo;s hobby.\nWhen I look back at life between 2014 and 2017, it feels like a real high point - both in life and in gaming. This was the golden age of Battlefield. I played so many great games during that time. My family was doing well, my grandmother and uncle were in good health, and I was planning to visit her soon. I have so many fond memories. We bought a house and paid it off in two years. I was financially well off. I\u0026rsquo;m not doing badly now - arguably I\u0026rsquo;m doing better - but I don\u0026rsquo;t feel like life has gotten better.\nI want to recapture that feeling again. I want to live more in the moment, work out more, and spend time doing things that make me happy and have a positive influence on my life.\nBroadly speaking, I want to get more into Linux, earn a certification and make a career transition, play more games, work out more, eat healthy, and reach $2 million in net worth.\nLet\u0026rsquo;s see if I succeed.\nPublished on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:18:10 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2026/03/2026-03-28-lifeandgamingupdate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI didn\u0026rsquo;t post anything in 2025. Since starting this blog in 2011, I\u0026rsquo;ve rarely gone an entire year without writing something, so it feels strange to see a gap that long.\u003cbr\u003e\nGames I Played in 2025\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndiana Jones and The Great Circle\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eF.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAssassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Syndicate\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShadow of the Tomb Raider\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDishonored 2\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDishonored: Death of the Outsider\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle\"\u003eIndiana Jones and The Great Circle\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI played this on Xbox Game Pass, which I picked up for $1. I finished it in a few days without doing many side quests. The companion character was predictably annoying and dragged the experience down. The graphics were excellent, but the gameplay had issues and the weapon system felt clunky. Overall, it felt like a $5 game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Life and Gaming Update in 2026"},{"content":"I have mixed feelings about the game.\nWhat I Liked Quick Save Feature: The ability to quickly save progress is a significant plus. The old save system would have made things worse.\nWorld Design: The game boasts an impressive world design in terms of visuals, and the vast map to explore.\nStunning Graphics: The visuals are truly remarkable, better than Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Origins in my opinion.\nWhat I Didn\u0026rsquo;t Like Sloppy Gameplay: I encountered moments during the game that showed a total lack of polish. For example, during the final boss battle, a mercenary appeared but was unable to enter the arena due to invisible walls which shows that the game has not been properly play tested.\nGoofy Combat Mechanics: The movement system of Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed makes some sections of the combat feel awkward and silly.\nRepetitive Gameplay: The game suffers from a lack of variety, with noticeable copy-pasted assets that make exploration feel monotonous.\nBoring Storyline: I tried to stay engaged, but it got boring. Bad acting in the cut scenes made it difficult to sit through them. I skipped most of them towards the end.\nDisappointing Final Boss Battle: This encounter was poorly designed, featuring a steep difficulty spike and an unnecessarily long cut scene before the fight. The absence of a save point afterward meant that dying would force me to replay the same choices repeatedly.\nPoor Animations: Enemy dodging animations are not well done, with characters appearing to teleport rather than move fluidly.\nUnsatisfactory Music: I was hoping for something good, and got something very forgettable instead. No where near as good as Black Flag, and even worse than Origins.\nI paid $11.99 for this game and feel that I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth; however, it\u0026rsquo;s clear that it lacks polish. Given my experiences with this title and previous entries like Origins, I will be buying Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Valhalla. I think its going to be much of the same, and I have way too many games in backlog to buy a mediocre game.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:41:31 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/12/reviews/assassinscreedodyssey-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have mixed feelings about the game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"what-i-liked\"\u003eWhat I Liked\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuick Save Feature: The ability to quickly save progress is a significant plus. The old save system would have made things worse.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorld Design: The game boasts an impressive world design in terms of visuals, and the vast map to explore.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStunning Graphics: The visuals are truly remarkable, better than Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Origins in my opinion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/CA_qujBl8y0?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassins Creed Odyssey (PC) Review"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m somewhat conflicted about Borderlands. Technically, it\u0026rsquo;s a solid game. It ran smoothly on my setup with a 2560x1440 resolution, an i7-6700k processor, and a GeForce 1080Ti, without any issues.\nHowever, the gameplay feels dated. Movement lacks a sense of weight, and I frequently got stuck on level geometry, especially in densely packed areas. The vehicle controls are also unconventional, using mouse-based turning rather than the standard WASD movement, which took some time to get used to.\nWhile I appreciate the cel-shaded graphics, the environmental design left something to be desired. The heavy use of grey and brown makes sense for a post-apocalyptic setting, but a bit more variety in the visuals would have been nice, even considering the game\u0026rsquo;s era.\nThe much-touted weapon variety didn\u0026rsquo;t impress me. I found most of the weapons to be underwhelming and felt they lacked significance. I ended up sticking with a few weapons throughout the game.\nI played as the Soldier class, which was enjoyable. The gunplay is decent, but the endgame felt dragged out with a series of padded quests that ultimately failed to deliver a satisfying conclusion, leading to some boredom.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t explore the DLCs due to a packed gaming schedule, so I can\u0026rsquo;t comment on their quality.\nI cautiously recommend Borderlands, especially if you\u0026rsquo;re a fan of the series and want to experience its origins. For others, it is probably not worth buying.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:40:25 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/08/reviews/borderlands-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m somewhat conflicted about Borderlands. Technically, it\u0026rsquo;s a solid game. It ran smoothly on my setup with a 2560x1440 resolution, an i7-6700k processor, and a GeForce 1080Ti, without any issues.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, the gameplay feels dated. Movement lacks a sense of weight, and I frequently got stuck on level geometry, especially in densely packed areas. The vehicle controls are also unconventional, using mouse-based turning rather than the standard WASD movement, which took some time to get used to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Borderlands (PC) Review"},{"content":"Very solid game. Definitely worth playing. Main story takes about 13 hours to complete. There is a TON of side content.\nCombat is the best part of this game and there is a lot to learn. After 13+ hours, I don\u0026rsquo;t think I am anywhere near mastering it. There are parts that are unfair at times, especially when there are a lot of armed guards. Lack of auto-run will get you killed.\nI had no technical issues. Worked fine on ultrawide resolution (3440x1440) without any mods. Game looks beautiful and animations are excellent (for the most part).\nGame is made for consoles first. Controls are not PC optimized, same with the UX. Its not a big deal, but it would have been a lot better if there were PC specific controls etc. Lack of auto run is painful.\nStory didn\u0026rsquo;t make much sense. Its not bad, but it was forgettable.\nBoss battles are kind of boring, but they are not overly frustrating, which is great. I typically do not enjoy boss battles in most games because the developers tend to design them in such a way that there is not a lot of player choice. This is true for Arkham City as well, but it was not done in a stupid manner like Tomb Raider Anniversary.\nLevel design is good, but sewer levels are very boring.\nOver all, one of the very best action games ever made. Thoroughly recommended, especially if it is on sale.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 08:07:51 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/07/reviews/batmanarkhamcity-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eVery solid game. Definitely worth playing. Main story takes about 13 hours to complete. There is a TON of side content.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCombat is the best part of this game and there is a lot to learn. After 13+ hours, I don\u0026rsquo;t think I am anywhere near mastering it. There are parts that are unfair at times, especially when there are a lot of armed guards. Lack of auto-run will get you killed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Batman Arkham City (PC) Review"},{"content":"Dishonored is one of the best single player games I ever played. It came very close to the original Deux Ex for me. There are so many ways to play this game - pure stealth, pure combat or a combination of both. The game manages to take player decisions into account and change things in subtle and interesting ways. The powers and skills acquired allow different ways to approach mission objectives.\nThe game has a comic book like art style, and it aged very well. I played it 10+ years after the release, and it still looks great. The world design is top notch. It is one of the most distinctive settings in gaming.\nMusic and voice acting are fantastic as well.\nUI is customizable, and the game works fine on ultra wide resolution (3440x1440). I never experienced any technical issues. It also has quick save, quick load, auto save and manual save. You can experiment and try different strategies to your heart\u0026rsquo;s content. A true PC game.\nI highly recommend it.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/07/reviews/dishonored-reviews/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDishonored is one of the best single player games I ever played. It came very close to the original Deux Ex for me. There are so many ways to play this game - pure stealth, pure combat or a combination of both. The game manages to take player decisions into account and change things in subtle and interesting ways. The powers and skills acquired allow different ways to approach mission objectives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dishonored (PC) Review"},{"content":"Doom Eternal annoyed me to no end.\nIts a very polished game, a functional product, and looks great. When the game gets going, its a lot of fun. Soundtrack is excellent - one of the best ever. There is nothing technically wrong with the game.\nHowever, I cannot recommend this game, because I did not have fun playing it. For fans of the first game expecting similar gameplay, understand that in certain aspects, Doom Eternal is a VERY different game. My biggest complaint are design decisions that get in the way of having fun. Every time it feels like I am getting in the flow, the game does something dumb to ruin it.\nGenerally, to acquire ammo, you have to kill grunts with the chainsaw, but you have limited amount of ammo you can carry (even with all the upgrades), and because weapons share the same ammo pool, such as double barrel shotgun and combat shotgun, running out of ammo with one weapon means you are out of ammo with the other (this is the same as the first game), but what makes it worse is how you constantly keep running out of ammo, and you have to use the chainsaw to kill a grunt to get some precious ammo, which doesn\u0026rsquo;t always top up the ammo supply and you have to wait excruciatingly long for chainsaw fuel to auto refill. Its so stupid. Why not let glory kills refill ammo? They had the perfect system all worked out in the last game. Why change it?\nTo further add to my irritation, there are long platforming sections. Who wanted this? Its so poorly done, it feels goofy and out of place.\nThe final levels are culmination of all the irritating design choices into one perfect package. When I beat the final boss\u0026hellip;I stared at the screen for a good 30 seconds, thinking to myself, how with some minor tweaks this game could have easily surpassed DOOM (2016) in every respect. Such a pity.\nI really wish I enjoyed this game, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t. There is a brilliant game hiding behind idiotic design choices.\nThis post is published on Apr 06, 2026 Monday 08:38:16 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/04/reviews/doometernal-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDoom Eternal annoyed me to no end.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts a very polished game, a functional product, and looks great. When the game gets going, its a lot of fun. Soundtrack is excellent - one of the best ever. There is nothing technically wrong with the game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, I cannot recommend this game, because I did not have fun playing it. For fans of the first game expecting similar gameplay, understand that in certain aspects, Doom Eternal is a VERY different game. My biggest complaint are design decisions that get in the way of having fun. Every time it feels like I am getting in the flow, the game does something dumb to ruin it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Doom Eternal (PC) Review"},{"content":"Rise of the Tomb Raider is a very solid sequel, and I really enjoyed this game. The graphics are top-notch — I played it at 3440x1440 resolution on a machine running an i7 12700k and a GeForce RTX 3080Ti with ray tracing enabled and I was getting over 100+ FPS with DLSS set to Quality mode. The attention to detail in the tombs you get to explore is outstanding, even extending to the optional ones. These optional tombs came closest to delivering the experience of the old games for me.\nLevel design in this game is exceptional, surpassing Tomb Raider (2013). Notably, the Syria level stands out as extremely well done. Combat mechanics are functional, and thankfully, unlike the last game, there aren\u0026rsquo;t too many quick-time events.\nHowever, the crafting system from the previous game makes a comeback, and unfortunately, it\u0026rsquo;s not good. It feels out of place in a game like this. Having to constantly loot for resources becomes quite tedious. RPG mechanics don\u0026rsquo;t make much sense in a fairly linear game such as this. Personally, I play Tomb Raider games to explore interesting levels, solve puzzles, and collect cool artifacts—anything beyond that feels like a distraction.\nThe voice acting for Lara Croft is very good, but I can\u0026rsquo;t say the same for any of the other characters. The dialogue is often boring, and the overall story feels nonsensical. I don\u0026rsquo;t understand why they felt the need to “humanize” Lara Croft, especially when they struggle to tell an interesting story. The original games kept it simple: Lara Croft is a rich adventurer who likes to raid tombs. Now, they\u0026rsquo;ve tried to create this elaborate backstory for her, which, in my opinion, detracts from the experience. The story of Rise of the Tomb Raider is essentially an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade rip-off, told in a boring and lazy manner.\nIt took me about 16 hours to finish the main campaign and some of the optional tombs, which can be very challenging.\nI got this game for free on the Epic Game Store, which, despite all the Fortnite money, is still not great. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the game is not available on GOG. I recommend buying this game on Steam, where it frequently goes on sale.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:05:37 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/04/reviews/riseofthetombraider-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRise of the Tomb Raider is a very solid sequel, and I really enjoyed this game. The graphics are top-notch — I played it at 3440x1440 resolution on a machine running an i7 12700k and a GeForce RTX 3080Ti with ray tracing enabled and I was getting over 100+ FPS with DLSS set to Quality mode. The attention to detail in the tombs you get to explore is outstanding, even extending to the optional ones. These optional tombs came closest to delivering the experience of the old games for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC) Review"},{"content":"The best thing about Assassin’s Creed Origins is the game world. Ubisoft did a fantastic job creating Egypt. The map is massive, and strictly playing the story missions covers around 60% of the map—this is without any of the DLC content. Exploring the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other Egyptian landmarks is a lot of fun. The City of Memphis is particularly memorable to me. In the hands of a better studio, this game could have been a masterpiece.\nGraphics fidelity is top-notch, and it’s very well optimized. At the absolute highest settings on 3440x1440, I was getting around 120 FPS on my GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. With the HUD elements disabled, it manages to look on par with Red Dead Redemption 2 in some areas.\nGameplay is very mediocre and extremely repetitive. It’s obvious that they are trying to imitate The Witcher 3, but it does not measure up. The mechanics seem very shallow, and they got boring fast. It suffers from the copy-paste design of Ubisoft games—bargain bin gameplay in a AAA open world. In true Ubisoft fashion, the map is full of markers, which robs the player of the joy of exploring and discovering something cool in the open world. Once a viewpoint is activated, everything in the area is highlighted on the map for the most part. There is no reason to go to a remote corner of the map because you know nothing is there other than maybe a trinket or two. But if it is anything remotely important, Ubisoft will make sure there is a question mark on the map. It removes any sense of discovery.\nThe bird is another goofy mechanic in the game. It’s basically a high-tech drone in the form of a hawk, and the game really wants you to use it. It could have been so much better, but Ubisoft can’t help themselves.\nThere are also those ridiculous modern-day sections, but thankfully, they are very short.\nI am happy they removed looting animations from the previous games.\nThe story can be interesting in certain parts, but by and large, it’s nonsensical. The dialogue is very bad, and the characters are poorly written. It felt like they were trying to create a character like Geralt from the Witcher games but failed. Black Flag still remains the best in terms of story and characters. The final missions are extremely annoying because you don’t even get to play as the main character.\nI paid $8.99 for this game, and I think I got my money’s worth. I recommend getting it on sale.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 08:17:55 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2024/04/reviews/assassinscreedorigins-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe best thing about Assassin’s Creed Origins is the game world. Ubisoft did a fantastic job creating Egypt. The map is massive, and strictly playing the story missions covers around 60% of the map—this is without any of the DLC content. Exploring the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other Egyptian landmarks is a lot of fun. The City of Memphis is particularly memorable to me. In the hands of a better studio, this game could have been a masterpiece.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassinss Creed Origins (PC) Review"},{"content":"Released in 2006, Call of Juarez is an FPS set in the Wild West. I should have loved this game, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t.\nConsidering the game was released 17 years ago, the visuals still hold up. Compared to most of the gray and brown shooters released around this time, this game stands out with colorful visuals. They successfully portrayed Mexico in a way that avoids the visual style of a Breaking Bad episode.\nThe story follows two characters, Billy Candle and Rev. Ray McCall, one seeking treasure and the other redemption. Techland explored the idea of finding redemption in the Wild West long before Rockstar. However, the story is not quite as interesting, and the voice acting can be amateurish at times.\nShooting is clunky and the weapon degradation does not help at all. McCall is more fun to play because you get to use guns, but the downside is that between episodes, you don\u0026rsquo;t get to preserve weapons. There is no ADS when using pistols, and at times, you have to engage enemies at a distance. There are a lot of post-processing effects that obscure visibility, and fighting enemies with pistols at a distance is a frustrating experience.\nBut by far the most annoying mechanics are the melee combat and duels. I can forgive the awkward melee combat but detest the duels. I remember playing the demo way back in the day and hating it. That hasn\u0026rsquo;t changed 17 years later.\nThere is very little player agency during duels. The mouse has a mind of its own. The game runs at over 200FPS on my machine, and I get the feeling that made things worse. I restricted the frame rate to 60 using RTSS, and I think it made the experience marginally better. In my opinion, it\u0026rsquo;s incredibly bad game design to lock a player into a specific situation and impose very narrow criteria for success.\nBilly leans more towards stealth, and using a bow is fun. However, the worst part about playing as Billy is the platform sections. First-person games around this time were not smooth enough to attempt first-person platforming. To say these sections are awkward and boring would be an understatement.\nThe game\u0026rsquo;s default control scheme is a little weird. Horse sprint is mapped to Caps Lock on default. Why not use Shift? Who thought this was a good idea?\nThe disappointing part is that this could have been a timeless classic, but needlessly poor design choices prevent this game from reaching its potential.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:06:04 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/12/reviews/callofjuarez-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eReleased in 2006, Call of Juarez is an FPS set in the Wild West. I should have loved this game, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConsidering the game was released 17 years ago, the visuals still hold up. Compared to most of the gray and brown shooters released around this time, this game stands out with colorful visuals. They successfully portrayed Mexico in a way that avoids the visual style of a Breaking Bad episode.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Juarez (PC) Review"},{"content":"I have not played The Darkness I because it was never released on the PC. Not having played the first game should not stop someone from playing this game. Just watch a YouTube video about the story of the first game, and you will be all caught up on the story. I should also mention that I knew nothing about the comics before playing this game.\nA direct sequel to the first game, in The Darkness II, you resume the role of Jackie who is possessed by Darkness, which gives the player control of the demon and its underling.\nFrom a technical perspective, I played this game in 2023 on i7-6700k, Nvidia 1080Ti at 2560x1440. Since this is a console port, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t work well when the game is running at a very high framerate. Enabling VSync, should take care of these issues. This means that the game is going to run at a steady 60FPS, and while this is not ideal, I didn\u0026rsquo;t mind it too much considering how old the game is.\nThe story doesn\u0026rsquo;t pull any punches. From dialogue to gameplay, this is a game meant for mature audiences.\nCombat is the real highlight here. In the right situations, when everything works, it is a lot of fun. Darkness abilities are a lot of fun to use, and using objects in the level to attack enemies is very well done. The one big complaint I had was the visual overload at times. The gameplay involves sticking to shadows, which gives you access to dark powers. Oftentimes in combat enemies will use light beams and these are blinding. They should have toned down the effects. I am willing to bet its not as bad when viewing this on a TV, but on a monitor it becomes really annoying and induces headaches.\nBlurry visuals\nIn addition to this, the weapon system is clunky as well. You use Q and E to interact with objects. Pressing E allows you to eat hearts, which replenish your health. E is also used to swap weapons on the ground. When there are a lot of enemies and objects on the ground, you have to be careful about pressing E, or else you end up switching weapons without meaning to. It is aggravating in the heat of the battle and can get you killed. This could have been easily solved by automatically getting health from enemies, and without needing to go through the animation.\nI got this game in a Humble Bundle for $1 (along with some other games). I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth. It takes about 6 hours to finish it, and its fun. I would not recommend paying the absurd non sale price of $29.99. If you can find it for around ~$3, and if you enjoy action games, go for it.\nVerdict - Buy on deep discount.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 07:50:47 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/12/reviews/darkness2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have not played The Darkness I because it was never released on the PC. Not having played the first game should not stop someone from playing this game. Just watch a YouTube video about the story of the first game, and you will be all caught up on the story. I should also mention that I knew nothing about the comics before playing this game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA direct sequel to the first game, in The Darkness II, you resume the role of Jackie who is possessed by Darkness, which gives the player control of the demon and its underling.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Darkness II (PC) Review"},{"content":"10:28 AM Friday, December 22, 2023 Started playing this game right after midnight. Looks very good. I am glad I got it on Steam. I hate the fact that it still requires the terrible ubisoft launcher. I wish ubisoft can ditch it like Bethesda did. There is no one that will miss it.\nThere are plenty of graphical options in the game. Controls are a little weird. Uses Alt to jump. I think this may be similar to Division 2. Not a fan of it.\nTechnically, the game works very well on the PC. I am finding it hard to get into this game. I recently played RDR2, and the inferior gameplay design is immediately apparent.\n1:34 PM Friday, December 22, 2023 They did away with the looting animations. This is excellent.\nAs I play more, I am starting to like this game. Its very beautiful. I am going to make a quick video of this and tweet to UbiSoft.\n8:50 PM Friday, December 22, 2023\nAs I was trying to finish a side quest, I somehow triggered a main quest and I ended up finishing it. Dont even know how I managed that.\nThis is the first main quest. A lot of the map is still not explored.\n12:26 PM Saturday, December 23, 2023 Quality of the open world is very iffy. It looks good, but the quality of everything else is not very good. Bargain bin open world. Its especially apparent after playing Red Dead Redemption 2.\nIf you like open world games, play RDR2 first. Preferably on the PC. Once you are done with that, and you got nothing else to play, and you really want to play other open world games, play Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 and its expansions in that order. Then\u0026hellip;and only then, pick up this game on a sale.\nThere is no sense of discovering the world. You know that is there is no marker on the map, there is nothing to do in that location. So it quickly becomes a race to the next question mark on the map. Yes, I know that RDR2 does this to some extent as well, but Rockstar spent a great deal of time and effort creating a world that is interesting. You discover treasures and loot chests that are not marked on the map, giving you a reason to explore the map.\nIn Origins, there is no reason to go to a remote corner of the map, because you know its got nothing there. Maybe a trinket or two, but if it is anything remotely important, UbiSoft will make sure there is a question mark on the map.\nTreasure hunting will involve summoning the bird, and then locating targets first, which will mark the targets on your HUD (not just the map), and then you just go to the location and press E. Everything about the design of the gameplay is inferior and cheap.\nI paid $8.99 for this game. I don\u0026rsquo;t know\u0026hellip;I think its worth about $5.\nI also paid $11.99 for Odysee.\n3:48 PM Saturday, December 23, 2023 The awful modern day sections are back! this time you get to play some girl who is trying to be a part of Abstergo. Gosh\u0026hellip;way to ruin the game for me.\nThankfully, the modern day section wasn\u0026rsquo;t too long. The dialogue is cringe as usual. Most video game dialogue is terrible.\nHow can I ever appreciate open world games after Red Dead Redemption 2?\n3:48 PM Sunday, December 24, 2023 Am I slowly starting to like this game? I wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite as irrited as I was yesterday when I was playing this game. Maybe that\u0026rsquo;s the secret to ubisoft\u0026rsquo;s success. The slow drip of content, constantly unlocking things, going from one question mark to another\u0026hellip;\nJan 01, 2024 Monday 04:13:12 PM I played more of this over the last few days, but I neglected to update the diary.\nI am starting to enjoy this game even more, but I still have mixed feelings about it. I am struggling to articulate why this game does not measure up to RDR2 or Witcher 3 in terms of quality, even though I absolutely love what they did with the open world.\nEgypt is beautiful. I think this game looks better than Witcher 3. Dare I say it, it manages to achieve equivalent visual fidelity of RDR2 without taking a hit in performance. This game does not have DLSS. I am playing this at the highest possible settings. I am getting over 120 FPS in a lot of areas. This is amazing. The engine is very well optimized, much more so than RDR2, which struggles even on my 3080Ti at highest settings.\nSo what is it about the game that keeps it from becoming great?\nI think its the ubisoft gameplay design. Everything is done by the numbers. Its all a matter of hunting question marks on the map. You very rarely orginically discover something on the map. I can recall the layout of the land near beaver hollow in RDR2 because I had to learn it, same with Shady Belle, and routes in St Denis. I had to learn the routes because its not just a matter of following question marks on the map.\nIn this game, everything is readily displayed on the map. If you designate a point of interest on the map, there is a floating icon on the hud. Why would you ever explore the world? Where is the adventure? Using the hawk to find targets has got to be one of the worst and obnoxious design choices I have seen in video games.\nYou can use the hawk to tag targets, and its like having wall hacks. If you choose not to use the hawk, the game has a message constantly showing telling you to use the damn thing. Why? Why are they so afraid that I might have to do some work to figure out where my target is? Such lazy design.\nHaving said that, clearing forts can be a lot of fun. There is this one particular fort with 2 captains and a commander. Killing all of them, including a ton of guards, and finding all the treasure chests inside the fort has got to be one of the most fun encounters I had in recent memory.\nI think this is where AC Origins shines. When the game assumes that you are an intelligent person and lets you figure out a way to solve the problem at hand.\nAlso, the stationary crossbow in the forts is a very fun addition. I think I killed a level 40 captain with one of those.\nAI is not very good.\nQuest dialogue, especially for side quests is very poor. This is where Rockstar and CDPR really shine. Witcher 3, CP2077 and RDR2 have amazing dialogue, and interesting side questions. The side questions in AC Origins are fun, but not great. Combined wiht the bad dialogue, the game nags you to use wall hacks (hawk), and it removes any sense of adventure from the game. Where is the fun in stealth when you can literally see enemy outlines through walls? What is the point of this?\nFeb 24, 2024 Saturday 01:13:10 PM dialogue is really bad. the one mordrn day setting where the girl has to fight some assassins is particularly bad. she implies that being in the memory of an assassin somehow makes her one too.\nshe tries to justify her killing these assassins in a very slumsy way.\nthis is the first game where the dialogue is so boring that i am skipping cut scenes. its not good.\ni am now going to traverse the map without using fast travel. there is a 7000m trip i have to make to speak to cleopatra for after killing the crocodile.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2023/12/2023-12-22-assassinscreedorigins-diary/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"1028-am-friday-december-22-2023\"\u003e10:28 AM Friday, December 22, 2023\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStarted playing this game right after midnight. Looks very good. I am glad I got it on Steam. I hate the fact that it still requires the terrible ubisoft launcher. I wish ubisoft can ditch it like Bethesda did. There is no one that will miss it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are plenty of graphical options in the game. Controls are a little weird. Uses Alt to jump. I think this may be similar to Division 2. Not a fan of it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassins Creed Origins Diary"},{"content":"The best parkour game I ever played, with a very forgettable story\nI played and enjoyed Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge back in 2009. It always puzzled me why DICE took so long to give us a sequel.\nWhen Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst first came out, the reviews were mixedand it was not available on Steam until June 2020. I recently picked it up on Steam for $1.99. Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst brings the free-running action from the first game, and makes almost everything better.\nThis game shines on the PC, taking full advantage of the hardware capabilities. Optimization on PC deserves a special mention. The graphics are crisp, and the performance is smooth. I played the game at 3440x1440 on my 3080Ti, and the performance was flawless.\nDICE did a fantastic job with the open world. The vibrant and minimalist architecture with striking colors, creates a visually stunning environment. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I have seen a this kind of world design in any other game.\nI remember combat in the first game being quite bad. Thankfully, combat in this game is much better. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t call it great, but its not the mess it was in the first game.\nUnfortunately, the narrative falls short of the game\u0026rsquo;s visually stunning world. The story in Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst is boring and fails to create a compelling reason for players to care about the main character\u0026rsquo;s journey. I got bored within the first 10 minutes, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell you what the story was about, because I quit caring.\nThe cringe-worthy dialogue makes things worse. Characters often deliver lines that feel forced and artificial, breaking the immersion and detracting from the overall experience. Thw world is very immersive, the story and dialogue are exactly the opposite. While the focus on parkour and action is evident, a stronger narrative could have elevated the game beyond its visual appeal. Thankfully, you can skip cut-scenes.\nNavigating the rooftops of the city is a lot of fun. PC controls are intuitive and responsive. The keyboard and mouse setup feels natural, allowing for precise movements during intense parkour sequences. For the most part. There are situations where platforming can be challenging, but overall, I loved the parkour, and this speaks for the great PC optimization.\nIn conclusion, Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst on PC is one hell of a game, especially for the price I paid for it. The visuals are stunning and parkour is smooth and polished. The story is boring, and the dialogue is cringe. Just based on principle double DRM is always wrong, and EA App is terrible as ever. I thoroughly recommend this game.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:36:38 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/12/reviews/mirrorsedgecatalyst-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe best parkour game I ever played, with a very forgettable story\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI played and enjoyed Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge back in 2009. It always puzzled me why DICE took so long to give us a sequel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst first came out, the reviews were mixedand it was not available on Steam until June 2020. I recently picked it up on Steam for $1.99. Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge Catalyst brings the free-running action from the first game, and makes almost everything better.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mirrors Edge Catalyst (PC) Review"},{"content":"Wolfenstein The Old Blood is a prequel to the excellent The New Order. Set in 1946, The Old Blood follows the adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz as he infiltrates Castle Wolfenstein, searching for a nazi MacGuffin.\nSimply put, if you enjoyed The New Order, then this game is more of that in a tightly crafted package. The game does not overstay its welcome, and the plot, such as it is, unfolds very quickly.\nThe game took about 7 hours to finish, and I felt like I had enough by the time I was done with it.\nI think I paid about $2 out of pocket for this game, so I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth. I would recommend paying about $5 for this because you can finish it in about one evening.\nAlso, the game is locked at 60 FPS. Something to keep in mind.\nVerdict - Solid game for the price I paid.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 07:52:39 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/11/reviews/wolfensteintheoldblood-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWolfenstein The Old Blood is a prequel to the excellent The New Order. Set in 1946, The Old Blood follows the adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz as he infiltrates Castle Wolfenstein, searching for a nazi MacGuffin.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimply put, if you enjoyed The New Order, then this game is more of that in a tightly crafted package. The game does not overstay its welcome, and the plot, such as it is, unfolds very quickly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Review"},{"content":"I had planned to write an extensive review of Red Dead Redemption 2, but before I do, let me just say that if you enjoy open-world games with excellent graphics and haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game yet, might as well stop reading this and buy it now, and play it. Take your time with the game. I would hate to spoil the joy of discovering what this game has to offer. Assuming you a good enough PC, set everything to high, put on your headphones, start the game, and just enjoy the ride. Get lost in this excellent version of the United States.\nIntroduction Red Dead Redemption 2 is a sequel-prequel to the original game, and based on what I have seen, it surpasses the first game in every way. Unfortunately, Red Dead Redemption was never released on PC, denying PC gamers the chance to experience it. I am just happy Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC. They are notorius for not releasing PC versions of their games for a long time after the launch on console, and even when they do, their PC ports tend to be a mess. GTA IV being a prime example of a buggy mess on PC.\nGraphics I played the Steam version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2023 on a powerful machine with an i7 12700k processor, GeForce RTX 3080Ti graphics card, and 64GB of RAM, running at 3440x1440 at the highest graphics settings. The game ran smoothly at mostly 60-70FPS with DLSS set to Quality. For those with less powerful machines, I recommend setting DLSS to Performance, as this game is resource-intensive.\nThe game\u0026rsquo;s visuals are stunning. I don\u0026rsquo;t think there is any games at this point, five years after its release, that even comes close to the graphics fidelity. The open world is massive, and it spans different settings, snow covered north, the great plains, redwood forests, swamps, and the desert landscape of the Southern United States and Mexico. The weather system is fantastic. We have come a long way from S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl, which is the first time I have seen with a day night cycle and weather effects. Riding your horse on the great plains during a thunderstorm, or slowly making your way through the Bayou at night-the atmosphere is top notch. In terms of art and visual design, Red Dead Redemption 2 surpasses The Witcher 3, which up to this point was the best single player open world game I ever played.\nGameplay It\u0026rsquo;s not just the visuals that make this game great. There are plenty of UbiSoft open world games that look quite good, but compared to any of that copy/paste slop, the world here is built different. The approach to open world design is fundamentally different compared to UbiSoft. If we were to take Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Odyssey as the pinnacle of UbiSoft open world design, and compare that with RDR2, its very evident that UbiSoft was going for quantity over quality. Even if you were to enjoy the gameplay, there can be no denying that the design is done by the numbers. In RDR 2, tt feels like every part of the world has some purpose and care put into it compared to Odyssey where it feels very repetitive.\nTraversal is one more detail that I\u0026rsquo;ve come to realize is very important. I never paid much attention to this until played RDR2. In AC games you can easily teleport from one corner of the map to another and you can climb almost any surface like Spider-Man. Level design has less meaning if you can almost no clip through the entire map. There is no reason for developers to put any real thought into how a player would reach a certain point on the map. In RDR2, there is fast travel, but its not as straight forward, and it costs money. In my 200 hours of gameplay, I think I used the fast travel system maybe twice. One of the reasons for this is the sense of discovery. I didn\u0026rsquo;t mind riding to a quest location on the other side of the map because often times I would discover something along the way - a hideout, a rare animal, an insane Easter egg, or some random event. I enjoyed the changing terrains and the weather as the day progressed. I am yet to play a game where I experienced something close to this.\nI thought the endless animations for almost all actions would drive me insane (because I hated them in Battlefield V), but I am surprised that it did not. Granted, after almost 200 hours of gameplay, watching Arthur skin an animal is not fascinating it was in the beginning, but I did not hate it. The slower and more methodical approach to gameplay actually worked. I am trying to articulate why I felt this way, because I am usually not a fan of slow and sluggish controls. There is a noticeable lag between when I press a button and when the character reacts on the screen and in most games this would make me want to quit. The deliberate movement, well crafted animations worked well for RDR2. Best I can tell, the reason I did not hate it is because I did not feel a disconnect with the game. The game tricked my brain into thinking this was normal. That\u0026rsquo;s the only way I can explain. If a UbiSoft game had this kind of slow gameplay, I probably would have given up after an hour.\nI guess that is Rockstar magic.\nStory I am finding it increasinly hard to care about story and dialogue in video games. After 20+ years of playing various single player games, nothing feels interesting anymore. Story lines are predictable and boring, dialogue is cringe, and characters are rarely interesting.\nRed Dead Redemption 2 is different. This is a spahegetti western story. It would be worth watching if this was a movie. The voice acting and dialogue are on par with a good HBO show. I am not going to discuss any specifics, but this is one of those rare games where you can actually see the impact of the story on the world, and\nDespite the amount of focus given to creating a stunning open world, one might assume that Rockstar overlooked the importance of the game\u0026rsquo;s storyline. However, this is not the case. The game\u0026rsquo;s story is well-crafted and engaging, which is no easy feat considering the campaign is over 50 hours long. The voice acting is arguably the best I have ever experienced in any video game, even surpassing that of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. While I won\u0026rsquo;t delve into the specific details of the story, I can assure you that it is exceptionally well done, with one of the most memorable final acts I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced in any game to date.\nWhile the game is undoubtedly impressive overall, there are certain areas where it falls short, especially on the PC. The UX design feels subpar and gives the impression that it was created by someone who has never played games on a computer before. The menu navigation is frustrating and overly complicated. To switch between weapons, you need to hold Tab and press Q and E, which is a poor design choice. It would have been better to use an inventory option similar to that for items that you are carrying instead of the clunky weapon wheel.\nThe game has some mechanics that are quite unusual, especially the weapon system. As a player, you have two slots for long guns - the shoulder slot and the back slot. However, when you are riding a horse, the character puts away the weapons, and they become \u0026ldquo;horse weapons\u0026rdquo;. When you dismount from the horse, the weapons should teleport back onto you, but sometimes that doesn\u0026rsquo;t happen. This can be frustrating, especially when you need to quickly engage enemies and you realized that you no longer have the weapons you previously equipped. It would be easier if the weapons stayed on your person all the time. It\u0026rsquo;s unclear why this feature was added to the game in the first place.\nCustomizing your outfits is another clunky mess of navigating multiple menus, and then having to store these outfits on the horse. Why? Other games have solved this problem. There was no reason to try and reinvent the wheel here.\nA lot of effort appears to have gone into making animation for simple actions, and while impressive at first, they can become repetitive and dull after several hours of gameplay.\nThere is also no quick save. Thankfully there is a manual save option, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite work the way one might intuitively think it might. The lack of quick save option is unacceptable for an open-world game.\nTo add insult to injury, you need to create a Rockstar account to play the game, which launches via the Rockstar Game Launcher after launching the game via Steam. This double DRM process needs to be eliminated. There is no good reason for game companies to require paying customers to jump through hoops to play a game. Pure corporate greed.\nI am definitely nitpicking here with my complaints (except for double DRM which is just the worst), because in spite of these annoyances, I played this game for over 190 hours, and I am still not done yet. There are more places to explore, and more animals to hunt, and bounties to collect.\nThe last Rockstar game I played was GTA IV, which I hated due to the atrocious requirement of Games For Windows Live and other technical issues with the PC port. I had very little hope for Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC, but despite their best efforts, it turned out to be a fantastic game. Now, I am eagerly waiting for Red Dead Redemption 3, which I hope to play in 2030.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:39:05 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2023/11/reviews/rdr2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI had planned to write an extensive review of Red Dead Redemption 2, but before I do, let me just say that if you enjoy open-world games with excellent graphics and haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game yet, might as well stop reading this and buy it now, and play it. Take your time with the game. I would hate to spoil the joy of discovering what this game has to offer. Assuming you a good enough PC, set everything to high, put on your headphones, start the game, and just enjoy the ride. Get lost in this excellent version of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"I had planned to write an extensive review of Red Dead Redemption 2, but before I do, let me just say that if you enjoy open-world games with excellent graphics and haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game yet, then stop reading and buy it now. I would hate to spoil the joy of discovering what this game has to offer.\nRed Dead Redemption 2 is a sequel-prequel to the original game, and based on my experience, it surpasses its predecessor in every aspect. Unfortunately, the original game was never released on PC, denying PC gamers the chance to experience it. Despite the latest remaster of Red Dead Redemption not being available on PC, I\u0026rsquo;m glad that Rockstar decided to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC.\nI played the Steam version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2023 on a powerful machine with an i7 12700k processor, GeForce RTX 3080Ti graphics card, and 64GB of RAM, running at 3440x1440 on the highest graphics settings. The game ran smoothly at mostly 60-70FPS with DLSS set to Quality. For those with less powerful machines, I recommend enabling DLSS, as this game is resource-intensive.\nThe game\u0026rsquo;s visuals are stunning, with its open-world environment spanning different settings, from snowy mountains to great plains, redwood forests, swamps, and the desert landscape of the Southern United States and Mexico. The weather system adds to the immersion, such as riding your horse on the great plains during a thunderstorm. In terms of visual design, Red Dead Redemption 2 surpasses even The Witcher 3.\nHowever, it\u0026rsquo;s not just the visuals that make this game great. Its level of interactivity, side quest design, variety of gameplay, interesting characters, and Easter Eggs contribute to the overall experience. Rockstar\u0026rsquo;s talent is evident when compared to other open-world games, such as those created by UbiSoft, which lack the same level of creativity and originality.\nDespite the amount of focus given to creating a stunning open world, one might assume that Rockstar overlooked the importance of the game\u0026rsquo;s storyline. However, this is not the case. The game\u0026rsquo;s story is well-crafted and engaging, which is no easy feat considering the campaign is over 50 hours long. The voice acting is arguably the best I have ever experienced in any video game, even surpassing that of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. While I won\u0026rsquo;t delve into the specific details of the story, I can assure you that it is exceptionally well done, with one of the most memorable final acts I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced in any game to date.\nWhile the game is undoubtedly impressive overall, there are certain areas where it falls short, especially on the PC. The UX design feels subpar and gives the impression that it was created by someone who has never played games on a computer before. The menu navigation is frustrating and overly complicated. To switch between weapons, you need to hold Tab and press Q and E, which is a poor design choice. It would have been better to use an inventory option similar to that for items that you are carrying instead of the clunky weapon wheel.\nThe game has some mechanics that are quite unusual, especially the weapon system. As a player, you have two slots for long guns - the shoulder slot and the back slot. However, when you are riding a horse, the character puts away the weapons, and they become \u0026ldquo;horse weapons\u0026rdquo;. When you dismount from the horse, the weapons should teleport back onto you, but sometimes that doesn\u0026rsquo;t happen. This can be frustrating, especially when you need to quickly engage enemies and you realized that you no longer have the weapons you previously equipped. It would be easier if the weapons stayed on your person all the time. It\u0026rsquo;s unclear why this feature was added to the game in the first place.\nCustomizing your outfits is another clunky mess of navigating multiple menus, and then having to store these outfits on the horse. Why? Other games have solved this problem. There was no reason to try and reinvent the wheel here.\nA lot of effort appears to have gone into making animation for simple actions, and while impressive at first, they can become repetitive and dull after several hours of gameplay.\nThere is also no quick save. Thankfully there is a manual save option, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite work the way one might intuitively think it might. The lack of quick save option is unacceptable for an open-world game.\nTo add insult to injury, you need to create a Rockstar account to play the game, which launches via the Rockstar Game Launcher after launching the game via Steam. This double DRM process needs to be eliminated. There is no good reason for game companies to require paying customers to jump through hoops to play a game. Pure corporate greed.\nI am definitely nitpicking here with my complaints (except for double DRM which is just the worst), because in spite of these annoyances, I played this game for over 190 hours, and I am still not done yet. There are more places to explore, and more animals to hunt, and bounties to collect.\nThe last Rockstar game I played was GTA IV, which I hated due to the atrocious requirement of Games For Windows Live and other technical issues with the PC port. I had very little hope for Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC, but despite their best efforts, it turned out to be a fantastic game. Now, I am eagerly waiting for Red Dead Redemption 3, which I hope to play in 2030.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:39:05 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/11/reviews/rdr2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI had planned to write an extensive review of Red Dead Redemption 2, but before I do, let me just say that if you enjoy open-world games with excellent graphics and haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game yet, then stop reading and buy it now. I would hate to spoil the joy of discovering what this game has to offer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRed Dead Redemption 2 is a sequel-prequel to the original game, and based on my experience, it surpasses its predecessor in every aspect. Unfortunately, the original game was never released on PC, denying PC gamers the chance to experience it. Despite the latest remaster of Red Dead Redemption not being available on PC, I\u0026rsquo;m glad that Rockstar decided to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a beautifully remade version of the classic 1996 game. It features modernized controls that are very much like Tomb Raider Legend, and while the majority of the game excels, subpar boss battles detract from the experience. The game\u0026rsquo;s remastered visuals are fantastic, and the developers took some minor creative liberties with the level design, making the game better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed playing through iconic levels such as The Lost Valley, Palace Midas, and St. Francis Folly. The Tomb Raider Legend engine holds up very well.\nNavigating the intricate tombs and solving puzzles remains the highlight of the Tomb Raider experience. The developers have managed to retain the essence of the original\u0026rsquo;s challenging puzzles while incorporating smoother controls. The platforming elements, a core aspect of the series although not perfect, feel responsive and engaging.\nThe audio design preserves the original sounds and enhances nostalgia, but the soundtrack becomes obnoxious during some boss battles.\nBoss battles in this game are simply awful. The combat mechanics overall are not great, and the boss battles are even worse. The biggest issue is the adrenaline dodge mechanic, which is necessary to defeat a boss. This involves dodging an enemy that is running towards you, and when the circle turns red, you have to press fire to damage the enemy. Without activating this dodge, it is impossible to win, no matter how much you shoot at the boss. I faced this issue while trying to kill the big mutant boss in Atlantis and had to give up on the game, as I tried everything from reducing graphics, lowering FPS to lowering the resolution, but nothing worked. This is beyond poor game design. This means that no further progress can be made.\nThere are some technical issues with Tomb Raider: Anniversary on PC, particularly related to the game\u0026rsquo;s FPS. If the game is running at a frame rate higher than 60 FPS, some aspects of the game may not work as expected. To resolve this issue, I had to limit the frame rate to 60 FPS using RTSS.\nTomb Raider: Anniversary is was a good game overall. It managed to capture the essence of the original game quite well, but the boss battles tarnished the game. They were disappointing and felt like a blemish on an otherwise well-crafted experience. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the final two boss fights due to technical issues. While I only paid $0.98 for the game, I feel that it was worth the price. However, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t recommend spending more than that on it.\nVerdict - Fantastic level design, terrible QTEs, and awful boss bottles.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:16:43 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/11/reviews/tombraideranniversary-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider: Anniversary is a beautifully remade version of the classic 1996 game. It features modernized controls that are very much like Tomb Raider Legend, and while the majority of the game excels, subpar boss battles detract from the experience. The game\u0026rsquo;s remastered visuals are fantastic, and the developers took some minor creative liberties with the level design, making the game better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed playing through iconic levels such as The Lost Valley, Palace Midas, and St. Francis Folly. The Tomb Raider Legend engine holds up very well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Tomb Raider Anniversary (PC) Review"},{"content":"I record a lot of gameplay footage using Nvidia ShadowPlay. I play most games on my ultrawide monitor at a resolution of 3440x1440. At times, the file sizes can balloon up to over 10GB with a target bit rate is 50Mbps.\nIn an effort to reduce the storage size, and not to have to upgrade my hard drive, I decided to explore Handbreak to compress and encode some of the videos I recorded. After doing some research, here are the settings I picked, which seem to find the right balance between compression and quality.\nIn the Summary tab, check the Web Optimized option.\nIn the Dimensions tab, set the target video resolution, which for me is 3440x1440.\nFor Audio, I went with mp3 codec and set the gain to +5\nThe settings on the Video tab might require some tweaking based on the desired quality. In this specific example, I encoded an 8.92 GB video down to \u0026lt;\u0026gt;. The important things that affect the quality of the produced video are these -\nVideo Encoder - H.265 10-bit (NVEnc) Framerate - Same as source Encoder Preset - Slowest Constant Quality - 28 Using the CPU to do the encoding is extremely slow compared to NVEnc encoder. The quality difference between CPU encoding and NVEnd encoding is not discernible to me, and it is also not very taxing on the system.\nConstant Quality vs Average Bit Rate I debated between using Avg Bitrate and Constant Quality. Turns out that Handbreak recommends using Constant Quality over Average Bitrate.\nConstant Quality vs Average Bit Rate It appears that the recommended way of doing things is by using Constant Quality over Average Bit Rate. I did however notice that there are situations where Average Bit Rate is preferable to using CQ, such as when encoding a video file, and I am not particularly concerned about preserving quality as reducing the file size. I tend to look at the existing bit rate, and then perhaps target 30% of it.\nThe following video is a ShadowPlay recording which was encoded using the above settings.\nHere is the encoding log. The entire job took around 30 minutes.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/11/2023-11-05-handbreak-settings/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI record a lot of gameplay footage using Nvidia ShadowPlay. I play most games on my ultrawide monitor at a resolution of 3440x1440. At times, the file sizes can balloon up to over 10GB with a target bit rate is 50Mbps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an effort to reduce the storage size, and not to have to upgrade my hard drive, I decided to explore Handbreak to compress and encode some of the videos I recorded. After doing some research, here are the settings I picked, which seem to find the right balance between compression and quality.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Handbreak Settings for ShadowPlay Recordings"},{"content":"A game with massive potential that sadly never lived up to it.\nFrontlines Fuel of War tells the story of a world in conflict between Western Alliance and Red Star Alliance forces. The game takes place in Turkmenistan, and moves into Moscow towards the end.\nThis is a typical mid 2000s modern military shooter. I never had the chance to play multiplayer and the single player is very average with blurry textures, very poor weapon handling, thoroughly forgettable story, bad voice acting and bad enemy AI. There are mechanics in this game that are better than an average Call of Duty campaign such as open ended levels, and vehicles etc. but it is very hard to get past the mediocrity of the rest of the game.\nI can’t stress enough how poor weapon handling is. There are two viable weapons, the sniper and the shotgun, this is because everything else is terrible. There are also drones that can be controlled by the player, which make an interesting addition to the game.\nVehicles are surprisingly good. Tanks, LAVs and even an attack chopper are quite fun to pilot.\nAt the current full price of $19.99, I cannot recommend it.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 04:31:42 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/10/reviews/frontlinesfuelofwar-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA game with massive potential that sadly never lived up to it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrontlines Fuel of War tells the story of a world in conflict between Western Alliance and Red Star Alliance forces. The game takes place in Turkmenistan, and moves into Moscow towards the end.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a typical mid 2000s modern military shooter. I never had the chance to play multiplayer and the single player is very average with blurry textures, very poor weapon handling, thoroughly forgettable story, bad voice acting and bad enemy AI. There are mechanics in this game that are better than an average Call of Duty campaign such as open ended levels, and vehicles etc. but it is very hard to get past the mediocrity of the rest of the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Frontlines Fuel of War (PC) Review"},{"content":"As of Sunday September 17, 2023, I am looking at the games I own, and it is clear that I will not be able to finish or even play all of them in my lifetime. So I decided to make a list of games that I intend to finish or at least give my best shot.\nI have 111 games listed in my backlog. It appears as if it will take 111 days of playtime to finish all these games. I am not sure how I am going to playthrough all these games, and also fit in Halo: Master Chief Collection, Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, and the next Battlefield game.\nThe stats show that the most single player games I completed in a single year is 17, in 2009. At that rate, if I play nothing else except the games on the list, it will take me six and a half years to finish this backlog. Probably right in time for Red Dead Redemption 3!\nHow can I ever justify buying any new games when the backlog is as massive as this? I still want to buy Halo: Master Chief Collection and do another playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 with Phantom Liberty.\nAssassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: China Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: India Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Chronicles: Russia Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Odyssey Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Origins Bastion Batman: Arkham City GOTY Batman: Arkham Knight Batman: Arkham Origins BioShock 2 Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain BloodRayne Borderlands Borderlands 2 Borderlands 3 Borderlands: Game of the Year Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Burnout Paradise Call of Juarez Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Cities XL Platinum Colin McRae Rally Company of Heroes 2 Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition Dead Space Death Stranding Desperados 2: Cooper\u0026rsquo;s Revenge Desperados III Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 1: Late To The Party Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 2: Five Steps Ahead Desperados III: Money for the Vultures - Part 3: Once More With Feeling Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Dishonored Dishonored 2 Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Doom Eternal Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition Dragon\u0026rsquo;s Dogma: Dark Arisen Dying Light F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin F.E.A.R. 3 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition Far Cry 4 Frontlines: Fuel of War Full Spectrum Warrior Grand Theft Auto V Grim Dawn Hard West Helldorado Hidden \u0026amp; Dangerous 2 Hidden \u0026amp; Dangerous: Action Pack Hitman Hitman: Blood Money Homefront: The Revolution James Bond 007: Blood Stone Just Cause 4 Mafia Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge: Catalyst Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition Moto Racer 2 Murdered: Soul Suspect Need For Speed Heat Need for Speed: Most Wanted PC Building Simulator Planescape: Torment Prey Prince of Persia Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Project: Snowblind Psychonauts Rage 2 Red Faction: Guerrilla - Re-Mars-tered Rise of the Tomb Raider Risen Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood Saints Row IV: Re-Elected Saints Row: The Third Shadow of the Tomb Raider Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Soma Star Wars: Battlefront II Star Wars: Empire At War - Gold Pack Subnautica The Darkness II The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition The Lord of the Rings: War in the North The Outer Worlds: Spacer\u0026rsquo;s Choice Edition Thief Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition Titanfall 2 Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Tomb Raider: Underworld Torchlight II Trine 2 Tropico 4 Tyranny Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Watch Dogs 2 Wolfenstein: The Old Blood X-Men Origins: Wolverine XCOM: Enemy Unknown Yakuza 4 I am currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2 (absolutely amazing game) on my main machine, and Tomb Raider Anniversary on my auxiliary machine. I am making steady progress in Tomb Raider, and I think I should be able to finish it in a week or so. My next game is going to be Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. It appears that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t take too long to complete this.\nAlternatively, I just don\u0026rsquo;t pay any attention to any of this and just play what I feel like, and not worry about the massive backlog.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 05:11:21 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/09/2023-09-17-infinitebacklog/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs of Sunday September 17, 2023, I am looking at the games I own, and it is clear that I will not be able to finish or even play all of them in my lifetime. So I decided to make a list of games that I intend to finish or at least give my best shot.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have 111 games listed in my backlog. It appears as if it will take 111 days of playtime to finish all these games. I am not sure how I am going to playthrough all these games, and also fit in Halo: Master Chief Collection, Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, and the next Battlefield game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Infinite Backlog"},{"content":"Well worth the $0.50 I paid for it.\nA thoroughly functional game, which does not outlast its welcome. It tells a concise story, and it fills in the gaps of the main Half-Life game. It took me a little under 4 hours to finish Blue Shift.\nTechnically, it is competent, but the original Half-Life engine has aged poorly. It worked fine at 2560x1440 resolution, but the game looks dated. I found it hard at times to distinguish textures that are meant to be interactive, because of how blurry the textures are at the resolution I am playing. I had to refer to the walkthrough a couple of times because I missed a switch that was right in front, but I did not identify it because textures tend to blend with each other.\nThe story follows Barney Calhoun, a security guard at Black Mesa. The events of Blue Shift run parallel to the events of Half-Life. The player gets to witness the chaos from a different perspective. Those that care about the Half-life story will find the story of Blue Shift interesting.\nAfter 17 years of first playing Half-Life, I finally completed all the PC releases (not including the VR title).\nTo fans of the Half-Life franchise, I recommend this game at a deep discount. I do not recommend paying the full price. It’s not on par with the other expansion - Opposing Force, from a gameplay and story perspective.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:13:31 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/09/reviews/halflifeblueshift-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell worth the $0.50 I paid for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA thoroughly functional game, which does not outlast its welcome. It tells a concise story, and it fills in the gaps of the main Half-Life game. It took me a little under 4 hours to finish Blue Shift.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTechnically, it is competent, but the original Half-Life engine has aged poorly. It worked fine at 2560x1440 resolution, but the game looks dated. I found it hard at times to distinguish textures that are meant to be interactive, because of how blurry the textures are at the resolution I am playing. I had to refer to the walkthrough a couple of times because I missed a switch that was right in front, but I did not identify it because textures tend to blend with each other.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Half-Life: Blue Shift (PC) Review"},{"content":"I heard about this game when it was released back in 2016. It looked interesting but I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to buy it because I wasn\u0026rsquo;t entirely sure if I would like it.\n7 years later, as I was looking through my game collection, I saw that I owned this game on Amazon. I am not sure how. I know I never purchased it. Now there is no excuse, and I must play this very interesting game.\nI am won\u0026rsquo;t dwell too much on the story. I think its pretty good, which is rare for a video game. I often do not care about video game stories, but this is a rare exception. In terms of being memorable, it\u0026rsquo;s up there with Portal for me.\nFrom a game play perspective, I don\u0026rsquo;t think another game like this exists. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Considering how saturated the video game market is, this is an achievement that must be celebrated.\nTime moves when you move, it is as simple as that and this idea can be used to create a lot of interesting scenarios.\nSuperhot is a very minimalistic game. Only the bare necessities of what makes a shooter is kept, and everything else is discarded. The color palette is very minimal as well.\nThere are situations where the bright flashing lights is very jarring. I do not recollect seeing an epilepsy warning, because if there was ever a game that needed it, it would be this.\nScenarios can vary between easy and super complex, requiring several retries. Despite this, the game is not very long. I think I finish it in about 4 hours.\nAs of this writing, Superhot is on sale at a 70% discount for $7.49. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t not recommend this game for the price. Witcher 3 is on sale for $9.99\u0026hellip;the gameplay time to price ratio is just not lining up for me, but sometimes, it might be OK to ignore the value proposition for a game that is nothing like any other.\nVerdict - It\u0026rsquo;s the most innovative shooter I\u0026rsquo;ve played in years.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 07:46:25 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/07/reviews/superhot-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI heard about this game when it was released back in 2016. It looked interesting but I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to buy it because I wasn\u0026rsquo;t entirely sure if I would like it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e7 years later, as I was looking through my game collection, I saw that I owned this game on Amazon. I am not sure how. I know I never purchased it. Now there is no excuse, and I must play this very interesting game.\u003cbr\u003e\nI am won\u0026rsquo;t dwell too much on the story. I think its pretty good, which is rare for a video game. I often do not care about video game stories, but this is a rare exception. In terms of being memorable, it\u0026rsquo;s up there with Portal for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SUPERHOT (PC) Review"},{"content":"I played the regular PC version of the game released on Feb 16, 2012 (according to Steam). I understand that this game is beloved by many, and I am not trying to be a contrarian. I enjoyed Alan Wake, but in my opinion, the only thing great about this game is the atmosphere. For a game that is released over a decade ago, the visuals hold up very well. I played this game on an ultrawide display (3440x1440) and I had absolutely no issues whatsoever. Fantastic.\nEverything else is average at best.\nThe combat is the weakest part of the game for me. I don\u0026rsquo;t know how Remedy went from the smooth combat of Max Payne to the clunky mechanics of Alan Wake. Shooting feels weak, movement is awkward, and enemies are boring. The game even gives up on the enemies and just starts throwing furniture at you - literally. The slow motion dodge got very repetitive and very annoying. I went into this game expecting something akin to Max Payne and I got this clunky mess instead.\nIn addition to this, their idea of creating an atmospheric game is to make visuals blurry to the point where it caused eye strain at times when I light a flare. Is this a deal breaker? No, but when combined with all the other things, it certainly doesn\u0026rsquo;t help.\nThe developers try really hard to draw your attention to whatever it is that they want to show you, which results in taking the control away from the player, and showing you an in-game cinematic. As I said, this is a sign of things to come for their next game - Max Payne 3, which takes this annoying mechanic to a whole new level of awful.\nI know I am 10 years late to the party, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t change the fact that there are things about the game that are annoying.\nI would recommend this game if you can find it for under $5. I think anything more than that would be overpaying for it.\n+ Fantastic atmosphere\n+ Voice acting\n+ Technically competent\n- Boring combat\n- Repetitive enemy design\n- Very clunky movement\n- Weak weapons\n- Blurry visuals at times\nVerdict - Average game.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 08:11:30 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/06/reviews/alanwake-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI played the regular PC version of the game released on Feb 16, 2012 (according to Steam). I understand that this game is beloved by many, and I am not trying to be a contrarian. I enjoyed Alan Wake, but in my opinion, the only thing great about this game is the atmosphere. For a game that is released over a decade ago, the visuals hold up very well. I played this game on an ultrawide display (3440x1440) and I had absolutely no issues whatsoever. Fantastic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Alan Wake (PC) Review"},{"content":"I did not like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. This review is going to contain mild spoilers.\nLet me talk about the things I liked about this game.\nSome of the level design and art work is absolutely amazing. It truly captured the essence of Star Wars.\nFrom a technical perspective, there are no issues whatsoever, other than the fact that there is double DRM to have to deal with - Steam and the horrendous EA App. There were no issues running the game at 3440x1440 resolution in borderless Window mode (excellent), and I was consistently getting over 120FPS on the highest settings.\nPlatforming is quite well done, especially in the good levels of the game.\nI should have loved this game but I don\u0026rsquo;t.\nStar Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is a Souls like game, and this is the first of its kind that I ever played, and this concept is completely new to me. What I realized after playing this game is that for a Souls like game to be enjoyable, at least these two things need to happen -\nThe level design has to be very good. This is because there is a lot of backtracking involved. Under usual circumstances, one or two bad levels can be overlooked, but in a Souls like game, this problem is compounded because the player will end up revisiting the level more than once, and this can be very frustrating. Enemies should be fun - not to be misinterpreted with easy. The biggest problem with this game for me is that the game fails at both - the level design on some planets is not good, and the enemies are not fun.\nThere are a total of 6 planets in the game, and two of those planets are fun, and the rest are not. Less than 50% of the game that did not appeal to me.\nBogano - Decent. Kashyyyk - The absolute worst. Zeffo - Excellent. Dathmoir - Could have been great, but ruined by enemies. Ilum - Decent. Nur - Excellent. It felt to me that I spent most of the game fighting bugs, spiders in particular. As someone who has arachnophobia, this was pure torture. It got so irritating that I played these levels at 1920x1080 in windowed mode, without sound.\nJust to give an idea, one of the objectives on the wookie planet is to climb a tree, and you get to fight bugs on the way to the top. It felt like Avatar Fallen Order. To drive the point home further, you even hitch a ride on the back of a bird. It absolutely did not feel like a Star Wars game. Add to this, there is a part of the game where you play without the lightsaber. It really made me question the intent behind this design.\nAfter trudging through these levels, you get to play in a sci-fi setting with a dual lightsaber and it just reminded me how much fun this game could have been. I kept asking myself why the entire game wasn\u0026rsquo;t like this. Is there a mystery audience out there that want to fight bugs and zombies in a Star Wars game?\nExploring a planet and looking for collectibles was out of the question because of the tedious design. Also, this game has the worst map screen I have ever seen in a game. This over engineered mess is truly a marvel of awfulness.\nIn addition to the bad level design there are very annoying things about the UX, for example, saving the involves mediating, which will is a painfully slow process of waiting for animations to complete. Its cool to look at twice, and then it gets very old.\nThe story felt weak and contrived. Nothing about the voice acting felt convincing and the cliche dialogue did not help. The game suffers from plot armor, a character that should clearly died does not because of this kind of lazy writing.\nI should have loved this game, but the bad level design, and enemies made me not enjoy it. If none of this bothers you, then you will have a lot of fun, as it is a technically competent game. I paid $4.79 for this, and I am not upset about that, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t buy this game, but I did not have fun.\nVerdict - I don\u0026rsquo;t like it.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 08:07:13 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/06/reviews/swjfo-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI did not like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. This review is going to contain mild spoilers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet me talk about the things I liked about this game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the level design and art work is absolutely amazing. It truly captured the essence of Star Wars.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom a technical perspective, there are no issues whatsoever, other than the fact that there is double DRM to have to deal with - Steam and the horrendous EA App. There were no issues running the game at 3440x1440 resolution in borderless Window mode (excellent), and I was consistently getting over 120FPS on the highest settings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (PC) Review"},{"content":"I found this solution in the Q\u0026A section of Microsoft Learn. Credit goes to the original author.\nThis process will involve creatating an .rdp file, and editing it in notepad and adding a flag which will prompt the user to enter their password.\nGet the ipaddress of the machine that is stuck in the Please Wait state. ping [server] -4 -4 flag ensures that IPv4 address is used. Open Remote Desktop Connection application.\n\u0026ndash; Start -\u0026gt; Remote Desktop Connection or Start -\u0026gt; mstsc Enter the IP address of the machine noted in the above step. Click on the Show Options button. Click on Save As and save the configuration to a file. Navigate to the directory where the rdp configuration file is saved. Right click on the file, and open the configuration file with Notepad. Add the following to the bottom of the file and save it. This option will turn off the Network Level Authentication therefore the user will be prompted to enter the password up on connecting to the server. enablecredsspsupport:i:0 Once the file is saved, double click on it, so launch Remote Desktop Connection and click on Connect. Click Yes on the next dialog box to connect despite certificate errors. This should show a Windows login page, and up on logging in, will get past the Please Wait screen. Reset Session Another way to resolve this issue is resetting the session. It is important to note that doing this will log off the user, therefore any running processes will be terminated.\nOpen Powershell in Administrator mode on another computer Run the following query -\n\u0026quot;query user /server:[server_name]\u0026quot; Take note of the sessionname Run the following query -\n\u0026quot;reset session [session_name] /server:[server_name]\u0026quot; This should reset the session and allow logging into the server via remote desktop.\nIn addition to this, I was having an issue when using Remote Desktop Connection Manager the session would get stuck in a Please Wait state. I was not having this issue when using native Windows RDP.\nI found a potential solution on this following page - RDP to Windows 10 hangs at Please wait screen Computer Configuration -\u0026gt; Administrative Templates -\u0026gt; Windows Components -\u0026gt; Remote Desktop Services -\u0026gt; Remote Desktop Session Host -\u0026gt; Connections\nAt that level Enable the following setting\nRestrict Remote Desktop Services User to a Single Remote Desktop Services Session ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/05/2023-05-27-remotedesktopstuckinwait/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI found this solution in the \u003ca href=\"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/451406/rdp-to-windows-10-hangs-at-please-wait-screen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  Q\u0026A section\n\u003c/a\u003e\n of Microsoft Learn. Credit goes to the original author.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis process will involve creatating an .rdp file, and editing it in notepad and adding a flag which will prompt the user to enter their password.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGet the ipaddress of the machine that is stuck in the Please Wait state.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eping [server] -4\n-4 flag ensures that IPv4 address is used.\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/01-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_27_29.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/01-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_27_29.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOpen Remote Desktop Connection application.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u0026ndash; Start -\u0026gt; Remote Desktop Connection or Start -\u0026gt; mstsc\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnter the IP address of the machine noted in the above step.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClick on the Show Options button.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/02-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_37_33.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/02-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_37_33.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClick on Save As and save the configuration to a file.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/03-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_42_48.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/03-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-06_42_48.jpg#center\" height=\"384\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNavigate to the directory where the rdp configuration file is saved. Right click on the file, and open the configuration file with Notepad.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAdd the following to the bottom of the file and save it. This option will turn off the Network Level Authentication therefore the user will be prompted to enter the password up on connecting to the server.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eenablecredsspsupport:i:0\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/04-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_25_15.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/04-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_25_15.jpg#center\" width=\"256\" height=\"384\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce the file is saved, double click on it, so launch Remote Desktop Connection and click on Connect. Click Yes on the next dialog box to connect despite certificate errors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/05-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_59_34.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/05-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_59_34.jpg#center\" width=\"384\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis should show a Windows login page, and up on logging in, will get past the Please Wait screen.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/06-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_38_21.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/remotedesktopstuckinwait/06-remotedesktopstuckinwait-2023-11-27-08_38_21.jpg#center\" width=\"512\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"reset-session\"\u003eReset Session\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother way to resolve this issue is resetting the session. It is important to note that doing this will log off the user, therefore any running processes will be terminated.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Remote Desktop Connection Stuck In Please Wait State"},{"content":"Where do I even begin talking about Cyberpunk 2077? It\u0026rsquo;s a very divisive game, and while I believe it was somewhat redeemed by the developers, it is a cautionary tale about hype, false advertising, and misleading marketing. It was beyond disappointing because CD Project Red, who gave us the fantastic Witcher 3, failed so spectacularly. I intend to talk about the events leading up to the launch of the game, the disastrous launch and the redemption that followed.\nBeginning Cyberpunk 2077 was first revealed in 2012. There was a lot of buzz around the announcement at the time. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have much of an opinion about this. I haven\u0026rsquo;t played The Witcher, and CDPR was not on my radar. I was too busy playing Battlefield 3. With limited time to devote to gaming, I had to pick and choose my games and Witcher didn\u0026rsquo;t make the cut.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t until the release of Witcher 3, that the series and the developer caught my attention. Witcher 3 was hailed as one of the best games of all time. The footage I had seen was very impressive. I wanted to get into the world of Witcher, so I proceeded to play all the games and the expansions. Witcher 1 and 2 had a lot of issues (both technical and game design), but Witcher 3 and its expansions addressed all the issues, and they remain the best single player games I played to this day, even better than the original Deus Ex.\nAfter finishing Blood and Wine in June 2018, which I immensely enjoyed, I could not wait to play the next game from CDPR. Their games are released on GOG without any DRM, and this makes them an exemplary company, in my opinion. At this point, the release of Cyberpunk 2077 was a little over two years away. intended to buy the game at launch, which I rarely do for single player games.\nThe game was scheduled to be released at the end of 2020. However, the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 had a huge impact on game release (along with everything else).\nLaunch I did not buy the game at launch. I decided to wait for the reviews, and that was a good thing. The launch was an unmitigated disaster. It goes to show that any company can succumb to release deadlines and cutting corners.\nThe game had so much promise and potential, but the disastrous launch disappointed many, and threatened the future of the game, and the franchise. On old gen consoles it was supposedly unplayable, which led to Sony removing the game from their digital storefront, and both Microsoft and Sony issued refunds to gamers who purchased the game through them.\nCyberpunk 2077 was lambasted in the media. It was quite clear that the game was launched to meet the holiday sales quota. The highs and lows of Cyberpunk are quite incredible. All the good will that CDPR built up to this point appeared to have been lost.\nSome wrote this game off as a lost cause.\nRedemption Soon after the awful launch, CDPR issued a statement and went on to release some much needed fixes to the game. The December patch fixed some problems with the game, but it was nowhere near the quality we got to expect from CDPR. There are still a lot of issues with the game, especially with NPC behavior, graphical glitches and performance problems.\nPatch 1.6 Edgerunners Update adds some much needed features to the game. I started playing this game after the release of Patch 1.5, and during my playthrough Patch 1.6 was released. I did not have to put up with all the issues, but I still felt that there was some depth lacking in certain aspects of the game. The lofty claims of the developers were still not quite realized.\nOpen World There is something surreal about the atmosphere of Night City. CDPR did something magical with the setting. The city is a wonderful playground.\nTo anyone looking to play CP2077, I would thoroughly recommend using bikes. There are some nice cars to be found in the city, but even the nicest car did not compare to riding a bike especially in first person mode. Weaving between traffic at high speed is an exhilarating experience. There some driving issues here and there with bikes, but generally speaking, they are a LOT of fun. I avoided using cars because I did not like the driving physics. I believe there are mods that tweak this, but I have not tried it.\nThere is no vehicle customization in the game and I think this is a huge missed opportunity. This would have elevated experience to a whole new level. I spent many hours riding bikes in Night City. On an ultra-wide monitor with all settings maxed out, the game is a fantastic experience. I am not sure there is any other open world RPG that managed to do what CDPR did with Night City. This is especially why the lack of any vehicle customization, cosmetic and otherwise is very disappointing.\nThe skyline in Night City is amazing. It appears photo realistic. Its a real treat to walk around Night City, with RTX enabled. The reflections, especially in certain areas at night where the lighting is just right, its so unbelievably beautiful.\nWitcher 3\u0026rsquo;s world is vast and expansive, and in contrast Cyberpunk\u0026rsquo;s map isn\u0026rsquo;t nearly as big, but its very dense, and there are a lot of activities. There are so many skirmishes that happen in the world which the player can engage in, and also a number of fairly interesting side missions. I really enjoyed the random assault encounters. They are a lot of fun. I would rate the world of Cyberpunk to be on par with Witcher 3. I love the open world in both games for entirely different reasons.\nWeapons There is a wide variety of weapons such as smart pistols, shotguns, ARs, sniper rifles, and plenty of melee weapons. I gravitated mostly towards LMGs, pistols and shotguns. I did not use any of the smart weapons in the game. There is room for character customization which allows the player to make a build of their choosing, which can specialize in a specific type of weapons.\nShotguns and revolvers feel excellent. The LMG also packs a punch. Combat can definitely get easy as you progress in the game. I switched the difficulty to Hard half way through the game. Once I leveled up enough, combat became a lot easier. My character was too powerful for most enemies. I could wipe out an entire battalion of enemies with every little effort.\nI want to do another playthrough of the game and focus on other weapons, such as ARs, and sniper rifles. I also did not spend much time with melee and smart weapons. I have future plans to revisit the game and try a very different character. Perhaps when I build a new muchine in 2025. If I end up doing another play through, I will be sure to add an update.\nStory I confess I did not understand parts of the story. I cannot tell you why Johnny Silverhand is hell bent on taking down the Arisaka corporation. Nor can I tell you what exactly happened at the end, but the ride itself was quite enjoyable. While it was not an incoherent mess, I could not relate to the grievances of Johnny Silverhand. Keanu Reeves voice acting is quite excellent, but some of the lines he had to utter were definitely cringe inducing.\nI loved the final mission. It was a lot of fun. Rogue was the stand out side character for me There weren\u0026rsquo;t any truly bad characters, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t think they were quite as memorable as the characters in Witcher 3. This does not make it a bad game or anything in my opinion, but as I look back, I dont find myself thinking about how great certain characters were, like I do with Witcher 3. We shall see if the DLC changes any of that. Witcher 3 DLC characters were fnatasitc, especially in Hearts of Stone. There are some pretty neat easter eggs thrown in.\nThe player gets to choose the starting point of the story. I played as the Nomad. To my knowledge, the consequence of this is fairly minor. This is not like Witcher 2, where choosing one option locks a whole area off to the player for the entire play through.\nThis was not well received by some players. I didnt bother me one way or another. I felt like I got the full experience of a nomad.\nGraphics I was fortunate enough to play the game on a very powerful PC. I am glad I waited to play this on my PC because the game looks fantastic. On a 3080Ti, at 3440x1440 with RTX and DLSS on, the game is truly breathtaking, no pun intended.\nWithout DLSS, the frame rate takes a big hit on performance with RTX on. However, RTX really elevates the game, so I recommend playing the game with a card capable of ray tracing.\nConclusion This is a divisive game, and even after most of the issues were addressed, some folks feel that it is too shallow. I tend to agree that some of the mechanics are quite shallow. That said, the overall game is very enjoyable. Considering that it sells at a discount most of the time, I recommend it.\nDo temper your expectations. Enjoy the game for what it is, do not go into it expecting it to be groundbreaking like Witcher 3, because its not, and it will be disappointing. However, it is a damn good RPG, and the graphics are up there with the best. This game realizes the Cyberpunk world extremely well. The crowd AI definitely leaves a lot to be desired, but I can overlook this because the enemy AI, and the world design is very well done.\nI cannot speak for the console experience, but on a PC, especially one with a medium/high end GPU, this game is amazing experience.\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 07:54:51 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/04/reviews/cyberpunk2077-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhere do I even begin talking about Cyberpunk 2077? It\u0026rsquo;s a very divisive game, and while I believe it was somewhat redeemed by the developers, it is a cautionary tale about hype, false advertising, and misleading marketing. It was beyond disappointing because CD Project Red, who gave us the fantastic Witcher 3, failed so spectacularly. I intend to talk about the events leading up to the launch of the game, the disastrous launch and the redemption that followed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cyberpunk 2077 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Short Story I had to update the firmware on my TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit Switch to resolve the connectivity issues when using a VPN client. I installed Build 20220930 (Published Date: 2022-10-12) and that took care of the problem.\nLong Story My plan was to self host my blog using PIA VPN\u0026rsquo;s static IP feature. My website is currently on Blogger, and I get the feeling that Blogger has been abandoned by Google, and won\u0026rsquo;t be around for much longer. Also, this will be some much needed experience with some basic frontend web development, and I could create my own CI/CD process etc.\nI did not want to host the website on my main server, so I decided to provision a Windows 11 VM (my Linux skills are subpar, and also I get to play with Windows 11, which I haven\u0026rsquo;t a chance yet) and create my first prototype website. I did the necessary networking in VMWare Player 17; I created a bridged connection so that I could RDP into the VM if I needed to.\nVM Settings\nHaving installed the PIA VPN client, I noticed that my connection was extremely unstable. Running the following command would result in Request timed out.\nping cloudflare.com -t Ping\nAt first I thought there was something wrong with the VPN service. I disabled the firewall, tried a combination of VPN related settings, and nothing seemed to help. I began searching for any reported outages etc., but there didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be any. NOTE: I have not yet purchased the static IP. I was only testing the viability of using a VPN to host a website and if I couldn\u0026rsquo;t even get a stable connection, there is no point in self hosting.\nAfter many hours of troubleshooting over a course of few weeks, I gave up on the idea until yesterday when I decided to give it another go. As a part of troubleshooting process, I installed PIA VPN (with default settings) on the main home server, and noticed the same issue. Whenever I am connected to VPN, I had a ton of packet loss. I realized that there was something else going on here, and its not just the VM or PIA service that was having issues.\nI decided to connect to PIA VPN (with the settings shown) from my main gaming machine, and monitored ping to cloudflare.com at the same time from both the main server and gaming machine, and I noticed that the gaming machine had no packet loss whatsoever. This obviously rules out PIA VPN.\nProtocols - PIA Settings\nNetwork - PIA Settings\nAt this point, it dawned on me that the gaming machine is connected directly to the cable modem, whereas the main server is connected via the TP-LINK switch. I started exploring the settings of the switch itself through the web interface and changing them did not help. As a last ditch effort, I decided to upgrade the firmware. The existing firmware was from 2021 version. Unfortunately, I did not take a note of the exact firmware version. I attempted to update to TL-SG108E(UN)_V6_1.0.0 Build 20230218. This was unsuccessful. I downloaded the next latest version, which was from 2022, TL-SG108E(UN)_V6_1.0.0 Build 20220930.\nUpdating to this version was successful\u0026hellip;sort of. Once I kicked off the upgrade process, the switch rebooted, but the Easy Smart Configuration Utility would show that the update was still at 84%, however, this might just be the UI not updating, because closing an reopening the utility showed that the upgrade was successful.\nFollowing the upgrade to TL-SG108E(UN)_V6_1.0.0 Build 20220930, I am no longer getting the packet loss. Hopefully, this will help someone out there looking to resolve connectivity issues, especially when using a VPN service.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/03/2023-03-19-piarequesttimedoutissue/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"short-story\"\u003eShort Story\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had to update the firmware on my \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K4DS5KU?psc=1\u0026amp;ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit Switch\n\u003c/a\u003e\n to resolve the connectivity issues when using a VPN client. I installed \u003ca href=\"https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/tl-sg108e/v6/#Firmware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  Build 20220930 (Published Date: 2022-10-12)\n\u003c/a\u003e\n and that took care of the problem.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"long-story\"\u003eLong Story\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy plan was to self host my blog using PIA VPN\u0026rsquo;s static IP feature. My website is currently on Blogger, and I get the feeling that Blogger has been abandoned by Google, and won\u0026rsquo;t be around for much longer. Also, this will be some much needed experience with some basic frontend web development, and I could create my own CI/CD process etc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Private Internet Access - Request Timed Out Issue "},{"content":"Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was released for the PC in May 2006. I remember playing the demo way back in the day, and my computer could barely keep up with it. The big marketing point at the time was the advanced physics capabilities of the game on PC. This title was supposed to take advantage of Ageia’s PhysX card. This was of course before Nvidia incorporated PhysX into GPUs, which I am glad they did. Imagine having to install a GPU and PPU to get the full experience.\nI got this game as a part of Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Ghost Recon Pack on Steam in May 2012 for $7.49. This included the original Ghost Recon games as well as G.R.A.W and G.R.A.W 2. However, these two games are no longer available for purchase on Steam or on UbiSoft Connect. I am not sure why this is the case, but there are forum posts that suggest that this is because of a licensing issue between Grin (the Swedish software company that made the PC version) and UbiSoft. Unfortunate. It appears that UbiSoft has this habit of abandoning games. Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s H.A.W.X games were also met with the same fate.\nApparently it is possible to download this game because its in copyright limbo, having been abandoned by UbiSoft, and Grin has gone bankrupt. There is a link to be found HERE , but I have not tested this.\nPlaying this game 17 years later, on an i7 6700k with a 1080Ti, I have to say it does not look great, and that is not necessarily a slight against the fidelity of graphics, but its the art style that is rather poor. It is after all a product of its time. On the console, it was very much like a generic third person shooter from the mid 2000s complete with a brown color pallette, and obnoxious UI. While the game plays very differently on the PC, i.e., as a tactical shooter, it still retains the brown aesthetic, which is not something I consider anything remotely beautiful. That said, the runs very well, when its not getting bogged down by visual glitches. The UI fairly minimal on the PC. The hud is very clean looking, and modern titles should learn a thing or two about designing a clean UI.\nClean UI\nThe levels are very well designed. Often times there are multiple ways of approaching an objective. This can be useful in the later missions where the most obvious approach may not be the most ideal. Its always beneficial to look for an alternative route. The gameplay is very slow. Typically, it takes about one or two shots to kill an enemy. the physics in the game pale in comparison to anything a modern title has to offer, that said, I can see how it was revolutionary for its time. There were part of the game, where I used the physics in the game to gain advantage over the enemies. For example, I shot at the wheels of a vehicle, which caused it to dip lower, revealing the enemy. Little details like this really elevate the game.\nThis brings me to weapon selection. It is underwhelming to say the least. Since enemies die so quickly, there is no reason to try different weapons. I played most of the game with Scar-L. I tried Scar-H, but there is no notable advantage to this weapon because of the damage model. I played a little bit with the M249, and it was not great. Side arm selection is equally anaemic. There is an automatic Glock which is very powerful, and there are a couple of SMGs. I went with M8 Compact. Equipping this with a suppressor made it very handy at hip fire.\nWeapon stats screen\nThe overhead map is very useful. It can used to set waypoints and issue orders to your team, which can include tanks at times. Of course, this highlights the AI path finding, which is not very good. There are many instances where the teammates would not obey the orders given, they stop short of where I instructed them to go, and at other times, their AI is extremely competent, and will quick scope enemies. Its very inconsistent. The good thing is, even if your teammate gets killed in a mission, they are available again in the following mission, provided the mission designed for it. Some missions are solo mission, but you are given the command of a drone, which is very useful for spotting enemies.\nOverhead map\nThe last two missions are particularly brutal with how the checkpoints are located. In the 10th mission, it felt as if they forgot to include a checkpoint towards the end, which resulted in a section that I had to repeat about 10 times. Extremely frustrating. This did however result in one of the most tense encounters in a game that I had in a very long time.\nPlaying this game now is a little bit challenging because of the technical issues. The two main game breaking issues that everyone is going to encounter are:\nThe middle mouse button, which is supposed to issue orders on the fly, does not work. Ready To Bear mission will immediately start to glitch up on starting. There are fixes available for it online, while they are not particularly complicated, and I tried my best to document the fixes, depending on how someone acquired the game, it may or may not be possible to apply the fixes easily.\nIn addition to this there are texture flickering issues which would cause the visuals to completely glitch revealing a wire frame of the level, and this has been useful at times because I could see enemy location behind walls, and as far as I know, there is no fix for this.\nFlickering screen\nIt seems to me that the only way to buy this game now, if you don\u0026rsquo;t already own it on any digital distribution platform is to buy the CD version. Do I think its worth the trouble? Not particularly. There are enough technical issues here for me to not recommend this game. I will write my opinion on G.R.A.W 2 when I get around to it. Maybe in 2024.\n+ Level design\n+ Physics\n- Technical issues\n- Inconsistent checkpoints\n- De-listed everywhere\n- Poor weapon selection\n- Frustrating Teammate AI\nVerdict - Not recommended\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 08:42:08 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/02/reviews/graw-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGhost Recon Advanced Warfighter was released for the PC in May 2006. I remember playing the demo way back in the day, and my computer could barely keep up with it. The big marketing point at the time was the advanced physics capabilities of the game on PC. This title was supposed to take advantage of Ageia’s PhysX card. This was of course before Nvidia incorporated PhysX into GPUs, which I am glad they did. Imagine having to install a GPU and PPU to get the full experience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PC) Review"},{"content":"I was unable to enable virtualization on my Windows 10 VM on a Windows 10 host. I did have virtualization enabled in the BIOS, but that didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to help. When I check the box to enable this feature, Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI, I would get an error.\nI want this feature enabled to run Docker in my VM.\nThis is my system configuration:\nMicrosoft Windows 10 Pro - Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4008 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) American Megatrends Inc. 1.I0, 6/26/2018 Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB Realtek High Definition Audio Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0 I know my computer is more than capable of running a VM with virtulization. I found several powershell commands out there, and running them did not help. I did some digging and found that certain windows features need to be disabled for virtulization to work in a VM.\nI resolved this problem by doing this:\nOpen Turn Windows features on or off. Turn off the following features:\n\u0026ndash; Hyper-V\n\u0026ndash; Virtual Machine Platform\n\u0026ndash; Windows Hypervisor Platform\n\u0026ndash; Windows Sandbox\n\u0026ndash; Windows Subsystem for Linux\nSave and restart the computer. Open VMWare Player Select the VM and edit the VM settings Enable Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI Once the virtual machine is up and running, install Docker. This will require installing WSL2 in the VM. If everything is done right, Docker should start successfully.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/01/2023-01-30-vtxerrorvmwareplayer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was unable to enable virtualization on my Windows 10 VM on a Windows 10 host. I did have virtualization enabled in the BIOS, but that didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to help. When I check the box to enable this feature, Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI, I would get an error.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/vtxerrorvmwareplayer/01-vtxerrorvmwareplayer-2023-01-30-19_12_24.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/vtxerrorvmwareplayer/01-vtxerrorvmwareplayer-2023-01-30-19_12_24.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/vtxerrorvmwareplayer/02-vtxerrorvmwareplayer-2023-01-30-19_13_08.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/vtxerrorvmwareplayer/02-vtxerrorvmwareplayer-2023-01-30-19_13_08.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI want this feature enabled to run Docker in my VM.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is my system configuration:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eMicrosoft Windows 10 Pro\n    - Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045\nIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4008 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)\nAmerican Megatrends Inc. 1.I0, 6/26/2018\nInstalled Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB\nRealtek High Definition Audio\nKiller E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller\nSamsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB\nSamsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB\nWDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eI know my computer is more than capable of running a VM with virtulization. I found several powershell commands out there, and running them did not help. I did some digging and found that certain windows features need to be disabled for virtulization to work in a VM.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fix Error When VT-x (Virtualization) is Enabled in VMWare Player "},{"content":"This is a fix for the middle mouse button not working when giving orders in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I am using the Steam version for this, but I would imagine this fix will work on any PC version.\nNavigate to the following location: E:\\SteamLibrary\\steamapps\\common\\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\\Settings Open the following file in a text editor: ctrl_set_def.xml Change the following line: \u0026lt;button id=\u0026#34;hud_select\u0026#34; binding=\u0026#34;2\u0026#34; device=\u0026#34;mouse\u0026#34; group=\u0026#34;misc\u0026#34;/\u0026gt; To this:\n\u0026lt;button id=\u0026#34;hud_select\u0026#34; binding=\u0026#34;2\u0026#34; device=\u0026#34;mouse\u0026#34; group=\u0026#34;tactics\u0026#34;/\u0026gt; Save the file and start the game. Here is a video showing this process.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 05:15:56 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/01/2023-01-30-grawmiddlemousebuttonfix/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a fix for the middle mouse button not working when giving orders in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I am using the Steam version for this, but I would imagine this fix will work on any PC version.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNavigate to the following location:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eE:\\SteamLibrary\\steamapps\\common\\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\\Settings\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003col start=\"2\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOpen the following file in a text editor:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003ectrl_set_def.xml\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003col start=\"3\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChange the following line:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e\u0026lt;button id=\u0026#34;hud_select\u0026#34; binding=\u0026#34;2\u0026#34; device=\u0026#34;mouse\u0026#34; group=\u0026#34;misc\u0026#34;/\u0026gt;\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo this:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e\u0026lt;button id=\u0026#34;hud_select\u0026#34; binding=\u0026#34;2\u0026#34; device=\u0026#34;mouse\u0026#34; group=\u0026#34;tactics\u0026#34;/\u0026gt;\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003col start=\"4\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSave the file and start the game.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a video showing this process.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How To Fix Middle Mouse Button To Give Orders - Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Steam)"},{"content":"I put off playing Doom (2016) for many years because I wanted to have a machine powerful enough to play it. After finishing Gun yesterday, which was a thoroughly mediocre shooter, I was in the mood for something good. Considering that I am now fortunate enough to own a fantastic computer, I decided now is the time.\nTo this day, I avoided all media related to this game. After watching the gameplay reveal video many years ago, I decided this game needs to be experienced without any spoilers.\nI am glad I did this. In my opinion, this game probably has the best introduction of any game, ever.\nFollowing this excellent opening, you get to step out of the confined location you find yourself in and into the open world, and seeing the fantastic world in front of you is truly breathtaking.\nIt reminded me of the time I played Fallout 3 for the first time, and I stepped out of the vault.\nThe art design of this game is totally something else. I will review this game once I am done playing it. I get the feeling I am in for a real treat.\nDOOM shrine\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:08:59 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/01/2023-01-28-doominitialthoughts/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI put off playing Doom (2016) for many years because I wanted to have a machine powerful enough to play it. After finishing Gun yesterday, which was a thoroughly mediocre shooter, I was in the mood for something good. Considering that I am now fortunate enough to own a fantastic computer, I decided now is the time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo this day, I avoided all media related to this game. After watching the gameplay reveal video many years ago, I decided this game needs to be experienced without any spoilers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DOOM Diary: Initial Thoughts"},{"content":"I first played this game in 2009, and I never ended up finishing it. I recently picked up the GOG version and I beat the game. The game is fun for the most part, but there are aspects that really set it back.\nThe story is set in late 19th century America, specifically in the Old West, and involves finding the lost city of Quivira, where this is lot of gold to be mined.\nIts somewhat of an open world game, and the player gets to backtrack between cities. There are quite a few side missions as well, and completing these missions reward the player with cash, which can be used to buy weapons and upgrades. I had a very tough time in certain missions and I think its because I didn\u0026rsquo;t do any of the side missions. I went straight for the main missions. I think this was a mistake. Not having weapon upgrades make the game a lot more difficult even on Normal difficulty.\nThe game has a thoroughly budget feel to it. It is a poor man\u0026rsquo;s Red Dead Redemption.\nThe save system is confusing. It appears that you can save the game at any point, but when you load the game (and you have to quit the current game to do so), it begins at the start of the mission. There is no auto checkpoint system to go along with the manual save system. There were times when I forgot to manually save the game, and I lost progress. Very annoying. I would much rather have a manual save system, and a quick save system, but modern games have taught me to expect a checkpoint system, which I loathe.\nThe story is well told, and the voice acting is quite good. I remember thinking this when I was playing the game, and I later learned that the voice actors included some Hollywood talent, not that having Hollywood actors voice lines in a video game necessarily makes the gameplay any better.\nVisually, the game looks alright. There is no support for widescreen resolutions. I played the game at 1600x1200. I have a computer that is dedicated to playing older games, and on a 1080p monitor, the game is very playable. I would not play this game on my ultrawide monitor because it would not scale very well, and it would end up looking awful.\nI had to reduce the mouse movement speed all the way to 0 within the game, because my Razer DeathAdder\u0026rsquo;s sensor is perhaps way too sensitive for this game. I was having issues with camera control on default settings. The game is a console port, and it shows. The interface, controls are all made with a console in mind. I feel for those that bought this game at full price on the PC.\nBy far the worst aspect of this game are the boss battles. They are horrible. It feels as if the enemies cheat, and have wall hacks the way can shoot you when you peak from behind the cover for a second. This gets really annoying towards the end. I had to find a way to cheese my way through because it was damn near impossible to play fair and square.\nIts possible that the reason I had this problem because I did not play any of the side missions, however, that means there is a problem with scaling the difficulty of the boss battles.\nIf you can find the game for less than $2, and you are curious to check out this forgotten game, then go for it. Any price more than that is not worth it, in my opinion.\n+ Voice acting\n+ Visuals in certain locations\n+ Gun play in general\n- Boss battles\n- General budget feel of the game\n- Weird save system\nVerdict - Worth about $2.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 08:02:55 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2023/01/reviews/gun-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI first played this game in 2009, and I never ended up finishing it. I recently picked up the GOG version and I beat the game. The game is fun for the most part, but there are aspects that really set it back.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story is set in late 19th century America, specifically in the Old West, and involves finding the lost city of Quivira, where this is lot of gold to be mined.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" GUN (PC) Review"},{"content":"I recently started playing Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Unity after briefly watching Whitelight\u0026rsquo;s video on this game. I had this game in my library for a long time, but I just haven\u0026rsquo;t gotten around to it. I finished Black Flag and Rogue earlier this year, and those are the only two AC games I finished to date. After playing other games for a while, the time felt right to get back into an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game.\nWhen I first started this game, my impressions were not great. It felt less polished than Black Flag (which is understandable given its launch). However, once I scaled up the Notre-Dame cathedral my view on this game changed for the better. The game looks beautiful. Climbing up to the top of the cathedral and scanning the vista was done very well. I get the feeling that there is something very special about this game. Whether or not it lives up to its potential remains to be seen. As with all UbiSoft open world games, there is a lot of bloat in terms of collectibles, missions, etc.\nI wonder if this is the largest Assassins\u0026rsquo;s Creed in terms of map size at this point. The crowd density was a talking point, and I have mixed feelings about it. The crowd AI is nowhere near as sophisticated as the trailer suggested. Some of the animations can be very clunky.\nThere are also technical issues with the game. I was able to get the game running running fine at 3440x1440 resolution. I had to run this in a borderless window mode to prevent the game from resizing all the other windows I have open in my secondary display. In addition to this, recording videos at 60FPS in ShadowPlay causes jittering in the video files. I had to reduce the video capture frame rate to 30FPS to get stable recordings.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t formed a strong opinion on the rest of the game, but so far, I am enjoying it. Unlikely as it might be, my hope is that this game will surpass Black Flag as the best Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/10/2022-10-16-acunitylookinggood/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recently started playing Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Unity after briefly watching Whitelight\u0026rsquo;s video on this game. I had this game in my library for a long time, but I just haven\u0026rsquo;t gotten around to it. I finished Black Flag and Rogue earlier this year, and those are the only two AC games I finished to date. After playing other games for a while, the time felt right to get back into an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassins Creed Unity is Looking Good"},{"content":"F.E.A.R Extraction Point is the first of the two expansions for F.E.A.R. It is developed by Timegate Studios and released in October 2006, about a year after the first game. This is an excellent expansion pack to a great horror game. It looks better, and plays better than F.E.A.R for the most part.\nThe story for this expansion picks up right where the first game left off, and it branches into what is now commonly referred to as the Vivendi timeline. F.E.A.R 2 and F.E.A.R 3 follow the Monolith timeline. The direct sequels do not acknowledge the expansion packs from Timegate. You reprise your role as the Point Man, and you are separated from your squad, Jin and Holiday. Your overarching goal is to regroup with them and get to the extraction point.\nI got the feeling that there are aspects of the plot that were never fleshed out due to time constraints. At one point, you are aided by Alma, who turns into an ally, and fights against Replica forces, who are controlled by Paxton Fettel. After that brief section, this never gets brought up again. Its like this particular plot thread was explored briefly and then abandoned quickly.\nIt felt like the visuals have received an upgrade. The levels looks great, and they are designed very well. The atmosphere is fantastic, especially in the later levels. The Church and the Hospital levels are particularly well done. The horror is not always relegated to jump scares, while they do exist, the emphasis is mostly on creating an unnerving atmosphere. Some of the scenes in the game are shocking, and unexpected. These sections elevate the game over other horror games. While the outdoor environments never look great, there aren\u0026rsquo;t a lot of them. F.E.A.R strength lies in creating confined levels which induce a certain sense of claustrophobia. Church, Subway, and Hospital levels are simply excellent. The hospital level deserves a special mention, because they are so well done. Not a whole lot happens in some of these areas, you just get to walk through rooms, but the attention to detail is really on point here.\nThe audio compliments the level design very well. The shotgun and the minigun sound the best. Going into bullet time and blasting enemies with the shotgun never gets old for me. The AR is still disappointing, it sounds like a pea shooter. I prefer the SMG if I am given a choice, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t do as much damage. Enemy soldier call outs, footsteps, and spooky effects are all excellent. They are either on par or better than the previous game.\nThe legendary enemy AI is back, and combined with a great arsenal of weapons, and bullet time, the combat is as good as ever. There are two new weapons - the minigun and the lazer carbine. I particularly enjoyed the lazer carbine. Its a lot of fun to use. There are a variety of grenades as well, and this combined with some of the weapons, the combat felt a lot better than it did in F.E.A.R. The deployable turret is also quite useful in dealing with enemies. There are situations where you have to fight quite a few enemies at once.\nFor the first time in the series, you have a companion in certain areas, and there is an open level that you get to engage the enemies with your AI parter, and that level is quite well done. You are perched on top of a building and you get to pick off enemies with the particle beam. The game engine is not great for outdoor levels. It just doesn\u0026rsquo;t look very good. The sky box is cheap looking, and the textures are washed out. F.E.A.R is best when its confined to tight corridors. Thankfully, there is only one such level, and it quickly goes back to what it does best, creepy claustrophobic levels.\nThere are also some technical issues with this game. The infamous disconnect from server bug is back. To fix this, you have to turn down the textures to minimum and get past the problem, save the game, turn it back up, and reload the save. The does not natively support widescreen resolution, but the fix is very simple tweak in the config file. It would be excellent if someone at GOG fixed some of these issues and released a patched version of the game.\nThe ending is rather anti climactic, and I got the feeling the next expansion was supposed to pick up where this game left off. All in all, this game is a worthy expansion to one of the best PC games of all time. I would recommend buying this on GOG. The entire F.E.A.R series (Original and expansions) frequently goes on sale for less than $2, and at that price, there is no reason to not pick it up and try it.\n+ Atmosphere\n+ Level designed\n+ Audio\n+ Combat\n- Technical issues\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:28:08 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/10/reviews/fearextractionpoint-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eF.E.A.R Extraction Point is the first of the two expansions for F.E.A.R. It is developed by Timegate Studios and released in October 2006, about a year after the first game. This is an excellent expansion pack to a great horror game. It looks better, and plays better than F.E.A.R for the most part.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story for this expansion picks up right where the first game left off, and it branches into what is now commonly referred to as the Vivendi timeline. F.E.A.R 2 and F.E.A.R 3 follow the Monolith timeline. The direct sequels do not acknowledge the expansion packs from Timegate. You reprise your role as the Point Man, and you are separated from your squad, Jin and Holiday. Your overarching goal is to regroup with them and get to the extraction point.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"F.E.A.R Extraction Point (PC) Review"},{"content":"I played Age of Empires 3 for the first time in 2005. My machine at the time was not powerful enough to handle this game, so I went back to AOE II. 17 years later, I picked up this game on Steam.\nI paid $5.99 for the definitive edition, which includes Warchiefs and Asian Dynasties. I also purchased the United States Civilization for $2.49. I am yet to play any skirmish matches with United States Civilization. I played all the story missions including the expansions.\nI am by no means a strategy games expert. I do not play PvP. I wanted to play all the campaign missions, and because the game was on sale, I decided to take a chance.\nI am glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game. The main campaign missions are quite well done. The story begins during the early settlement of the new world, and goes all the way to the founding of America. There are some very interesting missions here.\nThe expansions are also quite well done for the most part. The highlight of the expansions for me were the Japanese missions.There is something aesthetically pleasing about the Japanese setting. I liked the Chinese missions the least. There is nothing particularly wrong with them, I just did not find them very interesting. The Indian missions are quite good too, but the story is rather comical. They made The East India Company the cartoon villain and whether there is any truth to this, I am not sure. It did not stop me from having a decent time with the missions.\nGraphics in the game are excellent. The snow covered landscape of New England, desert canyons of the south west, tropical jungles of South America, the visuals are very striking. I do not know if this is because of HD textures that were added in the modern edition or if they always looked this good. Explosions, water effects, and physics in game are all very well done.\nIn addition to excellent graphics it also works great at ultra wide resolution. I played this game at 3440x1440 resolution, and it ran perfectly fine. I also occasionally played it at 1080p in windowed mode. I was very pleased with the graphics and gameplay options. I wish all PC games implemented options like this.\nGameplay is much the same as the previous versions. There are certain choices that focus on efficiency, which may not be well liked by veterans. I am ambivalent to this change. Logging camps and mining camps are no longer needed to collect resources.\nIn fact resource gathering is far more rudimentary now than it was in AOE II. There are only 3 resources to gather - food, wood and gold. Other than wood, there are infinite options for both food and gold. In Asian Dynasties, rice paddy can be used to farm food and gold. It\u0026rsquo;s rather bizarre, but it\u0026rsquo;s not game breaking or anything. There are some odd choices made with unit production. Indian villagers require wood instead of food. Seems rather arbitrary.\nNaval combat in this game is very underwhelming. The scale of the map does not allow for large- scale naval battles. AOE II did this a lot better. The map scale is smaller than AOE II. Certain AOE II maps are absolutely massive such as Bukhara and Dos Pilas. No such maps exist in AOE III. It\u0026rsquo;s not a deal breaker, but the advance in technology did not bring us bigger, better maps.\nIt took well over 60 hours for me to get through the entire campaign (including the expansions). I totally got my money’s worth. In hindsight, I should not have purchased the DLC for it. I don\u0026rsquo;t see myself going back to playing skirmish matches. I am currently playing AOE2 Definitive Edition. I think overall, I enjoy AOE2 more than AOE3, but you can\u0026rsquo;t go wrong for the price.\nI look forward to playing AOE I and AOE IV some day. For the price I paid for it, I recommend this game.\n+ Visuals\n+ Graphics \u0026amp; gameplay options\n+ Interesting main campaign\n+ Expansions\n- Smaller scale maps\n- Naval combat\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 10:47:11 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/09/reviews/ageofempires3-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI played Age of Empires 3 for the first time in 2005. My machine at the time was not powerful enough to handle this game, so I went back to AOE II. 17 years later, I picked up this game on Steam.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI paid $5.99 for the definitive edition, which includes Warchiefs and Asian Dynasties. I also purchased the United States Civilization for $2.49. I am yet to play any skirmish matches with United States Civilization. I played all the story missions including the expansions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Age of Empires III (PC) Review"},{"content":"I am writing this post to commemorate last night\u0026rsquo;s gaming session. I was playing Cyberpunk 2077, and its probably the most fun I\u0026rsquo;ve had with an RPG in a very long time.\nYears from now, I want to look back on this gaming session and remember the fun time. There are a many such gaming memories over the years, some over 20 years old. That one time when I started playing Tomb Raider 3 demo when I first got my computer back in 2000, when I played the tutorial level of Tomb Raider 4 late at night, that one session of Quake 3 with my neighbor where I won the round with about 5 seconds to spare (we talk about it to this day, after 15 years), when I beat Commandos after playing all night, that super frustrating session of GTA 3 where I resorted to using cheats to finish the level, the ending of Half Life 2 Episode 2, when I first stepped out of the vault in Fallout 3, when I played the beta of Battlefield 4 early in the morning and knew that it was going be a special game, I could go on.\nSo what was so great about last evening\u0026rsquo;s gaming session that inspired me to write this?\nIts hard to articulate, but I will try.\nI am generally not a fan of replaying sections of a single player game over and over again. I find it a complete waste of time. I\u0026rsquo;ve got a big backlog of games to get through, so I don\u0026rsquo;t want to \u0026ldquo;waste\u0026rdquo; time replaying a section of the game. Last night was different. I was playing Cyberpunk 2077. The game is in a fairly decent state now by the way. I was on my way to start a side mission, navigating through the traffic at high speed on a random bike I found, when a notification on the mini map popped up, that there was an assault in progress. I decided to engage.\nWhat ensued is the most fun I\u0026rsquo;ve had in an RPG in a very long time. Reminded me of the time I spent playing Witcher 3.\nThis seemingly random encounter with a bunch of enemies turned into a quite a battle. I don\u0026rsquo;t have the best gear, and I am quite under powered to take on the enemies. I went into the battle head on, and I was defeated almost immediately. I was not prepared for that. This started a 1 hour battle where I kept retrying different strategies, and eventually took out all the enemies.\nI discovered that enemies have weaknesses, and learned to exploit them. It took about 7 or 8 tries to win this skirmish. I could have easily left and leveled up, and returned when I had better weapons etc., but it was just too much fun to try and \u0026ldquo;beat\u0026rdquo; the game. For about 1 hour, I forgot about life, and I Was immersed in the game. I could have gone on for another hour.\nI know this will be one of those moments that I am going to look back fondly years from now.\nI am going to spend the rest of the evening playing more Cyberpunk 2077.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:19:12 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/06/2022-06-01-cp2077diary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am writing this post to commemorate last night\u0026rsquo;s gaming session. I was playing Cyberpunk 2077, and its probably the most fun I\u0026rsquo;ve had with an RPG in a very long time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYears from now, I want to look back on this gaming session and remember the fun time. There are a many such gaming memories over the years, some over 20 years old. That one time when I started playing Tomb Raider 3 demo when I first got my computer back in 2000, when I played the tutorial level of Tomb Raider 4 late at night, that one session of Quake 3 with my neighbor where I won the round with about 5 seconds to spare (we talk about it to this day, after 15 years), when I beat Commandos after playing all night, that super frustrating session of GTA 3 where I resorted to using cheats to finish the level, the ending of Half Life 2 Episode 2, when I first stepped out of the vault in Fallout 3, when I played the beta of Battlefield 4 early in the morning and knew that it was going be a special game, I could go on.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Extremely Fun Random Skirmish - Cyberpunk 2077 Diary"},{"content":"DICE released their latest Battlefield 2042 briefing. It was underwhelming and disappointing. They repeatedly insist that they are listening to feedback from the community, yet they continue to persist with the awful specialist system. To add insult to injury, there is only one map in the season 1 update. The only new content we are going to get until then are weapon skins (which are not that great to begin with).\nRead more about it here DICE, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the problem with the specialist system was that they were too clean looking, and proceeded to add some smudges to their face.\nThis is someone\u0026rsquo;s idea of improving specialists in Battlefield 2042\nI am at loss for words here. Its sad to see a beloved series, a truly one of a kind franchise suffer this way due to the incompetence of the studio. I decided that I am going to take a break from Battlefield 2042. So what are my options? I could play an older Battlefield game, but I spent approximately 4200 hours in Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1 combined. I want something new.\nI started scouring for a new shooter. I know that Call of Duty Warzone is very popular. I played the beta of Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019), and to me it felt like a bad budget clone of Battlefield 4.\nI remember thinking there was a decent game underneath the obnoxious interface, the constant radio chatter, the kill streaks and every other bad decision the designers made to break immersion.\nThis was 3 years ago. Call of Duty has come a long way since then with the release of Warzone, which is a free to play title. So I decided to give it a try. I was prepared to have to play Battle Royale, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are other modes as well. I am playing the large scale TDM to get a feel for the game, and I will jump in Battle Royale at some point. Maybe.\nTechnical Details After an 80GB+ download, I started the game, and it did not like my ultra wide monitor. It launched at a 16:9 resolution and after attempting to install shaders (which it does when you start the game for the first time), it crashed. After a few times of doing this, I started the game, and left it for a while, and it successfully finished installing shaders.\nAt this point, I was able to customize the graphics settings. When I set the resolution to the native value of 3440x1440, the game would around move all the windows that I have open on my secondary displays. This happens every time I started the game. It was quite annoying. Do developers not realize that most PC gamers have more than one monitor? Its the current year, and its disappointing to see modern games still struggle to work right with a multi monitor setup. In addition to this, any change to the graphics settings would make the game window flicker, and all the other windows I have open would go on a little adventure. Some would disappear entirely, and I would have to use the Move option in Windows to bring them back into view.\nThe fix was easy enough. Running the game in borderless window mode solved all the problems. I was hesitant to run the game in this mode because Battlefield 2042 had performance issues when running in anything but fullscreen mode. I was impressed with number of graphics options in this game. There are so many ways to tweak the game, and if I had to guess, it will run fine on mid to lower end machines. At the highest settings, the framerates are quite good. I was getting anywhere between 115 - 120 FPS. I did not notice any drops in performance even when there was a lot going on.\nThe Interface This game has by far the most obnoxious UI ever. There are almost no options to customize it. I cannot disable any pop ups. There is so much information on the screen at one point, I have no idea how anyone can make any sense out of it. What actionable information is the UI presenting to me, when the screen so cluttered? I have trouble identifying enemies when there is so much on-screen litter.\nI was complaining endlessly about how the UI in BF2042 was not good (and I standby that), but in comparison, even at its worst, its not as bad as Warzone.\nThe awful banner\u0026hellip;I could not find a way to disable it.\nEverything about the UI is garish. The ads when the game is started, the in game UI and prompts, the music cues, the player characters\u0026hellip;it never ends. Its an all out assault on the senses. The developers seemed to have never heard of the concept of subtlety. All this would be alleviated if they simply gave players the options to customize their experience. Something as basic as disabling in game messages is not available.\nEven the audio is annoying. The menu music, the screams of Godzill and King Kong in the background, the irritating in game voice over\u0026hellip;it just never stops. Of course, its not as bad as Battlefield 2 can be at times.\nIf I paid full price for this game, I would be livid. I cannot play for more than a couple of rounds because of the overload. I have new found respect for those that I can play this game for hours on end. Maybe I am getting old? Sometimes, I get the feeling that I am in the minority when it comes to wanting a clean, minimalist UI. Often times, I see Battlefield videos where every single UI option is enabled with 100% opacity. I am so thankful that Battlefield allows UI customization.\nWhat is the point of creating a beautiful game, if the UI is constantly distracting and breaking the immersion?\nClosing Thoughts Its not all terrible. Notwithstanding my objections with the game, there are certain things that Call of Duty is doing right. Weapon customization is fantastic. Battlefield can learn a thing or two from this.\nThe awful banner\u0026hellip;I could not find a way to disable it.\nThere is definitely some fun to be had, but this is not a game that I can take seriously. While it is possible that I missing something here, and I am not getting how this game is supposed to be played. I will play this game until the Season 1 update for Battlefield 2042 is released. I will try to discover as much as I can, and see if there is something I am missing. That said, in an ideal world, I will never resort to installing a Call of Duty game, but the sheer incompetence of DICE made me have to look for another multiplayer shooter.\nAs much as I am disappointed with Battlefield 2042, I am glad it exists. I shudder to think of a world where Call of Duty is the only viable alternative for me.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 11:21:42 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/05/2022-05-29-codwarzone-firstimpressions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDICE released their latest Battlefield 2042 briefing. It was underwhelming and disappointing. They repeatedly insist that they are listening to feedback from the community, yet they continue to persist with the awful specialist system. To add insult to injury, there is only one map in the season 1 update. The only new content we are going to get until then are weapon skins (which are not that great to begin with).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Duty Warzone - First Impressions"},{"content":"I started playing Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue right after I finished Black Flag. I went from not playing an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed in over two years to playing them back to back. I learned about the existence of this game while I was reading a review of Black Flag. The idea of a Black Flag like game set in North America felt very interesting to me. I really liked Black Flag, and I did not mind more of it. When I saw a picture of a ship with the northern lights in the background, I was sold.\nNorthern Lights\nI went scouring for a deal, and I found it on Fanatical. I paid $8.99 for the Deluxe Edition. In general I am not a fan of how companies carve out content and sell it as different editions, which is solely designed to nickel and dime gamers. However, the price of the Deluxe edition seemed acceptable to me.\nThis game was released very close to the release of Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Unity, which might explain why the game wasn\u0026rsquo;t as popular. It was not as well received as Black Flag, which is a fantastic game, so it is a tall order for any game to top it, and considering that the main UbiSoft studio was working on Unity at the time, this was relegated to one of the smaller teams in UbiSoft Sofia.\nPlease be warned that this review will contain spoilers because I will discuss the story. SPOILER warning has been issued.\nThe premise is very interesting, but I felt that it was not executed very well. In Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue, you get to play as Shay Patrick Cormac. He is a part of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins, working in North America during the Seven Years\u0026rsquo; War. He is tasked with retrieving a piece of Eden, which sends him to Lisbon. He locates the piece of Eden underneath a Church. As he tries to retrieve the piece of Eden, it triggers an earthquake in Lisbon. There apparently was a massive earthquake in Lisbon in 1755, so I guess I learned something new. Shay realizes that the Assassin\u0026rsquo;s see this as a means to an end, and plan on retrieving all the pieces, at whatever cost. This causes him to question his loyalty to his side, and he eventually ends up joining the Templars.\nWhen the Lisbon mission started, the opening shows a beautiful level, and it gave me the impression that we get to explore it. However, the exploration is confined to the church, and once the earthquake is triggered, the level becomes very linear, and you go through a set piece where everything around you is collapsing. Parts of this is done quite well, but I felt this was a huge missed opportunity. I was surprised that the Lisbon mission was over and we are back to North America.\nEverything about how the story is told seemed very rushed. The transition from an Assassin to a Templar is jarring. One mission, you are an Assassin, and in the next mission, you are a Templar sworn to rid the world of Assassins. The transition felt like it was done in a very haphazard manner to move the plot along. If this game had gotten the attention it deserved, and if it was fleshed out a little bit more, it could have easily eclipsed Black Flag. As such, it has the feel of a budget title.\nThose that played Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed III and Unity will appreciate how the game attempts to tie up some loose ends. Not having played either of those games as of this writing, I am yet to appreciate the gravity of the plot lines.\nWhen I watch the footage or look at the screenshot of Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue those with Black Flag, I can\u0026rsquo;t help but get the feeling that the visuals are very washed out in Rogue. One might argue that the saturation levels in Black Flag are a bit much, but I really liked the vibrant world of the Caribbean. The developers choose to make North America looks very dreary. At times, the game looks stunning, but for the most part the colors tend to be dull.\nMusic is another aspect of the game that does not live up to Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Black Flag. Black Flag is right up there with Witcher 3 as one of the best video game soundtracks. Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue has some nice themes but I did not enjoy the soundtrack anywhere near as Black Flag. The music in Black Flag is just perfect, in my subjective opinion. In contrast, there was not anything memorable about the soundtrack of Rogue.\nSpeaking of aspects of the game that are not memorable, lets talk about the characters in the game. They are adequate. Let\u0026rsquo;s just say Christopher Gist, and Hope are not as interesting as Adéwalé and Mary. There is no charismatic character like Black Beard, and lastly given how sloppy Shay\u0026rsquo;s story arc was written, Shay is no match for Edward Kenway.\nIts quite a shame really because this game takes place during the formation of America, and there are so many interesting characters to work with. They did try and shoehorn Benjamin Franklin who makes an appearance in the game, but in my opinion, his character could have been substituted by any generic mad scientist character and it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have made a whole lot of difference. He is portrayed more as a bumbling scientist than a legendary founder of a nation. Wasted potential in my opinion.\nSo what did Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue do better than Black Flag? Naval combat is more streamlined. It is now possible to skip the cutscene that is played at the end of each encounter. The legendary ship encounters are a lot of fun. Ship upgrades are more easily attainable, there are no underwater missions here (I really disliked those in Black Flag). Some of the outfits are quite nice. I did not get a chance to unlock the templar and the native outfits, but the ones I had were quite nice.\nThat sums up the game for me. Its an adequate game, and the potential of an interesting premise is not fully realized. To me, its a budget version of Black Flag.\nAnd yes, this game also has Abstergo missions. They are awful.\nOn the technical side of things, the game is locked at 60FPS, just like Black Flag. I upgraded to an ultrawide monitor, and It is possible to get the game to work on an ultrawide, but the FOV is not good, so I played the game at 1920x1080 in a borderless window.\nIn conclusion, for the price, I don\u0026rsquo;t mind recommending this game. Anything more than $10 would not be worth it in my opinion.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 11:06:34 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/05/reviews/assassinscreedrogue-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI started playing Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue right after I finished Black Flag. I went from not playing an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed in over two years to playing them back to back. I learned about the existence of this game while I was reading a review of Black Flag. The idea of a Black Flag like game set in North America felt very interesting to me. I really liked Black Flag, and I did not mind more of it. When I saw a picture of a ship with the northern lights in the background, I was sold.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Assassins Creed Rogue Review (PC)"},{"content":"I purchased this monitor on Amazon for $699. Then the price of monitor went down by $10 while the package was en route. I decided to contact the seller and asked them if they could give me a discount, and they responded shortly, and gave me a $10 refund. Very generous of them.\nThe monitor is a renewed model. I did not notice any issues with the monitor, cosmetic or otherwise. I got all the accessories, like display port, HDMI, USB-C cables etc. The price of the new model is $799 as of this writing (5/13/2022).\nSetting up the monitor is very simple. Its just a matter of assembling the base, and mounting the display onto it. Once the monitor was assembled, I connected to the PC via a display port cable. At startup, the monitor has a refresh rate of 144Hz. I went into the monitor menu and overclocked it to 180Hz. The process is quite easy and it takes effect immediately.\nNeedless to say to run games at 3440x1440 resolution, and at such a high refresh rate, a powerful GPU is needed. I am currently running an MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB Gaming X Trio . I would not recommend upgrading to this monitor unless there is a capable GPU powering the machine. I think a 1080Ti or an AMD equivalent is probably a minimum for a 1440p ultrawide monitor.\nGames look absolutely fantastic on this monitor. Prior to the upgrade, I was playing on ASUS ROG Swift , which was a great monitor for its time. Its a WQHD monitor running at 144Hz, and it was a dream for most gamers. However, we now have IPS panels with the same specifications as TN panels, and upgrading from a 16:9 TN panel to a 21:9 IPS panel is significant.\nThe first game I tried with the ultrawide is Cyberpunk 2077. I put off playing this game till now because I was waiting for it to be updated. I was fairly confident that CD Project would fix the game over time. With the release of Update 1.52, it felt like it was the right time to play this game, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t just want to play this game, I wanted to play it with all the bells and whistles, at a high resolution, on ultra settings with RTX enabled at a good framerate. With the purchase of this monitor, my machine was complete.\nAs shown in the benchmark video below, the results are fantastic. The game runs at an average framerate of ~60FPS.\nWithout RTX, I get around 100FPS. For me the sacrifice in framerate for graphics fidelity is worth it.\nGetting older games to work right on ultrawide resolutions is always a challenge. Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Rogue had a lot of issues out of the box. I found a patch that enabled higher resolutions, but the game just didn\u0026rsquo;t look and feel right. So I switched back to playing at 1920x1080 in borderless windowed mode.\nI was very surprised to discover that Indiana Jones and the Emperor\u0026rsquo;s Tomb, a game released in 2003 worked fine with a widescreen patch. Of course, this is less to do with the monitor itself, and more to do with software support for older games.\nI was willing to put up with playing older games in either a windowed mode or on the second display, if I could play the latest games at ultrawide resolution with all settings at ultra, and RTX enabled. I definitely feel gaming at ultrawide resolution is very immersive, much more so than a regular widescreen resolution. This was the reason why I decided against getting a 4k monitor, because 21:9 aspect ratio just feels right.\nFor someone looking to upgrade to an ultrawide, I would thoroughly recommend this monitor. It is a bit expensive, but assuming its within the budget, there is a lot of fun to be had here.\nEDIT - I added another monitor to my setup. They were giving away old monitors at work, so I took one home.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 05:53:56 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/05/2022-05-14-asusrogstrixuwxg349c-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased this monitor on \u003ca href=\"https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09DQ6RFTN?psc=1\u0026amp;ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  Amazon\n\u003c/a\u003e\n for $699. Then the price of monitor went down by $10 while the package was en route. I decided to contact the seller and asked them if they could give me a discount, and they responded shortly, and gave me a $10 refund. Very generous of them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/asusrogstrixuwXG349C-review/01-asusrogstrixuwXG349C-review-2022-05-14-17_00_41.jpg.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/asusrogstrixuwXG349C-review/01-asusrogstrixuwXG349C-review-2022-05-14-17_00_41.jpg.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe monitor is a renewed model. I did not notice any issues with the monitor, cosmetic or otherwise. I got all the accessories, like display port, HDMI, USB-C cables etc. The price of the new model is $799 as of this writing (5/13/2022).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ASUS ROG Strix Ultra-wide Monitor (XG349C) Review"},{"content":"I take no pleasure in writing this post. As a fan of Battlefield for over a decade, it saddens me to see the state of the game, and knowing that this could have all been avoided. This series has been my main multiplayer game for a long time now and I want Battlefield to do well. I am not here to laugh at its current pitiful state.\nAs of May 4, 2022, it has been 166 days since the launch on November 19, 2021. To date, there has been one minor update, and one major update (released on April 19, 2022), and zero new content. The updates themselves are hardly praiseworthy. They fixed some egregious bugs, and added some so called legacy features, such as a scoreboard, simple UI customization options. I still can\u0026rsquo;t get over the fact that they decided to ship the game without a scoreboard and a server browser. The latter is still missing for the main game as of this writing.\nSome of the issues that got addressed in the latest update were present in the beta, and players brought this to the attention of DICE. However, we were all assured by DICE that the beta was a build from an old branch and the release branch was much better (or so they implied).\nHowever, after the terrible reception of the beta, they decided to postpone the release by a month.\nHazard Zone is a total flop. Hardly anything next gen about these game modes\nIt should be noted that this person does not work at DICE anymore, which is very unfortunate because he was involved with building Battlelog.\nIn my review of Battlefield 2042, I said the game had potential, and I stand by it. I really dislike the operators, and I wish we could go back to the player models from BF4 or BF3, but it is what is it. I was willing to put up with that if the rest of the pieces were in place. While it is not a total let down, and I did put close to 300 hours into the game, as of now, I am just disappointed with the state of Battlefield.\nWhen I wrote my review 5 months ago, I did not expect the progress from the development team to be as slow as it is. DICE is currently reworking the maps, and they made a blog post about it, and they went into excruciating detail about how they are listening to the community and collecting feedback, and in true DICE fashion, instead of shrinking the size of the map, and bringing objectives closer together, to reduce travel time, they decided to remove buildings near E on Renewal. While this is not final yet, it goes to show that there is a serious lack of understanding of Battlefield map design at DICE right now.\nTo add insult to injury, all said and done, they are only reworking two maps. Considering that the game launched with just 7 maps, the rate of progress is extremely slow. Most of the issues can solved by simply adding some cover, and shrinking the size of the map. Take Hourglass for example, the good parts are quite good, but the map can be so boring because of the large open spaces, and this is coming from someone who enjoyed Bandar Desert in BF3. Bandar Desert had transport vehicles, and it was easy enough to get from one point to the other. It really takes rare talent to increase the player count, and still make a boring game.\nVery poor map design, Large area, no cover and not enough transport vehicles.\nIn my opinion the maps themselves are not bad. The main issue is traversal and lack of any cover between points. All they have to do was emulate the design of the best maps (not the most popular maps, because that would include Operation Metro, a truly atrocious map). Maps such as Grand Bazaar, Pearl Market, Propaganda, Dragon Valley 2015, Flood Zone, Zavod 311, Noshar Canals, Siege of Shanghai are all excellent maps, that could have served as inspiration. DICE appears to not know how to design a proper Battlefield map anymore. This is backed up by the fact that they are asking for community feedback on map design. Anyone that played previous games would be able to point the flaws in map design. The lack of transport vehicles, lack of cover, terrible spawn experience all contribute towards a poor experience.\nLooking back at the statements made by the DICE team, there can only be two conclusions - they were either lying the whole time, or they genuinely thought they were shipping a quality product because what they said about the game, and what the game was actually like are very different things.\nThis is very misleading. Other real time events are hardly noticeable.\nSo how is this any different than Battlefield 4, because Battlefield 4 had an awful launch, which I wrote about HERE . Well, 2013 was a very different time. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t as much competition in the multiplayer FPS games. Now you have Fortnite, Warzone, Apex legends, CSGO, PUBG all pulling in hundreds of thousands of players, so its very difficult for a bad game to recover. I don\u0026rsquo;t necessarily think BF2042 is a bad game, I had more fun playing it than Battlefield V, but the problem with Battlefield 2042 is that at its core, it wasn\u0026rsquo;t meant to be a Battlefield game.\nBattlefield 4 was able to recover and redeem itself because fundamentally, it was a Battlefield game. DICE was not trying to reinvent the wheel. It took all the good things about Battlefield 3 and made them better over time, and there was a lot of content, so I never got the feeling I\u0026rsquo;ve done it all.\nWith Battlefield 2042, I am 300 hours in, and I feel like I am out of things to do. The game feels dead. The player base on Steam has dropped by over 90%, and it is very hard to get into a match without cross play enabled. Its embarrassing. These numbers are worse than Hardline.\nSteep decline of players over time\nCan DICE do what they did with Battlefield 4? No. I don\u0026rsquo;t think so. At that time, DICE LA was dedicated to fixing Battlefield 4. The game was getting weekly updates, and CTE was an excellent idea. There was a lot of positive buzz around the game. I have a hard time seeing that happen with Battlefield 2042.\nAlso think of all the content that was available in Battlefield 4. There were over 30 maps! They even had night versions of some of the popular maps available in CTE, but sadly all of them were never released to the public. 2015-2018 was such a great time to be a Battlefield player. Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline and Battlefield 1 all launching within a 3 year period, and it was glorious.\nI think DICE should have just released a Battle Royale game like they wanted to. Instead, they wanted to cash in on the popularity of Battlefield, but also wanted all those monetization opportunities of a hero shooter. You pick the worst things about gaming, and put it in one package, and you end up with this mess.\nI refuse to believe that a significant number of resources are allocated to fixing the game. If this is the case, we would be getting weekly or biweekly updates. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t take them 5 months to add a scoreboard.\nOne would think that as time passes, technology gets better, we would get better games, but this has hardly been the case. We have a game on our hands that is in a worse shape than Battlefield 3, which was released 11 years ago, and has more features and content. Its no surprise that Battlefield 2042 is probably the most poorly reviewed game in the franchise history.\nOverwhelmingly negative reviews\n30 Days To Earn My Trust So here is my plan - I will not buy or pre-order another Battlefield game at launch. I will wait for 30 days. No pre-order bonus will tempt me to buy the game, and if I am ever tempted, I will read this post, and hopefully it will bring me back to my senses.\nCorporations have no morals, decency and on the best of days, they have a fleeting relationship with truth. The marketing departments have this sociopath like ability to blatantly lie, because they have absolutely no respect for their customers. It is up to us to show some self respect, and hold on to our hard earned money until the game has proven that it is worthy of it. Do not buy games at launch. Wait for independent reviewers to release their reviews, and if the game is good, then and only then buy it.\nIt is unfortunate that it has come to this, but DICE really made a mess with Battlefield 2042, and given all the turnover at the studio, there is a strong possibility that the best days of Battlefield are behind us.\nIf this post convinced at least 5 people to not pre order the next game, then my work here is done.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 05:26:51 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/05/2022-05-04-stateofgamebattlefield2042/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI take no pleasure in writing this post. As a fan of Battlefield for over a decade, it saddens me to see the state of the game, and knowing that this could have all been avoided. This series has been my main multiplayer game for a long time now and I want Battlefield to do well. I am not here to laugh at its current pitiful state.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/stateofgamebattlefield2042/01-stateofgamebattlefield2042-2022-05-04-09_12_08-GOG.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/stateofgamebattlefield2042/01-stateofgamebattlefield2042-2022-05-04-09_12_08-GOG.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs of May 4, 2022, it has been 166 days since the launch on November 19, 2021. To date, there has been one minor update, and one major update (released on April 19, 2022), and zero new content. The updates themselves are hardly praiseworthy. They fixed some egregious bugs, and added some so called legacy features, such as a scoreboard, simple UI customization options. I still can\u0026rsquo;t get over the fact that they decided to ship the game without a scoreboard and a server browser. The latter is still missing for the main game as of this writing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"State of the Game - Battlefield 2042"},{"content":"I first read about F.E.A.R when one of the computer gaming magazines I subscribed to had a demo for this game on the disk. Back in 2005, I did not have a computer good enough to run this game at settings that did justice to it. I believe I had a GeForce 5500FX, one of the worst GPUs to have ever been released, and it struggled to run this game at 1280x1024. I decided I wait for my next computer upgrade to play the demo.\nAfter that, the game fell off the radar\u0026hellip;until I decided to revisit the game 11 years later.\nThere were some technical difficulties with running the game in Windows 7, but some simple search yielded the fixes I needed. After I got everything setup, it was time to finally play F.E.A.R.\nYou play as Point Man, a silent hero who is a part of F.E.A.R (First Encounter Assault Recon) team. When Paxton Fettel, a psychic cannibal, takes control of super soldiers at Armacham Technology Corporation, it is your job to stop him. The story sounds goofy, but thankfully, its the least important part of F.E.A.R.\nNo one would ever play F.E.A.R for the story. Gameplay is the star of the show here. More than anything, its fun. So often, video games try to do too much, and not focus on the most important thing they are supposed be - a fun and immersive experience. The visuals in this game are excellent. They still hold up to this day. I would argue that they are better than any Call of Duty game to date. I remember seeing screenshots of this game back in the day, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t believe games could look this good.\nGun fights especially in slow motion look amazing. Its a real treat to get into a gunfight in a dimly lit room, you see sparks flying everywhere, and as the dust settles at the end of the action, the walls are covered with bullet holes and blood. Its unlikely anything I\u0026rsquo;ve seen before at the time. I would argue that this game is on par with Max Payne with regards to how well bullet time is implemented.\nThe gameplay is not anything revolutionary, even for its time. Bullet time mechanics and in game physics have been around for a few years now, but what no other game at its time has done (or since, I would argue) is combat and atmosphere. Its simply excellent. There are times when I had to stop playing after around 10 minutes or so because the combination of music, level design and visuals was a little bit much for me. The game does not rely too much on jump scares, but it excels at making the player uncomfortable.\nThe PC version, especially when running in on Windows 7 and Windows 10 has some issues but fixes for these are readily available. The game does not support widescreen on default, but with a simple tweak to the configuration file, it is possible to get the game up and running on a 16:9 resolution. I played the game on 2560x1440 resolution without any issues.\nF.E.A.R is not without drawbacks, but those don\u0026rsquo;t matter. Considering the game and the expansions can purchased for less than $10 on GOG.com (which I recommend over Steam), there is no reason to not try it. F.E.A.R is simply one of the best PC games ever. It is right up there with Deus Ex, Max Payne, Crysis etc.\nVerdict - Must Play.\n+ Graphics\n+ Gameplay\n+ Enemy AI\n+ Sound\n+ Quick save and manual save\n- Level design\n- Story\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:29:45 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/05/reviews/fear-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI first read about F.E.A.R when one of the computer gaming magazines I subscribed to had a demo for this game on the disk. Back in 2005, I did not have a computer good enough to run this game at settings that did justice to it. I believe I had a GeForce 5500FX, one of the worst GPUs to have ever been released, and it struggled to run this game at 1280x1024. I decided I wait for my next computer upgrade to play the demo.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"F.E.A.R (PC) Review"},{"content":"I played a few rounds of Battlefield 1 today. It was a great experience. It got me thinking, how did DICE go from making a game as good as Battlefield 1, and follow that up with Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042?\nA pristine looking Arisaka rifle\nWeapon has cosmetic degradation as the round progresses\nFantastic atmosphere\nThe atmosphere, maps, weapons in Battlefield 1 were so good. It really makes me wonder how things went so wrong with the franchise. DICE had the perfect formula. There was no reason to make sweeping changes across the board, there was no reason to reinvent the wheel, and most importantly, there was no reason to subject us to their political agenda in the name of being on \u0026ldquo;right side of history\u0026rdquo;.\nIf they focused on making a good game, and not have contempt for their player base, we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be in this situation. Battlefield V is the worst Battlefield game I have ever played. Everything about the game was offensive to me, and I am not talking about the liberties they took with history. The mechanics, the weapons, the vehicles were all poorly implemented. Its baffling. They had the perfect game in Battlefield 1. All they had to do was fix minor bug, change some of the UI elements, and make a WWII game with the existing technology. That\u0026rsquo;s it. I simply do not understand how they failed at it.\nBut coming back to Battlefield 1, going back to it now, it is a real treat. I thoroughly recommend this game to anyone wanting to try Battlefield. It frequently goes on sale, and its available on Steam.\nHere is a video I uploaded in 2018 before the release of Battlefield V. I had such high hopes for it, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t meant to be.\nAs I look back, its rather sad. Will Battlefield 2042 survive another year? Will the next Battlefield ever recapture the magic of the Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1? We shall see.\nThis post is published on Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 10:40:41 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/04/2022-04-22-revisitingbattlefield1in2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI played a few rounds of Battlefield 1 today. It was a great experience. It got me thinking, how did DICE go from making a game as good as Battlefield 1, and follow that up with Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/01-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_15_20_120.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/01-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_15_20_120.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"A pristine looking Arisaka rifle\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eA pristine looking Arisaka rifle\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/02-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_15_38_216.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/02-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_15_38_216.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"Weapon has cosmetic degradation as the round progresses\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eWeapon has cosmetic degradation as the round progresses\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/03-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_17_03_594.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/revisitingbattlefield1in2022/03-revisitingbattlefield1in2022-bf1_2022_04_22_16_17_03_594.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"Fantastic atmosphere\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eFantastic atmosphere\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Revisiting Battlefield 1 in 2022"},{"content":"I finished Assassins\u0026rsquo;s Creed IV: Black Flag on Saturday, April 16, 2022, 1:15:00 PM. I got this game via Uplay for free a few years ago, and I finally decided to play it in March 2022 and I enjoyed this game despite Ubisoft’s best efforts.\nThe only other Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game I played was the first game, and I never finished it because it frustrated me to no end. There were aspects I really liked, but the controls, and the mission design were really frustrating for me.\nMy biggest issue, the one that made me quit the first game, was the lack of checkpoints within missions. This has been largely addressed. There are still a few missions here and there which require multiple tries, but for the most part this is not an issue. This does not mean the main missions are good. Far from it, but more on that later.\nThis game is beautiful. It\u0026rsquo;s almost (but not quite) on par with Witcher 3,. There are so many islands to explore, and they are very well crafted by the designers. The Caribbean setting didn’t seem ideal for an Assassin’s Creed game, because pirates in the West Indies is not what comes to mind when I think about a conflict between Assassins and Templars.\nYet, the vibrant world of the 1700s Caribbean proved to be a great setting for an Assassin’s Creed game. The map is massive, and there is so much to explore. I spent many hours exploring the islands. Some of the islands are very large expansive areas and they are dotted with many collectibles, missions, etc. I particularly enjoyed activating the viewpoints, because of the beautiful vistas of the island that are shown.\nSailing the open seas is also a great experience. There are storms, water sprouts, massive waves, combined with the day night cycle, its a sight to behold.\nWhen I first started the game, my expectations were low, and I did not have an idea of what the visuals were going to be like. I was told by a friend (a fellow PC gamer) that the game is very good, so at least I knew that it wasn’t a below average console port. As I made my way from the shore of Cape Bonavista towards a cliff, I was taken aback by the vibrant visuals. I was expecting something similar to the first game, where the visuals are very drab and muddy, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Little did I know at this point that the best is yet to come.\nThe most beautiful islands for me are The Great Inagua and Mysteriosa. When I stumbled across the waterfall on The Great Inagua, I had to stop and stare. This island is quite complex with many different routes, and this will eventually become the pirate hideout. Mysteriosa is an island with Myan pyramids, and the views can be quite spectacular.\nThere are three main cities - Havana, Kingston and Nassau. Havana is controlled by the Spanish, and this is the first main city available to explore. Nassau is a pirate city, which the English monarchy wants to control, and finally Kingston is a city controlled by the British. Of these three, I enjoyed Havana the most.\nIn terms of visuals alone, this game is in a different league compared to the first game. Getting lost in the world of Black Flag was a fantastic experience.\nIn Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Black Flag you, the player assumes two roles - Edward Kenway, our pirate of the Caribbean in the colonial era, and as a research analyst employed by Abstergo Entertainment, set in the modern day.\nEdward Kenway, born in Swansea, Wales, has lofty ambitions of becoming rich. To that end, he leaves England in pursuit of making it big. This takes him to the Caribbean where he becomes a pirate. In his quest to get rich, he stumbles across an Assassin, and our pirate adventure begins. The story has a lot of interesting characters, and the voice acting is top notch.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t quite understand the modern day angle of the story, and thankfully, it\u0026rsquo;s not a big part of the game, and what little of it there is, is thoroughly forgettable.\nThe main story missions are quite weak. They borrowed some of the worst aspects of the first game. A lot of it involves tailing someone, and eavesdropping on their conversations. I found this very tedious. Considering how many such missions there are, and how easy it is to make a mistake and have to retry, this is easily the lowest point of the game for me. It appeared as if there was very little thought put into this aspect of the game. I got the feeling that there were two teams with very different design philosophies working on the game. One team was responsible for the linear main missions, and the other team worked on the open world mission design.\nEvesdrop missions are boring.\nHow else can I explain the massive difference? While the main missions are linear and boring for the most part, the side missions are generally open ended and there is a lot more fun to be had. There are so many side missions in the game, it\u0026rsquo;s ridiculous. I can see someone sinking in around 60 hours into the game to get to 100% completion. Hunting, fishing, conquering forts, assassination contracts, naval assassination contracts, collecting items, deep sea diving for treasure, exploring the world, managing a trading fleet, and conquering the sea by capturing or conquering ships.\nManaging trading fleet.\nHow did an Assassin’s Creed game become popular for naval combat? I am not sure why they decided to go this route, but I am glad they did. This may be the best pirate adventure game I have played. I think this is a better Pirates of the Caribbean game than an official Pirates of the Caribbean (if it exists).\nThe player gets to control Jackdaw, a ship that you get to upgrade as you progress through the game. Some elite upgrades require completing story missions, a rather arbitrary requirement in my opinion. As the ship is upgraded, it gets easier to sink or capture enemy ships, and this is where the game really shines. There is a great sense of progression here. Capturing a level 36 man-of-war for the first time is an exhilarating feeling. Once the player reaches a certain level of upgrades, elite enemy ships are unlocked, and they put up a lot of fight. Its not possible to capture an elite ship, only sink it.\nCapturing a ship is a very interesting concept. Once a ship is damaged past a point, it is possible to board the ship, and capture it. There are certain objectives that need to be met such as destroying reserves, killing captains, taking down flags etc. Parts of this get very repetitive and highlights the severe shortcomings of the regular combat system.\nCombat is nothing like what we see in Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor or Batman Arkham Asylum. It\u0026rsquo;s a very basic system, where you get to press E at the right time to counter an enemy and an execution move ensues, without the need for any player input. However, sheathing swords is assigned to E as well, and you will find yourself putting weapons away in the heat of combat. Quite annoying.\nThe platforming is smooth but inconsistent, and as a PC gamer who plays first person shooters, I did not find it intuitive. Pressing Space doesn\u0026rsquo;t make the character jump, instead, it should be used in combination with Shift, and it is context sensitive, and this can often lead to inconsistent results based on the kind of terrain you are in. Why not just go the Tomb Raider route? I am not sure. I believe this kind of control system is the staple for this series.\nThe game ran fine on my setup, and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t expect any less. I played the game at 2560x1440 resolution, and scaling was not an issue. I would have liked to test this on ultrawide resolution, but I do not have access to an ultrawide monitor at this time. However, the game is locked at 60FPS, and there has been no fix for this to date. All the YouTube videos with steps to unlock the framerate are just clickbait. There are occasions where the game would jitter, especially when the character lands on hard ground after leaping from tall structure. This was very similar to the problem with the first Assassin’s Creed game. Looks like engine related issues from the first game are still lingering.\nThere are a surprising number of occasions where the game just froze. When I alt-tabbed to look at the task manager, I would see the game executable is no longer responding. I did not find a fix for this. Repairing the game would solve this problem for a while, but it would start to occur again. Initially I thought it might be related to starting the game using GOG Galaxy 2.0 Launcher, but it happens even if the game is started using UbiSoft Connect (they decided to rebrand Uplay. It\u0026rsquo;s still awful).\nTask Manager\nSpeaking of launching the game, UbiSoft Connect prompts for the password when the game is first launched after a computer restart. Considering that login information is already provided to launch UbiSoft Connect, not sure why it prompts for a password. Brilliant user friendly move by UbiSoft’s developers.\nUbiSoft Connect\nAlso UbiSoft Connect does not show the play time of the game. Apparently the client does not support showing playtime for older games. Makes no sense. It\u0026rsquo;s unfortunate that UbiSoft insists on subjecting PC gamers to this awful client and while it may not be as terrible as Games For Windows Live, they are really pushing.\nIn conclusion, this is an amazing game, and totally worth playing. I spent 43 hours and I might go back and explore a little bit more. I am not uninstalling it yet.\n+ Naval Combat\n+ Open World\n+ Pirate story\n+ Voice acting\n+ Music\n- Controls\n- Main missions\n- Combat system\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 05:02:59 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/04/reviews/acblackflag-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finished Assassins\u0026rsquo;s Creed IV: Black Flag on Saturday, April 16, 2022, 1:15:00 PM. I got this game via Uplay for free a few years ago, and I finally decided to play it in March 2022 and I enjoyed this game despite Ubisoft’s best efforts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe only other Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game I played was the first game, and I never finished it because it frustrated me to no end. There were aspects I really liked, but the controls, and the mission design were really frustrating for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Assassins Creed Black Flag (PC) Review"},{"content":"I purchased the Renewed version of this keyboard on Amazon for $64.76. The original retail price is $159.99. I ordered it on April 4, 2022 and it arrived on April 6, 2022, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to pay for shipping! Thank you Amazon.\nThe Corsair K70 Low Profile keyboard with Cherry MX Speed switches is my favorite keyboard of all time. I think this is a very close second. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure if I would enjoy Cherry MX Brown switches, but I am happy to report that I do. I feel they are perfect for productivity. Although this keyboard is marketed as a gaming keyboard, I think I still prefer Speed switches for gaming. That said, I am going to try this keyboard for gaming for a while and see how I like it. I will try this as my primary keyboard for a while, and if I do not like it for gaming, I will swap this with my Corsair keyboard with Speed switches, and move this to my office setup.\nThe keyboard feels like a premium product. The LEDs are nice and bright. The wrist rest is magnetic and attaches to the keyboard base very easily. I think this design should be adopted by more keyboard manufacturers. Key caps are very thin, and as a result do not enclose the entire switch, this means that the LEDs give off a glow from the side, and I quite like that look. Out of the box, the LEDs are set to warm lighting which is perfect for me, so I did not have to install any software to customize it. The default color scheme blends nicely with the warm lighting in my gaming room. I am not a big of rainbow lighting that seems to be the default on Corsair keyboards.\nRoccat Vulcan\nI did not detect a lot of key wobble. The backspace key feels a little bit different than the rest, but nothing too bad.\nI am willing to overlook a few things because of the price I paid for it. I got a premium mechanical keyboard for little more than what a premium membrane keyboard costs. Therefore the lack of a USB pass through, additional accessories (like textured keycaps etc.) do not bother me. The full retail package might have accessories, but the lack of USB pass through is an issue I might not be willing to overlook.\nI am also quite happy with the font on the keycaps. Unlike some of the newer keyboards, which tend to have the secondary key functions printed next to the number, here they are printed below as they were for many years. This makes it more readable, and gives the keys a cleaner look. However, the text for secondary function is not as bright, and I am fine with that.\nI am glad I found this keyboard for the price that I did. I fully recommend it. I am not sure I would recommend it at its retail asking price of $159.99.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 05:23:03 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/04/2022-04-07-roccatvulcan-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased the Renewed version of this keyboard on Amazon for $64.76. The original retail price is $159.99. I ordered it on April 4, 2022 and it arrived on April 6, 2022, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to pay for shipping! Thank you Amazon.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Corsair K70 Low Profile keyboard with Cherry MX Speed switches is my favorite keyboard of all time. I think this is a very close second. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure if I would enjoy Cherry MX Brown switches, but I am happy to report that I do. I feel they are perfect for productivity. Although this keyboard is marketed as a gaming keyboard, I think I still prefer Speed switches for gaming. That said, I am going to try this keyboard for gaming for a while and see how I like it. I will try this as my primary keyboard for a while, and if I do not like it for gaming, I will swap this with my Corsair keyboard with Speed switches, and move this to my office setup.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ROCCAT Vulcan 121 AIMO Cherry MX Brown Review"},{"content":"I purchased this case on Amazon for $107.89 on February 9, 2022.\nI was planning on buying NZXT H510 Flow, but I decided against it because I have an MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB GAMING X TRIO. The length of the GPU is 324 mm (12.76\u0026quot;L x 5.51\u0026quot;H). I was unsure if the case would accommodate this GPU, therefore, I began searching for another case that wasn\u0026rsquo;t too expensive.\nThis case was listed as being 450mm in length, and it was highly rated on Amazon, so I went for it.\nFor the most part, I agree that the case is excellent. The build quality is solid, the airflow is very good. It also accommodates a 280mm radiator quite easily. I did not have any issue mounting it on the front with fans pushing outside air onto the radiator (push config).\nTo get RGB lighting to work, there is a SATA connector that needs to be plugged in to a SATA power cable from the PSU. Provided the front panel is in place, this should make the base RGB effects to work without the need of any software. This is excellent because I do not want to install RGB software to control the case lighting. The out of the box effects are very nice.\nHowever, I did have an issue getting all this to work. After I finished the assembly, RGB lighting wouldn\u0026rsquo;t work. I checked the SATA power cable, and everything seemed fine. I thought something was wrong with the front panel (more on that in a bit). I contacted the support fully expecting them to give me some generic answer.\nI was pleasantly surprised when they responded and were actually helpful. The issue was with the connector on the back of the front I/O; this was not fully plugged in. I had to push it into place and that did the trick.\nAs far as the performance goes, absolutely no complaints here. The fans are very quiet and even under heavy load, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t say the fans are loud. The case allows for excellent airflow, and the dust filters are much appreciated. Temperatures in idle can vary anywhere from 29C to 35C depending on the ambient temperature, and how long I have been gaming etc. I am quite happy with this.\nI certainly do not regret buying this case, but I have two big issues, and I might have reconsidered this case had I known about these.\nRemoving the front panel is a pain. There are no screws holding it in place, instead its held in place by a notches on either side, and the panel needs to be yanked hard by pulling at the bottom. This is just not good design in my opinion. For a case that costs over $100, I would have expected a better way to hold the front panel.\nThe second issue is the length of the case. While the case is barely spacious enough to accommodate as MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB GAMING X TRIO. There is not enough clearance between the GPU and the radiator to mount a fan on the radiator. For this reason, I had to switch the position of the fans and mount them on the front frame of the case. Its not a big deal, but a full push pull configuration is not possible. There is only enough room for one fan in the pull config.\nThe height of the case prevents me from mounting two exhaust fans on the top of the case; the tubing from the radiator uses all the room needed for one fan, therefore I only mount one top exhaust fan. So now, I am left with a spare 140mm fan, and I decided to mount it on the radiator to pull air out. So I now have a full push, and half pull config. Not ideal, but it works just fine.\nIn addition to this, there is not enough room to mount a mechanical hard drive in the case. This is because while there is a mounting tray in the bottom of the case that is specifically designed for mechanical hard drives, I had to disconnect that to route PSU cables. I tried my best with PSU cable management, but I failed. Therefore, if you intend to use a mechanical hard drive, this is something you will want to consider.\nI am kicking myself for not having come across the be quiet! Pure Base 600, which seems perfect for my build. Its even more painful considering its $10 cheaper at the time of this writing.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 11:48:05 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/02/2022-02-27-bequiet-purebase500dx-black-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased this case on Amazon for $107.89 on February 9, 2022.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was planning on buying NZXT H510 Flow, but I decided against it because I have an MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB GAMING X TRIO. The length of the GPU is 324 mm (12.76\u0026quot;L x 5.51\u0026quot;H). I was unsure if the case would accommodate this GPU, therefore, I began searching for another case that wasn\u0026rsquo;t too expensive.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"be quiet! Pure Base 500DX Black Review"},{"content":"NOTE for LGA 1700 Owners Upgrade kits from Amazon are shipping with incorrect number of parts. I had to buy two upgrade kits to get all the parts I needed. The first kit I purchased only had three O-rings, while the second upgrade kit only had three LGA 1700 standoffs. My suggestion, buy two kits and RMA the other once you are done building. Someone at Arctic totally dropped the ball on this when packaging the kits.\nAlso read the manual very carefully - HERE .\nThis video shows ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II, but backplate installation, and mounting is the same for ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280.\nMost importantly, use the right mounting standoffs. I made the mistake of getting the standoffs mixed during the build. This was totally my fault.\nUse the correct mounting standoffs\nI realized there was something wrong with the setup when I rendered a video, and the temperatures were hitting 100c. I would have expected synthetic benchmarks to do this, but not video rendering.\nHigh temperature when video rendering\nHere is an article on Arctic\u0026rsquo;s website that mentions this fact.\nHopefully all this will become obsolete soon as companies adopt to the new LGA 1700 standard.\nFull Parts List Here is the full parts list from my latest build - PCPartPicker . I will discuss more about the parts in a different post.\nInstallation Out of the box, the fans are mounted on the side with the tubes, with air pushing on to the radiator. I had to the change the position of the fans, and fit them to the back of the radiator. This was necessary to accommodate the cooler with my case. There was simply not enough clearance because of the GPU.\nIn addition to this, the size of the case restricted me from installing all three case fans. Therefore, I installed one of the spare case fans into the radiator. Refer to the picture for more information.\nFront of the case\nThird fan on the radiator\nPerformance In a blended test in Prime95, the temperatures hover around 65 - 75c, and the torture test will hit 100c. This didn\u0026rsquo;t matter with or without the wrong stand offs. Torture test will push all the cores to 100% utilization, and at this point, I expect the temperate to hit the thermal limit.\nReal world tasks on the other hand, are far more forgiving. Playing Battlefield 2042 at ultra settings, the CPU temperature is around 65c, and video rendering has never crossed 70c.\nPrime95\nPrime95 torture test\nVideo rendering temperature\nConclusion I am quite pleased with the cooler. I truly wish Arctic had gotten its act together with the upgrade kits. I am going to rate this 4/5.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 07:53:26 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/02/2022-02-18-arcticliquidfreezer280review/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"note-for-lga-1700-owners\"\u003eNOTE for LGA 1700 Owners\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpgrade kits from Amazon are shipping with incorrect number of parts. I had to buy two upgrade kits to get all the parts I needed. The first kit I purchased only had three O-rings, while the second upgrade kit only had three LGA 1700 standoffs. My suggestion, buy two kits and RMA the other once you are done building. Someone at Arctic totally dropped the ball on this when packaging the kits.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 Review (LGA 1700)"},{"content":"Short Version I like the game. I enjoy the maps in Conquest. 128 players is the way to go for the future of Battlefield. Not a huge fan of operators, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t bother me too much, but if DICE removes the operators, that would be a huge step in the right direction. The game has a lot of potential and hopefully DICE will support this game the way they supported Battlefield 4. I would thoroughly recommend it for around $15. I believe there is fun to be had.\nLong Version I am writing this review having spent more than 100 hours in the game, and I believe I have a good grasp of the game mechanics, knowledge of the maps etc. Before I dive into the review, a little bit of my background.\nMy Battlefield Background I play Battlefield for Conquest. I generally do not play any other game modes. I briefly dabbled in Rush in Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3. In addition to this, I played a ton of TDM on Noshar Canals back in the day, but ever since I got decent at playing large scale conquest, I have been playing it exclusively for the most part. Majority of the time is spent as an infantry player. I believe Engineer was the class I played the most, however when I am playing with friends, I tend to play as the medic or support. I am not very good at sniping. I did manage to master all sniper rifles (got 500+ kills) in Battlefield 4.\nAs far as vehicles go, I enjoy playing in a tank, AA etc. I am not terrible as a chopper pilot, but I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t ever consider myself to be very skillful at it. If I am ever in a server without decent pilots, I can do some damage. As a jet pilot, I am completely useless. Therefore, I have no opinion about the state of jets in Battlefield 2042.\nI am yet to spend a lot of time on Portal. I intend to do that some time in the future and I will make a separate post about it. This post focuses on All out Warfare, specifically on Conquest.\nFind my BattleLog profile HERE .\nBattlefield 2042 Beta and Initial Impressions Battlefield 2042 beta was rough. I can describe it as being unpolished, if I was feeling charitable. The UI was a mess, the performance was quite terrible, game crashes, server crashes, all the hallmarks of a game that was incomplete. That said, I still enjoyed Conquest. The underlying foundation was good, but it was clear more work was needed. Considering the beta launched only a month before the final game launch, this did not bode well for the launch.\nThe Launch As expected, the launch was a bit of a train wreck. The game was lambasted by virtually everyone. It was quite a sight to see the negative reaction to it. Saying you enjoy the game despite its flaws will provoke some very angry reactions. Its quite impressive how DICE managed to unite the Battlefield community in this manner. It has gotten to the point where Battlefield V (my most disliked Battlefield game) is looked up on fondly. It was unreal for me, because I actually enjoy Battlefield 2042, all things considered.\nAllow me to explain.\nThe Good It feels as if Battlefield 2042 did away with the terrible mechanics of Battlefield V (either by design or by accident). Lets talk about all the things I like about this game.\nMaps As I said earlier, I enjoy the maps in Battlefield 2042. It feels as if DICE finally understood how to design maps for Conquest. This is not to say the maps are perfect, but there are no Operation Metro/Operation Locker like maps here, and thank god for that. The maps are detailed, and it takes time and effort to learn them. They are not the low effort maps we got in the past. These are gigantic maps, and often times they have complex layout, and Conquest game mode works quite well.\nAfter having played for over 100 hours, there are still parts of certain maps that I haven\u0026rsquo;t fully explored. I love the fact that I can discover new areas, which could give me a new way to approach the game. If I played as Sundance or McKay, I could get to certain spots, which are not easily accessible to other operators, and this will allow me to flank enemies, setup a spawn beacon, or snipe from.\nVertical gameplay is something I really missed in the last two Battlefield games. I thought the fantastic sandbox gameplay of Battlefield 4 is gone forever, and we would be stuck with Battlefield V\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;realistic\u0026rdquo; (read boring) gameplay. Thankfully, Battlefield 2042\u0026rsquo;s map design is far more open, and its a sandbox on par with Battlefield 4. This is perhaps the most important part the Battlefield experience for me, something that was missing in BF1 to some extent, and entirely in BFV.\nMy favorite maps in the game, in this order -\nRenewal\nThis map offers a fantastic mix of vehicle and infantry gameplay. Sectors D and E are my favorite. The stark contrast between desert and farmland is a sight to behold. I had many fun games fighting over control over the farmland. The desert side of the map is not excellent, but its still fun.\nDiscarded\nThis is such an interesting map, almost reminds me of Sunken Dragon. The ship in the center of the map is a great location for some CQB, the rest of the map is a little bit more open, and it makes sniping a very viable strategy.\nBreakaway\nThis massive snow map is beautiful to look at, and it tilts a little bit more towards vehicles than infantry. Sector A, B and on some rare occasions, E are a lot of fun to play as infantry. Sector B alone is probably bigger than an entire Call of Duty map. In fact that is true for most of the maps in BF2042.\nKaleidoscope\nThis map seems to get a lot of criticism, and to some extent it is warranted, but this is a better map than Siege of Shanghai in my opinion. I had more fun fighting over F and G sectors, than I ever did on SoS, and the best part is, the buildings cannot be collapsed. Also, this is pretty much the perfect map for the Bolte!\nManifest\nThis map is Noshar canals on steroids. This could have been my favorite map, which is a testament to how good the other maps are.\nOrbital\nThe beta map in every sense of the word. It feels incomplete. I\u0026rsquo;ve had a lot of fun on this map, but I can\u0026rsquo;t help but feel that its not fully fleshed out. Sectors B, C and E are a lot of fun. It reminds of Crysis. A little bit more cover, and some transport vehicles would have greatly helped the experience.\nHourglass\nLost opportunity. This could have been a fantastic map, a great successor to Bandar Desert from Battlefield 3, but its potential is not fully realized. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong, I will take this map over anything Battlefield V has to offer, but there is no denying that this map needs some work. The lack of cover density, lack of transport vehicles really hurt this map. I will elaborate why other issues in the game, have a significant negative impact on this map, but suffice to say, this map is a little bit of a disappointment. That said, Sectors A and E are a ton of fun in the right circumstances.\n128 Players I have seen a lot of chatter online about how 64 players is more fun, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t disagree more. 128 players is the way to go for Battlefield. It allows for larger maps, bigger scale battles and more emergent gameplay provided the sandbox features exist. I played a 64 player conquest game in Portal, and it felt dull in comparison. This is not to say that I would not enjoy a 64 player map, but I strongly feel that 128 players is the future.\nMy hope is that loud minority of players who seem to want to play the 64 player version of the game don\u0026rsquo;t influence DICE to revert back to 64 players. I believe it is time to embrace the higher player count, and address issues with it, rather than take a step backwards.\nGun play Weapons handle quite well after the first balance patch. At launch, the PP-29 was quite overpowered, and the ARs were just not good enough either in close or medium ranges. However, at the time of writing, it feels a lot more balanced. SVK and M5A3 are my favorite weapons in the game. I have not gotten a good handle on the sniper rifles, and I struggle quite a bit. I think this has more to do with me, than with the game. I just need to spend time as a sniper. I remember struggling quite a bit of BF4 as well, but I eventually got pretty decent with it.\nThis is such a happy departure from Battlefield V, and I am quite happy with it. I hope they don\u0026rsquo;t try to do another TTK 2.0 in BF2042 like they did in BFV.\nLack of Animations Battlefield 1 introduced vehicle enter animations, which I thought was a terrible idea because it exposed the player to gun fire while the animation is playing. Since Battlefield V is absolutely committed to make me hate it, the animations were dialed to a 11. Just about every action has an animation. Reviving a teammate without first deploying smoke will result in the player getting killed more often than not. This is yet another useless addition to the game, made in the name of \u0026ldquo;immersion and realism\u0026rdquo;. To those that like this design decision, I am not suggesting it is wrong to prefer this.\nI am glad to see that this is gone for the most part. Medic revive animations are pretty quick, and they did away with vehicle enter and exit animations for the most part. I would like for the game to return to BF3 \u0026amp; BF4 style of animations. As such, they are not as irritating as they were in Battlefield V.\nNo Single Player Regardless of what game journalists and YouTube personalities say, Battlefield should not waste time and resources on a single player campaign. I find it bizarre when the lack of single player is mentioned as negative. Personally, I hope DICE never includes a single player campaign in any future Battlefield. Unless there are weapon unlocks tied to the campaign, there is very little reason to ever play it. When creating multiplayer game with the scale and complexity of Battlefield, a feeble single player campaign that is quickly forgotten is hardly necessary.\nIn conclusion, Battlefield 2042 not having a single player campaign is the right decision.\nNo Pilot or Tanker Class Battlefield 1 introduced pilot and tanker classes, which make sense on paper, but I liked the old design better. I do not know if this was the same in Battlefield V, but I am glad in BF2042, they did away with this, and went back to BF3, BF4 style.\nWeapon Customization \u0026amp; Plus System Weapon customization is much better in Battlefield 2042 compared to the previous two games, especially Battlefield V. Its possible to create a whole different weapon just by changing the attachments. I am quite pleased with customization options in the game. I hope DICE adds more weapons and attachments in the near future.\nThe plus system is such a neat addition to the game. I find myself changing attachments often depending on the situation. Initially I thought that given the fast nature of Battlefield, the plus system would just be a gimmick, but I am happy I was proven wrong. I often switch between short range and long range scopes.\nPortal This is a brilliant idea, provided DICE can support it, and bring more classic maps from the older games. I only played a few rounds of Conquest on Noshar Canals and Caspian Border, and the feeling of nostalgia is very strong. There is a lot of potential here. I am going to spend more time playing Portal in the near future.\nTo be able to play these two maps again in Portal mode feels unreal. The feeling of nostalgia when I saw this for the very first time is unreal. Running through the center of the map brings back memories of the countless hours spent on TDM. I learned to play Battlefield on this map. Playing as a support player in TDM was the way to go back then. Without this map, I probably never would have gotten into Battlefield.\nNoshar Canals\nFun With Friends The lack of squad management, persistent servers etc. make it harder to play with strangers, but the game is fun when playing with friends. If you can get a party going, there is so much fun to be had here. We managed to be the top squad quite a few times once I started playing with my friend. This was hardly the case when I was playing with strangers. I really miss the BattleLog days, where I can easily join a server with my friends, but the new system works alright for the most part.\nContrary to the popular opinion, there are a lot of tools in the game that allows for great team play. I find it amusing that the players that tend to complain about lack of team play are not team players themselves. They want other players to supply ammo and health, while they themselves want to do \u0026ldquo;fun\u0026rdquo; things like running and gunning. In other words, they want to be supported, but when it comes to offering support, they have better things to do.\nThere is definitely room for refinement here. There seems to be a bug with squad spawning where your squadmate is shown to be in combat even when they are not, the overhead map is also quite clunky, and it hardly shows any relevant information. If and when DICE addresses these issues, the team play will greatly benefit.\nThe Bad Obviously not everything is well with the game. Some of it can be fixed, and some of it cannot.\nUser Interface My god\u0026hellip;who designed the UI/UX in the game? It is just awful. Every single icon in the game is visible at all times. There is no way to turn them off. Is there a ranger 300m away? Well, there is an icon for it. How about a downed teammate 300m away? Check. A capture point 1000m away? Check. Its a mess. For minimalist like me, this is beyond atrocious. At the time of this writing, it is reported that a patch in 2022 would give players the option to customize the UI. That patch can\u0026rsquo;t come soon enough.\nThe UI makes is very hard to spot enemies and its very distracting\nTake this video for example -\nThe UI is so distracting that I could not figure out that the player in front of me was an enemy. I admit it is my fault, but it just goes to show that with so many icons, I am having a hard time distinguishing between teammates and enemies. Why would DICE think it is a good idea to show revive icons, ranger icons 300m away? What am I supposed to do with the information? Or flag icons with no occlusion whatsoever? The utter lack of UI/UX options in this game is yet another example of the lack of care towards the game from the management.\nThis is even more egregious considering previous games had these options at launch.\nSpawn Experience This is a prime example of a design choice made by those that do not understand the nuances of the game or did not put any thought into the long term experience of the players. Its almost as if they don\u0026rsquo;t expect players to stick around for too long. The auto deploy at the start of the round has to be one of the stupidest decisions in Battlefield history, and that\u0026rsquo;s saying something. If I remember right, Battlefield V also had this dubious feature, but it was disabled after a while. I hope DICE does that for this game as well.\nThe cut scenes at the start of each round is such an inexplicably idiotic design decision. Who would want to watch these videos over and over again? Why did they think this was a good idea? I am surprised the internal play testers did not raise this issue\u0026hellip;or maybe they did, and nothing was done about it. Regardless, it is annoying beyond belief that the developers thought this was a good idea.\nThe spawn experience adds to the frustration on larger maps like Hourglass. If a player could not get a vehicle at spawn, and has to run to an objective on foot, only to get killed right away at a capture point, it really sours the entire experience. Why are there no transport vehicles (dirt bikes, quad bikes, jeeps etc.) at spawn? Also, why is it not possible to spawn on a transport vehicle directly from the spawn screen like in Battlefield 4?\nLack of Cover \u0026amp; Transport Vehicles Lack of cover on maps such as Kaleidoscope, Hourglass and Orbital really hurt the gameplay. Maybe the density of objects on the map could have adverse effect on performance, but these maps would greatly benefit from more cover such as buildings etc., in certain parts of the map between objectives, because running out in the open and getting sniped gets tiring very easily.\nTo add insult to injury, transport vehicles are few and far in between. LATV, Bolte and Hovercraft don\u0026rsquo;t necessarily count as transport because I do not want to abandon an offensive asset once I get to the objective. The fact that is it not possible to spawn on transport vehicles directly from the overhead map is a very glaring omission, and it speaks about how the UX is half baked in this game.\nMovement Glitches There are numerous areas around the maps where going prone would send the player character into a seizure. This is extremely annoying when taking cover from fire or trying to deploy a bipod. It adds to the unfinished feel of the game.\nFour Man Squad I am not sure why DICE decided to reduce the squad size. I think DICE should have kept the squad size to 5, and increased the player count to 130. This feels like a step back from the previous games.\nWeapon Variety The weapon selection in BF2042 is extremely disappointing. There are a grand total of 22 weapons in the game, including side arms. This is probably a quarter of what Battlefield 4 had at launch. DICE should add more weapons into the game as soon as possible. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be a bad idea to include all the BF3, BF4 and Portal weapons in the main game.\nThe Ugly These are aspects of the game that defy logic, that are egregious mistakes, demonstrate complete lack of understanding of how Battlefield works.\nOperators Who asked for this? Why do they exist? Going on a small tangent, I do not understand why people in charge feel the need to make changes that no one in the community (not game journalists, but people that actually play the game for more than a week after launch) think is a good idea. Is it arrogance? Is it ignorance? A calculated attempt at micro transactions? I do not know. I spent more than 4000 hours across all Battlefield games (not bragging), and not once did I think this game would benefit by imitating hero shooters. It is such a ridiculous, out of touch idea that it had to be made by people who never played the game. I refuse to believe that an actual Battlefield player came up with this.\nInstead of setting up an epic battle between world powers, we now have \u0026ldquo;nopats\u0026rdquo; as they are called. This means there will be same operators on either side. I wish they at least took the time to have faction specific skins or something to distinguish between friend and foe, except for the hovering green or red icon.\nThe worst offender for me was Sundance. Sundance is the unhinged, septum-pierced cringe goblin of Battlefield 2042 who sprints like a feral raccoon on bath salts, yeeting explosive and C5 charges at anything that moves while screaming what a time to be alive.\nCringe\nAt launch, there are 10 operators and DICE apparently will add more in the future. As of now, I felt Angel, Mackay and Sundance were the most useful, and everyone else is not quite as useful, at least for my play style. It felt as if DICE created a specialist instead of gadget. For example, what is the point of Irish, Dozer, Paik or Rao? I feel that their abilities could have been gadgets\u0026hellip;so I fail to see why these characters even exist in the game.\nBugs Of course bugs are bad, and all software has bugs, but some are more egregious than others. The ADS bug is absolutely awful. This particular issue occurs when exiting from a vehicle, ADS does not work. Imagine the frustration of players who get in a vehicle, and drive to a capture point, and exit the vehicle only to discover that ADS isn\u0026rsquo;t working.\nThere are other bugs with loadouts not showing up in game, but personally I did not encounter this a lot. I can only remember a couple of instances where this happened.\nI do not have an exhaustive list of bugs, but rest assured there are many (this is a Battlefield title at launch after all). I can\u0026rsquo;t wrap my head around why this is the case. Can they not re-use code from previous games? Not sure why they have to reinvent the wheel with each game.\nLost Features The lack of features in Battlefield 2042 compared to the older games is beyond disappointing. It takes a certain level of ignorance to refer to some of these features as legacy features.\nHere is a list of features that are missing compared to older games -\nScoreboard\nWho would have thought this would be considered a legacy feature? The scoreboard as it exists now is quite bad. Terrible scoreboard\nAssists Count as Kills\nThis was a great addition to BF4, and for some reason, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t exist in BF2042. Global Stats\nGone are the detailed stats from the BF4 days. It appears that there is no public API for 3rd party websites to gather stats either. So, the only way I can get stats is by looking at assignments, and figuring out how many kills I got with each weapon. However, there is no way to tell my win/loss ratio, or kill/death ratio, overall score etc., all of which were tracked in BF4. Overhead Map\nThe overhead map (or Big Map as DICE refers to it) is a huge step back from BF4. Zoom in/out is not possible. When spawning on a vehicle there is no indication of vehicle health. BF4\u0026rsquo;s spawn map showed a small preview of your squadmate\u0026rsquo;s POV, which gave you a good idea of their location etc. All of this is gone in BF2042. In my opinion, DICE should just implement the BF4\u0026rsquo;s version of the spawn screen. BattleScreen\nThis is a feature of Battlefield that isn\u0026rsquo;t talked about a whole lot. Battlefield 4 allowed you to view a large live map on the browser when the player joins a server via BattleLog. I understand that BattleLog is no more, but it would be great if DICE would give PC gamers a way to view a larger map on the second monitor. This is the current year, and most folks have a second monitor. Music Battlefield 2042 has the worst music in any Battlefield game to date. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what else to say. Gone are the fantastic soundtracks of the previous games, and instead we get this weird mess of soundtrack. Why? This is just sad.\nConclusion I think Battlefield 2042 has a lot of potential. If DICE does the right thing, and supports the game like they did with Battlefield 4, I can see myself playing this game for years to come, like I did with BF4. I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys conquest, and liked Battlefield 4. To new players, pick it up for around $30, and I think there is enough content here to entertain for about 30-40 hours.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2022/01/reviews/battlefield2042-review/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"short-version\"\u003eShort Version\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI like the game. I enjoy the maps in Conquest. 128 players is the way to go for the future of Battlefield. Not a huge fan of operators, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t bother me too much, but if DICE removes the operators, that would be a huge step in the right direction. The game has a lot of potential and hopefully DICE will support this game the way they supported Battlefield 4. I would thoroughly recommend it for around $15. I believe there is fun to be had.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 2042 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Today, I played the Conquest of the Ages playlist on Battlefield 2042 Portal, and it was amazing to see Noshar Canals and Caspian Border in the new Frostbite engine. The last time I played Battlefield 3 Conquest on Noshar Canals was on 5/12/2013, and Caspian Border was on 5/3/2013. That was 8 years ago. Life was very different back then. Battlefield was very different back then.\nTo be able to play these two maps again in Portal mode feels unreal. The feeling of nostalgia when I saw this for the very first time is unreal. Running through the center of the map brings back memories of the countless hours spent on TDM. I learned to play Battlefield on this map. Playing as a support player in TDM was the way to go back then. Without this map, I probably never would have gotten into Battlefield.\nNoshar Canals in Battlefield 2042\nDICE has something special on their hands with Portal. I hope they do the right thing, and support this mode for the foreseeable future.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 09:20:34 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2021/12/2021-12-19-bf2042portalisspecial/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday, I played the Conquest of the Ages playlist on Battlefield 2042 Portal, and it was amazing to see Noshar Canals and Caspian Border in the new Frostbite engine. The last time I played Battlefield 3 Conquest on Noshar Canals was on 5/12/2013, and Caspian Border was on 5/3/2013. That was 8 years ago. Life was very different back then. Battlefield was very different back then.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mr4YIVVqpOw?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 2042 Portal is Special"},{"content":"This is not a feeble attempt to be a contrarian, but I fail to see how this game has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. It is possible that I am missing something?I don\u0026rsquo;t see how. Allow me elaborate.\nMy first introduction to walking simulators was with Dear Ester. I thought it was an interesting game, but I cannot recommend it at the asking price of $9.99 (at the time of this writing). There was absolutely no replay value, and the game is over in about 4 hours. It was an amusing experience, but it felt more like a level in a Half Life game, than a full fledged single player game. Nevertheless, I felt the genre had potential to be great. I heard good things about Firewatch and I wanted to play it, because I thought it was going to be a much better game.\nHaving just finished the game, my reaction is very mixed. Let\u0026rsquo;s begin with the positive aspects of the game.\nThe world of Firewatch is very interesting. I can\u0026rsquo;t think of a single game that it set in Wyoming. The visuals are excellent. I have always been partial to cell shaded graphics (XIII is still on my list of Must Play titles). The map is fairly large, and exploring can be fun. The dialogue and voice acting is also quite good for the most part, and considering how awful video game writing and dialogue can be, this is quite an achievement. I did not cringe once.\nThe dialogue tree is well implemented. The choices made in dialogue do not matter to the ending. All choices lead to the same conclusion, its just a matter of putting a different spin on a predetermined story line. The good writing is complemented by good voice acting.\nTechnically, the game is very functional. Had absolutely no issues running the game at 3440x1440 (Ultrawide resolution; 21:9 aspect ratio).\nAlso, there is quick save! A feature that was a standard in PC games back in the day\u0026hellip;\nThat\u0026rsquo;s about it. Those are the only positives I can think of. Now let\u0026rsquo;s talk about the mediocre.\nThe story starts out very strong. It had me invested, but the pay off was so weak. Once I found out what was really going on, the whole experience felt very pointless. In a game where gameplay is very minimal, the story has to carry the weight, and in Firewatch, it does not.\nI am glad the game is only 4 hours long, because once I found out the \u0026ldquo;mystery\u0026rdquo;, I did not feel like playing it for much longer, and thankfully, the game concludes very shortly.\nWhile this is a first person game, do not expect fluid controls. Walking is slow and there is no jump or crouch, except in context specific situations. This means, when the player encounters small obstacles on the map, unless the game specifically allows you to jump or vault over it, you are stuck. In addition to this, walking is very slow, and jogging is barely faster. I suppose I understand why it was done this way, but it annoyed me.\nThere are items in the game that you can pick up, and I fail to see how they serve any purpose at all. It feels as if there was some crafting mechanic that was initially planned, but was scrapped.\nIn conclusion, I don\u0026rsquo;t understand the point of this game. I think this is a better game than Dear Ester, but for the asking price of $19.99, I cannot recommend it.\nVeridct - Buy it for $1\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 09:08:22 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2021/10/reviews/firewatch-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is not a feeble attempt to be a contrarian, but I fail to see how this game has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. It is possible that I am missing something?I don\u0026rsquo;t see how. Allow me elaborate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy first introduction to walking simulators was with Dear Ester. I thought it was an interesting game, but I cannot recommend it at the asking price of $9.99 (at the time of this writing). There was absolutely no replay value, and the game is over in about 4 hours. It was an amusing experience, but it felt more like a level in a Half Life game, than a full fledged single player game. Nevertheless, I felt the genre had potential to be great. I heard good things about Firewatch and I wanted to play it, because I thought it was going to be a much better game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Firewatch (PC) Review"},{"content":"Here are the steps to connect to your EC2 instance using PuTTY. I am assuming that you have the private key downloaded, and you have all the information for the EC2 instance handy (public IP, dns name etc.). The private key you get from AWS is .pem format, which needs to be converted into .ppk format to allow accessing the instance with PuTTY.\nConvert AWS Private Key (.pem) to PuTTY Private Key File (.ppk) Launch PuTTYgen application from Start menu\nEnsure that the Parameters are set the following values\nLoad the private key that for the instance that was generated by Amazon and Click OK Click OK om the following dialog box Now click on Save private key option on PuTTYgen I did not add a passphrase to my private key file. Add a passphrase to the private key if you deem necessary. A save dialog box is shown. Enter an appropriate name, and save the file. The file is saved in .ppk format. This can be used with PuTTY to ssh into the EC2 instance\nConnecting to your Linux instance using PuTTY Start PuTTY from the Start Menu\nIn the left nav, click on Session\nNOTE - For Amazon Linux 2 or Amazon Linux AMI, the username is ec2-user. Click here for more information.\n\u0026ndash; 2.1. Configure the connection details\nHost Name: username@public_dns_name\n\u0026ndash; 2.2. (Optional) Configure keepalives. Click on Connection, and set the value as needed\n\u0026ndash; 2.3. Expand, SSH and select Auth. Click on the Browser button and navigate to the location where the private key generated by PuTTY, and click Open\nNow click Open on the PuTTY Configuration window\n\u0026ndash; 2.4. There is a security alert. If you trust the fingerprint (which I do), click Yes\nIf everything is done right, the connection should be successful, and the following terminal window will be displayed.\nRunning a Web server Now that SSH connection has been established, we will move on to updating the OS, and installing packages necessary for running a web server.\nType the following command in the terminal window - sudo yum update -y This will run all the necessary updates for your OS.\nTo install Apache on the instance, type the following - sudo yum install httpd -y At this point, the EC2 instance is capable of being an app server that can serve web pages on Apache.\nAccess the html directory in the web server directory by typing the following - cd /var/www/html Anything that lives in this directory will be accessible over port 80. In other words, this the directory out of which your website will be served.\nNow, we will add an index.html to this directory using nono text editor. Type the following - sudo nano index.html This will open the text editor and allow you to add contents to index.html. Type the contents as shown.\nNow, press Ctrl + X and press Y to save the file, and press Enter to save the file as index.html. Ensure that the file exists by running the ls command.\nStart the service by typing - sudo service httpd start Now access the public ip address of the instance through the browser, and you should see the following - Credit goes to AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate 2019 on udemy along with some tutorials I found. If you found this post helpful, be sure to thank the folks at CloudGuru.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 05:25:07 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2019/08/2019-08-10-connect-to-linux-awsec2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere are the steps to connect to your EC2 instance using PuTTY. I am assuming that you have the private key downloaded, and you have all the information for the EC2 instance handy (public IP, dns name etc.). The private key you get from AWS is .pem format, which needs to be converted into .ppk format to allow accessing the instance with PuTTY.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"convert-aws-private-key-pem-to-putty-private-key-file-ppk\"\u003eConvert AWS Private Key (.pem) to PuTTY Private Key File (.ppk)\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaunch PuTTYgen application from Start menu\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Connecting to Linux EC2 with Putty \u0026 Running a Web Server"},{"content":"I had trouble getting Eclipse 2019-06 M1 (4.12.0M1) to run using JDK version 11. I had Java 8 installed on my machine, so when Eclipse launched, it was picking up Java 8.\nAfter uninstalling Java 8, Eclipse wouldn\u0026rsquo;t launch because the new JDK wasn\u0026rsquo;t installed.\nAdding this to the eclipse.ini file fixed the issue for me -\n-vm D:/java/jdk-11.0.3/bin/javaw.exe eclipse.ini\nHere is the full eclipse.ini file -\n-startup plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.300.v20190213-1655.jar --launcher.library plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.1000.v20190125-2016 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product -showsplash org.eclipse.epp.package.common --launcher.defaultAction openFile --launcher.defaultAction openFile -vm D:/java/jdk-11.0.3/bin/javaw.exe --launcher.appendVmargs -vmargs -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8 -Dosgi.instance.area.default=@user.home/eclipse-workspace -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+UseStringDeduplication --add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8 -Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true -Xms256m -Xmx1024m --add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM After successfully getting Eclipse to use the new JDK, here is the version information -\nEclipse IDE for Enterprise Java Developers. Version: 2019-06 M1 (4.12.0M1) Build id: 20190418-1421 OS: Windows 7, v.6.1, x86_64 / win32 Java version: 11.0.3 This post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 07:40:23 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-05-eclipse2019java11/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI had trouble getting Eclipse 2019-06 M1 (4.12.0M1) to run using JDK version 11. I had Java 8 installed on my machine, so when Eclipse launched, it was picking up Java 8.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter uninstalling Java 8, Eclipse wouldn\u0026rsquo;t launch because the new JDK wasn\u0026rsquo;t installed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdding this to the eclipse.ini file fixed the issue for me -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e-vm\nD:/java/jdk-11.0.3/bin/javaw.exe\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/eclipse2019java11/2019-05-05_eclipse.ini.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/eclipse2019java11/2019-05-05_eclipse.ini.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"eclipse.ini\" width=\"512\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eeclipse.ini\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere is the full eclipse.ini file -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e-startup\nplugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.300.v20190213-1655.jar\n--launcher.library\nplugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.1000.v20190125-2016\n-product\norg.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product\n-showsplash\norg.eclipse.epp.package.common\n--launcher.defaultAction\nopenFile\n--launcher.defaultAction\nopenFile\n-vm\nD:/java/jdk-11.0.3/bin/javaw.exe\n--launcher.appendVmargs\n-vmargs\n-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8\n-Dosgi.instance.area.default=@user.home/eclipse-workspace\n-XX:+UseG1GC\n-XX:+UseStringDeduplication\n--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM\n-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8\n-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true\n-Xms256m\n-Xmx1024m\n--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter successfully getting Eclipse to use the new JDK, here is the version information -\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Running Eclipse 2019-06 M1 version with Java 11"},{"content":"Tomb Raider (2013) is yet another reboot after Tomb Raider Legend, which attempts to tell the origin story of Lara Croft. Its a modern take on the classic, and for someone who has played all the Core Design games except Angel of Darkness, in my opinion, the overall experience does not measure up to the original games.\nThe game looks great, and it ran very well on my 21:9 widescreen monitor, which was surprising considering that back in 2013, widescreen monitors were not very common.\nThe gameplay fell short of my expectations. Quick time events are terrible as always, and there are a few instances which take the irritation to a new level with button prompts so short that I barely had time to react to it. There is absolutely no creativity in approaching a boss fights because of quick time events.\nThe crafting system is a pointless addition to the game. As such, it seems like busy work to hide the fact that weapon selection is very slim. The RPG elements also fall flat. Personally, I feel that this is a sign that the game lacks core design (no pun intended) principles, and went for a feature bloat, which looks good on paper, but adds very little to the gameplay.\nI like the new dark and gritty tone of the game, but the setting was boring. The older games often took place all over the world and sometimes in fantastic locations. The exception being Tomb Raider 4: Last Revelation, which largely took place in Egypt, but they managed to have very distinct locations with varying color palettes. In this latest installment, I found Japan to be uninspiring. I remember the names of some of the levels in older Tomb Raider games that I played almost 20 years ago. I couldn’t say the same for this game, and I played it two months ago.\nThe story did not make any sense, but in all honesty, the older games did not have a great story either. I am generally not a fan of exploring the origins of well established characters, because writers rarely do justice. This attempt was no exception, in my opinion. There was nothing endearing about the origin story, and it certainly is not the reason I would play this game.\nAll said and done, it\u0026rsquo;s not a terrible game, just not worthy of the legacy of the older games. It\u0026rsquo;s worth playing if you can find it for under $5.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 02:51:01 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2019/04/reviews/tombraider2013-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider (2013) is yet another reboot after Tomb Raider Legend, which attempts to tell the origin story of Lara Croft. Its a modern take on the classic, and for someone who has played all the Core Design games except Angel of Darkness, in my opinion, the overall experience does not measure up to the original games.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game looks great, and it ran very well on my 21:9 widescreen monitor, which was surprising considering that back in 2013, widescreen monitors were not very common.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider (2013) (PC) Review"},{"content":"Shadow of Mordor is a third person action game developed by Monolith Productions, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive.\nWhen it is reduced down to its most basic elements, the game is about killing orcs. Everything in revolves around that, and if the combat isn’t good, then it would make this game extremely tedious because a lot of time is spent in combat.\nFortunately, the combat is really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and there are times it can get repetitive, but learning new abilities which will happen as the player progresses through the missions will add to the variety. The game borrows heavily from the combat system of the Batman games. If you did not enjoy the combat in the Batman games, then there is a good chance you won’t like this game.\nThe nemesis system is very well done. It even goes as far as to integrate your Steam friends into the game. If your Steam friend was killed by an Orc captain, then you get to take revenge through vendetta missions. I thought this was a nice addition.\nThe game has an open world, but it is rather small. There are two zones which differ in terrain, but the world is not really why I would recommend this game. It\u0026rsquo;s not bad, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t stand out.\nThere are some annoying parts about this game, such as the number of enemies that you sometimes encounter. There was a point when I had to fight 4 captains, and an endless wave of orcs which can get rather exhausting at times. However, retreat is always an option.\nThe story did not make any sense to me. I stopped paying attention within the minutes of the first cut scene. It\u0026rsquo;s not like Witcher 3 where I cared about the writing. I wanted to kill orcs and explore the world.\nThe game ran flawlessly on my machine. There were no bugs or performance issues.\nAll in all I thoroughly recommend this game.\nPrice paid - $7.49\n+ Nemesis system\n+ Combat\n- Story\n- Uninteresting world\nVerdict - Well worth the price I paid for it.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 12:14:08 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2019/04/reviews/middleearthshadowofmordor-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eShadow of Mordor is a third person action game developed by Monolith Productions, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen it is reduced down to its most basic elements, the game is about killing orcs. Everything in revolves around that, and if the combat isn’t good, then it would make this game extremely tedious because a lot of time is spent in combat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/middleearthshadowofmordor-review/01-middleearthshadowofmordor-review-2018-10-14%2022-26-37-95.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/middleearthshadowofmordor-review/01-middleearthshadowofmordor-review-2018-10-14%2022-26-37-95.jpg#center\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, the combat is really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and there are times it can get repetitive, but learning new abilities which will happen as the player progresses through the missions will add to the variety. The game borrows heavily from the combat system of the Batman games. If you did not enjoy the combat in the Batman games, then there is a good chance you won’t like this game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) Review"},{"content":"Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is a standalone DLC for Far Cry 3. The story and presentation are an homage to the glorious 80s and 90s Hollywood action movies.\nGameplay wise there is nothing very innovative here. It\u0026rsquo;s very competent. Where the game shines, is in the presentation,and dialogue. When it comes to parody, there is a fine line between goodhearted fun and being disrespectful to the source material. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon manages to not cross that line, which is a compliment to the good writing.\nI am not going to waste time critiquing the game any longer. This is one of the most fun games I have played in a long time. I got this as a part of the Far Cry Franchise Pack on Steam for $9.99, and it\u0026rsquo;s well worth the price.\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 12, 2026 Sunday 07:44:42 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/12/reviews/farcry3blooddragon-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFar Cry 3 Blood Dragon is a standalone DLC for Far Cry 3. The story and presentation are an homage to the glorious 80s and 90s Hollywood action movies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/EQ7lgIg3RdA?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGameplay wise there is nothing very innovative here. It\u0026rsquo;s very competent. Where the game shines, is in the presentation,and dialogue. When it comes to parody, there is a fine line between goodhearted fun and being disrespectful to the source material. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon manages to not cross that line, which is a compliment to the good writing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (PC) Review"},{"content":"I recommend this game for the price I paid for it - $1 as a part of the a Humble Bundle deal.\nHard Reset was supposed to be an homage to the old school FPS games, but there are several design choices that prevent the game from reaching its potential.\nThe visuals are fantastic and they are by far the best aspect of the game. It played extremely well on a 21:9 ultrawide monitor without any problems, which is great considering this game was released in 2012.\nPretty much everything else is a step back, and could use some improvement.\nSoundtrack is a fairly generic, and it ramps up when there are enemies. Enemies don’t seem to make any noise during movement, and I often found myself getting attacked from behind and there was absolutely no sound to indicate that there were enemies flanking.\nWeapon system is needlessly complicated. Instead of giving the player a shotgun, rocket launcher etc., the game only has two weapons, a C.L.N weapon and an N.R.G weapon. A shotgun is a weapon mode of C.L.N weapon, and a railgun is a weapon mode of N.R.G weapon. So if the player wants to quickly switch between a shotgun and a railgun, it takes two button presses (equip the N.R.G weapon, and switch to the railgun mode) instead of one, and in the heat of combat, that is enough to get the player kill. This is change for the sake of change. There was no need to improve upon the conventional weapon system, the reason begin, it was tried and tested over the years, and this awful system adds nothing but busywork.\nThe difficulty in this game primarily comes from large enemy numbers, poor movement mechanics and awful reload/recharge times for weapons. I would be fine with there being a large number of enemies if the movement was smooth and the weapons reloaded at a “normal” rate. As it stands, this leads to frustration and not fun.\nIn 2012, there aren’t as many shooters with similar gameplay. In 2018, there are many excellent shooters in this sub genre, such as the Wolfenstein, Doom (2016). Play those first, and if you are still not satiated, then pick up this game for less than $5.\nVerdict - Excellent visuals, frustrating gameplay. Pick it up on deep discount.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 04:51:59 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/12/reviews/hardreset-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recommend this game for the price I paid for it - $1 as a part of the a Humble Bundle deal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHard Reset was supposed to be an homage to the old school FPS games, but there are several design choices that prevent the game from reaching its potential.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe visuals are fantastic and they are by far the best aspect of the game. It played extremely well on a 21:9 ultrawide monitor without any problems, which is great considering this game was released in 2012.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hard Reset (PC) Review"},{"content":"On Friday (10/5/2018), I came home from a long day at work, and wanted to play some games. I started Battlefield 1, and I notice that the game was stuttering. I take a look at the temperature, and notice that the CPU (i7 6700k) was running at 90C.\nI have a Corsair H50 AIO. I went through all kinds of troubleshooting. Applied new thermal paste, made sure the cooler was seated properly, and it made no difference. The CPU would idle at around 60C, and reach 90C+ during gaming.\nAfter hours of troubleshooting, I concluded that the cooler wasn’t working.\nI didn’t want the entire weekend to go to waste by buying another cooler online, and waiting for it to be shipped here. I did something I never thought I would do - go to BestBuy.\nI went online, and found that the Corsair H60 was available at my local store. Ordered it right away, and went to the store to pick it up. I watched an installation video first, and I realized that this cooler was much better than the H50 in terms of installation. This is because the backplate has standoff screws, and doesn’t rely solely on adhesive to keep it in place like the H50 does.\nMounting the cooler is also a very simple task because the mounting bracket easily locks the heatsink in place. Overall, very happy with the H60 so far. The temperatures are fantastic.\nRunning Prime95, I am getting around 50C with 100% CPU load.\nTotal price paid - $76.11 (exactly the same as I would have paid on Amazon)\nVerdict - Recommended.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 07:34:23 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-15-corsairh60-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn Friday (10/5/2018), I came home from a long day at work, and wanted to play some games. I started Battlefield 1, and I notice that the game was stuttering. I take a look at the temperature, and notice that the CPU (i7 6700k) was running at 90C.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have a Corsair H50 AIO. I went through all kinds of troubleshooting. Applied new thermal paste, made sure the cooler was seated properly, and it made no difference. The CPU would idle at around 60C, and reach 90C+ during gaming.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Corsair H60 Review"},{"content":"Mad Max is a third person, open world, action game developed by Avalanche Studios (the studio behind the excellent Just Cause series), and published by Warner Bros. (Batman, series).\nMad Max incorporates a lot of open world staples. The developers have their own take on the tower climbing mechanic, where towers are now replaced by hot air balloons, which reveal the activities on a certain section of the map. There are plenty of markers on the map, and tons of different kind of side quests that will keep players busy, especially those determined to complete each area.\nSome consider this to be a lot of gameplay padding, and there are things the game does where this criticism is justified. There are times when I absolutely felt that the combat, and the bases are getting repetitive. However, by and large, the game manages to be entertaining.\nThe part that I felt was rather boring is the leveling up mechanic for Max, that they felt was needed. To begin with, it is not possible to just access a menu and level up your character. You need to drive to a random location, and talk to a certain person to be able to level up. This is very tedious. The leveling up itself grants abilities that make very little sense. For example, there is a skill that will make the Magnum Opus consume less fuel. Shouldn\u0026rsquo;t this be an upgrade for the car? Anyhow, I thought these skills were poorly implemented.\nAnother aspect that I did not enjoy was the lack of inventory. It is not possible to carry melee weapons outside of combat. This means that Max needs to find a weapon each time before a fight, and he will promptly drop it on the ground when getting into the car after the fight is over. Also, the durability of melee weapons (like clubs, shovels etc.) is a skill. How does Max have any control over how durable a random object in the world is? Your guess is as good as mine.\nLack of an inventory also means that you can\u0026rsquo;t carry food, and you have to scavenge for it in the game world. Anytime the player interacts with a can of food, Max drops the melee weapon he is holding. After the animation is done, you will have to pick up the melee weapon again. This is an extremely annoying mechanic.\nThe controls are a little weird. There is a separate button (E) to interact with objects in the game world, but a completely different button (R) to get into vehicles, and an entirely different button (F) to fuel the car. All these could have been consolidated to a single button based on the context. The character also is a little sluggish to control. Unlike Just Cause and Batman, there is a perceptible lag between activating an action, and the character responding to it. This is not game breaking, but its very noticeable.\nCombat is very much like Batman. I dont mind it, but it essentially boils down to mashing the attack button (LMB), and hitting the parry button (RMB) at the right time. The sluggish controls do impact the combat somewhat, but it is still fun for the most part. It does get frustrating when the game decides to throw a wave of enemies at the player in an enclosed area. At this point, the camera gets into really bad angles which can get the player killed.\nDriving is a lot fun, and the cars handle really well for the most part. The wide open world is a lot of fun to drive in. Desert world could have been very bland, but the designers managed to make it unique and also traversing the world in the vehicle is still fun. There is a lot of freedom to be had here in each area, and plenty of activities like freeing enemy strongholds, destroying convoys etc.\nThe story is interesting enough. I liked the characters, but other than Chumbucket, there is nothing unique here. Its all rather predictable, but not to the point where I found the story boring. There are certain story missions that get frustrating, but by and large the pacing was good.\nSome of the side quests are a lot fun, especially chasing and destroying the convoys, or freeing up some enemy strongholds.The game received negative criticism when it was released because of the number of repetitive side quests. I can understand why someone might feel this way, especially because this seems a lot like the UbiSoft open world design. However, most of the activities are fun enough, and because Max levels up fast enough, I didn\u0026rsquo;t need to finish a lot of them to progress through the story.\nI had a lot of fun with Mad Max, and I think its a very solid open world game.\nPrice paid - $4.99\n+ Vehicle combat\n+ Well designed open world\n+ Chumbucket\n+ Driving\n- Slugging controls on the ground\n- Lack of inventory\n- Repetitive melee combat\nVerdict - Recommended\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 07:15:06 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/10/reviews/madmax-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMad Max is a third person, open world, action game developed by Avalanche Studios (the studio behind the excellent Just Cause series), and published by Warner Bros. (Batman,  series).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMad Max incorporates a lot of open world staples. The developers have their own take on the tower climbing mechanic, where towers are now replaced by hot air balloons, which reveal the activities on a certain section of the map. There are plenty of markers on the map, and tons of different kind of side quests that will keep players busy, especially those determined to complete each area.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mad Max (PC) Review"},{"content":"Hearts of Stone is the first expansion to The Witcher 3. The game is set in the same world as the main game, specifically in the north eastern part of Novigrad.\nThere is quite a bit of new content here, but the highlight of this expansion is the story. This may be the best expansion to a video game I have ever played.\nWith the Game of The Year edition, I had the option to start the expansion with a default level 30 character, but I waited till I finished the main story to play the expansions. At least a level 30 character is recommended for the expansion, and by the end of the main story, I was well past that.\nThe expansion has simple beginnings. It starts with a contract to kill a monster in the sewers of Oxenfurt, but it soon opens up into a fantastic adventure with excellent characters and well written dialog. I can’t really discuss the story without going to spoiler territory, but suffice to say those that enjoy good writing and storytelling are likely to enjoy this expansion a lot.\nThere are a couple of main quests which I found comparatively boring, but the game picks up very quickly, and ends with a superb conclusion. Often times I found myself unsatisfied with game endings, especially in RPGs (case in point, Mass Effect 3). That is not the case with Hearts of Stone. It has one of the best endings in video games I have ever played.\nThere are many little story details scattered throughout the game, and for those that have the time and the inclination, there is a lot of replay value. Its not just fan service either. Re-watching some of the cut-scenes made realize the effort that went into telling this story. There are some excellent analysis videos on YouTube, that will do a far better job at explaining the story. Speaking of value, I got this game as a part of the GOTY bundle on GOG for $19.99. This bundle includes the main game, and the two expansions. I can\u0026rsquo;t think of a better deal for RPG fans. I typically do not recommend paying full price for games, but The Witcher 3 and its expansions are well worth the money.\nThe expansion also introduces new enemy types, which are much harder than the ones found in the base game. Some of the same kind of enemies that exist in the base game are now much higher level comparatively. I once wandered into the north east side of the map, and ran into level 30 enemies. I was used to dealing with them effortlessly in the main game, but I ended up getting killed, and then whats I realized I wandered into the expansion territory, which opened up a whole new set of side quests.\nI would absolutely replay this expansion a few times over, if it weren\u0026rsquo;t for the spiders.\n+ Excellent Story\n+ Great Endings\n+ Interesting Characters\n+ Superb Value For Money\n- Spiders\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 11:44:30 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/08/reviews/witcher3heartsofstone-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHearts of Stone is the first expansion to The Witcher 3. The game is set in the same world as the main game, specifically in the north eastern part of Novigrad.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is quite a bit of new content here, but the highlight of this expansion is the story. This may be the best expansion to a video game I have ever played.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the Game of The Year edition, I had the option to start the expansion with a default level 30 character, but I waited till I finished the main story to play the expansions. At least a level 30 character is recommended for the expansion, and by the end of the main story, I was well past that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone (PC) Review"},{"content":"My experience with Witcher games began 9 years after the release of the first game. I played The Witcher in November 2016 and I followed up immediately with The Witcher 2. I would have started playing Witcher 3 right after, but I did not own the game. In November 2017, it went on sale, on GOG.com, and I purchased the GOTY edition for $19.99.\nI spent a little over 300 hours playing the main game. This is by far the most time I spent on a single player game. I remember reading some articles leading up to the release of Witcher 3 that this game is going to have a lot of content. I thought it might be filler, and to a small extent this is true, but by and large, I was entertained enough to complete all the side quests in all areas.\nDynamic weather\nPerformance throughout the game has been excellent. Since I played on the PC, I had the luxury of upgrading my hardware and installing mods.\nI started playing this game with my MSI GeForce GTX 1080. The game looked absolutely beautiful. However, at 1440p, I was not able to keep a steady 60FPS with all settings on high. On MSI GeForce 1080Ti, the game was running at well over 60FPS with all settings on high, and there were hardly any dips. It was an amazing experience. This is the best looking RPG I have ever played. I did not play Skyrim yet, so it remains to be seen if Skyrim manages to look better than Witcher 3.\nBeauty of The Witcher 3\nI felt that the developers created a fantastic world, and exploration, which is something I enjoy a lot, is rewarded in the game. For the most part, I enjoyed the main quests and side quests. Given the number of side quests, not all of them are going to be excellent, there are some fetch quests here and there, but even some of the most mundane side quests are voice acted, and they make a very sincere attempt to entertain and engage the player. Dynamic weather has a big positive impact on immersion. This combined with the excellent audio make the gameplay experience so much better.\nVoice acting and dialogue are excellent for the most part. It got predictable towards the end. The final parts of the main quest felt weak in comparison. The endings were excellent, but the quests leading up to it felt boring to me.\nThere are some mods that make life a lot easier, such as the auto loot mod. The fast travel mod is also handy, but it is best to exercise caution when using it because it can break quests. It is useful when exploring for hidden treasures etc, but do not using when doing any quests, especially when indoors.\nBeautiful indoors\nI thought the combat was excellent compared to the previous games, especially compared to Witcher 1. I do not like how signs have to be equipped before they can be cast\u0026hellip;I do not understand the reasoning behind this. There is a mod that will change how this works, but I never installed it because this wasn\u0026rsquo;t a huge issue. The crossbow controls are awful. After every shot, Geralt puts away the crossbow, and its tedious to put the bolt in place and the middle mouse button needs to be held down to take aim.\nHorse riding is another mechanic that is not fully fleshed out. Holding down shift would make the run, and to make the horse sprint, you would have to double tap and hold Shift. There are plenty of keys on the keyboard that can accomplish this without resorting to the double tap nonsense. Slashing at enemies when on horseback feels sluggish. I am still glad for the addition of the horse in the game, given how big the game world is.\nIn conclusion, The Witcher 3 is the best open world RPG I have played to this date. I would still rate the story of the original Deus Ex higher than this, but the gameplay experience of Witcher 3 has surpassed Deus Ex.\n+ Excellent open world\n+ Smooth combat\n+ Fun side quests\n+ Beautiful visuals\n+ Great soundtrack\n- Horse controls\n- Crossbow controls\n- End game is not as fun\nVerdict - Must Play\nThis post is published on Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 05:23:13 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/04/reviews/thewitcher3-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy experience with Witcher games began 9 years after the release of the first game. I played The Witcher in November 2016 and I followed up immediately with The Witcher 2. I would have started playing Witcher 3 right after, but I did not own the game. In November 2017, it went on sale, on GOG.com, and I purchased the GOTY edition for $19.99.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI spent a little over 300 hours playing the main game. This is by far the most time I spent on a single player game. I remember reading some articles leading up to the release of Witcher 3 that this game is going to have a lot of content. I thought it might be filler, and to a small extent this is true, but by and large, I was entertained enough to complete all the side quests in all areas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Witcher 3 (PC) Review"},{"content":"In this post, I will share the steps I used to create a very simple website using Tomcat webserver, and Namecheap DNS.\nWeb server configuration Download the latest tomcat. The version in this case is 9.0.6. Download it HERE .\nCreate the following directory –\nD:\\MyWebsites Paste the tomcat package directory inside the MyWebsites directory\nRename the package to the directory name of the website\nThis directory will serve the website\nDownload jdk HERE . This step is not necessary depending on how java is installed on the machine. I prefer deploy java in this manner.\nDeploy jdk in the following directory –\nD:\\java\\jdk64-1.8.0_161 Java directory\nCreate setenv.bat file and place it in the \\bin directory. Specify the java home in the file.\nsetenv.bat\nCreate an index.html file and drop it in the following directory –\nD:\\MyWebsites\\rc03.net\\webapps\\ROOT index.html\nRun the startup.bat in the \\bin directory\nRunning startup.bat will show the environment variables\nAccess localhost:8080 in the browser\nlocalhost\nRouter Configuration Gather the internal IP address of the machine that is running the tomcat server –\nipconfig\nOpen the router configuration page and find the port forwarding settings. This can be typically accessed at 192.168.0.1.\nAdd a new rule for forwarding http traffic to port 8080\nPort forwarding\nGo to CanYouSeeMe.org .\nType in the port and click on the Check Port button\nPort status\nNamecheap host record configuration Go to WhatIsMyIP.com and take note of the external IP address (also known as the WAN IP).\nGo to Advanced DNS configuration.\nIn the host records section, create the following:\nType: A record; Host: @; Value: \u0026lt;external-ip\u0026gt;; TTL: Automatic Type: URL Redirect Record; Host: www; Value: http://\u0026lt;domain\u0026gt;:8080 Masked META (We use this record because www.domain-name.com will be redirected, and “work” in the browser) Host records\nThe record for the wildcard exists for creating virtual hosts in Tomcat, which I will cover in a later document.\nProblems I encountered I have a Netgear C6300BD, and the router is running Firmware Version V2.05.18.\nIt turns out that this particular router does not support loopback functionality, therefore when you have port forwarding setup, accessing http://\u0026lt;external-ip\u0026gt;:8080 does not work from within the network.\nThe best to test if the setup is working is by accessing your website from outside the network, and the most convenient way to do this is through a mobile device with.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 08:31:03 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/04/2018-04-05-websitewithtomcatnamecheap/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn this post, I will share the steps I used to create a very simple website using Tomcat webserver, and Namecheap DNS.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"web-server-configuration\"\u003eWeb server configuration\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDownload the latest tomcat. The version in this case is 9.0.6. Download it \u003ca href=\"https://tomcat.apache.org/download-90.cgi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  \u003cspan class='link-color'\u003eHERE\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCreate the following directory –\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eD:\\MyWebsites\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003col start=\"3\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaste the tomcat package directory inside the MyWebsites directory\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRename the package to the directory name of the website\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/websitewithtomcatnamecheap/01-websitewithtomcatnamecheap.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/websitewithtomcatnamecheap/01-websitewithtomcatnamecheap.png#center\"\n         alt=\"This directory will serve the website\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis directory will serve the website\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Set Up A Simple Website Using Tomcat \u0026 Namecheap"},{"content":"I wanted to purchase a GeForce 1080 Ti, and I narrowed down the model to the 3 fan version from EVGA. I added it to my wishlist and waited for the right time to buy.\nOn Wednesday 12/13/2017, I was in the office, and I decided to go ahead and buy the GPU. I went on NewEgg, bought it and went about my day.\nEVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 DT DirectX 12 11G-P4-6694-KR 11GB\nThe next day, I wanted to do a quick check of the clock speeds of the card to compare with my existing GPU. I logged into my account, and clicked on the link to the GPU page. I noticed that the card had only 8 reviews, and I remember seeing a lot more reviews previously.\nI did not think much about it, but I clicked on the reviews, and I found this review -\nDT (Detuned) vs GAMING\nI realized that not only did I purchase the wrong card, I purchased an \u0026ldquo;inferior\u0026rdquo; version of it. Needless to say, this was an expensive mistake to make. I contemplated keeping it, but upon comparing this card with other lower priced cards, the base clock speeds for the detuned (DT) version are lower than other factory overclocked versions, and they also cost less than the DT card.\nAt this point, I decided that there is no reason to keep this card. I went to the order history page to start a refund process, and I noticed that this card is covered under Extended Holiday Replacement-Only Return Policy, and so there was no way I could get initiate a refund process.\nExtended Holiday Replacement-Only Return Policy\nI decided to call NewEgg, and there was a 1hr wait time. They did have a call back feature, which I decided to use. Surprisingly, I got a call back from NewEgg within the allocated time.\nI spoke to the customer care representative, and he told me that I could refuse the delivery from FedEx. Fortunately, I was off from work the next day, so I could do this, but just in case I missed the delivery man, he issued me an RMA label.\nAfter I was done with the phone call, I decided to buy the GPU that I wanted. There was no point in waiting. I contemplated buying this card -\nEVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 GAMING, 11G-P4-6593-KR, 11GB GDDR5X, iCX Technology - 9 Thermal Sensors \u0026amp; RGB LED G/P/M\nIn the end, decided to go with MSI instead. I went their GAMING version of 1080 Ti, and it was the same price as the equivalent EVGA version.\nMSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti DirectX 12 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X 11G 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card\nI purchased this late Thursday (12/14/2017) for $769.99, and I paid extra to have it shipped on Saturday. It was worth it for me because I can use it over the weekend. So far, I am very happy with it. I am going to post the review at a later time.\nOn Friday 12/15/2017, I happened to catch the FedEx deliveryman, and I refused the package at the door.\nI then called FedEx and informed them about this. The FedEx representative told me that it will take a day or two for the system to reflect the latest status.\nSure enough, after a day, the tracking number showed that there are two results for it. One of them was for the delivery, and the other was for the delivery back to NewEgg.\nDual entries for my tracking number, showing the return of the item back to NewEgg\nAfter a couple of days of NewEgg receiving the card, I got a full refund for my card.\nGPU refund issued by NewEgg\nThis was followed by a refund for Destiny 2.\nDestiny 2 refund issued by NewEgg\nIn the end, it all worked out OK, but had I not logged in to check the clock speeds, I probably would have been stuck with a GPU that did not pass overclocking quality tests. I emailed NewEgg to let them know that the product description should highlight the fact that the card is a Detuned version.\nResponse from NewEgg regarding having a better product description for the Detuned version\nAs of today (January 8, 2018), the product description has not changed. I hope this post will prevent someone from making the same mistake as I did.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 11:22:39 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/01/2018-01-08-detunedevga/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to purchase a GeForce 1080 Ti, and I narrowed down the model to the 3 fan version from EVGA. I added it to my wishlist and waited for the right time to buy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Wednesday 12/13/2017, I was in the office, and I decided to go ahead and buy the GPU. I went on NewEgg, bought it and went about my day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/detunedevga/01_detunedevga-12-16-2017-10-52-51-PM.png\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/detunedevga/01_detunedevga-12-16-2017-10-52-51-PM.png#center\"\n         alt=\"EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 DT DirectX 12 11G-P4-6694-KR 11GB\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eEVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 DT DirectX 12 11G-P4-6694-KR 11GB\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Purchased a Detuned EVGA GTX 1080 Ti By Mistake"},{"content":"I made a similar post in 2017 , and I have been good about finishing games in my backlog. Last year, I said that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t purchase anymore games except Battlefield 1 Premium but I did end up buying a few.\nMad Max - $4.99 Battlefield 1 Premium - $49.99 Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition PC - $1.89 Hitman: Blood Money - $1.79 Helldorado - $1.99 Humble Saints Row Bundle - $1.00 PLAYERUNKNOWN\u0026rsquo;S BATTLEGROUNDS - $21.89 (By far the worst purchase. After playing it for a few hours, I do not see myself playing this game ever again) Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Game of the Year Edition - $19.99 (By far the best purchase. 100+ hours into the game, and I am still enjoying it) Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain - $0.97 METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES - $3.99 Just Cause 3 - $7.49 The story for 2018 is very similar. The only game I am looking forward to buying is the new Battlefield title, assuming that it will be released this year, and that it won\u0026rsquo;t go the Battlefront route.\nHere is the updated list of Must Play games, updated for 2018 -\nAlan Wake Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed III Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed IV Black Flag Batman Arkham Origins Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition Batman: Arkham City GOTY Battlefield 1 SP BioShock Infinite Borderlands Borderlands 2 Call of Juarez Call of Juarez Bound in Blood Call of Juarez Gunslinger Commandos Strike Force Crysis 3 Dead Island Dear Esther Dishonored Doom 3 Dying Light Fallout: New Vegas Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Hard Reset Hitman: Blood Money Just Cause 3 Mad Max Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Metro: Last Light Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Painkiller Hell \u0026amp; Damnation Rainbow Six Vegas Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Spec Ops: The Line The Witcher 2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell Blacklist Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Conviction Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Double Agent Tomb Raider 2013 Trine 2 Watch Dogs 2 Wolfenstein: The New Order After Witcher 3 is done, I would like to revisit Commandos Strike Force. I wanted to finish game for over a decade\u0026hellip;just never got around to it.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2018/01/2018-01-05-mustplaygamesin2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI made \u003ca href=\"/posts/2017/01/2017-01-02-backlog-gaming-challenge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  a similar post in 2017\n\u003c/a\u003e\n, and I have been good about finishing games in my backlog. Last year, I said that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t purchase anymore games except Battlefield 1 Premium but I did end up buying a few.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMad Max - $4.99\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBattlefield 1 Premium - $49.99\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMortal Kombat Komplete Edition PC - $1.89\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHitman: Blood Money - $1.79\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHelldorado - $1.99\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHumble Saints Row Bundle - $1.00\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePLAYERUNKNOWN\u0026rsquo;S BATTLEGROUNDS - $21.89 \u003cem\u003e(By far the worst purchase. After playing it for a few hours, I do not see myself playing this game ever again)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWitcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Game of the Year Edition - $19.99 \u003cem\u003e(By far the best purchase. 100+ hours into the game, and I am still enjoying it)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain - $0.97\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMETAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES - $3.99\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJust Cause 3 - $7.49\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story for 2018 is very similar. The only game I am looking forward to buying is the new Battlefield title, assuming that it will be released this year, and that it won\u0026rsquo;t go the Battlefront route.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Must Play Games In 2018"},{"content":"After the disaster that was Call of Juarez: The Cartel, I thought that this series is gone for good. It would be difficult for a game to redeem itself after a game like that. I was very surprised when they announced yet another game and this time around, they went back to the roots, with the game set in the Wild West.\nGunslinger is one of the most fun FPS games I have played. The last western FPS game I played was way back in 2005 called Outlaws. Great game, but western games never caught my attention since. Gunslinger looked very interesting, and when Humble Bundle offered this game for $1 as a part of Humble Ubisoft Bundle, there was no reason to not pick it up.\nThe story is told in the form of flashbacks, as recalled by the main character Silas Green during his days as a bounty hunter, to a group of patrons at a bar. This has allowed for some creative gameplay techniques, because at times, the story is questioned by the patrons, and the game rewinds as the narrative changes.As the story is told, the environment also changes in real time to reflect the details being recounted.\nYou get to fight against historical figures in the campaign, such as Billy the Kid etc., as Silas recalls his encounters with them. Silas does not let the truth get in the way of a good story, and it leads to some funny dialogue.\nA Star Wars reference\u0026hellip;?\nI felt the reason this game is so entertaining is because the developers did not take the story too seriously. It felt as if they wanted to create a game that was fun to play, first and foremost. It s weird weird saying that because you would think fun gameplay would the main motive behind all games, but I don\u0026rsquo;t often get the impression when playing modern AAA games.\nShooting is so satisfying in this game. There are three classes of weapons, revolvers, rifles and shotguns. Based on your preference, you can pick any weapon to specialize. There is an RPG aspect to this. The selection is limited, but the shooting is excellent. I personally liked the rifle and revolvers the most. It is possible to dual wield revolvers, and its a lot of fun to dual wield in bullet time mode.\nSpeaking of which, bullet time works as a combination of slow motion time and x-ray vision. Using this is a lot of fun, they did not try to innovate on this too much by adding QTEs (which do exist), they kept it fairly simple, and as a result, when it is activated in a tough situation, it is very useful, while being stylish.\nA note about QTEs in the game, I don\u0026rsquo;t mind the way they are implemented. The game prompts the player to press a button in some situations, but it can be ignored. The game does not punish the player for not engaging in QTEs, for the most part. Ideally, I would like for them to not exist at all, but as it stands, its not as bad as Battlefield 3.\nI have not used shotguns a whole lot, but when I did, they have a lot of impact, and fun to use, unlike the last game I played - Spec Ops: The Line.\nEnemies range from natives to other outlaws, and the combat is always entertaining and frantic.\nThe developers did a fantastic job with the atmosphere. The art style has a comic book feel to it, reminds of the cel-shaded game, XIII. The intros to some of the characters are very well done, and this is one of those games where I did not mind watching the cut scenes. The visuals are beautiful. Its not all set in a desert, you travel through ghost towns, lush green forests, swamps, canyons etc. The level design is beautiful. For the most part every chapter has its own setting, and they are expertly created.\nAudio deserves a special mention here. Voice acting, music, gunshots, and atmospheric sounds are excellent. The term immersion is overused in gaming media, but that perfectly describes the audio. It captures the Wild West theme perfectly and adds to the immersion.\nThis maybe the first time I played a game set in Wyoming\u0026hellip;\nHowever, all is not perfect with the game. There is one aspect I did not enjoy, and that is the duels. The mechanics are vague, and although the game does try to educate the player on how the system works, I still had trouble getting used to it. The part that I hated the most about the duels is how the reticle does not obey player input. It feels as if the input lag is increased, and the dip is decreased. I found this system to be very irritating and unnecessary. I hope they scrap this feature in future titles.\nI enjoyed this game a lot, and now I want to play the Call of Juarez, and Bound in Blood. Its unbelievable that I got this game for $1. It took me about 6 hours to finish the campaign in Normal mode. I am not sure its worth the $14.99 price tag, but I would definitely recommend this for the current price of $7.49.\nConclusion\n+ Wild West setting\n+ Excellent gunplay\n+ Beautiful visuals\n+ Audio\n+ Story\n- Duels\nVerdict - Excellent game, buy it for under $10.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 07:29:28 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/11/reviews/callofjuarezgunslinger-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter the disaster that was Call of Juarez: The Cartel, I thought that this series is gone for good. It would be difficult for a game to redeem itself after a game like that. I was very surprised when they announced yet another game and this time around, they went back to the roots, with the game set in the Wild West.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGunslinger is one of the most fun FPS games I have played. The last western FPS game I played was way back in 2005 called Outlaws. Great game, but western games never caught my attention since. Gunslinger looked very interesting, and when Humble Bundle offered this game for $1 as a part of Humble Ubisoft Bundle, there was no reason to not pick it up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC) Review"},{"content":"Spec Ops: The Line is a 3rd person shooter developed by Yager Development. It was released in 2012. I remember watching a review about how this game was better than most of the military shooters released at the time, so I was interested in playing this game for the longest time. I never got to play it at launch, and having just finished it, I am glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t buy it at the time.\nIt is not a terrible game. Its functional, and thoroughly boring. There is nothing original about the gameplay. I understand that this is supposed to be a narrative driven game, but that does not prevent the game from being boring because of generic the gameplay. Gears of War is a much better cover shooter, and that came out years ago.\nThe game is built using Unreal 2 engine, and it handles a lot like Mass Effect. What this means is, the game does not have jump, and shooting involves diving behind cover and peaking out, and taking shots at enemies. Just about every single encounter turns into this. Like most console ports at the time, the controls are not optimized for the PC. Spacebar is used for both sprinting and taking cover. I did not enjoy this in Mass Effect, and I did not enjoy this in Spec Ops.\nThe gunplay is weak, and the weapon variety doesn\u0026rsquo;t add much to the game because other than ammo capacity, all rifles felt the same. I understand that they cannot stray too much from reality because of the military setting, but that is no excuse of the weak weapon handling. The reason I did not like the weapon handling is probably because I am playing this game in 2017, and as a Battlefield player, I find most other shooters to be not as good as Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4.\nThe game tries to incorporate squad play, but the system is not very fleshed out, and I felt it was awkward to use. There are few instances where giving orders to your squad is useful, but overall it is possible to play most of the game without ever giving any squad orders. The much talked about environment interaction is basically shooting some objects during combat to take out enemies, such as shooting a window to cause a sand slide etc. Do not expect Red Faction like environment destruction.\nThe main selling point of this game was the story. I am playing this game 5 years after its release, and having played other games which attempted something similar, I could see the twist coming well in advance. Like Modern Warfare 2, there is one section in the game that this game is going to be remembered for, and I could see that coming as well. That said, the story itself is not too bad, but I think there are some instances where they left things to interpretation and this doesn\u0026rsquo;t provide closure. Also, the suspension of disbelief required is a little too much for me. The main character and his two friends take on what looks like the entire US army, get thrown off buildings, survive a massive truck crash, and a chopper crash with no broken bones\u0026hellip;\nIt is difficult to achieve the level of engagement they were asking for, because they want to tell a story that is grounded in reality, but the gameplay just does not lend itself to that.\nI purchased this game as a part of a Humble Bundle for $1, and for that price, I am not disappointed, but I really would not recommend paying any money for this game because it has no replay value, and there are so many great games out there for cheap.\nConclusion\n+ Decent graphics\n- Over hyped story\n- Extremely linear\n- Weak gunplay\n- Controls not optimized for PC\nVeridct - Not recommended.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:13:32 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/11/reviews/specopstheline-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpec Ops: The Line is a 3rd person shooter developed by Yager Development. It was released in 2012. I remember watching a review about how this game was better than most of the military shooters released at the time, so I was interested in playing this game for the longest time. I never got to play it at launch, and having just finished it, I am glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t buy it at the time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spec Ops: The Line (PC) Review"},{"content":"The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is a Diablo inspired action RPG developed by NeocoreGames. The game is set in Eastern Europe where magic and science fiction coexist. You get to play as the son of Van Helsing from the original Dracula novel.\nIn this game, you find yourself in Borgova, which is plagued by monsters and it is your job to hunt them down, and free the land. This quest will take you through several areas like swamp forests, mines, sewers and elaborate futuristic steampunk cities. There is a lot of variety in level settings.\nYou also get a ghost companion, Lady Katarina. There is some banter between the main character and the companion which can be funny at times, but most of the times, its just cliches. I felt that some of the abilities for the companion were either not very well developed or not well explained. For example, I have never seen the companion use a melee weapon, yet you could equip the companion with one. I am not sure why\u0026hellip;\nThat said, having a companion is very useful, not just during combat, but for doing tedious tasks such as selling items. Just like in Torchlight, it is possible to add items to the inventory of the companion and send her off to town to sell them.\nInventory of Van Helsing and Lady Katrina\nThe gameplay got very tedious towards the end of the game. In the beginning, there is a learning curve, and its fun experimenting with different abilities, but halfway through the game, it becomes very stale, because there is not much else to discover in terms of abilities, and the loot becomes pointless because I already have the best weapons. By the end of the game, I had over 700,000 gold, and there was nothing to spend it on. This would have been fine if the combat didn\u0026rsquo;t get so repetitive.\nCombat generally involves a large mob of enemies rushing your position. Not necessarily a bad thing, but more often than not, the mobs are very unfair. Often times I found myself overpowered, and no combination of abilities and weapons allowed me to defeat the mobs. It is possible that I could have made a mistake in points allocation, but I felt as if these sections are created to be unfair. In addition to this, the game has these narrow levels with tall obstacles (such as pillars) which obstruct the view and it can combat more frustrating in certain situations.\nAt times there are 20 enemies all firing at the same time, and there is no way to retaliate except pick off a couple of enemies, die, respawn and retry. This is not fun for me, and its not good design in my opinion.\nThe game does not seem to take the story very seriously, its laced with anachronistic references, intended to be humorous, I am sure, but it got old, and unlike Diablo, there are no memorable characters to be found here, except for the main character and the companion. This is a bit of shame because the game had a lot of potential, but just did not capitalize on it. I am sure the humorous take on the vampires and mad scientists might appeal to some, but I was hoping for something different.\nIs that a Witcher reference?\nI purchased this game as part of Humble Jumbo Bundle on August 20, 2014 for $1. I got this game along with others as a part of this bundle, and for that price, you can\u0026rsquo;t really go wrong. Would I recommend this game? Well, if you can pick it for a $1, sure. Otherwise, not really. Its not a terrible game, but there is nothing original here, and there are better games out there worthy of time investment.\nConclusion\n- Uninteresting loot\n- Silly story\n- Weak voice acting\n- Graphics didn\u0026rsquo;t age well\n- Not enough content\n- Repetitive combat\nVerdict - There are better games out there.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/11/reviews/incredibleadventuresofvanhelsing-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is a Diablo inspired action RPG developed by NeocoreGames. The game is set in Eastern Europe where magic and science fiction coexist. You get to play as the son of Van Helsing from the original Dracula novel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this game, you find yourself in Borgova, which is plagued by monsters and it is your job to hunt them down, and free the land. This quest will take you through several areas like swamp forests, mines, sewers and elaborate futuristic steampunk cities. There is a lot of variety in level settings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Review"},{"content":"package recursion; import java.util.Scanner; public class TowersOfHanoi { public static void main(String[] args) { // Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in); // // System.out.println(\u0026#34;Enter the number of discs: \u0026#34;); // int numberOfDiscs = input.nextInt(); // // towersOfHanoi(numberOfDiscs, \u0026#34;A\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;B\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;C\u0026#34;); towersOfHanoi(3, \u0026#34;A\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;B\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;C\u0026#34;); } public static void towersOfHanoi(int discs, String source, String to, String destination) { if (discs == 1) { System.out.println(source + \u0026#34; --\u0026gt; \u0026#34; + destination); } else { towersOfHanoi(discs - 1, source, destination, to); System.out.println(source + \u0026#34; --\u0026gt; \u0026#34; + destination); towersOfHanoi(discs - 1, to, source, destination); } } } ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/09/2017-09-05-towersofhanoi/","summary":"\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003epackage recursion;\n\nimport java.util.Scanner;\n\npublic class TowersOfHanoi\n{\n\n    public static void main(String[] args)\n    {\n//      Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);\n//\n//      System.out.println(\u0026#34;Enter the number of discs: \u0026#34;);\n//      int numberOfDiscs = input.nextInt();\n//\n//      towersOfHanoi(numberOfDiscs, \u0026#34;A\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;B\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;C\u0026#34;);\n        towersOfHanoi(3, \u0026#34;A\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;B\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;C\u0026#34;);\n\n    }\n\n    public static void towersOfHanoi(int discs, String source, String to, String destination)\n    {\n        if (discs == 1)\n        {\n            System.out.println(source + \u0026#34; --\u0026gt; \u0026#34; + destination);\n        }\n        else\n        {\n            towersOfHanoi(discs - 1, source, destination, to);\n            System.out.println(source + \u0026#34; --\u0026gt; \u0026#34; + destination);\n            towersOfHanoi(discs - 1, to, source, destination);\n        }\n    }\n}\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e","title":"Towers Of Hanoi in Java"},{"content":"The single player portion of Battlefield 1 consists of a collection of individual missions called War Stories, set in different parts of the world. War Stories are definitely better than Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 campaigns, though not as good as Bad Company 2 in my opinion. I obviously did not give the single player any consideration when buying Battlefield 1. I purchased it purely for the multiplayer. I would have preferred to pay for the multiplayer portion of the game and skip the single player entirely, but that is not possible. Hopefully Battlefield will go back to its roots of being a multiplayer only game, at some point.\nThat said, I wanted to see what DICE did this time around. Here are all the missions ranked in the order I enjoyed them.\n1. Storm of Steel Battlefield 1 starts strong. They did a great job with the setting, and even though it is highly linear, it plays out well, and I liked the concept behind it. I played this mission in surround (3 x 2560x1440), and it was quite an experience. Although this war story is fairly short, I enjoyed it the most.\nI know this is an overused term in game marketing, but this mission is very cinematic, and I mean that as a complement. It is unfortunate that this is about as good as it gets for the rest of the game. Once the first mission is completed, rest of the war stories open up and they can be played in any order.\nOne thing to be mentioned here is how the game is not optimized for a surround setup. There are sections where the game does not recognize the additional monitors and only renders on the primary screen. This is disappointing because I wanted to play the entire game in surround mode.\n2. Friends in High Places This is the story about an American pilot who manages to sneak his way into the Royal Flying Corps. What starts as a basic training in dog fighting, turns into a full scale war on the western front. The visuals are excellent, and I enjoyed the flying mechanics. I never play as a pilot in multiplayer, but I enjoyed it in the single player. The production value is very high here, just like in the first mission.\nIn terms of story, everything becomes very absurd towards the end, and all suspension of disbelief is lost. However, the gameplay is entertaining. I highly recommend playing this missions without the HUD elements.\n3. Nothing is Written This mission is set in the middle east, and the later part of the mission takes place in Sinai Desert. It is one of my favorite maps in multiplayer, and after playing this war story, I wish DICE would release a night version of the map. It looks beautiful.\nGameplay was enjoyable because its varied, and there are some interesting weapons that can be picked up from weapon crates. My favorites were the tank hunter rifle and automatico. I thought it was rather funny that main character, Zara Ghufran, gets to run around the desert, mowing enemies down with a Lewis Gun.\n4. Avanti Savoia I have absolutely no idea if any of this is historically accurate, but this mission felt very out of place in a WW1 game. That said, Monte Grappa looks great, and the weather effects are very well done. Another mission that needs to be played without the HUD.\n5. Through Mud and Blood In this mission, you get to drive a British landship through the enemy lines in Germany. I felt that the initial part of the story was well done, but yet again, it devolves into an absurd scenario towards the end. This is a thoroughly run of the mill mission.\n6. The Runner My least favorite mission of the lot. There is nothing original about this particular mission. You run from checkpoint to checkpoint, killing waves of enemies, and predetermined events will trigger cutscenes and it’s very reminiscent of Call of Duty like mission design - I am not a fan of this at all. Thankfully, it is over very quickly.\nOverall, the single player had a lot of potential especially after the excellent start the game got, but it was not capitalized. They resorted to the same gameplay design choices that we saw in countless modern military shooters.\nI am hoping that DICE will give up on single player and focus their efforts on the multiplayer, especially if they cannot do justice to it.\nVerdict - If you are contemplating purchasing this game, do so for the multiplayer, not for the single player.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 04:45:13 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/07/reviews/battlefield1sp-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe single player portion of Battlefield 1 consists of a collection of individual missions called War Stories, set in different parts of the world. War Stories are definitely better than Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 campaigns, though not as good as Bad Company 2 in my opinion. I obviously did not give the single player any consideration when buying Battlefield 1. I purchased it purely for the multiplayer. I would have preferred to pay for the multiplayer portion of the game and skip the single player entirely, but that is not possible. Hopefully Battlefield will go back to its roots of being a multiplayer only game, at some point.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 1 (PC) Single Player Review"},{"content":"Contrary to the popular opinion, I did not enjoy Far Cry 2. I didn’t particularly like the setting, and the gameplay padding in the form of respawning guard posts was very annoying. When Far Cry 3 was announced, I did not have high hopes for it. I thought it was going to be another generic open world shooter made for the consoles and I completely ignored it.\nIn the winter of 2014, Far Cry franchise pack went on sale on Steam, and I thought it might be worth buying it because Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon were included. I paid $9.99 for it. I did not want to pay anywhere close to full price for these games because Far Cry 3 requires Uplay - even the version purchased on Steam.\nThe story of Far Cry 3 centers around a group of tourists getting captured by pirates on a tropical island. The main character has to escape and defeat the pirates. There is a lot more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it.\nThe villain in the game received a lot of attention. I don’t get the hype for this character. I didn’t think it was badly written, quite the opposite, but it is by no means original. I still think Bioshock had the best villain in video games.\nI enjoyed the gameplay in this game a lot more than Far Cry 2. Activating radio towers can be repetitive, it is not as bad as Far Cry 2 with respawning guard posts. In this game, whenever you capture an outpost, it gets taken over by the friendly forces, and it will turn into a safe zone, which can serve as a spawn point. This is way better than having to fight the same enemies repeatedly throughout the game.\nThe shooting mechanics are well done, and there is quite bit of weapon variety, but not a whole lot of customization. As a Battlefield 4 player, I couldn’t help but notice how limited the customization was. That said, they got the core mechanics right, the weapons definitely handle very well.\nIt is possible to approach the outpost missions as you please, but the enemy AI has this supernatural ability to pinpoint your exact location within seconds. When one guard discovers your position, all the guards know where and what to look for. This can get annoying when using the stealth approach, but more often than not, I take a more direct approach, so it didn’t really matter to me. The few times that I tried, I found it to be less fun.\nI do have to mention the UI and the constant hand holding throughout the game. I do not understand why single player games use 3D spotting. I can see this being useful to an extent in multiplayer games, but in my opinion, if at all this exists in single player games, there should be an option to turn it off. As it stands, every enemy can be “spotted”, which puts an overhead icon on the enemy, and this even includes the wildlife\u0026hellip;bad game design.\nExploring the island is a lot of fun, from land vehicles to wing-suit, it’s got everything! This is the part I liked the most about the game. Exploring new areas, finding vantage points to take out enemies using a sniper rifle is very reminiscent of the first Far Cry game.\nApart from the exploration, there is a lot crafting and leveling up mechanics in the game. I used them sparingly. The most important item to craft are the various syringes and backpacks. Syringe kits can be used for healing, and for other buffs such as the special vision which will allow you to scout the surroundings for wildlife etc.\nI didn’t particularly care about the leveling up aspect of the game. This does not have a lot of impact on the gameplay, and I ignored it for the most part.\nThe story is not bad, but some of the missions can be a little annoying, especially when they devolve into QTEs.\nAll in all, I enjoyed the game, and I would recommend it.\nConclusion\n+ Excellent visuals\n+ Weapon variety\n+ Strong gunplay\n+ Large and entertaining map\n- Quick time events\n- Some missions can be repetitive\nVerdict - Worth the price I paid for it.\nThis post is published on Apr 24, 2026 Friday 01:08:39 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/07/reviews/farcry3-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eContrary to the popular opinion, I did not enjoy Far Cry 2. I didn’t particularly like the setting, and the gameplay padding in the form of respawning guard posts was very annoying. When Far Cry 3 was announced, I did not have high hopes for it. I thought it was going to be another generic open world shooter made for the consoles and I completely ignored it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the winter of 2014, Far Cry franchise pack went on sale on Steam, and I thought it might be worth buying it because Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon were included. I paid $9.99 for it. I did not want to pay anywhere close to full price for these games because Far Cry 3 requires Uplay - even the version purchased on Steam.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Far Cry 3 (PC) Review"},{"content":"I wanted to take my mechanical keyboard to work (tired of membrane keyboards). I wanted to buy a new keyboard for my gaming machine and take the one I have to work. I always wanted a Razer keyboard, but I avoided them because they did not come with a wrist rest. It is very uncomfortable for me to type without it.\nWhen the BlackWidow Chroma V2 was announced, I thought I can finally give Razer mechanical keyboards a try. All the reviews I read, said that the keyboard is fantastic, and the wrist rest is the best part.\nSo when it was time to purchase a keyboard, I had to decide between the K70 Rapidfire with Cherry MX Speed switches and BlackWidow Chroma V2. I went with the BlackWidow Chroma with Razer Yellow switches because they are supposed to be equivalent to Cherry MX Speed switches.\nRazer BlackWidow Chroma V2 with Razer Yellow switches\nThe build quality is fantastic. It has the feel of a premium keyboard. The switches felt a lot like Cherry MX Red switches - I did not have a problem with this. I just wanted a linear and silent switch.\nAll that said, I found the keyboard to be unusable. The entire reason for buying a Razer keyboard was the premium wrist rest. Unfortunately for me, this wrist rest made the keyboard very difficult to use.\nThe wrist rest comes with padding, therefore it is about as high as the spacebar. This might seem like a minor detail, but this meant that my wrist is angled downwards when I am typing. It just doesn\u0026rsquo;t feel right, and after a while, it started to hurt a little bit. In addition to this, the awkward posture meant that I was making a lot of typing mistakes.\nThe other minor complaint I had was with the LEDs; the entire numbers row is not fully illuminated. It only illuminates the numbers and not the symbols. I am not sure if this is intentional or if it is a defect. I do not see why they would choose not to fully illuminate the keycap\u0026hellip;I would not have returned the keyboard because of this, but it is something to think about when deciding between the BlackWidow and the K70 Rapidfire, which does not have this problem.\nI really loved the keyboard, but given that I spend a lot of time at the computer, I did not see any reason to spend this kind of money and still experience discomfort. So I returned it and purchased a K70 Rapidfire RGB instead.\nThe K70 does things right. Keys are better illuminated, the wrist rest is comfortable, and its cheaper.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 12:19:30 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/07/2017-07-15-razerblackwidowchromav2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to take my mechanical keyboard to work (tired of membrane keyboards). I wanted to buy a new keyboard for my gaming machine and take the one I have to work. I always wanted a Razer keyboard, but I avoided them because they did not come with a wrist rest. It is very uncomfortable for me to type without it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the BlackWidow Chroma V2 was announced, I thought I can finally give Razer mechanical keyboards a try. All the reviews I read, said that the keyboard is fantastic, and the wrist rest is the best part.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Razer BalckWidow Chroma V2 Review"},{"content":"I was looking forward to a sequel to Max Payne 2 for many years. When Max Payne 3 was announced, I eagerly waited for the reviews. They confirmed what I had suspected, this game deviated quite a bit from the classic Max Payne games. This was disappointing for me, so I did not buy it at launch. I picked it up on a sale for $3.99.\nI am glad I did not pay more because this game is a thoroughly disappointing experience for me. I will never replay it, and it was uninstalled the moment I finished the game.\nMax Payne and Max Payne 2 were not just great games, but they were great PC games. They have all the features you would expect from a proper PC game - quick save, quick load, smooth controls, support for mods etc.\nAll of this is gone in Max Payne 3. Other than the visuals, everything took a step back from the previous games.\nThe biggest complaint I have with the game is the gameplay, which has changed for the worse, in my opinion. It is heavily scripted. Every combat sequence is followed by a cut scene. It is not possible to enter and exit an area without a cinematic. It was interesting the first few times, but it gets old, very quickly. The game gives very little control to the player when it comes to exploring areas. Entering a room is now done in the form of an in-game cinematic.\nOut of the 9 hours I spent playing the game on normal difficulty, I get the feeling that I was watching cut scenes for probably 50% of the time. This hurt the pacing of the game. It’s almost as if Rockstar wanted to make a movie, but were forced to add some gameplay to it.\nThe change of the setting did not work for me either. I prefer the snowy New England setting for Max Payne as opposed to the sunny, tropical Brazil. The comic book storytelling is replaced by blurry cinematics with a film grain filter. This does not feel like a Max Payne game, but more like a Kane Lynch game.\nThe smooth controls from the previous games are gone. They are replaced by relatively sluggish controls, which are very reminiscent of GTA 4, although not as bad. There is a cover mechanic, and every firefight devolves into a peaking from cover and taking pot shots at enemies. There is bullet time of course and it definitely works well, but even that is nothing original anymore. It has been done to death in video games since the first Max Payne.\nThe game is perfectly functional for me. I never had any technical issues. All my complaints with the game are gameplay related. There was some cool moments during the short campaign, but overall it is a disappointment for me.\nVerdict - Not Recommended.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 04:56:10 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/07/reviews/maxpayne3-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was looking forward to a sequel to Max Payne 2 for many years. When Max Payne 3 was announced, I eagerly waited for the reviews. They confirmed what I had suspected, this game deviated quite a bit from the classic Max Payne games. This was disappointing for me, so I did not buy it at launch. I picked it up on a sale for $3.99.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am glad I did not pay more because this game is a thoroughly disappointing experience for me. I will never replay it, and it was uninstalled the moment I finished the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Max Payne 3 (PC) Review"},{"content":"The last Wolfenstein game I played was the 2009’s Wolfenstein developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It was a fairly underwhelming experience, and it did not do well commercially, which resulted in layoffs, and the rights to this franchise were sold to Bethesda Softworks.\nMachine Games ended up working on the next game in the series, Wolfenstein: The New Order. I thought they did a better job than Raven Software, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein still remains my favorite game in the series.\nThis game begins three years after the events of the last game. Despite the destruction of Black Sun Portal in the last game, Nazis make a comeback and win the war against the Allies. Rest of the game takes place 14 years after the war, and Nazis have dominated the world or at least the western hemisphere from what I can tell. The situation is about as bad as you think it would be with Nazis at the helm. It is once again up to Blazkowicz and his friends to destroy the Nazis and free the world.\nAmerica surrenders!\nThe gameplay is linear but it is not like Call of Duty. There is some freedom in the way the player can approach a situation, but there is very little choice in story progression. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I do not expect Wolfenstein games to be open ended. I do expect them to be well optimized for the PC, and not resort to console gameplay mechanics.\nThe game is a PC port, and while it is not awful, it definitely suffers in some areas because of it. The visuals are not great in my opinion. I expected better graphics. They are not terrible, but looking back at the footage of Wolfenstein (2009), I felt this game does not look a whole lot better. Also, the framerate is locked at 60FPS. I’ve been told that this is a standard for idTech5 games. There are some mods that will unlock the framerate, but I read that physics are tied to the framerate (like most games designed for the console), and therefore unlocking the framerate could cause issues. I haven’t personally tested these mods.\nGraphics settings\nIn addition to the 60FPS cap, there are unskippable intro logos, the silly warning about not turning off the machine when the game is saving progress (which is a staple of console ports), lack of quick save and quick load etc. They definitely did not go the extra mile for the PC.\nAnother very annoying omission is the ability to use Mouse 4 and Mouse 5 buttons. There is no way I could map any actions to these buttons in the game. I am so used to binding these buttons to certain weapons that I find myself using them during combat, and getting killed because nothing happens when I press them. Took a while for it to sink in.\nOn a positive note, I think they did a good job with the environments and level design. An insight is shown into how the citizens are controlled by the media. You hear certain conversations about how the government targets individuals who do not conform to what they consider to be “moral behavior”. That said, they really try to hammer home the idea that Nazis are racist. Sometimes, it is subtle and clever, and other times it\u0026rsquo;s just lazy writing.\nAryan features! Haha!\nMore often than not, I do not care about parallels to current political events in video games, because game developers pushing their own point of view, however noble they consider it to be, is something I regard as propaganda in and of itself. Gaming for me is an escape, and while I can appreciate a slight nod to certain social issues, I do not care to be preached. For the most part, this game avoided that.\nMoving on to weapons, I thought they did a pretty good job with it, but the system of weapons management was very poor. We now have a weapons wheel, which serves the purpose but the weapon variety is not great as the last game. I really enjoyed dual wielding weapons though. Pistols are weak, but the rifles and shotguns are strong and fun to use. There are some stealth sections thrown in here and there, to change the gameplay, and they are not too bad. The annoying thing about stealth sections is that the game decides to strip the player of all weapons at the start of the level. All the ammo acquired prior to the level is gone. I can understand if this happens once, but that is not the case.\nThe New Order is definitely worth playing for FPS fans, but I am not sure it\u0026rsquo;s worth full price. I paid $6.59 and I think I got my money’s worth. If you can find it for that price, I recommend picking it up.\nVerdict - Wait for sale\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 06:48:20 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/07/reviews/wolfensteinneworder-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe last Wolfenstein game I played was the 2009’s Wolfenstein developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It was a fairly underwhelming experience, and it did not do well commercially, which resulted in layoffs, and the rights to this franchise were sold to Bethesda Softworks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMachine Games ended up working on the next game in the series, Wolfenstein: The New Order. I thought they did a better job than Raven Software, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein still remains my favorite game in the series.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC) Review"},{"content":"This is the first comic book based video game I played to completion. There are a lot of things to like about Arkham Asylum, but it has the usual console game design flaws.\nThe highlight of this game is the combat. It is a lot of fun when they let you have a free reign on how to approach enemies. There are often multiple ways of approaching an area. Stealth is almost always a viable option, and the game does a good job of giving player the tools needed to make different strategies possible. Chaining combos and using the batarangs to stun enemies is fantastic. I did not mind retrying certain sections a few times over to get the perfect result.\nGothic art inside the asylum\nVisuals and audio are fantastic. The game is locked at 60FPS. I did not mind this. The graphics are excellent, and I loved the setting. The game is set in the asylum at night. The art stays true to the source with the gothic architecture and the nighttime setting.\nMusic and voice acting are also excellent. Joker is the highlight among all the characters. Batman as usual is very monotone, Joker being the exact opposite. Mark Hamill did a fantastic job as the voice of Joker. I thoroughly enjoyed it.\nPlayer movement is a common complaint with console ports. GTA 4 is an example of sluggish player movement. Not the case here. It’s smooth and responsive.\nAll the complaints I have with this game are the console design choices. Checkpoint saves only, with no save slots. The only option allows you to load the last checkpoint. Yet again, the PC version suffers due to console limitations. While this is not a major problem, it can be annoying during certain tedious sections, especially the longwinded boss fights.\nAsylum courtyard\nIn certain sections, the camera perspective switches to either a fixed perspective or turns the game into a platformer. The scarecrow sections could have been so much better, but in the name of gameplay variety, they felt compelled to do this. I do not care for it at all. These are by far the most boring parts of the game. Thankfully, the game is not very difficult, except for the final boss fight, which is needlessly frustrating.\nAnother annoying issue is the unskippable intos whenever the game is launched. There is a manual fix for this. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186804991\nThere are far too many hints throughout the game, and the interface can be very cluttered because of this. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t leave a lot to the player imagination. I looked through the game options to see if I could disable the hints, like I could in Bioshock and Deus Ex Human Revolution, but there is no such option.\nJoker Asylum\nThe game employs this very unoriginal concept of magically locking doors to restrict movement, and they magically unlock after whatever predefined event is completed. A console classic, the low hanging fruit of game design. It was annoying when Wolfinstein (2009) did it, and its annoying now.\nI paid $4.99 for this game, and I think its worth it. I would not recommend paying anything more than that. Also, I did not try for 100% completion. I do not have that kind of time in life. I have a lot of games to finish, so I stuck to the main quest. Steam tells me I played a total of 16 hours to beat the game.\nIn closing, it can be a lot of fun, but it suffers somewhat because the developers did not take full advantage of the PC platform.\nVerdict - Wait for sale.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 08:14:19 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/05/reviews/batmanarkhamasylum-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the first comic book based video game I played to completion. There are a lot of things to like about Arkham Asylum, but it has the usual console game design flaws.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe highlight of this game is the combat. It is a lot of fun when they let you have a free reign on how to approach enemies. There are often multiple ways of approaching an area. Stealth is almost always a viable option, and the game does a good job of giving player the tools needed to make different strategies possible. Chaining combos and using the batarangs to stun enemies is fantastic. I did not mind retrying certain sections a few times over to get the perfect result.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Batman Arkham Asylum (PC) Review"},{"content":"I am not sure how to review a game like this. I enjoyed it, but it has flaws. It reminds me a lot of STALKER in that way. Good story, and level design made me play this game to the end, but quite a few of mechanics are unpolished. I am hoping the sequels address these issues.\nThe highlights of this game are characters, environment, story and music. I thoroughly enjoyed the setting, and the music is perfect. It is a true classic in my opinion, right up there with Deus Ex and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I have not played any of the other games in the series yet, but this game has set an excellent platform for future games.\nThe world is fairly well built. The game involves you revisiting some locations, after they have transformed quite a bit, and I think the art team has done a great job showing this transformation. Vizima levels are fantastic, and the swamp and sewer areas are my least favorite.\nVizima on fire\nThe story is well told, and they do a good job of keeping the player invested. It was interesting to see how the choices I made are going to impact the the end game.\nControls takes some getting used to. This game is somewhat like Mass Effect; there is no jump, or crouch, and the movement is very stiff. I never felt I had full control over the character\u0026rsquo;s actions. During combat this lack of control will result in some very cheap deaths, especially because Geralt puts his sword away at the beginning of most cutscenes before battle, and as soon as the cutscene is over, a number of enemies will jump at you, and the delay in drawing out the sword will drain some precious health. Who thought this was a good idea? They had to have done this intentionally. One wonders what their rationale was for such a silly mechanic.\nBoss battles can be extremely annoying. Just about every boss battle follows the same formula. A cutscene, followed by some dialogue and then combat begins by trapping you in the area in some manner. This may not sound bad, but considering it is not possible to save the game during combat, dying would mean having to go through the cutscene and dialogue each time. The lack of quick save and quick load only adds to the pain. This is bad game design in my opinion.\nPropaganda\nHealth system is needlessly convoluted. As I understand it, health regenerates automatically at a very slow rate. Eating food should accelerate the rate of regeneration, but its hardly helpful in a combat situation. Geralt has to stop in his tracks and consume food, and this will most likely get you killed. Same goes for health potions. Why the character cannot be in motion while consuming food or potions, I do not know.\nThe dialogue and voice acting can range from excellent to goofy. Same character models are used all over the game, to the point where, you can have four NPC characters talking to each other that look identical.\nAlchemy is another mechanic that was not fully fleshed out. It is possible to craft a lot of potions, but the ones I used most frequently are for regenerating health faster, and then a potion to reduce the toxicity caused by using these health potions. This never made any sense to me. Why would health potions have toxic properties? Either way, I felt like Alchemy was a wasted opportunity in terms of affecting gameplay. The fact that all potions increase toxicity, meant that I had no real to use them, unless absolutely necessary.\nDay night cycle are done very well\nI still maintain that this game, in-spite of its flaws, is a lot of fun and it is worth playing. I am contemplating installing Witcher 2 right now to pick up where I left off.\nConclusion\n+ Story\n+ Lore\n+ Graphics (at times)\n+ Quests\n- Combat (at times)\n- Voice acting\n- Character models\n- Convoluted health system\n- Annoying boss battles\n- Lack of quick save in a PC exclusive game!\nVerdict - Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 05:39:42 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/05/reviews/witcher-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am not sure how to review a game like this. I enjoyed it, but it has flaws. It reminds me a lot of STALKER in that way. Good story, and level design made me play this game to the end, but quite a few of mechanics are unpolished. I am hoping the sequels address these issues.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe highlights of this game are characters, environment, story and music. I thoroughly enjoyed the setting, and the music is perfect. It is a true classic in my opinion, right up there with Deus Ex and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I have not played any of the other games in the series yet, but this game has set an excellent platform for future games.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Witcher Review"},{"content":"I am primarily an FPS gamer and my game of choice at the moment is Battlefield 1. I played RTS games in the past, but for the last 4 years or so, different iterations of Battlefield have kept me occupied. I do not play any MOBA games, so everything said here is from the perspective of an online FPS gamer.\nAs for my mouse grip, I am fine with using a claw grip mouse for work, but for games, I absolutely need a palm grip mouse with easily accessible thumb buttons. Playing games with a mouse that does not offer this, just does not feel right. In the past, I have briefly used Razer Lachesis, and Razer Imperator. The Lachesis was unusable for me, it was too flat for my liking. Imperator felt a lot better in comparison, but it was not as good as the DeathAdder.\nThe DeathAdder I am using now, was purchased on 10/24/2013 at Amazon for $52.99. It has served me well until now, but it started to have an issue with the left click, where one click would register as two. In Battlefield 1, when I am using a semi auto rifle, this would translate into firing two shots in quick succession. This often led to missing my target, and it is very frustrating, especially when using the Autoloading .35 because of its small magazine (5 rounds).\nI reached out to Razer, and they told me the mouse had a two year warranty, therefore they couldn’t help me. I decided to buy another mouse. I watched a video by MarbleDuck, a Battlefield Youtuber who is also a member of Symthic, and in his video he mentioned that he preferred the Mionix Castor because of its superior sensor.\nMionix Castor\nThe hand side has a rubber grip, but the right hand side doesn\u0026rsquo;t\nI read reviews online, and while it was not strictly meant for palm grip users, I decided to give it a try considering how highly it was recommended. I purchased it on Amazon for $58.99 + taxes. Within the first 5 minutes of use in Battlefield 1, it became clear to me that I will not enjoy this mouse. The right hand side of the mouse does not have a rubber grip, the thumb buttons are not in an ideal location, and they are not flat in shape, therefore clicking them feels a lot different compared to DeathAdder.\nIn my opinion, the Mionix Castor is not suited for someone with larger hands who favors a palm grip.\nI returned the mouse for a full refund and purchased the DeathAdder 2013 for $39.99. It looks like it doesn’t get any better than the DeathAdder for me.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 03:08:41 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/04/reviews/mionixcastor-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am primarily an FPS gamer and my game of choice at the moment is Battlefield 1. I played RTS games in the past, but for the last 4 years or so, different iterations of Battlefield have kept me occupied. I do not play any MOBA games, so everything said here is from the perspective of an online FPS gamer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs for my mouse grip, I am fine with using a claw grip mouse for work, but for games, I absolutely need a palm grip mouse with easily accessible thumb buttons. Playing games with a mouse that does not offer this, just does not feel right. In the past, I have briefly used Razer Lachesis, and Razer Imperator. The Lachesis was unusable for me, it was too flat for my liking. Imperator felt a lot better in comparison, but it was not as good as the DeathAdder.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mionix Castor Review"},{"content":"This is footage of a full round of Amiens. It was played on 12/31/2016. We absolutely dominated the enemy team in the heavy tank. Amiens is an excellent map, and it is very rare to have an one sided round, but in this case, the enemy team just couldn\u0026rsquo;t capture enough points to put up a fight.\nI went 29-0, where I spent most of the round in the heavy tank. Towards the end of the round, the tank got destroyed, but I survived, and picked up the flame trooper kit. I went to do some damage with this kit, and I got killed just as the round ended (17:25).\nThe game is played on my Skylake machine with I7 6700K and MSI GeForce GTX1080.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/03/2017-03-06-amiensfullround-battlefield1diary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is footage of a full round of Amiens. It was played on 12/31/2016. We absolutely dominated the enemy team in the heavy tank. Amiens is an excellent map, and it is very rare to have an one sided round, but in this case, the enemy team just couldn\u0026rsquo;t capture enough points to put up a fight.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI went 29-0, where I spent most of the round in the heavy tank. Towards the end of the round, the tank got destroyed, but I survived, and picked up the flame trooper kit. I went to do some damage with this kit, and I got killed just as the round ended (17:25).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Amiens Full Round - Battlefield 1 Diary"},{"content":"I purchased the Corsair K70 Rapidfire with Cherry MX Speed switches on Amazon for $99.99. Considering that a budget membrane keyboard can be had for around $15, these keyboards are for enthusiasts.\nThat said, just like I prefer a 144Hz monitor to a 60Hz monitor, I prefer a mechanical keyboard over a membrane keyboard. I have used quite a few mechanical keyboards over the last few years, and I think the search for the perfect keyboard for me, ends with the K70 with Cherry MX Speed switches.\nEverything comes down to preference, and I prefer a keyboard with a wrist rest, standard keyboard layout with a numpad (I work from home often, so I need it), USB pass through, and backlit with what I like to call warm colors (red/orange or yellow).As for switches, after using different switch types, I realized I prefer linear switches.\nThis keyboard has all the above-mentioned features. In the package, they included a keycap remover, some custom textured key caps for FPS and MOBA games. I installed the WASD keycaps, and I really like how they feel.\nNow for the switches themselves. After using Kailh Brown, Cherry Red, Blue, Speed, and Razer Green, I feel that the Speed switches are the most comfortable. Whether its typing or gaming, these feel just right. After long hours of work or a gaming session, I never have the finger fatigue I felt when using any other keyboard. In this regard, the Blue switches were the worst for me.\nI prefer these over the Cherry MX Red. Going back to my K70 with Red switches, I can immediately feel the difference in actuation point. I only have to lightly tap the keys for them to actuate on the Cherry MX Speed keyboard.\nI got the feeling that actuation force is also less for Speed switches, compared to the Red switches, but this is not the case. They both require a 45g actuation force.\nI think I got my money’s worth. This particular line of keyboards are targeted for gamers, but I will definitely recommend this for non-gamers as well. If you prefer smooth, linear switches, then the Speed switches are definitely worth trying. For those of who have used membrane keyboards, the price of mechanical keyboards might seem absurdly high, but I recommend trying a few to see if they are to your liking. From a comfort standpoint, the Speed switches definitely surpass the best of the membrane keyboards (from my experience).\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 07:28:42 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/02/2017-02-26-corsair70rapidfire-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased the Corsair K70 Rapidfire with Cherry MX Speed switches on Amazon for $99.99. Considering that a budget membrane keyboard can be had for around $15, these keyboards are for enthusiasts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, just like I prefer a 144Hz monitor to a 60Hz monitor, I prefer a mechanical keyboard over a membrane keyboard. I have used quite a few mechanical keyboards over the last few years, and I think the search for the perfect keyboard for me, ends with the K70 with Cherry MX Speed switches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Corsair K70 RAPIDFIRE Cherry MX Speed Review"},{"content":"I run a Windows 7 VM on a Windows 10 Host OS. I\u0026rsquo;ve been having issues with the VM freezing intermittently. The host OS does not have any issues. I have to shut down the VM through VMware controls, and restart it.\nVMware Player Version\nI looked at the VMware log to find this error -\n2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestMsg: Channel 2, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed 2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestRpc: Reinitializing Channel 0(toolbox-dnd) 2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestMsg: Channel 0, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed 2017-02-13T20:24:30.429-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:24:36.432-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:24:42.735-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:24:48.710-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:25:00.711-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:25:14.736-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:25:30.789-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:25:48.203-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets. 2017-02-13T20:25:51.683-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure if this was strictly related at first, but I noticed this error was in the log every time the VM froze. I did some research online, and there was a post on the VMware forums (don\u0026rsquo;t have the link at the moment), where someone suggested changing the send and receive buffers.\nIn device manager in the Windows VM, I accessed the properties for the network card. I changed the Transmit and Receive from 256 to 512. I did this a week ago, and so far, I have not had any issues.\nTransmit Buffers\nReceive Buffers\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/02/2017-02-18-win7vmfreeze/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI run a Windows 7 VM on a Windows 10 Host OS. I\u0026rsquo;ve been having issues with the VM freezing intermittently. The host OS does not have any issues. I have to shut down the VM through VMware controls, and restart it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/win7vmfreeze/01-win7vmfreeze-2-18-2017-2-43-38PM.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/win7vmfreeze/01-win7vmfreeze-2-18-2017-2-43-38PM.png#center\"\n         alt=\"VMware Player Version\" width=\"512\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eVMware Player Version\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI looked at the VMware log to find this error -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestMsg: Channel 2, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed\n2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestRpc: Reinitializing Channel 0(toolbox-dnd)\n2017-02-13T20:24:26.983-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestMsg: Channel 0, Cannot unpost because the previous post is already completed\n2017-02-13T20:24:30.429-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:24:36.432-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:24:42.735-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:24:48.710-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:25:00.711-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:25:14.736-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:25:30.789-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:25:48.203-06:00| vmx| I125: E1000: E1000 rx ring full, drain packets.\n2017-02-13T20:25:51.683-06:00| vmx| I125: GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eI wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure if this was strictly related at first, but I noticed this error was in the log every time the VM froze. I did some research online, and there was a post on the VMware forums (don\u0026rsquo;t have the link at the moment), where someone suggested changing the send and receive buffers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"VM on Windows 7 Freezing with VMware Player 12"},{"content":"I played the GOG version. I would recommend this over the Steam version because it has no DRM. I purchased it for $5.99. I think it is well worth the price.\nThe Witcher 2 has done a lot of things better than the original. It is an overall polished game. This also meant that it is much more mainstream, and some elements are made with the consoles in mind.\nCombat received a much needed overhaul. It is more free flowing, and it an overall better experience. It has some quirks, such as the target locking system, which can be unwieldy at times, especially when multiple enemies attack in a very narrow corridor. Combat styles are gone, and there is much reliance on dodging and using signs. I enjoyed this system a lot more compared to the first game.\nLetho\nStory picks up where the first game left off. It has a lot of very interesting side quests, and the main quest sets itself up for the next game. I am looking forward to playing The Witcher 3.\nI imported a save from the first game. I am not quite sure how this has changed the game compared to starting without importing a save file. I took a backup of the savegames, so if Witcher 3 allows me to import them, I intend to do so.\nBeautiful underground pool\nThe choices in the game have a much larger impact than in the previous game. I discovered that depending on some key decisions made in the first act, the second act will branch into different story lines and then both converge for the 3rd act. This offers a lot of replay value.\nVisuals got a huge upgrade compared to the first game. I installed the Better Texture Environment Mod. The game looks fantastic on my GeForce 1080 on Windows 10. I played it at 2560x1440 on ultra settings with Uber Sampling disabled, and it rarely ever dropped below 100FPS. Enabling Uber Sampling would drop the FPS to around 50. I did not see any improvement with it enabled.\nGame settings panel\nThe game is fairly stable on Windows 10. It did crash to the desktop a few times, but other than these one off crashes, I did not experience any stability issues.\nFor all the freedom the game offers, the boss battles are terrible. There is no room for improvisation here. This is by far the worst thing about the game for me.\nMountain village\nSkills is another aspect that could have been a lot better. I went through the entire game without allocating a single point to alchemy. There was no reason to use it. Just make sure you upgrade Quen, and upgrade your swordsmanship, and you are good to go.\nThere were only a few instances where I found potions to be useful. Certain sections of the game require you to drink a potion, but otherwise, Cat was the only potion I found useful.\nCat potion\nThe inventory system is a mess. It is very poorly designed. The developers announced at the time that they were targeting consoles as the primary platform. The inventory system in the first game was far superior compared to this.\nAll in all, it is a fantastic game. I thoroughly recommend it.\nThis post is published on Apr 13, 2026 Monday 05:05:58 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/02/reviews/witcher2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI played the GOG version. I would recommend this over the Steam version because it has no DRM. I purchased it for $5.99. I think it is well worth the price.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Witcher 2 has done a lot of things better than the original. It is an overall polished game. This also meant that it is much more mainstream, and some elements are made with the consoles in mind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCombat received a much needed overhaul. It is more free flowing, and it an overall better experience. It has some quirks, such as the target locking system, which can be unwieldy at times, especially when multiple enemies attack in a very narrow corridor. Combat styles are gone, and there is much reliance on dodging and using signs. I enjoyed this system a lot more compared to the first game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Witcher 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Walking simulators have received a lot of attention in the gaming media lately. Having never played one, I wanted to try Dear Esther.\nThe game is built on the Source engine. The story begins on an uninhabited island, and the narrator recounts events from the past, as you slowly walk through the levels. If you have played the game, and didn\u0026rsquo;t fully grasp all the details of the story, I recommend reading the story analysis done by Pop Matters, which can be found HERE .\nIt takes about an hour to finish the game. Its an enjoyable one hour for sure. There are four levels in the game, each level will take about 15 minutes or so to complete, and they are all beautiful, with the Underground levels being the highlight. They put the Source engine to good use.\nThe gameplay is very simplistic. The player slowly walks (can\u0026rsquo;t change the walking speed) through the levels with narration in the background. The game has absolutely no interactivity.\nThe main menu does not show any load or save options. There is a quick save and quick load option using hot keys, but you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t know this unless you were looking for it in the key bindings. The interface is very minimal - this is a good thing for the game. I am glad they gave this option because I revisited the under ground level (the best level in the game), I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have bothered to do so without the quick save.\nDear Esther is significant in terms of giving birth to the genre. Without it, there may not be an Abzu and Firewatch. I still can\u0026rsquo;t recommend paying $9.99 for this game. I got it as a part of a Humble India Bundle 8. I paid $1 for four games, and I think I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth. I would be disappointed if I spent the full asking price given that there is absolutely no replay value.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 09:18:23 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/02/reviews/dearesther-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWalking simulators have received a lot of attention in the gaming media lately. Having never played one, I wanted to try Dear Esther.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game is built on the Source engine. The story begins on an uninhabited island, and the narrator recounts events from the past, as you slowly walk through the levels. If you have played the game, and didn\u0026rsquo;t fully grasp all the details of the story, I recommend reading the story analysis done by Pop Matters, which can be found \u003ca href=\"http://www.popmatters.com/post/164085-/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  HERE\n\u003c/a\u003e\n.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dear Esther (PC) Review"},{"content":"In 2013 I purchased GeForce GTX780, and Battlefield 3 was my main game at the time. I ran the game at ultra settings to see how it was going to handle it. I have never played games at such high settings before, so I was thrilled at this prospect.\nI was using the Hannspree HZ281HPB monitor at the time with a resolution of 1920x1200. At ultra settings, the 780 managed to deliver around 45-60 FPS, which at the time was great. Below is a video I recorded in June 2013.\nNow, in 2017 after my most recent PC upgrade, I decided to revisit Battlefield 3 to see how it will perform on my new machine.\nHere are the main components -\nIntel Core i7-6700K MSI Z170A GAMING G.Skill Ripjaws 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card Asus ROG SWIFT PG278Q 27.0\u0026#34; 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor Here is a link for the full specification - https://pcpartpicker.com/b/c97Pxr\nUnsurprisingly, Battlefield 3 on ultra settings ran like a charm. The frame rate barely ever dipped before 100FPS at a resolution of 2560x1440. Combined with GSYNC, it was a great experience.\nI intend to do the same kind of comparison with Battlefield 4.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 12:24:21 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/01/2017-01-14-backtokarkandin2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2013 I purchased GeForce GTX780, and Battlefield 3 was my main game at the time. I ran the game at ultra settings to see how it was going to handle it. I have never played games at such high settings before, so I was thrilled at this prospect.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was using the Hannspree HZ281HPB monitor at the time with a resolution of 1920x1200. At ultra settings, the 780 managed to deliver around 45-60 FPS, which at the time was great. Below is a video I recorded in June 2013.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand in 2017"},{"content":"In order to minimize the money I am going to spend on video games in 2017, I decided to make a list of games I want to finish before buying any new games, with the exception of Battlefield 1 Premium. I will buy the DLC pack for Battlefield 1 when the first DLC launches, and hopefully, I can find it a discounted price.\nSo here is a list of all the games, I want to finish before buying any new releases (Other than BF1 Premium) -\nAlan Wake Batman Arkham Origins Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition Batman: Arkham City GOTY Battlefield 1 SP BioShock Infinite Borderlands Borderlands 2 Call of Juarez Call of Juarez Bound in Blood Call of Juarez Gunslinger Commandos Strike Force Crysis 3 Dead Island Dear Esther Dishonored Dying Light Fallout: New Vegas Hard Reset Hitman: Blood Money Metro: Last Light Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Painkiller Hell \u0026amp; Damnation Rainbow Six Vegas Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Spec Ops: The Line The Witcher 2 Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell Blacklist Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Conviction Tom Clancy\u0026rsquo;s Splinter Cell: Double Agent Tomb Raider 2013 Trine 2 Watch Dogs 2 Wolfenstein: The New Order I don\u0026rsquo;t intend to finish them in any particular order. I will post about my progress through this list over the course of this year.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 08:20:17 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2017/01/2017-01-02-backlog-gaming-challenge/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn order to minimize the money I am going to spend on video games in 2017, I decided to make a list of games I want to finish before buying any new games, with the exception of Battlefield 1 Premium. I will buy the DLC pack for Battlefield 1 when the first DLC launches, and hopefully, I can find it a discounted price.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo here is a list of all the games, I want to finish before buying any new releases (Other than BF1 Premium) -\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2017 Backlog Gaming Challenge"},{"content":"On the evening of December 27, 2016, after I got home from work, I didn’t really have much to do. So I wanted to play some games. I decided to play Battlefield 1 because I did not play it in a while (or any games for that matter) due to Christmas travel.\nI started the game, and joined an official server, like I always do. The round was on Amiens, followed by Ballroom Blitz. I did extremely well on both, and my team won those two rounds. I was going to quit at this point, but I decided to play one more round because I love Empire’s Edge.\nI had two good rounds, and I was very certain this round would be a disaster, so much so that I said that in chat. What followed was one of the best rounds of BF1 I ever played.\nEnjoy.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/12/2016-12-28-onepointvictory-battlefield1diary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn the evening of December 27, 2016, after I got home from work, I didn’t really have much to do. So I wanted to play some games. I decided to play Battlefield 1 because I did not play it in a while (or any games for that matter) due to Christmas travel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI started the game, and joined an official server, like I always do. The round was on Amiens, followed by Ballroom Blitz. I did extremely well on both, and my team won those two rounds. I was going to quit at this point, but I decided to play one more round because I love Empire’s Edge.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Point Victory - Battlefield 1 Diary"},{"content":"I decided to make a list of games I want to play in 2017. I realized that I will never get to finish and play all the games I own. I have 210 games on Steam, I finished about 40 of those, so I got a long way to go. I combed through GOG, Origin, Uplay and Steam and came up with this list -\nAlan Wake Assassins Creed 3 - Got it for free on Uplay. Never played an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game before, and I am not sure how well received this game was. I hear good things about Black Flag\u0026hellip;but there is not a whole lot of talk about this one. Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman: Arkham City Battlefield 1 Single Player BioShock Infinite Borderlands Borderlands 2 Call of Juarez Call of Juarez 2 Bound in Blood Call of Juarez Gunslinger Commandos 3 - I am not sure if I will get to finish this game. Its difficult, and the fact that resolution is restricted to 1024x768 adds to the difficulty. I would still like to finish this. Commandos Strike Force - The last game in the Commandos series. I would like to finish this purely for nostalgia sake. Company of Heroes 2 Crysis 3 - Purchased this on Origin for a very low price. Its a good game to test my GeForce GTX 1080 Dear Esther - The very first walking simulator\u0026hellip;I\u0026rsquo;d like to see what they are all about. Dishonored Dying Light Fallout New Vegas - I haven\u0026rsquo;t played a Fallout game in a very long time. I think New Vegas would be a good game to get back into the series. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Hard Reset Max Payne 3 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Got it on Steam sale a few days ago. Watch Dogs 2 - Got it free with my Samsung SSD Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings - Finished The Witcher over the weekend. This game is next on the list. Wolfenstein: The New Order - Picked it up on sale a few days ago I want to make sure I don\u0026rsquo;t buy a whole lot of games in 2017. If at all I end up buying games, these are the ones on my watch list -\nBattlefield 1 Premium - My most wanted \u0026ldquo;game\u0026rdquo;. I did not pre order BF1 and I did not buy Premium at launch. DICE did a fantastic job with BF1 so far, so I think I will pick this one at some point before the first DLC comes out. Doom - If I can get this for under $10, I will pick up. The Witcher 3 GOTY - I am going to buy this game at some point\u0026hellip;no question about it. Wolfenstein Old Blood - I hear its not as good as the main game, but if I get it for cheap, I think its worth checking out. This post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 08:27:13 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/12/2016-12-12-mustplaygames2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI decided to make a list of games I want to play in 2017. I realized that I will never get to finish and play all the games I own. I have 210 games on Steam, I finished about 40 of those, so I got a long way to go. I combed through GOG, Origin, Uplay and Steam and came up with this list -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlan Wake\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAssassins Creed 3 - \u003cem\u003eGot it for free on Uplay. Never played an Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Creed game before, and I am not sure how well received this game was. I hear good things about Black Flag\u0026hellip;but there is not a whole lot of talk about this one.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBatman: Arkham Asylum\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBatman: Arkham City\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBattlefield 1 Single Player\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBioShock Infinite\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorderlands\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorderlands 2\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCall of Juarez\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCall of Juarez 2 Bound in Blood\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCall of Juarez Gunslinger\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCommandos 3 - \u003cem\u003eI am not sure if I will get to finish this game. Its difficult, and the fact that resolution is restricted to 1024x768 adds to the difficulty. I would still like to finish this.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCommandos Strike Force - \u003cem\u003eThe last game in the Commandos series. I would like to finish this purely for nostalgia sake.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCompany of Heroes 2\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCrysis 3 - \u003cem\u003ePurchased this on Origin for a very low price. Its a good game to test my GeForce GTX 1080\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDear Esther - \u003cem\u003eThe very first walking simulator\u0026hellip;I\u0026rsquo;d like to see what they are all about.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDishonored\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDying Light\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFallout New Vegas - \u003cem\u003eI haven\u0026rsquo;t played a Fallout game in a very long time. I think New Vegas would be a good game to get back into the series.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFar Cry 3 Blood Dragon\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHard Reset\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMax Payne 3\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - \u003cem\u003eGot it on Steam sale a few days ago.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWatch Dogs 2 - \u003cem\u003eGot it free with my Samsung SSD\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWitcher 2: Assassins Of Kings - \u003cem\u003eFinished The Witcher over the weekend. This game is next on the list.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWolfenstein: The New Order - \u003cem\u003ePicked it up on sale a few days ago\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to make sure I don\u0026rsquo;t buy a whole lot of games in 2017. If at all I end up buying games, these are the ones on my watch list -\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Must Play Games In 2017"},{"content":"This full round of Armored Shield was recorded on May 1, 2013, using FRAPS. Quality is terrible. I managed to do well and reach the top of the scoreboard. That does not happen too often.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/12/2016-12-07-armoredshield/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis full round of Armored Shield was recorded on May 1, 2013, using FRAPS. Quality is terrible. I managed to do well and reach the top of the scoreboard. That does not happen too often.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/shKpYB5Po5Y?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Armored Shield Full Round - Battlefield 3 (PC)"},{"content":"I know I am about 8 years late to the GTA 4 PC party. When I first saw this game announced for the PC, it looked great in the trailers but I couldn’t buy it at launch because it was too expensive. I picked this up for $7.50 during a steam sale, therefore I am not terribly unhappy for what I got, but not worth the $60 launch price.\nWhere do I even begin describing the problems with this game. Let’s start with the awful GFWL.\nGFWL is by far the worst DRM I’ve ever come across. Save games are tied to a GFWL profile - even if it\u0026rsquo;s an offline profile. So if you ever need to take a backup of the save games, restoring them would not be possible without restoring the offline profile as well. If you forget this very important step, the game will not recognize the save files, and you are forced to start the game from the beginning. The only workaround is to use xliveless patch.\nHowever, using the xliveless made some of the mods not work correctly, but that is a small trade off compared to starting the game all over again.\nAt this point, I want to remind people that games purchased from the Windows 10 Store might have the same issues\u0026hellip;but that’s a different topic for another day.\nGFWL is the worst. Shame on Microsoft for this anti-consumer garbage. Never forget.\nIn addition to GFWL issues, GTA 4 is a bad PC port. When I started the game for the first time, it defaulted to 640x480 because clearly my 980 isn\u0026rsquo;t good enough for this 8 year old game. I had to use a workaround for the game to not lock my resolution to 640x480. Not a good start.\nThe save system is really bad because there are no mission checkpoints. Failing a mission will mean starting over, but starting over means, all the armor and health are not restored, instead they will be at the same level as they were when the mission failed.\nThis is a fix for an issue that will hard lock the game. This video got 80k+ views on my channel.\nDuring long missions, you are constantly fighting the game’s weird design choices, bad controls, and one mistake could mean either restarting the mission or loading a previous save point. This is tedious to say the least.\nThe final mission is particularly awful. It is one of those drawn out missions which starts off with a car chase, followed by a shootout, then by a timed chase bike chase, followed by a chopper chase, followed by a foot chase. Make one mistake, and the enemy gets away, and you have to start ALL over again.\nAs if this isn’t bad enough, this mission has a game breaking bug. At one point in the mission, there is a QTE (quick time event), where you have to mash the spacebar for the character to climb into a chopper, but this QTE will never work if your game is running at over 30FPS! Fortunately I found a forum post which highlighted this issue. I had to use FRAPS, and start a recording which restricted my framerate to 30FPS, and then I was able to get past this section. If it wasn\u0026rsquo;t for the forum post, it would have been game over at this point.\nIn conclusion, while the story is good, and characters are interesting, the PC port is a technical mess. I would recommend skipping this game entirely, but if you must play this game, try to get it for under $10. Anything more than that, is not worth it in my opinion.\nVerdict - Not Recommended.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 02:50:30 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/08/reviews/grandtheftauto4-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI know I am about 8 years late to the GTA 4 PC party. When I first saw this game announced for the PC, it looked great in the trailers but I couldn’t buy it at launch because it was too expensive. I picked this up for $7.50 during a steam sale, therefore I am not terribly unhappy for what I got, but not worth the $60 launch price.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere do I even begin describing the problems with this game. Let’s start with the awful GFWL.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grand Theft Auto 4 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Battlefield 3, which I purchased in 2012, was one of the best games I played at the time. Even though the weapon balance was great, I still enjoyed the game a lot. I loved the maps and the gun play.I put in 718 hours into it.\nI remember thinking at the time that I may not put in as much time in Battlefield 4 because I did not believe it was going to be as good. That was 3 years ago. As of 10/16/2016, I put in a ridiculous 2391 hours. Definitely got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth out of this game. Battlefield Hardline came and went, but it did not measure up Battlefield 4 for me, and it looks like the community in general did not receive the game very well, which is a shame because some of the maps in Hardline were fantastic.\nI wonder if I am going to play Battlefield 1 for as long. I can’t wait to get my hands on the beta which should be out on soon.\nSo as a final curtain call to Battlefield 4, I decided to make a compilation of some of the best moments in Battlefield 4 as an Engineer. I titled it Engineer 100. I am going to make more videos at some point for different classes and vehicles.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/08/2016-08-27-battlefield4engineer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBattlefield 3, which I purchased in 2012, was one of the best games I played at the time. Even though the weapon balance was great, I still enjoyed the game a lot. I loved the maps and the gun play.I put in 718 hours into it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI remember thinking at the time that I may not put in as much time in Battlefield 4 because I did not believe it was going to be as good. That was 3 years ago. As of 10/16/2016, I put in a ridiculous 2391 hours. Definitely got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth out of this game. Battlefield Hardline came and went, but it did not measure up Battlefield 4 for me, and it looks like the community in general did not receive the game very well, which is a shame because some of the maps in Hardline were fantastic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 4 - Engineer 100"},{"content":"In this post, I am going to walk through all my battlestations over the years. It is interesting to see the evolution of computer setups (if you are a nerd). I reached a point where there really isn’t much else for me to change. I intend to get the next Intel processor (Kaby Lake) along with a pascal GPU. The monitors however, will stay for the foreseeable future.\nNow, let’s look at where it all started.\n2004 – The Old Battlestation Date – May 07, 2004\nWhile this is not my first battlestation, this was the first time I took a picture of my setup. Digital cameras were nowhere near as common as they are today. I took this picture with a Sony DSC-P73 that I borrowed from my friend.\nThis setup had a Pentium 4 1.7 GHz and a BFG GeForce FX5500 . My uncle purchased this at BestBuy, and it was an awful video card. A complete waste of $150. It struggled to run Delta Force Black Hawk Down . I should never have asked him to buy this for me, but this was before I had any real knowledge of hardware.\nDate – May 07, 2007. BFG GeForce FX 5500 OC AGP Card\nI later upgraded to a BIG GeForce 7600GS. This card was much better compared to the FX 5500, but it had poor build quality. By 2008, the fan physically came undone. I had to glue it to the pcb using some super glue.\n2007 – The 7600GS The 7600GS was the highlight of the year. Its by no means a top end GPU for its time, but it was a significant upgrade for me. I was left speechless at how good the games looked. I played Half-Life 2, and for the first time ever, I played a game at medium to high settings.\nDate – November 28, 2007\nDate – January 17, 2007. BIG GeForce 7600GS\n2009 – First Self Built Battlestation Date – March 12, 2009\nYou can read more about how this machine was built here. It was quite an experience building my machine from the ground up. Weeks of research went into building it. It has served me very well for 3 years, until I upgraded some of the hardware in 2012.\nI am still using some of the parts I purchased with this setup. They are going strong after 7 years!\nThe monitor is an Acer P243W​Aid 24\" 1920×1200 monitor. I still have it, but its not in use. I might bring it back if I build a legacy gaming machine.\nDate – September 03, 2009\n2011 – The Year of Experiments As I look back at these pictures, they make me cringe. I had pretty poor taste, and I am glad it has changed for the better.\nIt started out innocently enough. I was still using the same setup I had back in 2009, but I felt like adding a second monitor to keep all the gadgets visible.\nDate – April 02, 2011\nI took to eBay for my first secondary display. It was a 1024×768 Dell monitor. I bought it for $41, and it served me well for months to come. I also had a Medion laptop on my desk.\nDate – April 30, 2011\nBy June, I felt like I needed a 3rd monitor. I couldn’t buy another Acer 24″ 1920×1200 monitor because they were out of stock. I saw a deal for an Acer G215HVAbd 21.5\" 1080p monitor for $97.40, so I went ahead and purchased it.\nThis was back in the day when my graphics card didn’t support 3 displays at once, so the Dell monitor was connected to a USB display adapter.\nDate – June 17, 2011\nCouple of months later, I decided to change the right monitor into portrait mode.\nDate – August 06, 2011\nFew days later, I purchased a Hannspree HZ281HPB 27.5″ monitor. This now took the place of the center monitor, and in order to have enough room for the tower to sit on the desk, I had to flip the side monitors into portrait mode.\nDate – August 13, 2011\n2012 – The Year of Battlefield 3 I did not change much in terms of the setup layout. I did upgrade the GPU to an EVGA GeForce GTX680. This was the year of multiplayer gaming. At first it was Team Fortress 2, and this was followed by Battlefield 3. I loved the game so much, that I put in 700+ hours into it, this was definitely the my most played game. Team Fortress only consumed 180 hours of my life.\nDate – November 09, 2012\n2014 – Glorious 144Hz Refresh Rate \u0026amp; Battlefield 4 2013 saw the release of Battlefield 4, my most played game to date. I put in an embarassing 2000+ hours into the game. It was this game that made me change the layout of the monitors from portrait back to standard.\nBattlefield 4 did something no other game I’ve played has done to date, which is to allow the player to see the map on a second monitor. I realized that having a portrait monitor is not good for viewing the large map, so I changed both the monitors into standard mode.\nLate 2013, I discovered the joy of using a high refresh rate monitor, so I upgraded to ASUS VG278HE 27″ monitor. This became the primary monitor, the Acer P243W​Aid became the left monitor which served the Battlescreen, and Hannspree HZ281HPB became the right monitor which showed all the necessary gadgets.\nDate – October 10, 2014\n2015 – ASUS ROG Swift and a New Home I decided that I was going to purchase a 1440p monitor because I had an EVGA GeForce GTX980. However, considering I was using a 144Hz 1080p monitor, I did not want to downgrade to a 60Hz monitor.\nThere was only one option available at the time – the ROG Swift . I purchased this from B\u0026amp;H Photo for an insane $799. This is the most expensive computer accessory I ever purchased. Its a great monitor, and I don’t regret it at all, but I wouldn’t recommend it.\nSo the ROG became the primary, the ASUS VG278HE is the left monitor, and Hannspree HZ281HPB was still the right monitor. I used this setup for the most part of 2015.\nDate – January 22, 2015\nTowards the end of the year, I made some more changes. In an effort to get away from using monitors of different resolutions, I began to look for identical monitors to replace the two side monitors. I choose two Acer K272HULbmiidp 27″ monitors. I got them for $249 each.\nWe also moved into a new house, and a friend donated a desk. This was perfect for a triple monitor setup. The Wal-Mart desk I was using became uneven due to the weight of the monitors that it had to support. This picture was taken while we were still setting up everything. Its a bit of a mess and we had a lot of cleaning to do.\nDate – December 30, 2015\n2016 – The Perfect Setup This is it. After 7 years of experimenting, I finally think I have the perfect setup. I hope it stays this way for a long time! I want to do some more cable management, but I think the layout will stay the same.\nDate – March 27, 2016\nThis post is published on Apr 06, 2026 Monday 08:11:13 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/03/2016-03-28-battlestationsevolution/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn this post, I am going to walk through all my battlestations over the years. It is interesting to see the evolution of computer setups (if you are a nerd). I reached a point where there really isn’t much else for me to change. I intend to get the next Intel processor (Kaby Lake) along with a pascal GPU. The monitors however, will stay for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow, let’s look at where it all started.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Evolution of my battlestations"},{"content":"We closed on our first home on Friday December 18, 2015. The final price of the home was $167,700. We made a 20% down payment, and paid an additional $1257.77 towards the closing cost. The process was easier than I had anticipated, and we found just the kind of house we wanted.\nI decided to document the timeline of events. The following is our story about finding and buying our first home.\nThe idea of buying a home gained momentum towards the end of 2014. We were living in a 2 bedroom apartment, which was very close to work. The apartment was comfortable to live, but it was very old, and it had problems. We had 6 more months to go before our lease ran out. It was at this point I seriously started considering not renewing my lease at the apartment.\nWe began looking through Zillow for local listings to get an idea of what the housing market was like. The idea of a perfect home began to take shape during this time. We wanted a 4 bedroom house, where one of the rooms was going to serve as an office. Both of us are gamers, and I occasionally work from home, so we would really enjoy having a dedicated office.\nI initially had a budget of $140,000 - $150,000. Finding a 4 bedroom house close to work within that price range was tough. I did not want to spend over $150,000 because I didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough savings to make the 20% down payment, if the price of the house any was higher. Over spending was not an option, and I was willing to buy a 3 bedroom house provided the location was good.\nFebruary 2015 It was time to get serious about finding a house because our lease was going to be up soon.I contacted a real estate agent that was recommended by one of my colleague. I sent her an email and told her about the kind of house I was looking for.\nShe sent me some MLS listings, which had some very nice looking houses, but nothing within my price range. There were 4 bedroom houses, but nothing close to work, and the ones that were close to work were out of my price range. It was time to make a decision on where I wanted to compromise. Should I compromise on the number of bedrooms or the price? Location was definitely not something I was willing to be flexible about. I dislike driving, and I wanted to have the option to bike to work.\nI decided, I have to compromise on the price and increase my budget, but this meant, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t make the 20% down payment without pulling funds out of the CD, and this was something I wanted to avoid if I could help it.\nMarch 2015 I realized that a decision needed to be made, and against all the advice I received, I decided to stay in the apartment a little while longer, and build up my savings to make a 20% down payment on a more expensive house.\nI had a talk with the apartment management, and asked them to extend my lease for another 6 months. They were willing to extend this offer to us because they allocate a few units for a 6 month lease, and they still had units available for a shorter lease.\nPeople in my life wanted me to go ahead and buy a house, but I did not want to compromise on the location or have a PMI attached to my mortgage payment. I was told that having to drive for 10 more minutes is not unreasonable, but I decided I would attempt to find a house I liked closer to work, one more time. If this attempt was unsuccessful, then I was willing to live farther away.\nSo I decided to hold off, and I took up the 6 month lease offer. A part of me was nervous that the mortgage rates might go up and I would end up spending way more money because I waited, but my instincts told me it was best to wait.\nMy net worth at this point was, $139,688.01. Out of this, $34,275.02 was in various savings accounts. I did not want to empty out my savings to make the 20% down payment. I anticipated that I would be able to increase my savings up to $50,000 by November if I worked harder at saving.\nFortunately my wife started working again, and we decided we should try and survive entirely on her paycheck. This meant that I could save close to $3500 a month.\nThe Next Few Months\u0026hellip; After we renewed our lease in March, we lived a very frugal life, even more so than usual. We were living on one paycheck for the most part. Looking at the cash flow, we spent $12,356 between March 1, 2015 and September 30, 2015, an average of $1765.14 per month.\nIn August 2015, we began searching for a home again. I contacted the realtor, I gave the a new price range of $150,000 to $170,000. She sent me a list of several houses, and a few of them were 4 bedroom houses that were close to work. We narrowed down the houses, and visited a few of them during August and September, and I short listed a few potential houses that I might make an offer on.\nThe realtor told me that because there is still time, we didn\u0026rsquo;t have to make an offer right away, and there will likely be more listings as we get close to the end of the fall semester. This was good to know - the more options the better!\nOctober 2015 October was the month were things started moving quickly, and this month turned out to be a very hectic for us.\nAs far as my finances were concerned, we were in a great shape. My net worth was up to $170,640.16. I had a savings of $57,173.70. I could afford a much bigger house, but I did not want to deviate from the plan. I was mentally prepared to spend up to $180,000, however I did not tell this to the realtor or my family. This would be a classic case of lifestyle inflation, and I did not want us to fall victim to this.\nOn October 2, 2015, I sent an email to the realtor with a list of addresses for three houses I was interested in, and I was fairly certain that we would make an offer on one of these houses.We set out to see the houses on Friday October 10, 2015.\nHouse 1 House 1 - 1828 sqft, 4 bedrooms, $179,900\nThe first house we visited was an 1828 sqft house with 4 bedrooms, that was built in 2003. It was listed at $179,900. I liked the house, but this was beyond my $170,000 limit. I wanted to see the other houses too because it was kind of out of my price range. I was willing to put down 20% for the house, but only if the other houses didn’t work out.\nAs we were walking out of this house, I got an an email from the MLS system about another house in the vicinity. This was not on the list of houses we were going to see that evening, but since it was so close, and the list price was $169,900, we decided to stop by.\nHouse 2 House 2 - 1842 sqft, 4 bedrooms, $169,900\nWhen we went into the house, I said to myself, “This is it!”. It was a 4 bedroom, 1842 sqft house, that was built in 2005. I loved the layout, and the seller was going to install carpet. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t ask for much more. The location was perfect. Less than a mile from where my wife worked, and around 2 miles from my office. I found the perfect house and wife loved it too!\nAlthough we were fairly certain that we would end up making an offer on the house, we decided to visit the other two houses on the list.\nThe next house was a 1732 sqft, 3 bedroom 2 bath room house, which was listed for $159,900. This house was extremely well maintained, and it had wooden floors. Not really something I care about, but my wife really liked it. However, it is around 3 miles from her work, and it had one less bedroom. We decided we were going to seriously consider between the two houses when we get home.\nHouse 3 House 3 - 1732 sqft, 3 bedrooms, 159,900\nThe last house was a 4 bedroom 1754 sqft house which was listed for $167,900. I thought the house looked fine, but the fact that it was farther from work compared to the other two meant that there was no real reason to consider this house unless we couldn’t proceed with our first choice.\nHouse 4 House 4 - 1754 sqft, 4 bedrooms, $167,900\nAfter we were done checking the last house, I told the realtor that we were fairly certain we would be making an offer on one of the houses that weekend. We said goodbye to her and during our ride back to the apartment, wife and I talked about the pros and cons between the 2nd and 3rd houses. While the 3rd house was cheaper, it was father from her work, and it had one less bedroom. The 2nd house on the other hand, was less than a mile from her work, and she could walk to work if necessary, and it had 4 bedrooms, which meant we would fulfill our wish of having a dedicated office.\nSo we decided to go with the 4 bedroom house and I sent a text message to the realtor that we wanted to make an offer on the house over the weekend because I did not want to waste any time. She said she was going to email me the documents.\nOn Sunday October 11, 2015, we made an offer on the house. I listed a purchase price of $167,700 (I calculated the price of the house at $91/sqft), along with a few other requirements.\nMonday October 12, 2015, I was leaving to Michigan on a business trip. This was not something I was happy about because I wanted to be in town in case my presence was necessary. I also realized that I did not have a loan pre qualification yet.\nAt 1 AM on Monday October 12, 2015, I applied online for the pre qualification at my local bank, and also sent an email to the loan officer. I applied for a home loan on a property with a value of $170,000 for a 15 year term with a at 3% interest rate, and a 20% down payment. I had to leave to the airport at 3 AM to catch my 5 AM flight. I got a confirmation from the loan officer on Monday morning that she was going to send me the disclosures that I can sign online. Due to the miracle of modern technology, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to be there in person.\nOn Tuesday October 13, 2015, I got the pre qualification letter from the bank, and the mortgage rate was locked at 3% for 75 days.\nI immediately forwarded this to the realtor and on the same day I received a counteroffer from the seller with a few minor changes in the agreement. I read through their counteroffer, and I found it very reasonable, so I accepted their changes and I sent them my confirmation.\nOn Wednesday October 14, 2015, I got an email from the realtor that we now have a deal, and we can proceed with the inspections etc. This was great news because we were on track to getting the house we wanted, and the location is fantastic - I couldn\u0026rsquo;t ask for anything more!\nWe agreed on a closing date of Friday December 18, 2015.\nDecember 2015 On Tuesday December 15, 2015, I got an email from the mortgage company with the final amount I needed to pay. The following day I got a cashier’s check from bank for a total of $34,782.77, this included 20% of the down payment and $1,257.77 towards closing costs.\nOn the morning of Friday December 18, 2015, we made our way to the title company. We were seated in the lobby, and the lady told us that the seller were finishing up their paper work, and we will begin our process shortly.\nAs we began signing the paperwork, of which there was a lot, there was a change in the calculation, which meant that we over payed about $50. The title company said they were going to send us a check for the money and I was OK with this because I did not want to delay the process by getting a new cashier’s check. After about 2 hours of reviewing agreements, and signing papers, we walked out with the keys to the house.\nOur monthly mortgage payment was $1190.36, including insurance, taxes, principal and interest. I was happy that I did not have to pay any PMI.\nOverall, the realtor did a great job at handling everything, and the sellers was kept their end of the bargain, and we had a very smooth home buying experience.\nNow, it was time for us to move to our new home, and this was where being a minimalist worked in my favor because I had very few possessions. I will write about our moving process in another blog.\nThis post is published on Apr 06, 2026 Monday 08:12:26 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/03/firsthome/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe closed on our first home on Friday December 18, 2015. The final price of the home was $167,700. We made a 20% down payment, and paid an additional $1257.77 towards the closing cost. The process was easier than I had anticipated, and we found just the kind of house we wanted.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI decided to document the timeline of events. The following is our story about finding and buying our first home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Buying our first home"},{"content":"I am in a very fortunate situation of having enough cash reserves to pay off the house this instant. Of course, if I were to do that, I will have very little cash on hand. I will still not be penniless, because I still have my very modest retirement fund, but that’s not something I can rely on for my immediate needs.\nI currently owe $132,504.02 on the house to Wells Fargo, at the rate of 3% for a 15 year term. All things considered, I got an extremely good deal. It would have been better had I purchased a house in the middle of 2015, when the interest rates were as low as 2.875% for a 15 year term, but the house I ended up purchasing wasn’t on the market at the time. I have absolutely no regrets about waiting, because I found the perfect house.\nI have been anti-debt for a very long time. I never believed that debt is the way to succeed in life. I still don’t.\nWhen I started researching online about paying off the mortgage, and becoming debt free, I realized that not a whole lot of people see things the same way. I encountered a lot of pro debt arguments. The arguments typically advocate leveraging this debt by investing all the extra money in the stock market, and only making the minimum monthly payments on the mortgage.\nThis will only make sense mathematically, provided that the stock market achieves over 3% rate of return over a 15 year period, something that is definitely not guaranteed.\nThe idea of having a mortgage so that I can use the interest payment as a tax deduction did not make much sense to me. I don’t know how this can be more beneficial than not have a mortgage payment at all. I need to do some more research on this, and see how this applies to my situation.\nGiven all the information I consumed on this subject, I decided to hold off on paying off the mortgage at the moment. I am still not fully convinced that having debt is a good thing, but I am willing to explore it a little bit more. If I am not convinced, I can always pay off the house.\nI intend to come up with a detailed plan on how to tackle this debt. That plan may very well involve paying off the mortgage in one go.\nOf course, each day that I carry the mortgage, I am making a net payment of around $3.48 to the bank…something to think about for sure.\nMy views on debt\nThis post is published on Apr 06, 2026 Monday 08:12:17 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/03/mortgagepayoff/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am in a very fortunate situation of having enough cash reserves to pay off the house this instant. Of course, if I were to do that, I will have very little cash on hand. I will still not be penniless, because I still have my very modest retirement fund, but that’s not something I can rely on for my immediate needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI currently owe $132,504.02 on the house to Wells Fargo, at the rate of 3% for a 15 year term. All things considered, I got an extremely good deal. It would have been better had I purchased a house in the middle of 2015, when the interest rates were as low as 2.875% for a 15 year term, but the house I ended up purchasing wasn’t on the market at the time. I have absolutely no regrets about waiting, because I found the perfect house.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"To pay off the house or not pay off the house, that is the question."},{"content":"This is the first of many post I plan to make. I\u0026rsquo;ve got videos of full rounds on all maps in Battlefield 3 maps. Played this round on May 7th, 2013.This was before the ShadowPlay days. I used DxTory record the gameplay.\nAt the time I was using a Hannspree HZ281HPB monitor which had a resolution of 1920x1200. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine a better monitor at the time. Little did I know that WQHD was right around the corner.\nThe unfortunate part is, I recorded most of the footage at 1440x900 resolution. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know much about video editing/rendering. I used VirtualDub to edit the videos when I needed to, which is an excellent video editing tool, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t know how to put it to good use.\nAdd to this, Youtube down scaled the resolution to 720p. Some of the videos I recorded are at 960x600. I bet they look worse. Nevertheless, its great to revisit these maps, for the sake of nostalgia. There are hardly any DLC servers available out there.\nI also improved a lot since then as a Battlefield player. Some of the things I do are cringe worthy.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:28:44 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/03/2016-03-08-azadipalace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the first of many post I plan to make. I\u0026rsquo;ve got videos of full rounds on all maps in Battlefield 3 maps. Played this round on May 7th, 2013.This was before the ShadowPlay days. I used DxTory record the gameplay.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the time I was using a Hannspree HZ281HPB monitor which had a resolution of 1920x1200. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine a better monitor at the time. Little did I know that WQHD was right around the corner.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Azadi Palace Full Round - Battlefield 3 (PC)"},{"content":"Short version December 31, 2015 - Started having problems with my Gigabyte motherboard January 3, 2016 - Purchased MSI motherboard January 13, 2016 - Sent Gigabyte motherboard for RMA January 25, 2016 - Gigabyte sent me my motherboard. They said they tested it, and found nothing wrong with it. February 8, 2016 - MSI motherboard started having issues. February 8, 2016 - Tried to the use the Gigabyte motherboard, it was still broken. Had the exact problems as before, they fixed nothing. February 9, 2016 - Sent MSI motherboard for RMA February 25 - Got the new motherboard that MSI sent me, installed it, everything is working fine now. Life is happy. Hope it stays this way. Conclusion - I am going not buy another Gigabyte motherboard because their support was a let down. I will stick to MSI and if they fail me, I will have to turn to ASUS or ASRock.\nLong version We moved into a new house on December 18, 2015. I was very happy to have a dedicated office/gaming room. We were moving from a very old apartment into a really nice house. The best house I’ve ever lived in. The plan was to set up our two gaming machines, for creating content for Youtube, and also for work.\nA friend donated us his fancy looking desk, which had plenty of room for a triple monitor setup.\nWe setup everything, and for a few days, life was great. I took some time off for a bit before the New Year’s weekend, to to spend time in our new home, and play games and just relax.\nThat’s when the problems started. On December 31, 2015. Nvidia driver kept crashing in addition to Windows freezing intermittently. I thought it was the GPU. I switched my GTX980 with the GTX780 from my wife’s machine. Still had the same problems. Her computer had no issues with my GTX980.\nAfter hours of troubleshooting, I couldn’t narrow it down to either the RAM or the hard drives.\nThen I thought it was Windows that had the problem, and I thought I should format and reinstall. So went into BIOS to change the boot device, and the BIOS froze. It dawned on me that it might be the motherboard that\u0026rsquo;s causing all the problems. I’ve never had a motherboard gone bad before, so maybe my luck has run out. At this point, I still hadn’t ruled out Windows, so I thought I’d go ahead and reinstall Windows and see if it solves the problems.\nThis was when things got really worse. I loaded Windows setup and formatted the hard drive, and as new files were being loaded, I got this error -\n0x80070002 Error when installing Windows 7\nI googled it, and I couldn’t find anything helpful. I thought my Windows 7 DVD had some problem. So I made a USB boot drive, and I tried to install Windows through it, and that failed with the same error.\nAt this point, I was at my wits end. I had no computer, and my New Years’ plans were ruined.\nThe next morning, I decided to RMA the Gigabyte motherboard. I created an RMA request on January 1, 2016. I didn’t expect the approval to happen anytime soon because of the holiday season, so I purchased an MSI motherboard from NewEgg on January 3 2016. I had free 2 day shipping available through Shoprunner. The MSI motherboard arrived on January 6 2016.\nI installed this motherboard, and installed Windows, and everything went smoothly. This confirmed my suspicion that the Gigabyte motherboard was causing all the issues.\nMy RMA was approved on January 6 2016, but life got a little busy, and I couldn’t send it till January 13 2016. I put a note explaining all the problems I had, and even mentioned that BIOS would freeze intermittently, and installing Windows was impossible.\nGigabyte received it on January 20 2016 and they sent me back my motherboard January 24 2016. They made a note that the motherboard had no problems, and sent me back the exact same piece.\nGigabyte RMA status page\nWhen I realized this, I decided not to swap out my working MSI motherboard with the Gigabyte motherboard, which I believed to be still broken. I wanted to send an email to Gigabyte asking them to replace this particular motherboard. I would be more than happy to accept a certified refurbished item, but life got busy and I just neglected it.\nOn February 8 2016, the unthinkable happened. The MSI motherboard stopped working. The computer wouldn’t post. Resetting the CMOS, didn\u0026rsquo;t help. I was dead in the water.\nI figured I should at least give the Gigabyte motherboard a try, because my situation couldn\u0026rsquo;t get any worse. So I reinstalled it, and what is the first thing that happens? Nvidia driver crashes. This didn’t surprise me one bit. I decided to give Windows reinstall a try, and as I went into BIOS to change the boot order, it froze. I knew there was no point in trying to get this motherboard to work. Problems don’t magically fix themselves.\nI was so tried with computer problems that I thought about just setting my computer aside till I can afford a Skylake machine. I even thought about buying a prebuilt machine…\nI quickly came back to my senses, and began the RMA process. I created the request and it was instantly approved, which was nice. I sent the motherboard to MSI on February 9, 2016, and I got a replacement from them on February 25, 2016.\nMSI RMA status page\nI removed the Gigabyte motherboard, and installed the new MSI board, and everything is working well now. I hope it stays this way. I do not want to make any changes to my machine until I am ready to build a Skylake machine.\nThe bottomline is, I was very disappointed with Gigabyte. I am not going to buy their products after seeing how their RMA was very unhelpful. In contrast MSI did the right thing, and sent me a replacement without any fuss. I will stick to MSI for my Skylake build.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:28:01 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/02/2016-02-27-gigabytesupport/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"short-version\"\u003eShort version\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDecember 31, 2015 - Started having problems with my Gigabyte motherboard\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJanuary 3, 2016 - Purchased MSI motherboard\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJanuary 13, 2016 - Sent Gigabyte motherboard for RMA\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJanuary 25, 2016 - Gigabyte sent me my motherboard. They said they tested it, and found nothing wrong with it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFebruary 8, 2016 - MSI motherboard started having issues.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFebruary 8, 2016 - Tried to the use the Gigabyte motherboard, it was still broken. Had the exact problems as before, they fixed nothing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFebruary 9, 2016 - Sent MSI motherboard for RMA\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFebruary 25 - Got the new motherboard that MSI sent me, installed it, everything is working fine now. Life is happy. Hope it stays this way.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusion - I am going not buy another Gigabyte motherboard because their support was a let down. I will stick to MSI and if they fail me, I will have to turn to ASUS or ASRock.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gigabyte Support Was a Let Down"},{"content":"Jan 25, 2016 Saturday 06:12:00 AM CST: Dragon Valley 2015 MVP Battlefield 4 is the game I played more than any other game. I played this more than all the other games I ever played combined. So I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth. All thanks to DICE LA.\nThe round I played yesterday was pretty great. Joined with a friend when things weren\u0026rsquo;t looking good for our team. Managed to do well and help our team win.\nAlso Dragon Valley 2015 is an excellent map These days this is the only map I play conquest on. Thankfully there is a fairly popular 24/7 Dragon Valley 2015 conquest large server.\nKilling machine\nFeb 02, 2016 Tuesday 07:43:00 AM CST: Attack Chopper Domination Played a round of Battlefield 4 with friends, something we haven\u0026rsquo;t done in a very long time. We decided to play Conquest Large, and I got the attack chopper on Siege of Shanghai.\nThis map is fairly friendly to attack choppers because there is no AA. Of course once the building collapses, anyone with burst fire cannons on their attack boat can take out the chopper without much difficulty.\nI used struggle flying the attack chopper, but some practice on Dragon Valley made me fairly competent. I am still not great at using the two missile, so I stick to the heat seekers.\nHere is a video of some attack chopper gameplay -\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 09:29:44 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/01/2016-01-25-battlefield4diary/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"jan-25-2016-saturday-061200-am-cst-dragon-valley-2015-mvp\"\u003eJan 25, 2016 Saturday 06:12:00 AM CST: Dragon Valley 2015 MVP\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBattlefield 4 is the game I played more than any other game. I played this more than all the other games I ever played combined. So I got my money\u0026rsquo;s worth. All thanks to DICE LA.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe round I played yesterday was pretty great. Joined with a friend when things weren\u0026rsquo;t looking good for our team. Managed to do well and help our team win.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 4 Diary"},{"content":"Jan 24, 2016 Sunday 07:15:00 PM CDT Purchased this game in 2011 from NewEgg for $7.64 (including shipping). This was back when EA was still selling DVDs of their games, and Origin was in its infancy.\nI really enjoyed the first Shift game. When I found this game for cheap, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t resist. So much so that I hadn\u0026rsquo;t played it for 4 years.\nAfter 2500+ hours of Battlefield (both 3 and 4), I want to get back into single player gaming again. Hence why I resumed F.E.A.R. as well.\nI think Shift 2 is definitely worth the $7 I paid for it. I am not sure I would pay anymore than that though. It has some extremely annoying design choices. Unskippable intro sequences before every race is definitely one of them. The developers, in their effort to create \u0026ldquo;an immersive\u0026rdquo; experience, managed to create an extremely annoying experience. Had I paid full price for this game, I would be even more annoyed.\nAlso, its not really a sim game. I not as much of an arcade racer as Need For Speed Most Wanted, but by no means is it a simulator. Don\u0026rsquo;t let the marketing fool you. That doesn\u0026rsquo;t make it a bad game though. Its still fun. As long as you paid no more than $7 for it.\nWell\u0026hellip;\nLens flares.\nAttention to detail\nJan 26, 2016 Tuesday 04:56:00 AM CST: The Schizophrenic Difficulty This game\u0026rsquo;s difficulty doesn\u0026rsquo;t make any sense. There are times when I lead an entire lap without any real competition and then there are other laps where I struggle to reach the podium (3rd place or better).\nI think it has something to do with scaling difficulty with car upgrades. I should try removing all upgrades and see if I can do any better.\nOr maybe, I am just very bad.\nTop racer has an 8 second lead\u0026hellip;I can barely reach top 3 spot.\nJan 28, 2016 Thursday 05:00:00 AM CST: Manufacturer Showdown Events Are Fun These are probably the most fun events so far. I get to try out different cars, and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about difficulty spike based on the type of car I select, and usually the cars themselves range from retro to exotic.\nSpeaking of difficulty spike, it still bothers me how unbalanced the game is at times, even when I turn the game difficulty to easy.\nPorsche Cayman S is great to drive\nJan 30, 2016 Saturday 05:38:00 PM CST: The Intrusive Interface Modern day game interfaces are getting ridiculous. I can think of at least three EA games that have this HUD clutter problem. Battlefield 4 when it first launched was insane.\nShift 2 also has the same problem. There is an option to disable the HUD, but that leaves out some of the information I care about. I am not sure why the developers won\u0026rsquo;t give us the option to disable, resize and move UI elements.\nI think simple tweaks to the UI can greatly impact the experience.\nBattlefield 4 HUD clutter\nNeed For Speed Shift 2 HUD clutter\nJan 31, 2016 Sunday 08:51:00 PM CST: Gameplay Padding Sometimes it feels as if developers are trying to pad the length of games by arbitrarily increasing the difficulty of races or the time needed to finish a race in the Time Attack mode. Also the fact that a lot of these tracks are recycled between different game modes makes the career mode tedious.\nMaybe I am getting old, but I find it extremely difficult to stay focused on a single race for 6 minutes! This leads me to make mistakes, and it takes longer for me to get through the career mode.\nThis is the low hanging fruit of adding longevity to a game, in my opinion.\nToo long for me to stay focused\nFeb 04, 2016 Thursday 04:29:00 AM CST: Downgrade Performance to Win I was playing some Time Attack races with a highly upgraded Lamborghini Murciélago, and I kept losing. Over and over again. Couldn\u0026rsquo;t even get to the podium let alone win the race.\nThe Lamborghini Murciélago is a Performance Grade A car. I decided to try the Ford Shelby GT instead which is a Performance Grade C car, and I am having much easier time winning races.\nUsing the Nissan 240 Drift Alliance, which is a Performance Grade D car, makes life even easier.\nYet another difficulty scaling issue, it looks like.\nNissan 240 Drift Alliance on the Miami Speedway\nNissan 240 Drift Alliance on the Miami Speedway\nWinning at the Miami Speedway\nMar 06, 2016 Sunday 12:14:00 PM CST: Not Going For 100% My initial idea when starting Need For Speed Shift 2: Unleashed was to get 100% completion in the career mode. After playing this game for a while I realized that there is a whole lot of padding going on, and its starting to get repetitive. I wanted to give up and move on, but I realized I am fairly close to getting to the final championship, and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to get anywhere near 100% for that.\nI am at a point where I don\u0026rsquo;t know why I am playing this game, other than because I started it, and I want to finish it. I have far too many games in my collection to be wasting time on a game like this.\nWinning at the Miami Speedway\nMar 14, 2016 Monday 04:53:00 PM CST: The End Game On March 12, 2016, I played through the final championship in Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed - the GT1 Championship. It was a painful 10 stage tournament with the average stage time of 6 minutes or more.\nThe game really got to me. Padding the gameplay in this manner really made me dislike the game towards the end. The repetitive tracks, long race times, unskippable intros.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/01/2016-01-24-needforspeedshift2unleasheddiary/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"jan-24-2016-sunday-071500-pm-cdt\"\u003eJan 24, 2016 Sunday 07:15:00 PM CDT\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePurchased this game in 2011 from NewEgg for $7.64 (including shipping). This was back when EA was still selling DVDs of their games, and Origin was in its infancy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI really enjoyed the first Shift game. When I found this game for cheap, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t resist. So much so that I hadn\u0026rsquo;t played it for 4 years.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 2500+ hours of  Battlefield (both 3 and 4), I want to get back into single player gaming again. Hence why I resumed F.E.A.R. as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed Diary"},{"content":"Jan 24, 2016 Sunday 06:53:00 PM CST: Procrastination I played some more F.E.A.R. today. Really like the it. Its a traditional PC game. Its got quick save, checkpoint save and manual save. They don\u0026rsquo;t make games like this anymore. When I first played the demo for this game in 2005, I waited to play the full version because at the time I was using a BFG GeForce FX5500OC AGP card. I could barely run the game on medium at 1024x768.\nI waited longer than I intended. I moved to a different country, graduated college twice, got a job and in 2011, I installed the full version of F.E.A.R. for the first time. I was using an EVGA GeForce GTX 570 at the time, and I was thoroughly impressed by the graphics. I played it for a bit, and soon Battlefield 3 consumed my gaming, and I barely played any single player games once I got into Battlefield 3.\nSoon after that it was Battlefield 4.\nI finally started playing this game a few weeks ago, because my motherboard died, and I had to send it for repair, and I was looking to play a single player shooter. I downloaded F.E.A.R. again from Steam, restored the backed up save files and I resumed.\nThis time around, I had an EVGA GeForce GTX980. Not that it made any difference.\nThe game is still a lot of fun. The Steam version supports 2560x1440 resolution. Sort of. The game claims its unsupported, but it allows me to play it in this resolution.\nF.E.A.R. has a Half-Life and Deus Ex vibe to it. I don\u0026rsquo;t have much more to go. I will be done with it soon at this rate. Then I will move on to GTA4.\nTPS report in F.E.A.R. An homage to Office Space.\nQuick save in an FPS game. This was before the Call of Duty epidemic.\nFeb 07, 2016 Sunday 16:43:00 PM CDT: The End Game To think that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have revisited this game if it weren\u0026rsquo;t for a defective motherboard\u0026hellip;\nI finished F.E.A.R today, and I thought the ending was quite excellent. It ends on a real cliff hanger. They set up the sequel quite well. Its a shame that F.E.A.R 2 doesn\u0026rsquo;t have the same PC focused design. I played the demo a long time ago, and I remember it being some what like Call of Duty. I could be wrong.I am not going to install it any time soon. I have Grand Theft Auto 4, Need For Speed Shift 2 and Dying Light to finish.\nI think as soon as I finish those games, I will go with the expansion packs. I remember playing the demos a long time ago, and it would be fun to revisit those games again.\nThere is a frame rate bug that affects the game. At start, the frame rate is maxed out at 144 FPS, which is the refresh rate of the monitor, but after a while, it drops down to around 50 FPS. This is a known bug with the game, and the fix is to disable HID compliant devices in Windows. I didn\u0026rsquo;t believe this at first, but sure enough, it works.\nDisabling these devices will fix the frame rate issue\nAnother thing about the game is the level design. I\u0026rsquo;ve yet to play a game which had such bland levels. I can\u0026rsquo;t recollect a single level that was memorable. Not a deal breaker, but with the entire game being set in a huge industrial compound, the map can be very boring. It does get a little bit better towards the end, but for the most part, its kind of boring.\nI think this game stands above the rest of the horror games because the scares are very subtle. I enjoy that in a horror game, more so than jump scares, which can get really old.\nNailed to the wall\nAlienware in F.E.A.R\nTowards the end, it reminded me a lot about Half-Life, specifically the beginning of Half-Life.\nAlso, sprint and aim down sight (ADS) are very weird compared to modern games. Sprint feels more like walking, and ADS reminds me of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games. The weapon is only sightly pulled up, and initially I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell the difference between ADS and non-ADS.\nAll in all, great game, totally worth the $2.99 I paid for the bundle.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 09:09:04 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/01/2016-01-24-feardiary/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"jan-24-2016-sunday-065300-pm-cst-procrastination\"\u003eJan 24, 2016 Sunday 06:53:00 PM CST: Procrastination\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI played some more F.E.A.R. today. Really like the it. Its a traditional PC game. Its got quick save, checkpoint save and manual save. They don\u0026rsquo;t make games like this anymore. When I first played the demo for this game in 2005, I waited to play the full version because at the time I was using a BFG GeForce FX5500OC AGP card. I could barely run the game on medium at 1024x768.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"F.E.A.R Diary"},{"content":"Writing this first post on a cold winter day on January 24, 2016. I intend to keep this blog all about the games I am going to play.\nAt the moment, I have GTA 4, Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed, F.E.A.R and Dying Light installed on my machine. I intend to finish these three games as quickly as possible so I can move onto other games in my Steam account.\nI am going to play F.E.A.R now and I will probably come back with some screenshots.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2016/01/2016-01-24-patchgamingfirstpost/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWriting this first post on a cold winter day on January 24, 2016. I intend to keep this blog all about the games I am going to play.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the moment, I have GTA 4, Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed, F.E.A.R and Dying Light installed on my machine. I intend to finish these three games as quickly as possible so I can move onto other games in my Steam account.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Patch Gaming First Post"},{"content":"I am not sure if this is the only solution, but this has worked for me so far.\nI am using Firefox to launch the game. I have my Use plugin-free game launching set to OFF Battlelog\nBattlefield 4 is set to use the 64 bit exe to launch the game Origin\nThis is probably the most important step. I basically \u0026ldquo;deleted\u0026rdquo; the 32 bit web helper for Battlefield 4 At this point I am able to play the game like I did before, and I haven\u0026rsquo;t had any problems joining the game. Battlelog, EA Support were of no help so far.\nDescription of the problem After the Summer 2015 patch was released for Battlefield 4 on 09/01/2015, Battlelog switched to plugin-free game launching - Battlefield 4 can be launched without the battlelog plugin. This is because Google Chrome discontinued support for NPAPI, and it is not possible to enable this starting with Chrome 45.\nAfter this update, Battlelog has made joining games very painful, especially when there is a queue. This happens regardless of the browser I use.\nHere is the behavior I am observing -\nMore often than not, when I click on a server with a queue, and its time for me to join, I get this message: At this point, BF4 consumes around 200MB, and then disappears: Now, if I click on the join button again, depending on how the stars align, either I join the game, or the following three messages appear - All executable files are running as Admin (Webhelper \u0026amp; BF4)\nHere are my system specifications -\n- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1 - Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.00GHz 44 °C Haswell 22nm Technology - 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24) - Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z97X-UD7 TH-CF (SOCKET 0) 28 °C - ROG PG278Q (2560x1440@144Hz) Acer K272HUL (2560x1440@59Hz) Acer K272HUL (2560x1440@59Hz) - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (EVGA) 42 °C - 232GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250G SCSI Disk Device (SSD) 38 °C 223GB TOSHIBA MKNSSDEC 240GB SCSI Disk Device (SSD) 34 °C 931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-08M2NA0 SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 34 °C 3725GB Western Digital WD Elements 107C USB Device (USB (SATA)) 34 °C - HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS90 SCSI CdRom Device - Creative X-Fi Audio Processor (WDM) This post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 05:20:59 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2015/09/2015-09-10-battlelogexitsolution/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am not sure if this is the only solution, but this has worked for me so far.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI am using Firefox to launch the game. I have my Use plugin-free game launching set to OFF\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/01-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/01-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"Battlelog\" width=\"640\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eBattlelog\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003col start=\"2\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBattlefield 4 is set to use the 64 bit exe to launch the game\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/02-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/02-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"Origin\" width=\"640\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eOrigin\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003col start=\"3\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis is probably the most important step. I basically \u0026ldquo;deleted\u0026rdquo; the 32 bit web helper for Battlefield 4\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/03-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/battlelogexitgamesolution/03-battlelogexitgamesolution.jpg#center\" width=\"640\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt this point I am able to play the game like I did before, and I haven\u0026rsquo;t had any problems joining the game. Battlelog, EA Support were of no help so far.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Battlelog Waiting For Game To Exit Solution"},{"content":"Following is my computer configuration -\nPCPartPicker Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH ATX LGA1150 G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5\u0026#34; SSD Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5\u0026#34; 7200RPM Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Corsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer Hannspree HZ281HPB 27.5\u0026#34; Asus VG278HE 27.0\u0026#34; Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Razer DeathStalker Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Creative Labs Creative Fatal1ty Acer P243WAid 24\u0026#34; 1920 x 1200 Monitor I attempted to install Windows 7 on this machine. I set the DVD drive as the boot device, and when Windows 7 finished loading files, the installer started, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t proceed forward because the keyboard and mouse aren\u0026rsquo;t detected by Windows 7. I pluged the devices in different USB slots, but that did not help.\nI did some further research, and I found a setting in the BIOS that needed to be enabled to install Windows 7 successfully.\nHere is a link to the manual - DOWNLOAD MANUAL Here is the screenshot from the manual that shows the settings -\nSteps Go to the BIOS Features section\nEnable Fast Boot -\u0026gt; Set it to Enable. This will now display USB Support options\nSet the USB support to Full Initial\nSave and Exit.\nThis should now allow Windows installation to detect keyboard and mouse during installation.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 12:11:35 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2014/10/2014-10-13-windows7onga-z97x-ud7th/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing is my computer configuration -\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https://pcpartpicker.com/user/patchrowcester/saved/c4964D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  PCPartPicker\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eIntel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core\nCooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing\nGigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH ATX LGA1150\nG.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400\nSamsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5\u0026#34; SSD\nWestern Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5\u0026#34; 7200RPM\nCorsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower\nCorsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V\nLG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer\nHannspree HZ281HPB 27.5\u0026#34;\nAsus VG278HE 27.0\u0026#34;\nCreative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD\nRazer DeathStalker\nRazer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical\nCreative Labs Creative Fatal1ty\nAcer P243WAid 24\u0026#34; 1920 x 1200 Monitor\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eI attempted to install Windows 7 on this machine. I set the DVD drive as the boot device, and when Windows 7 finished loading files, the installer started, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t proceed forward because the keyboard and mouse aren\u0026rsquo;t detected by Windows 7. I pluged the devices in different USB slots, but that did not help.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Installing Windows 7 on Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH"},{"content":"This is a registry tweak to make MS Excel 2010 open documents in new instances when they are opened by double clicking on filename in Windows Explorer (or similar programs).\nBackup registry\nMake sure the backup can be restored\nChanges to the registry\nThere are three values that need to be changed to make Excel documents in a new instance each time for XLSX extension.\nIn the registry editor, Navigate to the following path -\nHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -\u0026gt; Excel.Sheet.12 -\u0026gt; shell -\u0026gt; Open -\u0026gt; command Double click on the (Default) entry Now, paste the following at the very end of the value: \u0026ldquo;%1\u0026rdquo;\nBe sure to add space after /dde. The value should look something like this: \u0026quot;\u0026lt;path\u0026gt;\u0026quot; /dde \u0026quot;%1\u0026quot; Now, rename the \u0026ldquo;command\u0026rdquo; registry entry right below the (Default) entry to \u0026ldquo;command2\u0026rdquo;\nCheck the screenshot below Rename the folder \u0026ldquo;ddeexec\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;ddeexec2\u0026rdquo;\nCheck the screenshot below This should allow excel to open files in new instances by default. also disabling DDE in the Excel options does not always work. This fix is for XLSX extension.\nFor XLS files, make similar changes to Excel.Sheet.8\nFor XLSM (with macros) files, make similar changes to Excel.SheetMacroEnabled.12\nFor CSV files, make similar changes to Excel.CSV\nNOTE - In order to avoid registry tweaks, excel can be manually opened in a new instance each time, and then the spreadsheet can be opened in that instance. However, that option does not seem to work in Windows 8.1. I went ahead and made registry tweaks in Windows 8.1 and it works fine.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 09:53:24 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2014/10/2014-10-10-excel2010newinstance/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a registry tweak to make MS Excel 2010 open documents in new instances when they are opened by double clicking on filename in Windows Explorer (or similar programs).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBackup registry\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMake sure the backup can be restored\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChanges to the registry\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are three values that need to be changed to make Excel documents in a new instance each time for XLSX extension.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn the registry editor, Navigate to the following path -\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ccode\u003eHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -\u0026gt; Excel.Sheet.12 -\u0026gt; shell -\u0026gt; Open -\u0026gt; command\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDouble click on the (Default) entry\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNow, paste the following at the very end of the value: \u0026ldquo;%1\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\nBe sure to add space after \u003ccode\u003e/dde\u003c/code\u003e. The value should look something like this: \u003ccode\u003e\u0026quot;\u0026lt;path\u0026gt;\u0026quot; /dde \u0026quot;%1\u0026quot;\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNow, rename the \u0026ldquo;command\u0026rdquo; registry entry right below the (Default) entry to \u0026ldquo;command2\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\nCheck the screenshot below\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRename the folder \u0026ldquo;ddeexec\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;ddeexec2\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\nCheck the screenshot below\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/excel2010newinstance/10-10-2014-5-29-58AM.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/excel2010newinstance/10-10-2014-5-29-58AM.png#center\" width=\"512\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis should allow excel to open files in new instances by default. also disabling DDE in the Excel options does not always work. This fix is for XLSX extension.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Make Excel 2010 Open In a New Instance"},{"content":"I attempted to open a long term CD, and I did some research on what bank to use on BankRate. I found that GE Capital bank was offering 2.30% APY on a 6 year term. I found this acceptable.\nI called the customer service, and I spoke to them about early withdrawal etc., and after learning about the terms, I filled out the online application form. The application process was simple enough, and it even says on the website that opening an account usually takes 10 minutes - it doesn\u0026rsquo;t say that filling out the form usually takes less than 10 minutes.\nHaving filled out all the information, I hit submit and only to be greeted by this message.\nNow, I understand that the federal law requires banks to verify identity and such, so I wasn\u0026rsquo;t concerned about it. I figured I might have to submit some additional information, such as a copy of my visa etc.\nIt should be noted that at this point, there was no email confirmation or anything of that sort. Had I not saved a screenshot, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t know what my application ID was, in case I ever needed to follow up.\nI waited for over 2 days, and I got no calls or emails from the bank. My patience ran out, and I called them. I spoke to a customer service representative, and I gave her my application ID (which I got from a screenshot - still no email confirmation), and requested for the status.\nAfter putting me on hold briefly, she informed me that my application has failed validation, and that she couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell me specifically what the problem was for security reasons. I did not know how to respond to that because she didn\u0026rsquo;t offer me any other options, so wished her a good evening, and ended the call.\nI went back to Bankrate.com, and I began searching again, and then I noticed that there are two GE banks - GE Capital Bank \u0026amp; GE Capital Retail Bank (I will refer to this as Optimizer Plus Bank from now on).\nSo I decided to check their terms, and I found that they have a much better CD, offering 2.30% APY on a 5 year term.\nI decided to open an account here. It turned out an extremely easy process.\nI filled out the application, and I as a proof of identity, I entered my driver’s license information, and in about 10 minutes, my account was open, and I was ready to transfer money into it. I received an email reminder from Optimizer Plus Bank after opening my account about funding my account. However, I had to call the customer care to get my account number, and the routing number of the bank because they were not mentioned anywhere on the website that I could find. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if this is standard practice.\nI sent a note to GE Capital Bank about this on Twitter, and they responded quickly, and asked me to send them my phone number. I gave them my number, and a convenient time to reach me.\nTwo days later, I got a call from a customer care representative. She told me she was going to take care of the situation as best as she can, and explained to me that the account department re-reviewed my application and were comfortable with letting me open an account. However, I would have to go through the process of opening the account again. I asked her what has changed between now and then, she told me that the system went through an upgrade, and it was the system that had rejected my application.\nShe was very kind, and apologetic, and gave me her name \u0026amp; direct work number, and asked me to contact her if I needed any assistance.\nThis would have been good enough for me, had I not discovered that Optimizer Plus Bank is offering the same APY for a lesser term.\nIn the end, I decided to go with Optimizer Plus Bank.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 08:02:45 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2014/05/2014-05-88-gecapitalbank/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI attempted to open a long term CD, and I did some research on what bank to use on BankRate. I found that GE Capital bank was offering 2.30% APY on a 6 year term. I found this acceptable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI called the customer service, and I spoke to them about early withdrawal etc., and after learning about the terms, I filled out the online application form. The application process was simple enough, and it even says on the website that opening an account usually takes 10 minutes - it doesn\u0026rsquo;t say that filling out the form usually takes less than 10 minutes.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hassle of Opening an Account With GE Capital Bank"},{"content":"On February 9, 2014, I had this urge to play as a sniper with a suppressed SV-98. I have gotten a lot better playing as a sniper over the course of Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1, but at the time, I was pretty terrible.\nI ended the round at 24-12, which is fantastic all things considered.\nHowever, that was not the highlight for this round. We were behind on the scoreboard for the most part, but as the round progressed, we closed the gap. By the time I was down, the score was at 11-32.\nWhat unfolded next is one of the best rounds of Battlefield I ever played.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2014/02/2014-02-09-onepointvictory-battlefield4diary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn February 9, 2014, I had this urge to play as a sniper with a suppressed SV-98. I have gotten a lot better playing as a sniper over the course of Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1, but at the time, I was pretty terrible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI ended the round at 24-12, which is fantastic all things considered.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, that was not the highlight for this round. We were behind on the scoreboard for the most part, but as the round progressed, we closed the gap. By the time I was down, the score was at 11-32.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Point Victory - Battlefield 4 Diary"},{"content":"For those that are not familiar, ShabowPlay is a program that is bundled with GeForce experience - the download for this is available on the Nvidia website. This program is compatible with Nvidia GeForce 6 and 7 series desktop video cards.\nDepending on the specified settings, the program automatically saves the specified time of gameplay in a temporary location, and the user can hit a key combination to save the video to the hard drive. I do not see any loss in performance when this software is running in the background. I am using an EVGA GeForce GTX 780 ACX.\nNvidia ShadowPlay\nFor someone like me, who does not continuously record gameplay, but would like to keep a video archive of gameplay moments (Battlefield moments in particular), this program is a blessing. I will now be using DxTory \u0026amp; VirtualDub when I want to record a full round instead.\nWindows Movie Maker\nI use Windows Movie Maker to edit the MP4 files generated by ShadowPlay. I typically need less than a minute of gameplay archived, so editing hardly takes any time, because it usually only involves cutting out segments.\nWindows Movie Maker is ideal for editing clips from ShadowPlay\nI was briefly contemplating switching over to ATI for my next upgrade (whenever that happens), but at the moment, they don\u0026rsquo;t have something equivalent to offer, and its a deal breaker for me. ShadowPlay ensures that no Battlefield moment will ever go unrecorded.\nIts also especially helpful when trying to capture bugs for Battlefield 4. Here are some clips I recorded using ShadowPlay:\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 09:14:02 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2013/11/2013-11-25-battlefieldmomentswithshadowplay/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor those that are not familiar, ShabowPlay is a program that is bundled with GeForce experience - the download for this is available on the Nvidia website. This program is compatible with Nvidia GeForce 6 and 7 series desktop video cards.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDepending on the specified settings, the program automatically saves the specified time of gameplay in a temporary location, and the user can hit a key combination to save the video to the hard drive. I do not see any loss in performance when this software is running in the background. I am using an EVGA GeForce GTX 780 ACX.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield Moment With Nvidia ShadowPlay"},{"content":"The launch of Battlefield 4 was very disappointing. It felt as if those who pre ordered the game were paying to beta test it. It was such a broken mess at times, that I find it hard to believe they released it in such a state. Problems in the beta are present in the release version. Makes me wonder what the beta accomplished.\nTo an extent I understand the server side problems which were taken care of as quickly as they possibly could, but some issues with the base game are hard to justify.\nAfter their PC patch, things seemed to have gotten worse. Apart from the usual problems with the game (crashing to the desktop at random), they managed to introduce a new bug in the patch which could cause the screen to blur every time the commander deployed an EMP. So not only does EA/DICE make customer feel silly for pre ordering the game, the game now causes eye strain.\nThe battlefield twitter and Facebook feed is full of advertisements ranging from merchandise to review scores, apart from a few employees at DICE who have taken the time to respond to messages (my sincere thanks to them). One wonders why they didn\u0026rsquo;t publicly acknowledge the problems and apologize, instead of carrying on with the shameless promotion and self congratulatory posts.\nI wonder what game these \u0026ldquo;journalists\u0026rdquo; were reviewing\u0026hellip;\nAfter the terrible launch, instead of reaching out to the customers, EA took the classy route and advertised hoodies\nUnderstandably, customers were not pleased\nThis launch has validated the cynicism towards the gaming industry in general. If they were in tune with the community, they would know that the community doesn\u0026rsquo;t care about when the game launched or if it beat Call of Duty at sales figures. They care about having a playable game.\nI am sure this is hard for an executive to comprehend, because for them, its all about sales figures. They throw around buzz words like \u0026ldquo;seamless reality\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;immersion\u0026rdquo;, and best of all, \u0026ldquo;levelolution\u0026rdquo; without knowing the first thing about gaming. Publishers do not care about the what they are selling, as long as they are selling many of it, and will say anything to reach their goal - even lie to the public. Case in point, Patrick Bach\u0026rsquo;s interview with Jack Frags about how the game features \u0026ldquo;improved netcode\u0026rdquo; and how people will notice the difference because its better. In reality, it was far worse than Battlefield 3.\nSo here is the bottomline, I will not pre order the next Battlefield game (rest assured that there will be another BF game. The series has gotten too big to not have many sequels), or an EA product. I blame myself for not waiting to see how the game turns out. They have given me no incentive to support their product (No, battlepacks aren\u0026rsquo;t incentives - a working game is.)\nI hope someone at EA who is in a position to change things will read this, and hopefully put out better games. Its unlikely, but no harm in trying. I also hope that we all will remember this when the next Battlefield game is announced.\nThis post is published on Apr 21, 2026 Tuesday 06:33:16 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2013/11/2013-11-17-battlefield4launchfiasco/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe launch of Battlefield 4 was very disappointing. It felt as if those who pre ordered the game were paying to beta test it. It was such a broken mess at times, that I find it hard to believe they released it in such a state. Problems in the beta are present in the release version. Makes me wonder what the beta accomplished.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo an extent I understand the server side problems which were taken care of as quickly as they possibly could, but some issues with the base game are hard to justify.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 4 Launch Fiasco"},{"content":"I have done two things wrong here:\nPre-ordering a game Pre-ordering on Origin I believe pre-ordering a game is not a smart thing to do these days. However, I am making an exception for Battlefield 4. In retrospect, I should have known better than this. I\u0026rsquo;ve had similar problems with Mass Effect 3 when purchasing on Origin.\nI will try to never make these mistakes again. So here is what happened:\nSeptember 16, 2013 - First pre-order Pre-ordered the Battlefield 4 Digital Deluxe edition on Origin website, not the Origin client. Everything went fine, the game showed up in the Game Library.\nI did notice that my credit card account was only showing a temporary transaction from EA for $1. I didn\u0026rsquo;t care at that point because the game was showing on my account.\nOctober 01, 2013 - Exclusive beta No problems accessing the beta. I got it on time, and thoroughly enjoyed it.\nOctober 24, 2013 - $419 charge! I was looking at my credit card statement, and I realized that there was still a $1 pending transaction from EA. This seemed suspicious to me because when I pre-ordered a copy for my wife, there was a $69.99 transaction. I decided to check my Origin order history, and much to my surprise, the price of the pre-order was showing as $419.94.\nI immediately sent a note to Battlefield and Origin on twitter, and they replied back very shortly, which was nice to see.\nI contacted a Game Adviser at EA, and that gentleman told me that I will be given a refund. I asked him if I will be able to preload the game, and I was assured that I will be able to preload the game on October 26, 2013.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t blame the gentleman for telling me that I would be able to pre-load the game. He is a tech support person who is not responsible for the Origin order processing system. I do blame the management, they should have known that customers are going to face these issues, and informed the tech support to handle it better, than to give a canned response.\nOctober 26, 2013 - No pre-load option for Battlefield 4 I suspected I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t get an option to pre-load, judging from the lack of a transaction on my credit card, and I was right. My wife was able to pre-load the game.\nOff I went to tech support, and again, it has been a frustrating experience. Here is the transcript:\nChat Transcript info: Your approximate wait time is 0 minute. info: You are now ready to chat with Akshay. Akshay: Thanks for contacting EA Customer Experience, my name is Akshay. How may I assist you today? Akshay: Hello you: Why am I not able to pre load Battlefield 4. I know my wife is able to do so. you: I am not able to preload. Could you tell me why? Akshay: Okay Akshay: You do not need to worry, I will do my best to address your concern. you: Thanks Akshay: May I know your email id please ? you: ********* Akshay: Okay Akshay: Thanks for the information Akshay: For the verification could you please tell me the answer of your *** ? you: ******* Akshay: Excellent Akshay: Thank you for your co-operation in verifying the account you: Sure Akshay: Do you mind holding for a minute while I come up with something useful for you? you: Sure Akshay: I\u0026#39;ll be glad to help you inform you. you: Thanks. Any idea why I am not able to pre load? Akshay: Pre-load means that, starting at the listed time, you\u0026#39;ll be able to go ahead and download your game early, but won\u0026#39;t be able to play until the stated release time. you: I get that. you: I am just not able to preload. I am not talking about playing. you: What I am trying to say is, I don\u0026#39;t have the option to preload at all. Akshay: Okay no problem Akshay: You\u0026#39;ll be able to pre-load Battlefield 4 at least 24 hours before the game\u0026#39;s release in your region. Some players may be able to pre-load earlier than others depending on when the game is set to release per region. you: My wife is she able to preload while I am not? Akshay: Okay you: https://www.facebook.com/OriginInsider?hc_location=stream you: Origin made a post on Facebook that anyone in North America can preload Akshay: Okay you: Sir, if you are not able to help me, kindly get me in touch with someone who can. Akshay: The preload that your wife was preloading will also get struck . you: What?? Akshay: https://help.ea.com/article/battlefield-4-worldwide-release-schedule you: OK...I know about that link. I\u0026#39;ve seen it. What I am asking is, why am I not able to preload, when Origin posted that the preload is available in North America. you: If you do not have an answer, that is fine. Please transfer this to someone who can help me. Akshay: Could you please give me few moments while I verify that for you. you: Ok. Akshay: Thanks for being on hold. you: Sure Akshay: I\u0026#39;ll provide some troubleshooting to you. Akshay: I hope it will fix it for you. you: Sure you: You dont seem very confident you: Please dont ask me restart origin or my computer. I\u0026#39;ve done both Akshay: Actually it has worked for many players. you: Sure Akshay: We will try to manually uninstall Origin Client. you: Ok Akshay: Please follow this link : https://help.ea.com/article/manually-uninstalling-origin Akshay: You can uninstall it manually by following the instructions on that link. you: Ok let me do that Akshay: Sure, please take your time my friend. you: Ok, I manually uninstalled Origin you: Do you want me to reinstall? Akshay: Exactly. You can please re-install it to your system. you: Ok I am doing that now Akshay: Alright,please take your time. you: Yeah, nothing. Its still not showing the Preload option. http://i.imgur.com/vyFvDYF.jpg you: Listen, do you think you can transfer this issue to someone else? Akshay: Origin Clear Cache might fix this issue. So I request you to please give it a try. you: OK, very well you: Nope. nothing. you: Still the same. Akshay: May I know if you and your wife are using the same ISP ? you: Yes. We are both on the same ISP, we are in North America, and neither she nor I are using proxies. Akshay: No worries. Akshay: Please let me check your order again. you: thank you Akshay: Alright, I\u0026#39;ve checked that your order is fine. There is nothing wrong with it. you: Excellent. you: Still doesn\u0026#39;t explain why I cannot preload though Akshay: I really apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. you: Oh not at all. Its not your fault. I just want to talk to someone who can actually tell me what is going on Akshay: It seems to be a technical problem that has occurred due to large number of customers using the pre-load. you: OK, thanks. The problem was not solved, and wasted my time talking to tech support. I checked my credit card account, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t see the $1 pending transaction anymore. This seemed like a good thing at the time. I thought the order was finally going to be processed.\nI then started playing some Battlefield 3, and while I was customizing my jet, I noticed that I didn\u0026rsquo;t have EMC Jammer anymore. I knew I used this before when I received my vehicles unlock as a part of the pre-order for the Digital Deluxe edition, so it was strange that battlelog was showing some of the items in the progression were yet to be unlocked. I thought this might be a glitch in Battlelog.\nOctober 27 - Pre-order gone I logged into Origin thinking the preload might be available, and what did I see? No Battlefield 4 in my library. It was gone. I looked at the order history, and here is what I found:\nYeah\u0026hellip;so the disappearing vehicle unlocks made sense. EA/Origin/Battlelog decided to cancel the pre-order for me.\nI was extremely frustrated, and I went to the customer support again, even though they have not been helpful at all so far, and only wasted my time. I did not mean to be rude, but after so many problems just to place an order, I lost my patience, Here is the transcript:\nChat Transcript info: Your approximate wait time is 0 minute. info: You are now ready to chat with Marinel. Marinel: Thanks for contacting EA Customer Experience, my name is Marinel. How may I assist you today? you: I pre ordered BF4 in September, and now the game is gone from my library, and in my order history there is a refund for $0.00 which I never asked for you: Could you tell me what happened. you: http://i.imgur.com/suQPJwg.jpg Marinel: I\u0026#39;m sorry to hear that your having issues with your Origin purchase, Unfortunately your chat was connected on the wrong queue. Let me go ahead and connect you to our Origin team so they can better assist you, please stay on the line as I connect your chat session. Thank you! you: Sure info: Please wait while we get this chat session where it needs to go. info: You are now ready to chat with Ujjwal. Ujjwal: Thanks for contacting EA Customer Experience, my name is Ujjwal. How may I assist you today? you: I pre ordered BF4 in September, and now the game is gone from my library, and in my order history there is a refund for $0.00 which I never asked for you: http://i.imgur.com/suQPJwg.jpg you: I want to know what is going on here. Ever since I pre ordered the game I have been having trouble with it Ujjwal: OK Ujjwal: Please tell me your order number. you: Its int he screenshot Ujjwal: Alright you: Click on the screenshot link please Ujjwal: OK Ujjwal: Let me check Ujjwal: Have you attached it with case number 10305790 ?\u0026gt; you: I have no idea what you are talking about. you: Here is my problem - I pre ordered BF4. And now the game is gone from my library. Can you help me or not? If not, direct me to someone who can you: Check this link - http://i.imgur.com/suQPJwg.jpg Ujjwal: I am sorry the link is not opening on my end you: Well dont worry about it. Ujjwal: Please send me the picture of it. you: Oh my god. you: How in the world am I going to send you a picture man? I sent you a link, what more do you want? you: Please transfer me to someone else. you: Right now. Ujjwal: I know but due to privacy it is not opening Ujjwal: I will give you a link you: Ok, fine. Transfer me please. Ujjwal: To demonstrate to attach the screenshot. you: What? you: Are you going to transfer me or not? You got 30 seconds before I close this Ujjwal: https://help.ea.com/article/how-to-attach-a-file-to-your-ea-help-ticket Ujjwal: OK Ujjwal: Let me dio this Ujjwal: For you Ujjwal: *do you: Hello anyone there? Ujjwal: If you want I can give you phone support. you: We are done here. info: Your chat transcript will be sent to **** at the end of your chat session. At this point, I decided to buy the game for a discount on Amazon, and I wanted to make sure I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to be charged by Origin for the last pre order. I went to the tech support again, and this time it was less frustrating:\nChat Transcript info: Your approximate wait time is 0 minute. info: You are now ready to chat with Alejandro. Alejandro: Thanks for contacting EA Customer Experience, my name is Alejandro Jr.. How may I assist you today? you: I purchased Battlefield 4, now its gone from my game library you: Also I noticed that in the order history, there has been a refund issued for $0 Alejandro: I see. I am very sorry to hear that. Let me see what I can do for you. Can I have your full name and the email address associated to your account please? you: *** you: *** Alejandro: Thank you ***. Can I please have the answer to your security question ***? you: *** Alejandro: Thank you please wait while I check on the account. you: Sure Alejandro: Thank you for waiting. I have checked on your order and unfortunately the pre order was cancelled due to the authorization on the card failing. There can be a number of reasons for this type of error to occur such as changes on the information on the card. For now since the order was cancelled you can go ahead and reorder the game. you: Man, that is so weird. I don\u0026#39;t know what is going here. First I was charged $419 for the game, and now the pre order was canceled you: Should I even bother with buying this on origin anymore? Alejandro: I am very sorry to hear that you are having problems with your battlefield 4 order. As of this time our team are working hard on fixing this issue and we ask for you continued patience while we improve our services. you: Are you sure I wont get charged twice for this if I pre order now again? Alejandro: Yes the order has been cancelled already so you will not be charged twice. you: Ok, thanks info: Your chat transcript will be sent to *** at the end of your chat session. With that confirmation, I went over to Amazon.\nI bought the game, and I got a $5 credit, and I was able to start my pre-load - all within 10 minutes.\nMoral of the story - don\u0026rsquo;t pre-order games, and if a pre-order must be placed, don\u0026rsquo;t use Origin. At the time of this writing, it has a lot of issues.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2013/10/2013-10-27-bf4preorderfiasco/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have done two things wrong here:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePre-ordering a game\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePre-ordering on Origin\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believe pre-ordering a game is not a smart thing to do these days. However, I am making an exception for Battlefield 4. In retrospect, I should have known better than this. I\u0026rsquo;ve had similar problems with Mass Effect 3 when purchasing on Origin.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI will try to never make these mistakes again. So here is what happened:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 4 Pre-Order Fiasco \u0026 Amazon to the Rescue"},{"content":"When they announce a new Call of Duty game - I am optimistic. Maybe this time around things will be different; maybe its not, all flash and no substance; maybe they don\u0026rsquo;t treat gamers like puppets; maybe the gameplay will justify the hype and just maybe the game is going to be good.\nThen I play the game - and disappointment ensues. Within the first couple of missions, I know exactly how the entire game is going to play out - pretty much as badly as the previous ones. This serves to reinforce the point - just because the marketing people managed to get a lot of TV coverage for a game, it does not make the game any good. It just means the marketing people are doing one hell of job, while the developers are rehashing the old formula to death.\nThe visuals are not good, the story is incoherent for the most part, poor level design, invisible walls everywhere, linear gameplay - the list goes on. I did not care for the Strike Force missions. They were boring, and after playing for 10 minutes, I realized there is no fun to be had, and considering they were optional, I skipped past them. The game informed that in a strike force missions that I never played, some world changing event happened. I will take its word for it. I thought to myself, would playing these missions somehow make me enjoy the single player more? Would the linear levels bother me any less? Would it make the invisible walls go away? I know the answer is no, for all the above.\nExactly who would turn off their computer while gaming?\nIf ever there is a course on game design, I think the Call of Duty games should be used as an example on how not to design levels. Its crazy how backwards the design is. I\u0026rsquo;ve played games in late 90s and early 2000 which had more freedom and better level design than this. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, No One Lives Forever, Half Life, the first Call of Duty were all excellent examples of creating a linear game without the kind of mindless restrictions that the new call of duty games have.\nIt seems to me that the only reason for this kind of level design is to ensure that the developers don\u0026rsquo;t have to spend time thinking about what the player might do. They don\u0026rsquo;t have to account for player action, when all actions except the ones that are strictly developer approved are removed, including deviating from the pre determined path by just a few steps. How this has not caused an outrage, I will not know.\nGame looks uglier than Modern Warfare.\nPerhaps the trick is to cater to a generation of audience that do not know any better. For them, invisible walls, unskippable cut scenes, game taking control of player action every 5 minutes, quick time events, 4 hour long single player campaign which pretty much plays itself are the norm. This is unfortunate, because there is no money to be made in making a game that is intelligent, well thought-out, and allows players the freedom to explore, and try different styles of gameplay. Crysis did this, and while it received rave reviews, PC gamers shunned it somewhat. Crytek made more money by giving players less in the follow up games. They called it a choreographed sandbox - which is a fancy term for linear levels.\nIf this is going to be the trend, then I am not excited for the next generation of games. If they are not trying anything different than the cut scene-checkpoint-QTE-cut scene-checkpoint tedium, what good are the shiny new visuals? Something as basic as quick save, console tweaks which were taken for granted years ago are now considered features when they are supported - which is not very often. This makes even less sense because gamers complain about absolutely everything - sometimes about games they haven\u0026rsquo;t played and never will.\nSo how is it that these games still exist? I don\u0026rsquo;t know, but after playing this game - which was released in 2012 - it just made me sad at the current state of gaming. At this point, I am willing to bet that Call of Duty: Ghosts will not be any different.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2013/07/2013-07-13-codblackops2mythoughts/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen they announce a new Call of Duty game - I am optimistic. Maybe this time around things will be different; maybe its not, all flash and no substance; maybe they don\u0026rsquo;t treat gamers like puppets; maybe the gameplay will justify the hype and just maybe the game is going to be good.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen I play the game - and disappointment ensues. Within the first couple of missions, I know exactly how the entire game is going to play out - pretty much as badly as the previous ones. This serves to reinforce the point - just because the marketing people managed to get a lot of TV coverage for a game, it does not make the game any good. It just means the marketing people are doing one hell of job, while the developers are rehashing the old formula to death.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PC) - My Thoughts"},{"content":"I purchased the new EVGA GeForce GTX 780 with ACX cooler on June 5, 2013 for $659.99 + 3.99 shipping on NewEgg. Buying these high end cards on launch is a tricky deal. They are in stock for about 10 minutes before they are sold out. Of all the cards I have seen on NewEgg at the time, this one was the best in terms of factory overclocked settings. Even the awesome looking Gigabyte model had lower clock speeds.\nThe card is roughly the same size as the GeForce GTX680SC . It should fit in almost any mid sized case.\nSide by side comparison of EVGA GeForce GTX780 ACX Cooler \u0026amp; EVGA GeForce GTX680SC\nIt runs cooler than 680 and makes less noise. Those who have used the 680 would know that they hardly make any noise, I had to listen for it to even notice it. I was happy that the 780 performs even better.\nPerformance wise, the average frame rates are higher, the leap isn\u0026rsquo;t all that big from a GeForce 680. Guild Wars 2. The frame rate certainly dips below 60 on ultra in Lion\u0026rsquo;s Arch. Those who don\u0026rsquo;t play Guild Wars 2, Lion\u0026rsquo;s Arch is a hub where every player from level 1 to 80 would gather for something or the other. Its a highly populated area and there is always something or the other going on. Check out this video of Lion\u0026rsquo;s Arch on ultra settings.\nI was pretty impressed with the performance of the card in Battlefield 3. Here is a video of Battlefield 3 in ultra.\nTemperatures are lower on the 780, and that probably has a lot to do with the better cooling system on this card. I would absolutely recommend buying this instead of any reference model. Higher clock speeds, and better cooling system is definitely worth the extra $10. Quick note about the power connectors - 780 uses 1x6pin + 1x8pin PCI-express power connectors. This version of the card is bundled with the 8 pin power connector.\nShould 680 Owners Upgrade? Folks like me who like to own the latest GPU just as long as there are performance gains, probably already purchased the card. Those who are on the fence about it, should hold off. At the moment there is no reason to upgrade. Considering that the card is pretty expensive, there are no games at the moment that are taking full advantage of the GPU.\nOf course, if a monitor upgrade is involved from 1080 to 1440, then an upgrade makes sense in order to play at the highest settings.\nIn my opinion, the 680 has plenty of life left in it. So I would hesitate to recommend an upgrade at the moment.\nNvidia GeForce GTX 780 Compatibility with older BIOS I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motheboard, which was running with a stock BIOS, which was last updated on 3/12/2013. When I first installed the card, it would go to the BIOS screen and just sit there for a good minute. The LED debug code would show code 62 (Installation of the PCH runtime services). After about a minute, I would then be able to load windows. However, if I connected my other monitor, CD drive, data drive (non SSD drive) or if I hit Delete or End, the debug LED code would show one of the following:\nAD (Issue Ready To Boot event for OS Boot) AE (Boot to Legacy OS) AB (Wait user command in BIOS Setup) Once it reaches this point, it would just not do anything. I was under the impression that there was something wrong with the card itself, and I was quite disappointed.\nMy wife then had suggested that I should upgrade the BIOS. I looked up my BIOS date and version, and I realized it was quite old. I figured I should at least give it a shot.\nI removed the 780, installed my 680, ran through the BIOS upgrade windows utility, and shut down my machine. Then I installed the 780 again and started the machine. This time around, I was through to the windows login screen in about a few seconds.\nI was relieved to know that a BIOS upgrade was what was needed and there was nothing wrong with the card.\nSo my suggestion, first find out the version of the BIOS that is currently installed. This can be done through Windows. Having done this, find out if this version of BIOS is the latest, and if it is not, upgrade it before installing the GPU.\nDirectX System Information\nMore GPU pictures below.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 11:46:18 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2013/06/2013-06-19-evgageforcegtx780acx-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased the new \u003ca href=\"https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  \u003cspan class='link-color'\u003eEVGA GeForce GTX 780 with ACX cooler\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n on June 5, 2013 for $659.99 + 3.99 shipping on NewEgg. Buying these high end cards on launch is a tricky deal. They are in stock for about 10 minutes before they are sold out. Of all the cards I have seen on NewEgg at the time, this one was the best in terms of factory overclocked settings. Even the awesome looking \u003ca href=\"https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  \u003cspan class='link-color'\u003eGigabyte model\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n had lower clock speeds.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"EVGA GeForce GTX780 ACX Cooler Review"},{"content":"To unlock the L85A2 in Battlefield 3, two assignments need to be completed in this order:\nBest Friend Forever This requires:\n10 revives 10 heals Professional Russian 100 Kills with assault rifles 20 kills with underslung grenade launcher Win 5 rounds of squad deathmatch (SQDM). All of those can be easy enough, except winning 5 rounds of squad deathmatch.\nI have tried to join in to a SQDM by myself, but I never had any luck winning. The chances of winning a SQDM game are one in four, and going solo has never really helped. The best way to do this is to be in a squad. I had my wife join me, and we won five out of the 8 games we played.\nHere are a couple of good SQDM servers I found:\nClose Quarters Battlefield 3 Here is a break down of our wins\nOperation 925 My wife and I started off the round as assault, and for whatever reason I was terrible with the AEK. I just couldn\u0026rsquo;t control it, and the best I got were kill assists. Then I switched to support class with M27, and I got considerably better. It also helped that my wife was there to revive me more often than. The match ended with 125 - 75.\nThe reason my score looks that good is because I got revived several times. This is essential to winning SQDM. We had the perfect balance going. My wife healing me, while I gave her ammo.\nRomkaTerminator from C squad was my nemesis. He/she was extremely good with the shotgun, and in close quarters, and my M27 was not fast enough.\nZiba Tower So we just had our first win in SQDM, and we figured its worth seeing if we can repeat our success. So off we went to Donya Fortress.\nAnd we lost by 5 points. That was a close game, and we figured we should try again.\nNow its Ziba Tower. My wife played assault and I played support. This time however, I knew the M27 was not going to be fast enough. Ziba Tower has a lot of close range encounters. Considering I am really no good with shotguns, I had to find a way to beat RomkaTerminator . I went with P90 and suppressor. This proved to be very effective. I got better of the two several times, and we ended up winning.\nScrapmetal Following this victory, we wanted to play another round. This time it was Scrapmetal. My least favorite map. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why, I just hate this map. I don\u0026rsquo;t understand it very well. I decided to go assault, and that didn\u0026rsquo;t go very well. I went back to being support with M27. That worked very well. RomkaTerminator did get me a few times, but the team didn\u0026rsquo;t do very well, and we won the game. I was surprised I did as well as I did considering I was never any good at this map.\nBy this time, our luck has run out is seems, and we lost the next two rounds. We decided it was time to quit.\nNoshar Canals Next morning, I was casually looking through the servers for something interesting, and I found a server in Brazil that had SQDM with BF3 maps. I never played SQDM on these maps, so I wanted to give it a shot. My wife wanted to go back to playing Close Quarters, but I convinced her to at least give it a shot.\nThis match went amazingly well for us. My wife was assault as usual, and I was an engineer with G36C. I also played as support with M27. I did not realize that SQDM had vehicles in it, so after taking some beating with the LAV, I spawned as an engineer, and that worked out very well for the team.\nThe match ended with my wife being the MVP, even though I had 18 more kills than she did, she revived me a number of times, and that turned the match in our favor.\nSeine Crossing In the preview round, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have any one in the opposite teams dominate me, so winning the round wasn\u0026rsquo;t much of a fight. In this round, I had this one fellow WibblezWobblez [twobles] , constantly harass me. He was playing as recon with SPAZ, and would annoy the hell out of me. He would jump out of nowhere and shoot me in the face and disappear. Thankfully my wife was always close by to review me or to give me health.\nTowards the end however, I got the better of him. I switched to my go to gun - M249B, and ran to the opposite building, and just waited for him to come running around the corner, and gun him down. After a few attempts, it seemed like he decided to give up irritating me.\nThe round turned out to be very close. It was basically a battle between Squad C and Squad D. At one point of time, they got control of the vehicle, and were tailing us by 5 points. For whatever reason no one in my squad was going after the vehicle. I told my wife to provide me cover, and spawned as an engineer, and went after it with my SMAW. I ended up destroying the vehicle (the only time I did that in the round), and that turned the tide in our favor.\nWe slowly gained momentum, and we won the round, and I unlocked the L85A2.\nNow, I am not saying I single handedly won the round for us, I did play a crucial part in our victory.\nL85A2 Having gotten the L85A2, I am not sure I am a fan of the weapon. I haven\u0026rsquo;t played with it a lot, but I feel the AEK and M416 are a lot better than this. I don\u0026rsquo;t have all the attachments unlocked yet, and at some point, I will give this weapon another try, but for now, when I play as an assault, I will go with the AEK.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/12/2012-12-29-unlockingl85a2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTo unlock the L85A2 in Battlefield 3, two assignments need to be completed in this order:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBest Friend Forever\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/unlockingL85A2/01-unlockingL85A2-best-friend-forever.jpg#center\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis requires:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e10 revives\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e10 heals\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003col start=\"2\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProfessional Russian\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/unlockingL85A2/02-unlockingL85A2-professionalrussian.jpg#center\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e100 Kills with assault rifles\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e20 kills with underslung grenade launcher\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWin 5 rounds of squad deathmatch (SQDM).\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of those can be easy enough, except winning 5 rounds of squad deathmatch.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have tried to join in to a SQDM by myself, but I never had any luck winning. The chances of winning a SQDM game are one in four, and going solo has never really helped. The best way to do this is to be in a squad. I had my wife join me, and we won five out of the 8 games we played.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unlocking the L85A2"},{"content":"Mass Effect 3 I played a little more of Mass Effect 3, and I am still impressed with it. I just finished playing a quest where one of my favorite characters in the previous game is killed off. That was a little disappointing. The mission had me make some tough decisions.\nI enjoy the gameplay in Mass Effect 3 so much, that it makes me put up with some very awkward controls. I am not a fan of the way the cover system works. There are several times when I wanted to run, and I took cover instead, and times when I vaulted over cover when I wanted to just stay behind cover. Any other game would have probably annoyed my to a point where I would just give up playing. I hate putting up with console controls on PC. Mass Effect is an exception.\nI realized that the dream sequences in the game remind me of Max Payne quite a bit.\nGuild Wars 2 Having played single player games for the longest time, I seriously got into multiplayer games with TF2, followed by Battlefield 3.\nA couple of days ago, my wife convinced me to buy Guild Wars 2. I have never played a MMO before, and I was not very enthusiastic about it. I didn\u0026rsquo;t see myself playing an RPG for months, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to waste money on it.\nThe wife however, insisted, and I bought it.\nI must say, I am glad I took her word. I think I am going to enjoy Guild Wars 2 quite a bit. The game looks amazing.\nI am playing as a human guardian, and the starting world looks like a fairy tale. This kind of reminds of Trine in 3D.\nI was told that most other MMOs do not encourage exploration. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if this is true, and it seems kind of counter intuitive to me. The designers obviously spent a lot of time creating the world, and I would imagine they would want players to explore it.\nApparently, that is not the case. Guild Wars 2, from what little I have seen has a number of perks for those who want to wander off into the world. I am glad it does that. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to play a game that would punish me for wanting to the world.\nThere is so much about MMOs I need to learn, but I think Guild Wars 2 might be a good idea to begin. I am glad I don\u0026rsquo;t have to deal with subscription fees. I can play this at my own pace. Considering I have so many games in my backlog, I really wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to deal with a subscription.\nI will play some more Guild Wars 2. Considering it is 19F outside, and snowing a little bit, I am not stepping out of home anytime soon. I am blissfully enjoying my Christmas break playing some new games.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/12/2012-12-26-me3-gw2/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"mass-effect-3\"\u003eMass Effect 3\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI played a little more of Mass Effect 3, and I am still impressed with it. I just finished playing a quest where one of my favorite characters in the previous game is killed off. That was a little disappointing. The mission had me make some tough decisions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI enjoy the gameplay in Mass Effect 3 so much, that it makes me put up with some very awkward controls. I am not a fan of the way the cover system works. There are several times when I wanted to run, and I took cover instead, and times when I vaulted over cover when I wanted to just stay behind cover. Any other game would have probably annoyed my to a point where I would just give up playing. I hate putting up with console controls on PC. Mass Effect is an exception.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mass Effect 3 and Guild Wars 2"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve been using Hamachi for a while, and everything was fine, until recently.\nI remote into my home laptop when I am away. One fine evening when I was out of town, I was using my laptop at home remotely, and once I was done working, I put my computer to sleep. When I resumed working, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t remote into my home laptop anymore. At the time I thought something must have happened to my home internet connection, and Hamachi couldn\u0026rsquo;t log back in.\nWhen I went back home, I discovered that the laptop was always online (I could tell because I was still connected Pidgin, and all my chat windows still showed me as online).\nAfter some research I discovered that Hamachi would go offline every time the session is closed.\nFor example, I am using my home laptop through a remote desktop session, then I decide to close the remote desktop session, I can\u0026rsquo;t remote back into the machine because Hamachi goes offline on all the networks.\nHere is an excerpt from their blog post:\nSo, in the hopes of converting more of you into paying customers, we’re making a small change to Hamachi: unless a computer is part of a paid network, you need to be logged in and running the Hamachi UI on your desktop in order to allow it to function. If no user is logged on to the computer then – even though the Hamachi service or daemon is active in the background – it will not go online in any networks that it may belong to. We believe this a fair change; if you’re using Hamachi casually (such as for gaming), then we’re glad to have you as a free user and this change does not affect you. If, on the other hand, you’re using Hamachi to access unattended computers, then this change does affect you and you will want to upgrade to the premium service in order to continue to benefit from it.\nRead the full post HERE .\nI don\u0026rsquo;t know if there are better alternatives to Hamachi. I did not like Team Viewer 7. I will keep looking.\nAll I need is a free VPN application that I can install on both machines, and be able to remote desktop using the VPN ip address.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:54:27 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/12/2012-12-18-hamachiloggingoff/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve been using Hamachi for a while, and everything was fine, until recently.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI remote into my home laptop when I am away. One fine evening when I was out of town, I was using my laptop at home remotely, and once I was done working, I put my computer to sleep. When I resumed working, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t remote into my home laptop anymore. At the time I thought something must have happened to my home internet connection, and Hamachi couldn\u0026rsquo;t log back in.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hamachi Logging Off After Disconnecting"},{"content":"I started my first game of Aftermath on December 4, 2012, with a round of Scavenger on Azadi Palace. This gentleman , happens to be my first victim.\nSo here are a few tips on playing scavenger mode for people like me, who are not the best shot with pistols. Keep in mind, some of these are very obvious, I don\u0026rsquo;t pretend to have just discovered them. This is to help folks who are new to the game.\nChoose a strong pistol that is very effective at close quarters and reasonable at short to medium range. I prefer MP443, even though M1911 does more damage. The magnums are do 50-60 damage in close range, but they are slow to reload, so I am not a fan of those, although I do use them every now and then. So for newbies, my recommendation is to start with either M1911 or MP443.\nUse the tactical light on pistols. I found this to be effective at close range, and gives you the slight edge in some cases, and that might be all you need to get the kill.\nRemember where the weapon spawns are. I started to get a lot better at the game once I figured out where the good weapons can be found. Getting your hands on level 3 weapon can sometimes change the outcome of the game.\nStick with your squad. I found myself getting killed a lot when going solo, simply because the other team was moving in groups. Its very unlikely to do any heavy damage when you have an entire squad firing on your position.\nDo not be in a hurry to run and gun. Take your time. This isn\u0026rsquo;t TDM. It won\u0026rsquo;t take long before you bite the bullet if you don\u0026rsquo;t watch the corners, especially because you maybe bringing a pistol to a machine gun fight.\nIf you are in an locked in an engagement with an enemy holding a machine gun, and all you got is a pistol, then run and take cover. If you are with your squad mates, someone or the other will surely get the enemy.\nConserve your ammo and be a little cautious when you get your hands on a level 3 weapon. There is nothing more frustrating than getting your hands on a M249B, and rushing into the fire zone and getting killed without even firing a shot. Take it a little easy.\nThe default size of the minimap may not be the best for you. I find it helpful to enlarge the size of the map. Hit \u0026lsquo;M\u0026rsquo; to change the size, and \u0026lsquo;N\u0026rsquo; to change the zoom level that is most comfortable to you.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t bother defending a capture point for too long. Chances are your squad mates have started to make their way to the next capture point, so if you choose to stay behind, even with a great weapon, you will soon be facing off a bunch of enemies, and that isn\u0026rsquo;t going to end very well for you. Its better off playing in a cautious aggressive way and attacking points.\nThere are ammo boxes on the map. Figure out where they are use them to your advantage.\nMost of these \u0026rsquo;tips\u0026rsquo; are just some lessons I learned from my experience. I found that I did a lot better in the game if I followed these guidelines. Hopefully it will help you too.\nGood luck!\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 06:20:55 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/12/2012-12-05-scavengertips/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI started my first game of Aftermath on December 4, 2012, with a round of Scavenger on Azadi Palace. \u003ca href=\"http://bf3stats.com/stats_pc/SplashMagikarp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  This gentleman\n\u003c/a\u003e\n, happens to be my first victim.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo here are a few tips on playing scavenger mode for people like me, who are not the best shot with pistols. Keep in mind, some of these are very obvious, I don\u0026rsquo;t pretend to have just discovered them. This is to help folks who are new to the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 3 Aftermath - Scavenger Mode Tips"},{"content":"I have been a user of Yahoo! since 2001. Back in the day, I used to love this service, and I don\u0026rsquo;t remember the ads being intrusive at all. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a huge fan of the interface, but it was functional, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t really care to switch to Gmail.\nSoon flash ads started appearing. Every time I sent an email, I would look at an ad in the sent confirmation page. Then Yahoo! \u0026ldquo;upgraded\u0026rdquo; their service to the New Yahoo! Mail. This was cluncky as hell, and now the ads are far more intrusive.\nOnce I switched from IE to other browsers a few years ago, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to deal with ads, and this again made me not want to switch to Gmail because I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to deal with the hassle.\nThe other day, I happened to log in to my yahoo email account without the adblocker extension, and I was reminded of how intrusive the ads were, and I might even say, they are NSFW in some cases!\nUgly interface\nI can\u0026rsquo;t imagine anyone looking at this, and not getting annoyed. Makes me wonder, who makes these design decisions. At this point, Yahoo! doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to innovate. They could just improve by imitating their competitors. The new Outlook service is an excellent example of a minimalism. Yahoo! could learn a lot from it.\nI would love to hear from someone who is actually paying for a Yahoo! email account. What makes them pay for something that other services provide for free? I almost want to pay the premium, download all my email into Outlook, take a backup, and just never ever use Yahoo! again.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 11:30:44 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/12/2012-12-04-yahoomail-trainwreck/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been a user of Yahoo! since 2001. Back in the day, I used to love this service, and I don\u0026rsquo;t remember the ads being intrusive at all. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a huge fan of the interface, but it was functional, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t really care to switch to Gmail.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoon flash ads started appearing. Every time I sent an email, I would look at an ad in the sent confirmation page. Then Yahoo! \u0026ldquo;upgraded\u0026rdquo; their service to the New Yahoo! Mail. This was cluncky as hell, and now the ads are far more intrusive.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Yahoo! Mail - Still a train wreck"},{"content":"When Battlefield 1942 was given away for free on Origin, a week ago, I decided to give it a try. I haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game in years, and I completely forgot all about it.\nWhen I started it, it came back me - the server browser was extremely clunky. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t much of a multiplayer gamer back then and apart from Quake 3, I didn\u0026rsquo;t really much else. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know any better.\nWhen I first played the alpha version of Battlefield 3 back in 2011, I was surprised to learn that I needed to launch the game from the browser. I am not opposed to change, but I found the idea a little ridiculous. I did not want to launch a game from the browser. I wanted to be able to start the game, get into the multiplayer mode, and then browse the servers from there, just like I did with all the other games.\nHaving spent a lot of time with the game, I think different. Fact is, I now find the server browser extremely useful, and I do believe this is the way to go for the game. For whatever reason, DICE haven\u0026rsquo;t been very good at making server browsers, and I am glad they went this route. It works very well for the most part, and joining games with friends is extremely easy.\nIn my opinion, this is the best server browser out there. I hope they continue to improve it.\nMuch needed features Ability to configure display options, controls, and such through battlelog or through a utility. I don\u0026rsquo;t see why this is impossible, I mean its already possible to set the loadout through battlelog, so being able to configure other options would be perfect.\nOf course, it goes without saying that the ability to change the settings from within the game should still exist, and must not be stripped out!\nMake the communication tool work better. The little chat window at the bottom shows there is someone online when they aren\u0026rsquo;t; the voice option doesn\u0026rsquo;t work at times. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement for this tool.\nError messages such as this shouldn\u0026rsquo;t exist! Game disconnected, something went wrong\nIf these features make it into the Battlelog for the launch of Battlefield 4, that would be perfect!\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:09:17 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/11/2012-11-21-battlelogfeaturerequests/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Battlefield 1942 was given away for free on Origin, a week ago, I decided to give it a try. I haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game in years, and I completely forgot all about it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I started it, it came back me - the server browser was extremely clunky. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t much of a multiplayer gamer back then and apart from Quake 3, I didn\u0026rsquo;t really much else. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know any better.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Battlelog Feature Requests"},{"content":"I wanted to create a Battlefield 3 theme desktop setup, when I bought the Battlefield 3 version of the Razer Imperator.\nBattlefield 3 Desktop\nI have been a fan of the DeathAdder for the longest time, but the Imperator surpasses it in terms of features and comfort. The Battlefield 3 logo is a nice addition. I would never consider paying more for a mouse that serves as an advertisement, but I was surprised to find it for $10 less than the regular version.\nConsidering that I love Battlefield 3, there is no reason for me to not get it!\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:16:43 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/11/2012-11-16-battlefield3desktop/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to create a Battlefield 3 theme desktop setup, when I bought the Battlefield 3 version of the Razer Imperator.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/battlefield3desktop/02-battlefield3desktop.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/battlefield3desktop/02-battlefield3desktop.jpg#center\"\n         alt=\"Battlefield 3 Desktop\" width=\"640\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eBattlefield 3 Desktop\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have been a fan of the DeathAdder for the longest time, but the Imperator surpasses it in terms of features and comfort. The Battlefield 3 logo is a nice addition. I would never consider paying more for a mouse that serves as an advertisement, but I was surprised to find it for $10 less than the regular version.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 3 Desktop"},{"content":"I wanted to talk about some of the games I am looking forward to the most.\nBattlefield 4 There are absolutely no details known about Battlefield 4 at this point. This is all we really know about it.\nfrom staticcontent repo\nI can only hope that DICE doesn\u0026rsquo;t make this a consolized game. Battlefield 3 wasn\u0026rsquo;t, so I have no reason to believe that Battlefield 4 would be any different.\nIt would be interesting to look back months from now at my thoughts, and realize how right or wrong I was.\nSo here is my optimistic prediction:\nBattlefield 4 is going to be the best Battlefield game ever. The single player campaign is going to be brilliant, and there will be no quick time events! Every PC gamer is going to be raving about how great it is.\nThen there is the multiplayer. Its going to put every other online FPS to shame. The destruction in this game will be awesome. Johan Gidlund-Montén and his team will do an awesome job. It will surpass BF3, and I will spend over 400 hours on that game.\nIt will be the editor's choice at PC Gamer.\nThere. It has been said. I will revisit this once Battlefield 4 is out. Hopefully, I won\u0026rsquo;t be completely mistaken. I was kind of hoping Medal of Honor Warfighter will be a good game, but that turned out to be very mediocre, if the reviews are to be believed. Of course, I am not going to take a chance and purchase the game to see if the reviews were wrong.\nThere are certain facts about the game that are very unappealing to me - quick time events in single player, lack of destruction in multiplayer and in the campaign are a couple of reasons I can think of.\nCrysis 3 I don\u0026rsquo;t know what to think about this game. I made a rather lengthy blog about things I disliked with Crysis 2. Hopefully, Crytek was paying attention to their fans. I thought Crysis and Warhead were one of the best games ever. I know a lot of people will disagree with me.\nThose games had all the design choices that I love in a FPS game.\nQuick save, manual save, tons of graphics options, lengthy single player campaigns, superb visuals, no quick time events, to name a few. Its almost as if, someone asked me my idea of a perfect game, and went ahead and made it. I cared very little about Crysis before its release, but once I played the demo, I totally loved the game.\nCrysis 2 on the other hand, was a disappointment. Its not that the game looked particularly bad, or played bad, but the fact that it was designed to appeal to the Call of Duty crowd was what made it unappealing to me.\nSo, lets predict Crysis 3:\nIt will still try and appeal to the Call of Duty crowd, much like Crysis 2. The multiplayer will be quickly forgotten. There will be quick time events (this makes me sad), and there will be no quick save in the PC version.\nI think the game is going to be alright, but it will not live up to Crysis in my mind.\nTomb Raider This one looks interesting. I played the first five Tomb Raider games, and at the time, I really liked them. However, I did not enjoy the rest of the games. I played the first level of Angel of Darkness, and that was enough for me.\nI really looked forward to Tomb Raider Legend, and for the most part, it lived up to my expectations. However, the boss fights were very lame, and are made for the console. As a PC gamer, I did not enjoy them, and I eventually gave up on the game. I hope to revisit this game someday and finish it.\nI couldn\u0026rsquo;t be bothered to play the other two games - Anniversary and Underworld.\nI like the direction they are taking the new game in. It seems less like an arcade game, and more like a serious survival adventure game.\nI predict, that the game is going to be pretty good. The PC version is going to be solid as well. The interface is going to be a console like, but still functional. Hopefully, the checkpoint saves will not make the game too frustrating, and the boss battles won\u0026rsquo;t follow the unimaginative tedium I have seen in Tomb Raider Legend.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 05:12:09 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/11/2012_11_16_mostanticipatedgames/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to talk about some of the games I am looking forward to the most.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"battlefield-4\"\u003eBattlefield 4\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are absolutely no details known about Battlefield 4 at this point. This is all we really know about it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/mostanticipatedgames/battlefield%204.png\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rch-git/staticcontent@master/images/mostanticipatedgames/battlefield%204.png#center\"\n         alt=\"from staticcontent repo\"/\u003e \u003c/a\u003e\u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003efrom staticcontent repo\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI can only hope that DICE doesn\u0026rsquo;t make this a consolized game. Battlefield 3 wasn\u0026rsquo;t, so I have no reason to believe that Battlefield 4 would be any different.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Most Anticipated Games"},{"content":"When I first purchased Battlefield 3, I never would have believed that I would play it for almost 250 hours, considering that I returned it the first time I bought. I purchased it the second time, and it seemed like a different game!\nToo much Battlefield 3\nSo anyway, what this has done is prevented me from playing any other game. I have a large number of games I haven\u0026rsquo;t even started playing yet, and I have a feeling I will never finish them in my lifetime.\nMy Backloggery account tells me that I have 96 games that are unfinished. There is no way I will ever get to finish all those games, considering Battlefield 4 is coming out next year. Unless EA and DICE completely screw the game, I suspect I will be playing it for a long time.\nWhile I am at it, I may as well say it:\nDear EA and DICE, This may be hard for you to comprehend, but there are those of us that like Battlefield. I might even say, there are those of us that love the game. Even as you try to drive us away by making bad decisions, we will refuse to give up on Battlefield. You have forced us to use Origin, for no good reason other than promoting your marketing crap; you restricted access to Battlefield 4 beta to those who pre-ordered Medal of Honor Warfighter - considering you restricted the beta of MOH Warfighter to just 360 owners, that a big \u0026#34;fuck you\u0026#34; to the rest of the potential customers. These decisions which I believe are conceived in the depths of marketing hell are not going to make the game any better. If Medal of Honor Warfighter is a good game, it will sell on its merits alone. If anything, this makes me more weary about buying the game, which I won\u0026#39;t anyway, despite your best (worst?) efforts. So here is what I ask - treat your customers with respect. That goes for console customers and PC customers. I have this sinking feeling that Battlefield is trying to be Call of Duty with yearly releases, and you know what that does to the quality of the game, right? Give each platform the dedication it deserves, and if there is a single player campaign, NO MORE QUICK TIME EVENTS! Its the scourge of gaming. Leave it to lazy developers to resort to QTEs. You guys are better than that (I hope). Battlefield 3 is an amazing game, irrespective of all the hate it seems to get. Its not perfect, but no game is. Armored Kill is one of the best expansions ever. I love it. It feels like a proper PC game; and that is really all we ask. As of now, I am still hopeful. Should Battlefield 4 feel like sloppy sequel, I shall move on and not look back. Just continue the good work you did with Battlefield 3 on the PC, is all I am saying. ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/10/2012-10-16-battlefield3problem/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I first purchased Battlefield 3, I never would have believed that I would play it for almost 250 hours, considering that I returned it the first time I bought. I purchased it the second time, and it seemed like a different game!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/battlefield3problem/01-battlefield3problem.png#center\"\n         alt=\"Too much Battlefield 3\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eToo much Battlefield 3\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo anyway, what this has done is prevented me from playing any other game. I have a large number of games I haven\u0026rsquo;t even started playing yet, and I have a feeling I will never finish them in my lifetime.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Battlefield 3 Problem"},{"content":"/* * This program, accepts the size of the array from the user. * Check to see if the size is a number, if its not, it will * display a message and terminate. * If it is, the user is asked to enter the elements into the * array. * Each element is parsed into int. if it is not successful, a * message is displayed. * there are two functions which do the same conversion, but * display different exit messages depending on the element that * is incorrect. The last element will have a different exit message * if the value is incorrect. */ using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; namespace RuntimeArray { class RuntimeArray { static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Enter the size of the array: \u0026#34;); string s = Console.ReadLine(); int size; //take the number in string s, convert it into int and store it in size bool NumerOrNot = Int32.TryParse(s, out size); //if s is not a number, print out a message and exit if (!NumerOrNot) { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number. \u0026#34;); Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Press enter to terminate.\u0026#34;); Console.Read(); } string[] s1 = new string[size]; Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Enter {0} numbers\u0026#34;, size); for (int i = 0; i \u0026lt; size; i++) { //reading elements from the console s1[i] = Console.ReadLine(); //the exit message is different for the last element of the array if (i == size - 1) { //a different function is called with a different exit message //this function will try to parse the element into int. TryToParse2(s1[i]); } else { //this function will try to parse the element into int. TryToParse(s1[i]); } } Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;All the elements entered so far: \u0026#34;); for (int j = 0; j \u0026lt; size; j++) { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Element {0}: {1}\u0026#34;, j, s1[j]); } Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Press enter to terminate.\u0026#34;); Console.Read(); } public static bool TryToParse(string s2) { int number; s2.Trim(); bool result = Int32.TryParse(s2, out number); if (result) { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;The string {0}, has been parsed into the number: {1}\u0026#34;, s2, number); } else { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number. Enter a number: \u0026#34;); } return true; } public static bool TryToParse2 (string s3) { int number; s3.Trim(); bool result = Int32.TryParse(s3, out number); if (result) { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;The string {0}, has been parsed into the number: {1}\u0026#34;, s3, number); } else { Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number.\u0026#34;); } return true; } } } ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/09/2012-09-11-runtimearray/","summary":"\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e/*\n * This program, accepts the size of the array from the user.\n * Check to see if the size is a number, if its not, it will\n * display a message and terminate.\n * If it is, the user is asked to enter the elements into the\n * array.\n * Each element is parsed into int. if it is not successful, a\n * message is displayed.\n * there are two functions which do the same conversion, but\n * display different exit messages depending on the element that\n * is incorrect. The last element will have a different exit message\n * if the value is incorrect.\n*/\nusing System;\nusing System.Collections.Generic;\nusing System.Linq;\nusing System.Text;\n\nnamespace RuntimeArray\n{\n    class RuntimeArray\n    {\n        static void Main(string[] args)\n        {\n            Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Enter the size of the array: \u0026#34;);\n            string s = Console.ReadLine();\n            int size;\n            //take the number in string s, convert it into int and store it in size\n            bool NumerOrNot = Int32.TryParse(s, out size);\n\n            //if s is not a number, print out a message and exit\n            if (!NumerOrNot)\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number. \u0026#34;);\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Press enter to terminate.\u0026#34;);\n                Console.Read();\n            }\n\n            string[] s1 = new string[size];\n            Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Enter {0} numbers\u0026#34;, size);\n            for (int i = 0; i \u0026lt; size; i++)\n            {\n                //reading elements from the console\n                s1[i] = Console.ReadLine();\n                //the exit message is different for the last element of the array\n                if (i == size - 1)\n                {\n                    //a different function is called with a different exit message\n                    //this function will try to parse the element into int.\n                    TryToParse2(s1[i]);\n\n                }\n                else\n                {\n                    //this function will try to parse the element into int.\n                    TryToParse(s1[i]);\n                }\n\n            }\n            Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;All the elements entered so far: \u0026#34;);\n            for (int j = 0; j \u0026lt; size; j++)\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Element {0}: {1}\u0026#34;, j, s1[j]);\n            }\n            Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;Press enter to terminate.\u0026#34;);\n            Console.Read();\n        }\n        public static bool TryToParse(string s2)\n        {\n            int number;\n\n            s2.Trim();\n            bool result = Int32.TryParse(s2, out number);\n\n            if (result)\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;The string {0}, has been parsed into the number: {1}\u0026#34;, s2, number);\n            }\n            else\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number. Enter a number: \u0026#34;);\n\n            }\n            return true;\n        }\n        public static bool TryToParse2 (string s3)\n        {\n            int number;\n\n            s3.Trim();\n            bool result = Int32.TryParse(s3, out number);\n\n            if (result)\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;The string {0}, has been parsed into the number: {1}\u0026#34;, s3, number);\n            }\n            else\n            {\n                Console.WriteLine(\u0026#34;This is not a number.\u0026#34;);\n\n            }\n            return true;\n        }\n    }\n}\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e","title":"Runtime Array in C#"},{"content":"I purchased Battlefield 3 back in November from Amazon. It was one of the few times I bought a game so close to the launch. I played the Alpha and I was very impressed with it.\nHaving bought the game however, I encountered several problems with it. I am quite sure that the problems were at my end, because my friends were able to log in play just fine. For whatever reason, this was encountered way too often:\nBattlefield 3 - Something went wrong with the game error\nI returned the game, and Amazon were kind enough to refund the entire money.\nFor the Memorial Day, there was a sale going on EA, and my fiance suggested that we buy Battlefield 3 and play it together. I was skeptical about it, having purchased it before, but she said she was going to pay for it, and I was very comfortable with the arrangement.\nWell, what can I say? Since that day, I have clocked a total of 18 hours, and I ranked up 14 levels. It has been one hell of an experience.\nThe game seemed vastly improved, and I did not encounter the long load times; I am sure this has more to do with my SSD than the game itself, but my fiance plays on a laptop, and on wireless, and she didn\u0026rsquo;t have any problems either.\nWell, I am glad I gave Battlefield 3 another chance. It can be chaotic in the beginning, but once I got the hang of it, its truly awesome.\nHere is the link to my profile to those we might be interested in seeing my stats HERE .\nI am also considering buying the expansion.\nI will make a blog about tips that might help novice players like myself based on my experience.\nHere is a video of me getting better of my fiance! We usually play together, but she ended up in the opposite team, and that gave me a chance to frag her. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t very happy about it!\nThe point of this blog is, I truly recommend Battlefield 3 to anyone looking to play an amazing FPS online.\nI had my problems with Battlelog, and found the idea of starting the game from within the browser a ridiculous idea, but it has grown on me a lot. I like the features it offers, and if it is given a chance, I am sure the merits are there to be seen.\nI also have to say, so far, Origin has been very unobtrusive. I barely ever see it, its just in the background, and its not that memory intensive either, which is what I like from a client. It should be transparent, and so far that is how Origin has been.\nSo overall, its been a good experience, and I felt I needed to share this with my fellow PC Gamers.\nJumping off Damavand Peak is an thrilling experience!\nIn closing, here is a portrait wallpaper of Battlefield 3 that my fiance just made:\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/06/2012-06-03-battlefield3unexpectedfun/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI purchased Battlefield 3 back in November from Amazon. It was one of the few times I bought a game so close to the launch. I played the Alpha and I was very impressed with it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHaving bought the game however, I encountered several problems with it. I am quite sure that the problems were at my end, because my friends were able to log in play just fine. For whatever reason, this was encountered way too often:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Battlefield 3 - Unexpected Fun"},{"content":"I have recently added some LED bias lights to my monitor. The previous bias lights I had were USB based ; they wouldn’t change color, and they did not have an ON/OFF switch. So I bought a different set of lights from Amazon .\nThe remote control that comes along with the bias lights kit is a little sketchy, because its IR. So it works intermittently. The biggest drawback I could think of is the fact that should the remote ever not work, its not possible to change colors or turn the lights ON/OFF except unplug them from the power.\nThat said, these lights are pretty fantastic. It’s definitely worth the money.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 09:03:48 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/03/2012-03-25-newcomputersetup/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have recently added some LED bias lights to my monitor. The previous bias lights I had were \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053B347M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  USB based\n\u003c/a\u003e\n; they wouldn’t change color, and they did not have an ON/OFF switch. So I bought a different set of lights from \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040FJ27S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  Amazon\n\u003c/a\u003e\n.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/newcomputersetup/01-newcomputersetup_DSC0002.JPG#center\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/newcomputersetup/02-newcomputersetup_DSC0005.JPG#center\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"align-center \"\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://pub-547199c383d84d3aaec67970e5758c08.r2.dev/newcomputersetup/03-newcomputersetup_DSC0006.JPG#center\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe remote control that comes along with the bias lights kit is a little sketchy, because its IR. So it works intermittently. The biggest drawback I could think of is the fact that should the remote ever not work, its not possible to change colors or turn the lights ON/OFF except unplug them from the power.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Computer Setup"},{"content":"I have started messing around with Windows 8 Consumer Preview recently. I installed it on a VM using Virtual Box. Its quite straight forward, and it worked quite well in a VM. It can be unstable to start with, needing a few restarts to boot, but once booted, its quite stable, and it works well.\nThe question to me is, is it worth upgrading? As it stands, I don’t think so. I am not going to upgrade because to me it seems more like a stripped down version of Windows. There are severe limitations when using the desktop version, and all the apps don’t really add any value. It just seems to limit the functionality. I can’t imagine any business upgrading to Windows 8, considering that Windows 7 is so stable, reliable, and easy to use.\nLets look at pictures to tell the rest of the story. Click for a larger picture.\nYou are greeted with the lock screen at the beginning. There is something to be said about this screen. You hit Ctrl + Alt + Del to go the password screen, or click and the drag the screen upwards, to reveal the password screen. I thought that was a nice touch. This works for both the desktop and the tablet. I wish the rest of the interface was just as thoughtful. I also the like the look of the lock screen. This is a very pointless improvement that adds nothing but aesthetics.\nOnce you get past the lock screen, you are greeted with the Start Screen. Everything is in large and colorful. Great for a tablet, but completely useless for a desktop. I can’t imagine what this would add in terms of functionality. Why would a user want to leave the desktop, go to a different screen and launch an app, instead of accessing it from the desktop environment, so that it is possible to multi task?\nClicking on the desktop will take us to the familiar desktop, with one big difference – no start menu. The familiar orb is now missing. It becomes a pain to navigate and launch programs. The Metro interface itself doesn’t bother me, it’s the fact that they removed the start menu is what really irritates me. Windows XP let users change the start menu to look like the Windows 98 classic start menu. No such luck this time. Without using 3rd party tools, it seems as if the users are stuck with the Start Screen. It seemed more like a prank than a needed UI redesign.\nUsing a program called ViStart. This looks very similar to the Windows 7 start menu, and the search function works, and also it is possible to access the power off functions from this menu. Quite convenient, but the start menu has some problems while launching certain programs. I am sure it will be fixed in the later versions, but Windows should really bring the start menu back!\nAll the options are now sliders. There are no radio buttons and checkboxes anymore. It seems as if all the screens are designed for the tablet. I don’t have a problem with this in particular. Its when features are stripped out in favor of a tablet like experience, it starts to become pointless for a desktop or a laptop. The redesign adds no value to a regular user. One of the many redesigns that don’t make a lot of sense. They are trying to fix things that aren’t broken.\nThis is the IE metro app. Again, I thought this was not adding much value. Even novice users now either use Firefox or Chrome. I know for a fact that my mom, who cant launch a browser unless there is a shortcut on the desktop, uses Firefox because she figured out she didn’t like IE. That being the case, why would I ever use an IE app? Especially when I am restricted, and I can’t effectively switch between tasks on a desktop? I guess it won’t hurt to have it, but if I were to ever upgrade to Windows 8, I don’t see myself using this at all.\nIt only took 3 versions for IE to get a spell checker! I am sure the backend is much improved with support for new technologies and such, but the front end is disappointingly the same. I don’t know if the browser will get extensions like Firefox and Chrome, but out of the box, its almost like IE 9. It’s a very underwhelming experience. This again highlights why the IE metro app is so pointless to me. I am using Chrome anyway, and even a Chrome metro app would be of no use to me. I should also mention that there is no Paste \u0026amp; Go option either. That is such a simple addition, which should been included! Very lame.\nThis is the Remote Desktop app. Although it is possible to launch remote desktop through the classic desktop, using the app is very limiting as expected. At work, I have 2-3 remote desktop windows open at a time, while I am using my regular desktop applications. So again, on the desktop version, I fail to see any need for this app.\nOverall, Windows 8 has not been the change I was expecting to see. I am hoping the final release version would be better in terms of offering users the choice between using the Metro Start Screen and the Windows 7 start menu. Of course, there is also the possibility that the metro interface is going to be a huge hit among consumers, and one day will be look back at the time when we complained about it. Only time will tell.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 07:22:36 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/03/2012-03-18-windows8previewimpressions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have started messing around with Windows 8 Consumer Preview recently. I installed it on a VM using Virtual Box. Its quite straight forward, and it worked quite well in a VM. It can be unstable to start with, needing a few restarts to boot, but once booted, its quite stable, and it works well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe question to me is, is it worth upgrading? As it stands, I don’t think so. I am not going to upgrade because to me it seems more like a stripped down version of Windows. There are severe limitations when using the desktop version, and all the apps don’t really add any value. It just seems to limit the functionality. I can’t imagine any business upgrading to Windows 8, considering that Windows 7 is so stable, reliable, and easy to use.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Windows 8 Preview Impressions"},{"content":"I recently went on a trip to San Antonio and I wasn’t sure if I could carry a tripod. Since I did not have any check-in luggage, I had to carry it with me.\nI wasn’t sure if a tripod will be allowed as a carry on item. I checked the TSA website and a tripod wasn’t listed on there.\nI was traveling by Southwest Airlines, so I checked their website for any baggage requirements. It says on the website that walking canes or umbrellas are not counted against the “one-bag plus one personal-type item” limit. So I figured I could take my chance.\nMy tripod was a Vista Explorer 60-Inch Lightweight Tripod. I bought it on Amazon.\nVista explorer tripod\nAnd this is how I carried it with me:\nTripod with carry-on bag\nI have not had a problem during the flight, and I wasn’t asked any questions either by the TSA or by the Southwest Airlines staff.\nSo if anyone is looking to carry their tripod, I recommend doing this.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 11:25:36 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/03/2012-03-04-tripodasacarryon/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recently went on a trip to San Antonio and I wasn’t sure if I could carry a tripod. Since I did not have any check-in luggage, I had to carry it with me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wasn’t sure if a tripod will be allowed as a carry on item. I checked the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  \u003cspan class='link-color'\u003eTSA website\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n and a tripod wasn’t listed on there.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was traveling by Southwest Airlines, so I checked their website for any baggage requirements. It says on the website that walking canes or umbrellas are not counted against the “one-bag plus one personal-type item” limit. So I figured I could take my chance.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tripod as a Carry On"},{"content":"I am not sure how and when this started, but it is getting really annoying. I understand that for some people this is not a problem, but some of us care about this. It feels like my experience is more watered down without options that were available to games from 8 years ago. There is no reason why the developers are not giving players the option to quick save in 2012!\nI’ve talked about this issue in the past on the forums and the responses ranged from people who absolutely wanted it, and those who said quick save removed the challenge from the game.\nI understand that, however, for those who want a challenge, they can always just not save. Gamers like me would like to have the option but just can’t seem to convince people that this is an important part of their experience!\nI can’t remember the number of times I played a certain section in Crysis or in Max Payne, all because I could save where I wanted to.\nI remember when Crysis 2 and Max Payne 3 were first announced. I had a bad feeling that they will be a console ports.\nWith Crysis 2, my suspicion was well founded. At launch, the game had no DX11 support, had hardly any graphics settings except pre-set options, and it featured the irritating checkpoint feature. If that wasn’t bad enough, you had to quit the current game to be able load a checkpoint. The game itself isn’t bad at all, but the gameplay is built around the console, and without the lack of any customization, its just a big disappointment compared to the 5 year old Crysis.\nNow, the release date for Max Payne 3 has been announced and PC Gamer did a preview very recently. I asked Tyler Wilde if there was an option to quick save, and I was told that Max Payne 3 had checkpoint saves.\nThis is disappointing to me. The first two games let you save wherever you wanted to save, and also had a ton of graphics settings options. It seems as if Max Payne 3 is heading down the Crysis 2 path.\nI am not sure what I intend to accomplish with this post. Perhaps someone in the games industry will read this and understand that not everyone will like the kind of restrictions that seem acceptable on consoles.\nFor example, the developers of Deus Ex Human Revolution believed that highlighting is a core part of the experience , yet they gave us the option to turn it off. I think that is commendable.\nAllowing players to choose their experience is the best part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.\nIf the fine folks at PC Gamer can convince developers in the future that curbing their enthusiasm to provide an experience is a good thing, everyone is going to be happy for it.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2012/03/2012-03-03-whathappenedtoquicksave/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am not sure how and when this started, but it is getting really annoying. I understand that for some people this is not a problem, but some of us care about this. It feels like my experience is more watered down without options that were available to games from 8 years ago. There is no reason why the developers are not giving players the option to quick save in 2012!\u003c/p\u003e","title":" What happened to Quick Save?"},{"content":" This is not the first time I creating a blog, and this probably won\u0026rsquo;t be the last. However, I hope I find the time to update this on a regular basis. I am really not sure what might blog about; there is a good possibility that it might be random and not concentrate on a specific topic. Who knows\u0026hellip;time will tell.\nUntil then, here\u0026rsquo;s hoping that this attempt will not be short lived.\nThis post is published on Apr 12, 2026 Sunday 03:53:35 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2011/06/myfirstpost/","summary":"\u003c!-- http://localhost:1313/posts/2011/06/myfirstpost/ --\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not the first time I creating a blog, and this probably won\u0026rsquo;t be the last. However, I hope I find the time to update this on a regular basis. I am really not sure what might blog about; there is a good possibility that it might be random and not concentrate on a specific topic. Who knows\u0026hellip;time will tell.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil then, here\u0026rsquo;s hoping that this attempt will not be short lived.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blogbytes: My First Post"},{"content":"Its hard to imagine these were the same folks who gave us No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2. The fantastic humor, varied gameplay are all gone, and all that left is monotones shooter which tries hard to capture the magic of the previous games, but fails at just about everything and ends up being very bland. its not a terrible game, but its just not very good.\nI admit, I am not a fan of games with female protagonists. I played my share of Tomb Raider games as an adolescent, but I started to see what a poor stereotype Lara Croft is as I got older and I lost interest in the series so much so that I haven\u0026rsquo;t played any after tomb raider chronicles. No One Lives Forever had much more depth, both in characters and in gameplay. The first game was an amazing shooter with memorable characters and great music. The second game was just as good with greatly improved visuals, even more humor, interesting weapons.\nIts repetitive as hell. I mean its repetitive as hell. Did I tell you its repetitive as hell?\nThen came Contract J.A.C.K., the prequel. What can I say? Its a step backwards, no pun intended. The gameplay consists of mowing down seemingly endless droves of enemies, who keep coming out of nowhere. There is no stealth, no strategy, just mindless shooting. This is fun for a while, but gets boring really fast.\nIts not often that i play a game and I don\u0026rsquo;t recollect anything about the story. All i know is that the main character is a gun for hire, who gets hired by the same agency Cate Archer worked for, and goes all over the world in search of something or someone. Remember the memorable anti gravity level in No One Lives Forever 2? They tried to do one of those, but it just didn\u0026rsquo;t work very well. The levels are set in different locations across Europe and space, but it really doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter. the game just isn\u0026rsquo;t any fun. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t help at all that the AI is pretty dated as well. Just about every enemy reacts the same way, and when you have tons and tons of enemies all acting the same way, it gets boring really fast.\nStupid game design. Couldn’t they at least have put up a higher wall? That’s how much thought went into the game!\nAt least its technically solid. The visuals are alright, but in 2011, its hard to not notice the sharp edges and the repetitive gameplay. I played this game for the nostalgic value, and by the time it was over, my hunger for No One Lives Forever was not satiated and I am left hoping i will one day see the release of a new NOLF game.\nHard for me to recommend this game except for fans of NOLF, who might to give it a shot just for the sake of nostalgia.\n+ Somewhat retains the atmosphere of NOLF games\n- Repetitive gameplay\n- Lame story\n- Absolutely no replay value\n- Terrible AI\nVerdict - Unless you are a really hardcore NOLF fan, don\u0026rsquo;t bother with this one.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 11:59:32 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2011/04/reviews/contractjack-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIts hard to imagine these were the same folks who gave us No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2. The fantastic humor, varied gameplay are all gone, and all that left is monotones shooter which tries hard to capture the magic of the previous games, but fails at just about everything and ends up being very bland. its not a terrible game, but its just not very good.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Contract J.A.C.K. (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Friday, August 20, 2010, 8:48:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 13, 2010.\nI can\u0026rsquo;t remember being this mad at a game. Far Cry 2 showed me new levels of boredom and rage that I am yet to experience. The reason I get so angry is because the game had great fantastic potential. It easily could have been one of the best games ever made. It had all the right elements. However, the stupid decisions the developers made turned this game from a fantastic shooter to a mind-numbingly boring game that tries everything and fails rather miserably.\nThe story is quite good, believe it or not. The fighting between different factions in an untamed land, greed, deception, a journalist writing a book about the situation of the country and the plight of its people, and an enemy with a political and philosophical agenda. The game even incorporates a choice system a few times, its quite simple and shallow, but its still there.\nFar Cry 2 game play. Played on 1920x1200, GeForce 260GTX and Intel Q9400 \u0026amp; 4GB RAM\nIts really hard to appreciate any of the redeemable qualities when the rest of the game is so monotonous! The constant driving around between towns would not have been so bad, if the enemies weren\u0026rsquo;t re-spawning endlessly! I\u0026rsquo;ve heard people on some message boards say this adds realism to the game. I\u0026rsquo;ve never accused message board trolls of having a brain, but this is a bit much. How is that enemies who got killed not 5 minutes ago appear magically in that exact same location translate into \u0026ldquo;realism\u0026rdquo;?! This makes the game seem longer than it is, because the actual \u0026ldquo;game\u0026rdquo; part of it is rather small. I even bothered to time the game play. If I played the game exactly as the developers intended the player to, in a 30 minute session, I spent 18 minutes travel (driving, walking, swimming), approximately 90 seconds in conversations, and the rest of the time shooting. So you can see, nineteen and a half minutes in doing something that absolutely adds NO value to the game, because you keep doing it ALL the time. Over and over again.\nThere is a fast travel system, but its not like Fallout 3. It involves driving to a bus station, select a bus station nearest to the mission location. Get off at the bus station, take a nearby car and drive the reminder of the way to the actual location.\nNow, on the way to the destination up to two guard posts maybe encountered. So once that business is taken care of, continue to the actual mission location, take care of the mission, and then begin driving back to the bus station. The guard posts destroyed are magically resurrected. So fight the same guards and again take the bus, get off the bus, drive the car back to pick up more missions. I fail to see the realism or any semblance of fun.\nThe game somehow got rave reviews, not just from suspect publications, but from a lot of other publications I hold in high regard. PC Gamer handed out a 94! I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine what they might been smoking. These are the guys know their stuff. Its really inexplicable. Its as if they played a different game from the one I played.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t even get me started on the weapons. No, they are not bad. The handle very well, until they decide to fall apart right in the middle of a firefight. I see the logic behind this, but then, if you have re-spawning guard posts and degrading weapons, tense and frantic game play soon turns into utterly boring arbitrary gimmick.\nThe other aspects of the game are extremely well done. Visuals are brilliant. This game stands up to Crysis in terms of graphics. Sounds are fantastic. The environment is absolutely brilliant. But what is the point? I am not going to recommend this game. Why bother talking about it about all those when the actual game is a total waste of time?\nEven if the game is really dead cheap, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t recommend it, reason being it has no entertainment value. If the point of purchasing a game is to have fun, and that is not a far fetched assumption, then it is pointless to buy this game. There is no fun to be had.\n- Boring, absolutely utterly boring\nVerdict – Do not play\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 11:50:54 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/11/reviews/farcry2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finished this game on Friday, August 20, 2010, 8:48:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 13, 2010.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI can\u0026rsquo;t remember being this mad at a game. Far Cry 2 showed me new levels of boredom and rage that I am yet to experience. The reason I get so angry is because the game had great fantastic potential. It easily could have been one of the best games ever made. It had all the right elements. However, the stupid decisions the developers made turned this game from a fantastic shooter to a mind-numbingly boring game that tries everything and fails rather miserably.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Far Cry 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 10:20:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 2, 2010.\nMany people regard Halo as the savior of Xbox, which didn\u0026rsquo;t have a lot of games worth mentioning at the time of its launch. Halo helped Xbox compete with Sony\u0026rsquo;s PlayStation 2. It was released on PC two years later, in 2003.\nI have only just finished Halo, and I can see why the game is as famous as it is on console.\nFirst let me talk about the game, which is set in the 26th century. You play as Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced human solider, equipped with regenerating battle shield and accompanied by an AI program known as Cortana.\nThere is a battle raging between the inhabitants of Earth and an alien race known as the Covenant. During this battle, the space ship containing the Master Chief travels to unknown and random coordinates selected by Cortana and they find a ring shaped planet called Halo and they are forced to land on it to escape the Covenant. This is where it all beings, and Master Chief will soon learn the secret of Halo.\nI have never played on console, but I know a good port when I see one. Halo is among the very best, it works flawlessly on PC. The controls are like your standard FPS game, and they handle perfectly. The Mouse/Keyboard combination handles very intuitively, and I never faced any problem with the controls.\nThe graphics are a lot better than the Xbox version I am told. Judging the game by itself, the graphics are brilliant. I was amazed at the lush scenery and the water effects in the outdoor levels. Everything is polished till it gleams; the bump mapping effects see to that. Some of the levels are a sight to see, the Silent Cartographer level comes to my mind; very beautiful.\nHalo is one of the first games to feature vehicles that can be driven by the player, and believe me you are going to do a lot of driving in the game. There are a lot of levels in the game which require you to drive around, and it\u0026rsquo;s a lot of fun. Its not only land vehicles, but the game gives you a chance to fly one of the Covenant\u0026rsquo;s aircraft (Banshee) as well, I loved flying those.\nThe levels with vehicles are very lively and trigger happy gamers are going to enjoy those immensely and fortunately all the vehicles handle quite well for most part. There will be an odd occasion when they don\u0026rsquo;t, but that isn\u0026rsquo;t a problem at all.\nComing to audio, I first have to mention the soundtrack. I think its one of the very best in video games. Martin O\u0026rsquo;Donnell has done a brilliant job with the music; it made the experience so much better.\nBut all is not well with the game, there are a few nagging issues that blight the experience.\nThe level design in the game can be extremely repetitive, and this is very annoying. For a game which has set such high standards, to employ this sort of dubious ways to prolong gameplay is quite unbecoming of them in my opinion.\nFew hours into the game, you have this feeling that you have been going through the same rooms, killing the same monsters over and over, and yet you are not making any perceptible progress. This can be very annoying and it made me stop playing for a while because I got really tired.\nThe audio can be a little erratic at times. The gun fire is suddenly muted during battle; dialogue is lost when a cut scene is playing, and other such irritating glitches. It will not affect your gameplay too much, but it is annoying.\nAll in all, despite the problems, playing Halo has been a great experience. It does give you the feeling of being a part of something truly epic.\nSome games have this quality about them, they are destined for greatness. In spite of the problems Halo is one of those games.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:39:55 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/11/reviews/halocombatevolved-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eWednesday, January 16, 2008, 10:20:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 2, 2010.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany people regard Halo as the savior of Xbox, which didn\u0026rsquo;t have a lot of games worth mentioning at the time of its launch. Halo helped Xbox compete with Sony\u0026rsquo;s PlayStation 2. It was released on PC two years later, in 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have only just finished Halo, and I can see why the game is as famous as it is on console.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Halo: Combat Evolved (PC) Review"},{"content":" S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat DVD Cover\nI want to give a shout out to my friend JackBurton . He gifted me S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat the other day over Steam. I am super excited about playing it. I’ll probably get to it as soon as I finish Mass Effect 2 followed by Vampire Bloodlines.\nI wanted this game for a long time, but money has been hard to come by. Thanks again Jack, much appreciated.\nApr 05, 2026 Sunday 06:13:47 PM CDT\nI am not sure if this is true, but I was informed that JackBurton has passed away. He has been inactive on Steam for 1473 days. My message to him went unanswered. Its a very sad thing. I have known him since my early GameSpot days. JackBurton Steam\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/10/01_giftofgame/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rch-git/staticcontent/refs/heads/master/images/giftofgame/01_stalkercover.png\"\n         alt=\"S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat DVD Cover\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eS.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat DVD Cover\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI want to give a shout out to my friend \u003ca href=\"https://www.gamespot.com/profile/JackBurton/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  JackBurton\n\u003c/a\u003e\n. He gifted me S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat the other day over Steam. I am super excited about playing it. I’ll probably get to it as soon as I finish Mass Effect 2 followed by Vampire Bloodlines.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wanted this game for a long time, but money has been hard to come by. Thanks again Jack, much appreciated.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Given The Gift of Game"},{"content":"I finished this game on Friday, October 2, 2009, 5:30:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on October 22, 2010.\nS.T.A.L.K.E.R is one of those games that is hard to describe. Games like this are produced once in a generation. S.T.A.L.K.E.R enjoys a cult like following among PC gamers and for a good reason too.\nAt release, it was quite buggy for most people. Thankfully, I never bought it at release. I have been told stories of people who played about 30% of the game and the developers released a patch which rendered the previous saves useless. I can imagine the frustration of gamers who bought it at launch.\nNevertheless, the game is not without merits. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t begrudge the game for its bugs. I am not a very forgiving gamer, I don\u0026rsquo;t persist games which frustrate me; but I stuck with the game, and I am glad I did. This is typical PC game in that quick save is your best friend.\nIf you are spoiled by games like Call of Duty with regenerating health, then S.T.A.L.K.E.R is going to be hard, even on normal difficulty. I remember struggling my way through the game at the start because i did not have good weapons. This part was really the least fun for me. Once the good weapons become available, which is not too long into the game, life in the zone becomes more bearable.\nAlso, irrespective of the type of weapon, the game is easy or hard depending on how good a shot you are. Once you get used to the game, its easy to score head shots with pistol and earn one shot skills. Just don\u0026rsquo;t expect an achievement to pop up every time you do that. None of that nonsense here.\nSpeaking of the atmosphere, the developers got it spot on. Unless I am mistaken, this was about the time when dynamic day/night cycles in games were yet to become a norm. At least I don\u0026rsquo;t recollect playing a game with dynamic day/night cycle prior to this (If my readership knows of such a game, be kind enough to mention it). The zone feels a lot more eerie at night than it does during the day. Being the kind of person that I am, I hated venturing out at night; I even found the dogs scary, so I stuck to traveling during the day.\nS.T.A.L.K.E.R is not a scary game as such, it does not try to scare you the way F.E.A.R or Doom 3 do. Those games rely on startling the player with enemies jumping out of dark corridors. S.T.A.L.K.E.R instead relies on creating a very depressing atmosphere, with a few scares thrown in. The overall atmosphere of S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a great mix of open environment and claustrophobic underground labs. There are some very tense moments in the underground labs.\nIf you are too scared to go out at night, go out during the day and you see mutants going about their business in broad daylight. They seem a lot less scary in that case. This is probably what sets apart S.T.A.L.K.E.R from a survival horror game. A survival horror game gives you very little options and there is no escape, hence the survival aspect. I remember parts in the game where I could almost always find a perch and take my time picking off the mutants. The game is scary in very subtle ways.\nI need to touch upon the topic of bugs before I conclude. I played the game with the latest patch (1.0006) installed and I have encountered numerous AI bugs. There were times when all the AI around you is just plain dead and times when after a quick load, an enemy would spawn right in front of your face and shoot before you could do anything. This resulted in some backtracking.\nI recommend the game to any FPS fan. Bugs or not, this game must be played. Its about 20 hours long, and that\u0026rsquo;s almost 5 times the length of some games released these days (Medal of Honor - 4 hours long; Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 – 6 hours). Of course, the time taken to beat is not always a measure of a good game, but in this case it is, and for what it costs, its incredible value as well.\n+ Excellent visuals\n+ Atmosphere\n+ PC game inside out\n+ Level design\n+ Story (Yes, its rather good, although its not very well told)\n+ Enemies (When they all don\u0026rsquo;t play dead, but to be fair that only happened once)\n- Bugs\nVerdict - Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 07:10:06 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/10/reviews/stalkershadowofchernobyl-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eFriday, October 2, 2009, 5:30:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on October 22, 2010.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eS.T.A.L.K.E.R is one of those games that is hard to describe. Games like this are produced once in a generation. S.T.A.L.K.E.R enjoys a cult like following among PC gamers and for a good reason too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt release, it was quite buggy for most people. Thankfully, I never bought it at release. I have been told stories of people who played about 30% of the game and the developers released a patch which rendered the previous saves useless. I can imagine the frustration of gamers who bought it at launch.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC) Review"},{"content":"With the release of a new generations of browsers a few months away, I thought I should take a look at some of the older browsers we used back in the day. I managed to get hold of some old versions and tested them on a Windows 7 machine. Over the next few months I plan to write at least one more browser related blog. So bear with me.\nFirefox v0.8 I tested the oldest version Firefox I could fine – version 0.8. I am surprised that the browser is not all that bad! Its definitely functional and I would definitely recommend this for people who are still using Pentium III or IV machines.\nFirefox version 0.8 on Windows 7. I changed the theme to Classic\nI clicked on Help bookmark and that doesn’t seem to work anymore. Also conspicuously absent is the news feed. I am however impressed that this browser has tabs. I remember using tabs for the first time in a browser called Crazy Browser. It ran on IE 6 engine. I used it for a while before I discovered Firefox. I was a little late to the party though. I remained a Netscape user for a long time.\nSeaMonkey v1.0 I did not use this a lot back in the day. Nevertheless, the first available version seems to in a good working shape, albeit, its very rudimentary compared to today’s browsing standards.\nGmail\nAgain, I might recommend this browser to someone who is still using a Pentium III or IV machine for giggles.\nOld version of Yahoo\nNetscape Navigator v4.79 This is was a big name in the browser market back in the day. That was before Microsoft released IE bundled with Windows, and very soon it destroyed almost all competition until Firefox came along. Netscape was a very good browser by all means, I used it until I switched to Windows XP in 2003. Once IE 6 came out, I had to need for Netscape. Not that I am accusing IE 6 of being a good browser. I was just ignorant back then.\nNetscape install screen. Brings back a lot of memories\nInstallation in progress\nThose days, when you download a browser, you didn\u0026rsquo;t just download a browser. It had AOL messenger, Winamp, Real Player and an email client.\nRetro AOL messenger bundled with Netscape. Still works!\nOld version of Gmail\nAsylum start page\nYahoo homepage\nNo luck with Yahoo Mail. Can\u0026rsquo;t even sign in.\nYouTube homepage\nYouTube homepage is a complete mess.\nYouTube video page\nReal Player Basic bundled with Netscape 4.79\nWinamp bundled with Netscape 4.79\nSeeing how different things were back then, I am surprised at how much has changed. I remember the time when 7Kbps was considering good download speed, and one had to pay for download managers, and torrents and video streaming were unheard of.\nTimes sure have changed a lot.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 02:29:26 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/09/2010-09-16-browsernostalgia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith the release of a new generations of browsers a few months away, I thought I should take a look at some of the older browsers we used back in the day. I managed to get hold of some old versions and tested them on a Windows 7 machine. Over the next few months I plan to write at least one more browser related blog. So bear with me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"firefox-v08\"\u003eFirefox v0.8\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI tested the oldest version Firefox I could fine – version 0.8. I am surprised that the browser is not all that bad! Its definitely functional and I would definitely recommend this for people who are still using Pentium III or IV machines.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Browser Nostalgia"},{"content":"Microsoft announced today that they are going to release a new version of their browser, Internet Explorer 9. This announcement comes in the wake of Mozilla releasing their new beta version of Firefox 4 beta. Google Chrome is being updated every few weeks, and I have lost track of the version.\nI use Firefox on all my PCs. However, for me, it is far from perfect in terms of interface. IE 8 for me has the perfect interface; thankfully, Firefox lets me get that IE look by using Vista Aero theme. I can’t quite praise this theme enough.\nAlso, I was looking at personas and the world started making a lot of sense when I saw this:\nPersona. 58,187 active users. That’s nice to see.\nAnyway, I am very interested in seeing how new generation of browsers perform. I am hoping IE 9 comes a lot closer to Firefox in terms of functionality, and hopefully have a spell checker this time.\nAlthough I don’t see myself giving up the functionality of Firefox, especially AdBlock Plus. It makes surfing so much easier for me. Yes, Firefox is a little more resource hungry, but in the age of dual core CPUs, that hardly matters.\nOK, here is when I will switch to IE 9 if it has -\nBetter password manager AdBlock Plus equivalent Flashgot equivalent Spell checker \u0026ldquo;Paste and go\u0026rdquo; option So let’s see how IE 9 will fare compared to the other browsers.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 11:04:52 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/09/2010-09-16-browserwars/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMicrosoft \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11315819\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  announced today\n\u003c/a\u003e\n that they are going to release a new version of their browser, Internet Explorer 9. This announcement comes in the wake of Mozilla releasing their new beta version of Firefox 4 beta. Google Chrome is being updated every few weeks, and I have lost track of the version.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI use Firefox on all my PCs. However, for me, it is far from perfect in terms of interface. IE 8 for me has the perfect interface; thankfully, Firefox lets me get that IE look by using Vista Aero theme. I can’t quite praise this theme enough.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Generation of Browser Wars"},{"content":"So back in August, exactly a month ago, PC Gamer interviewed Valve Software at length. They talked about many things, but conspicuously absent was any mention of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Yet again, I was disappointed.\nHowever, Gabe Newell did say this during the interview:\nGabe Newell: Yeah. The average surprise is negative, not positive, and so if we’re going to surprise people we need to be conscious of that fact. Because we’re going to continue to surprise. We have three pretty big surprises in the next twelve months, at least.\nPC Gamer: Are these related to specific games?\nGabe Newell: We have three surprises. I’m talking about surprises, not the surprises themselves. But we’re going to do three things that have the potential to… that will be novel. And if we don’t make sure that people understand what we’re doing, they could easily respond in a Left 4 Dead 2 kind of way. Like, “What the hell?” right? And we just need to be good about that.\nWe also have to be conscious of the fact that there are a lot of different people that we talk to. Like, there’s people who are really close to us and trust us, and there are other people who play our games and that are more sceptical. And you need to make sure you’re talking to both of those groups in clear enough fashion, to make sure that just because one group is happy and on board, it doesn’t mean the other groups are going to be.\nThere is nothing known about those surprises to this day, but I would like to speculate what those are, if for no other reason then to revisit this blog in 12 months and be amused at how completely wrong I was.\nWell, here is what I think the surprises will be:\nA new IP Half-Life 3 Counter-Strike 2 I do not care about Counter-Strike, I do not care about multiplayer gaming in general, but the new IP and Half-Life 3 speculations are something I hope will be true.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:56:20 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/09/2010-09-09-valvethreesurprises/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo back in August, exactly a month ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pcgamer.com/interview-gabe-on-valves-big-surprises/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  PC Gamer interviewed Valve Software\n\u003c/a\u003e\n at length. They talked about many things, but conspicuously absent was any mention of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Yet again, I was disappointed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, Gabe Newell did say this during the interview:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGabe Newell: Yeah. The average surprise is negative, not positive, and so if we’re going to surprise people we need to be conscious of that fact. Because we’re going to continue to surprise. We have three pretty big surprises in the next twelve months, at least.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Valve: Three Surprises"},{"content":"I was disappointed that there was no update on Doom 4 at 2010 Quake Con and Rage was pushed to September 2011! That was a double dose of disappointment for me. I was hoping I would be able to play Rage this year along with Crysis 2.\nWell, as things would turn out, Crysis 2 is pushed all the way to March 2011. I am not sure what I have to look forward to this year. There is the new Medal of Honor and Call of Duty: Black Ops. I am interested in seeing how they are going to perform, but I had absolutely no intention of playing them until they are available for under $10.\nNow, I am just wanted to list all the games I looking forward to in the new year or two:\nCrysis 2 – Its a sequel to Crysis. What can I say? Doom 4 – Hoping that there won’t be any spiders in this one! Diablo 3 – Played both Diablo games, loved the first one, found the second game a little too hard, hopefully third will be better for me. Max Payne 3 – One of my favorite games. Brink – From the makers of Enemy Territory Quake Wars…should be interesting. Deus Ex 3 – Last chance for Deus Ex to redeem itself on the PC. With a new cover mechanic, however, this game is threatening to take the Invisible War route. Far Cry 3 – Far Cry 2 was a disappointment, let’s hope they learn their lesson. Fallout: New Vegas – Loved Fallout 3. Yet to play the DLCs. I probably will play this before I play those. Rage – New engine, new IP… Duke Nukem Forever – I never played the original Duke, but I love the theme by Megadeth Portal 2 – Sequel to one of the best games ever… BioShock Infinite – This is looking amazing. I am very eager to know more about this game. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – I want to play the other two games. I probably will play the first game, but I am not buying the second (DRM issue). Because 13 is such an unholy number, my last item on the list is Half-Life 2 Episode 3. I am going to hope it will be announced next year. Yes, there is Duke Nukem Forever on the list there. Turns out Gearbox (makers of Brother’s in Arms) are working on the game and will release it in 2011. I just realized this game was first announced before Google was formed.\nI will look to revise my list as new games are announced.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:52:08 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/09/2010-09-07-gamestolookforwardto/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was disappointed that there was no update on Doom 4 at 2010 Quake Con and Rage was pushed to September 2011! That was a double dose of disappointment for me. I was hoping I would be able to play Rage this year along with Crysis 2.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, as things would turn out, Crysis 2 is pushed all the way to March 2011. I am not sure what I have to look forward to this year. There is the new Medal of Honor and Call of Duty: Black Ops. I am interested in seeing how they are going to perform, but I had absolutely no intention of playing them until they are available for under $10.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Games To Look Forward To"},{"content":"As I said in my previous blog, I’ve had the most dreadful time leading up to the finals. I took four courses this semester, and the week before finals, I had submissions due in all of them. Organizing time this particular semester had been difficult. Its always difficult, but this semester was more so.\nNow that I am done with the finals, and I made an A in one of the courses (Yes!), I decided to celebrate. I ordered pizza and breadsticks from Papa John’s, and that set me back by $33! It was an expensive proposition. I still have the barbecue chicken and bacon pizza in the fridge. I have a small appetite and it takes a long time for me to run through that large pizza. I intend to finish it by tomorrow night and then get back to eating regular healthy food.\nI also intend to start my evening jogging from Monday on. Weather in summer is fantastic and I should make the most of it. I bet my stamina is at its all time low, and I wonder if I will be able to run a quarter mile without being completely exhausted. I will take it easy in the first week though.\n(I put a slice of pizza in the oven. I am just that hungry\nFriday night (5/7/10) was crazy. I had a final submission due at 11:59PM, but I turned in my assignment at around 9PM. Then I ordered pizza, and I helped my roommate fix his laptop, and I started playing Fallout 3 at around 11PM and I pretty much went on playing till 7AM. I had an 8 hour marathon of Fallout 3.\nI am loving the game. It had some performance issues at ultra initially and I grudgingly turned down the settings a little bit, and its working really well.\n(Eating pizza and watching Zero Punctuation review of Splinter Cell: Conviction. OK, so Splinter Cell: Convection is all nonsense apparently. Good thing I didn’t pay $59.99 for it. *faceplam*)\nSo coming back to Fallout 3, I am so glad I got it for my birthday. The most amazing gameplay moment is when you step out of the Vault and see the world around you. Although I knew exactly how the story was going to unfold, the moment I got out of the claustrophobic vault and saw the world, I was in awe. Just as I was beginning to get bored of goofing around in the vault killing roaches, the game puts me smack in the middle of the wasteland with a horizon as far as the eye could see. Its one of those moments that gives you goosebumps.\nI got a short video of that as well, so be sure to watch it in HD.\nI hear that Fallout 3: New Vegas is coming out, I am quite interested in it.\nNot much else has happened apart from that. I am going to continue playing Fallout 3 for the rest of the weekend and then get back to work on Monday.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/05/02_postfinalsbliss/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs I said in my previous blog, I’ve had the most dreadful time leading up to the finals. I took four courses this semester, and the week before finals, I had submissions due in all of them. Organizing time this particular semester had been difficult. Its always difficult, but this semester was more so.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow that I am done with the finals, and I made an A in one of the courses (Yes!), I decided to celebrate. I ordered pizza and breadsticks from Papa John’s, and that set me back by $33! It was an expensive proposition. I still have the barbecue chicken and bacon pizza in the fridge. I have a small appetite and it takes a long time for me to run through that large pizza. I intend to finish it by tomorrow night and then get back to eating regular healthy food.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Post Finals Bliss"},{"content":"After my enthusiastic first post on my new blog which I started with the intention to update every week, I haven’t had the time to get back to it ever since.\nThe last week of April (26th to 30th) has been particularly bad. I had five submissions over five days, and I barely had time to finish them. I don’t understand how everything accumulates to the very last minute. No matter how hard I try I only manage to finish them the night before the deadline. I’ve got to learn to better manage my time.\nI played Company of Heroes in the meanwhile. Must say I like this game. RTS games are something I have not played a lot. Apart from occasional Age of Empires 2 LAN matches back in 2004, and Lord of the Rings Battle For Middle Earth which I played recently, I am fairly new to the genre.\nI am really impressed with the graphics and physics in this game. Not surprisingly, I discovered that this game uses Havoc physics engine. I’ve made a few gameplay videos, which I will upload soon. Just haven’t had the time to do that.\nI am one of those people who is not tired of World War II games. I am in fact fresh off the heels of Brother’s in Arms: Hell’s Highway and I intend to play Commandos 3 right after Company of Heroes. Obviously I have not had enough.\nI’ve also purchased a few games on Steam for dirt cheap. I bought Grand Theft Auto 4 and the better half gifted me Max Payne. Apparently she bought it for 19kr, which she tells me is nothing, and I agree. The last time I was in Norway, a hot dog cost 35kr.\nAlso, after two months of procrastinating, I finished my review of BioShock. I am not sure why but I get really tired whenever I begin to start a review. I type no more than three sentences before I close the window and don’t look at it for another week.\nSpeaking of closing the window, I better close this window and get back to work. Finals week starts tomorrow and if I stop myself from getting totally impatient for just one more week, I can at least look forward to getting decent grades.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/05/01_longoverdueupdate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter my enthusiastic first post on my new blog which I started with the intention to update every week, I haven’t had the time to get back to it ever since.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last week of April (26th to 30th) has been particularly bad. I had five submissions over five days, and I barely had time to finish them. I don’t understand how everything accumulates to the very last minute. No matter how hard I try I only manage to finish them the night before the deadline. I’ve got to learn to better manage my time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Long Overdue Update"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 9:45:00 PM. This review was first published on Saturday, May 1, 2010.\nBioShock for me is one of those games that I had a hard time getting into. Unlike most people who were mesmerized with the setting of Rapture, I sort of found it a little dull. I persisted nevertheless and it paid off.\nIt has a very unique setting - an underwater city. Set in the 1960s, the game captures the feel of the era very well. Beginning with a plane crash in the Atlantic that leads the main character Jack into the underwater city Rapture, which is the brainchild of visionary, Andrew Ryan. The story is not very clear right from the start, but it unravels soon enough. The idea of telling the story through audio logs is not particularly revolutionary, we have seen an attempt made in Doom 3, which had a huge collection of audio logs and diaries. That went by virtually unacknowledged, and Doom 3 was accused of not having a story at all. Not so here. Voice acting is brilliant. Story is a little complex to understand at the beginning, its easy to get the big picture, but the nuances aren\u0026rsquo;t very clear. It took me a little bit of time to connect all the dots.\nHaving gone through the process of connecting the dots, the story makes a lot more sense, and I can tell you, this game has one of the most interesting plots in games, its way up there with Deus Ex. To those of you who did not play this game, there can\u0026rsquo;t be that many of you, don\u0026rsquo;t read any more, just play the game. The plot twists are going to come as a bit of a surprise.\nIt was important that BioShock had a strong plot because initially the gameplay was a bit of a let down. The gun play is very weak. The Unreal 2.5 engine looks surprisingly dated at times, and plays poorly in the beginning. That is not to say its bad, but the weapons seem very unwieldy. Perhaps this is intentional? I don\u0026rsquo;t know. This was one of the reasons I found it hard getting into the game. As the game progresses, there are better weapons available, along with different kinds of ammo. Machine gun initially handled very poorly for me. I preferred the pistol a lot more. There are much better weapons to be had in the later part of the game though. I loved the crossbow and the shotgun the most. The chemical thrower comes in very handy towards the end.\nThe plasmids however, steal the show. The fire and electric plasmids were by far my favorites. There are a whole lot of other plasmids available but I didn\u0026rsquo;t like them a whole lot. The Telekinesis is something like the gravity gun in Half-Life 2, but the physics in the game were not as good. It is a fairly useful ability to have though. Apart from the core plasmids, there are tons of tonics that will add abilities. There is a lot of room for customization here, it sort of reminds me Deus Ex.\nThere are some really bad design decisions that I found really irritating, such as re-spawning Big Daddys. It just gets really pointless after a while.\nThe vita chambers are not among the bad design decisions though. They were controversial but I cannot imagine why. They made the game more free flowing for me. This sort of a setup won\u0026rsquo;t work for every game, but it did here. Considering how strong the a Big Daddy is, I am glad the vita chambers exit.\nThere are a few different endings for the game. It depends on how much ADAM the player harvests. Harvesting ADAM would involving killing the Little Sisters. The characters will play some psychological games trying to either encourage or discourage the player from harvesting ADAM. This is quite well done.\nAfter a slow start, BioShock turned things around, and I have immensely enjoyed it. It is not your usual game, and but the story telling, and atmosphere are top notch. There are traces of the game being a console port, which were really disappointing.\n+ Atmosphere\n+ Story\n+ Voice acting\n+ Plasmids\n+ Vita chambers\n- Weak gunplay initially\n- Re-spawning enemies\nVerdict – Must play.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:09:52 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/05/reviews/bioshock-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, February 16, 2010, 9:45:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on Saturday, May 1, 2010.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBioShock for me is one of those games that I had a hard time getting into. Unlike most people who were mesmerized with the setting of Rapture, I sort of found it a little dull. I persisted nevertheless and it paid off.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has a very unique setting - an underwater city. Set in the 1960s, the game captures the feel of the era very well. Beginning with a plane crash in the Atlantic that leads the main character Jack into the underwater city Rapture, which is the brainchild of visionary, Andrew Ryan. The story is not very clear right from the start, but it unravels soon enough. The idea of telling the story through audio logs is not particularly revolutionary, we have seen an attempt made in Doom 3, which had a huge collection of audio logs and diaries. That went by virtually unacknowledged, and Doom 3 was accused of not having a story at all. Not so here. Voice acting is brilliant. Story is a little complex to understand at the beginning, its easy to get the big picture, but the nuances aren\u0026rsquo;t very clear. It took me a little bit of time to connect all the dots.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"BioShock (PC) Review"},{"content":"After blogging on GameSpot for over 4 years, I decided to move on and start my own blog.\nI have a feeling I will be writing for myself for the most part, and to the occasional reader who happens to drop by – Hey!\nSo it’s 2:37AM and I am listening to Saviour by Norther . I just got done composing what I hope will be my last blog on GameSpot (I will feel really stupid if I end up going back there again). I sort of made a fuss and left.\nCommandos on Sale I am referring to the Steam sale. All the Commandos strategy games are available on Steam for $4.99. Although I played all of them except Commandos 3, I still picked it up. Definitely worth having in the collection. I believe the sale ended, so I am glad I did not waste time in buying them.\nI wonder if Commandos 4 will ever come out. Let’s wait and see.\nThe title of this post is somewhat misleading. I don’t have a much more to write about. It’s 2:52AM, so I am going to listen to some more music and go to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to mail my tax forms (I am a day late as it is) and there is a project to work on.\nBetter get some sleep.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 10:43:50 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/04/2010-04-16-readmetxtfirstpost/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter blogging on GameSpot for over 4 years, I decided to move on and start my own blog.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have a feeling I will be writing for myself for the most part, and to the occasional reader who happens to drop by – Hey!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo it’s \u003ccode\u003e2:37AM\u003c/code\u003e and I am listening to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCDIfWwnTyY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  Saviour by Norther\n\u003c/a\u003e\n. I just got done composing what I hope will be my last blog on GameSpot (I will feel really stupid if I end up going back there again). I sort of made a fuss and left.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"README.TXT First Post and More"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, December 10, 2009, 8:44:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on Mar 07, 2010.\nMass Effect is the first Bioware I played. I went in, knowing nothing about the game. My initial impressions of the game were far from good. I found the combat quite tedious and the game was really slow. I was sort of expecting that, having played games like Deus Ex. Mass effect has a much bigger world. In fact it\u0026rsquo;s gigantic. I have to applaud the level design here.\nCloser to home A lot of people don\u0026rsquo;t seem to have liked the planet exploration aspect; I for one loved it. The surreal feeling you get when you are on Normandy and open up the galaxy map and get to see all the star systems is really fantastic. I wonder if anyone remembers the music when open the map, it\u0026rsquo;s a resonating sound that\u0026rsquo;s really appropriate when you are gazing into the heavens.\nHaving teammates in the game is both good and bad. I\u0026rsquo;ve had the same team mates for most of the game - Tali and Liara. I liked their abilities and they provide a good balance. What I did not like was the behavior at times. More often than not, they do not take cover and rush into combat and dying shortly after making me reload the game. It\u0026rsquo;s also hard to make them go where you want them to or to get them to stop following you into combat. It\u0026rsquo;s not as broken as it sounds, it\u0026rsquo;s definitely playable, but it can be very annoying at times. Thankfully you have the power to bring them back to life later on the game; it\u0026rsquo;s definitely needed.\nPeople on the forums said that the side missions are boring and there is no real reason to play them. I thought they were fantastic, especially for someone who is following the story. Just shows the effort BioWare put into this game. What was boring were the long elevator rides. That is a nice way to disguise a load screen, but it gets boring considering how long the game is.\nWhat did not live up to the quality to the rest of the game is the inventory system, which is by far the clunkiest system I have ever seen. The different kind of ammo upgrades that tend to accumulate over a period of time is a little ridiculous. Of course, all the material in the inventory is not entirely useless; it can be used to convert into Omni Gel, which in turn can be used to hack electronics.\nThe one vehicle we get to drive in the game, Mako, handles in a weird way. It seems weightless at times, and that makes it hard to control.\nWhat truly stands out though is the story telling. All the little choices you make during the game have an impact later on. The conversation trees are really well made.\nMass Effect is easily one of the best games I ever played.\n+ Story\n+ Conversation\n+ Graphics\n+ Music\n+ Voice acting\n+ Level design\n+ Graphics\n+ Exploration\n+ Replay value\n- Inventory system\n- Teammate AI\n- Combat\n- Squad command\n- Elevator rides\nVerdict - Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 01:42:16 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/03/reviews/masseffect-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, December 10, 2009, 8:44:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on Mar 07, 2010.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMass Effect is the first Bioware I played. I went in, knowing nothing about the game. My initial impressions of the game were far from good. I found the combat quite tedious and the game was really slow. I was sort of expecting that, having played games like Deus Ex. Mass effect has a much bigger world. In fact it\u0026rsquo;s gigantic. I have to applaud the level design here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mass Effect (PC) Review"},{"content":"I spite the unsuccessful attempts to make an action game out of this franchise, I still felt an RTS was an unusual choice for this series; perhaps this is because of my relative inexperience in RTS; Age of Empires is the only RTS game I played.\nThis game follows the entire story of The Lord of the Rings, not just one part. It does take liberties with the story, for example, Boromir can live through the entire campaign and even fight in Mordor depending on how you play the game. That is not necessarily a bad thing, its a lot of fun to have all your main characters fight in the ultimate battle. It is a huge game in terms of longevity and scales of battle with beautiful graphics and two long campaigns - good and evil. I felt it captured the epic sense of scale as the movies did.\nYou change history as either the forces of good or the forces of evil. The gameplay is a combination of turn-based campaign and real-time strategy missions. It allows you to pick your fights in the order you chose, to a certain extent. The player can control forces of good or evil and march across the Middle-Earth conquering maps along the way.\nEach province has different bonus resources; one map might give you power points which can be used to power up the abilities and another might give you command points. The 3D map of Middle-Earth is very well rendered, it looks beautiful with Nazgûl flying over Mordor and such.\nOne feature that almost compels you to conserve your troops is that they are persistent throughout the campaign, i.e the troops you have at the end of one mission will be carried over to the next one. At times, you get to call in your allies; its a great feeling to see a huge bunch of troops coming to your rescue in missions like Helm\u0026rsquo;s Deep and Minas Tirith. Preserving your troops also means that your heroes can level up, which is very crucial for victory.\nI got the feeling that the some hero units are a little redundant – for example, I never used the hobbits in battle, unless I had to. I would always send them to one corner of the map and have Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimili, Faramir, Boromir do the fighting for me. Having said that, I am glad that there are as many hero units as there are.\nGraphics and sound are top notch, although I missed the support for widescreen monitors. Its not a huge hindrance, but I would have liked to have it given that I have a 24 inch screen running at 1920x1200. Instead I have to run the game at 1600x1200, so the image appears a little stretched. Voice acting and sound effects are great. I believe that Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee reprised their roles. The soundtrack of the movie makes the experience so much better.\nThis is a fantastic game, and it somehow seems overlooked. RTS fans should definitely play this. The good campaign itself lasts over 25 hours and that’s only half the game. I definitely recommend this great game.\nThis review refers to only the good campaign; I never played the evil campaign.\n+ Long campaign\n+ Lots of hero units\n+ Soundtrack\n+ Voice acting\n+ Combination of RTS and Turn Based gameplay\n+ Huge battles (Helm’s Deep!)\n+ Graphics\n- Lack of widescreen support\nVerdict: Must play\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2010/01/reviews/lotrbfme-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI spite the unsuccessful attempts to make an action game out of this franchise, I still felt an RTS was an unusual choice for this series; perhaps this is because of my relative inexperience in RTS; Age of Empires is the only RTS game I played.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis game follows the entire story of The Lord of the Rings, not just one part. It does take liberties with the story, for example, Boromir can live through the entire campaign and even fight in Mordor depending on how you play the game. That is not necessarily a bad thing, its a lot of fun to have all your main characters fight in the ultimate battle. It is a huge game in terms of longevity and scales of battle with beautiful graphics and two long campaigns - good and evil. I felt it captured the epic sense of scale as the movies did.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth (PC) Review"},{"content":"id software were once regarded as the top developers of FPS games on the PC. They are responsible for some of the biggest names in FPS such as Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake. Quake III: Arena took a different route to the previous Quake games. Quake and Quake II were primarily single player games with a strong multiplayer base. For the first time in the series, id software made a game that focused almost exclusively on multiplayer. Several issues of the previous games are addressed and they made a game that is going strong even after 10 years of its release.\nNew generation of gamers who didn\u0026rsquo;t learn their history lesson, Quake III is the ultimate deathmatch experience. I have played several games with deathmatch modes - Halo, Quake 4, Doom 3, Unreal Tournament - but they are just not as good as Quake III. There is something about this game that is hard to pinpoint, its so much fun when playing on LAN with a group of friends.\nThe graphics engine used in Quake 3 was one of the most widely used. Call of Duty, the series that so popular on consoles now, owes its success to the id Tech 3 engine. Quake 3 was used as a benchmark for PCs for the longest time, like we would use Crysis right now. Also, the engine is extremely scalable. I first played this game in 2000 on a Pentium 3 machine with all graphics settings low at 800x600. Nine years later, on a different continent, I am playing the same game on a Intel Quad Core, GeForce 260GTX at 1920x1200 . THAT is not something we find often. Diablo and Diablo II are still widely played, but they are not scalable. Quake III stands almost as if it carved in stone.\nThe gameplay is rudimentary, in a very good way. Imagine Pac-Man, you always go back to it. Quake III is the same for me. It is possible to play skirmish matches against the bots and I\u0026rsquo;ve been playing 3 minute deathmatch rounds for years now. Its the perfect game for me when I want to take a short break and get some gaming done. Its a classic PC game.\nApart from deathmatch, there is Capture The Flag and Team Deathmatch as well.\nThe source code for Quake III is available on id Software's FTP site , and this ensures the longevity of the game – it is still played online, there are several servers to chose from. Also, there are hundreds of mods and maps available. This game is a must for any LAN party.\nIf I have to pick the best game ever, it would have to be a toss up between Deus Ex and Quake III: Arena.\nEvery FPS gamer on the PC should own a copy of this game, and for the price that it is available, there is no reason to not buy it.\n+ Fast deathmatch\n+ Excellent graphics\n+ Scalable\n+ Music\nVerdict – One of the best games ever\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:57:32 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/12/reviews/quake3arena-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eid software were once regarded as the top developers of FPS games on the PC. They are responsible for some of the biggest names in FPS such as Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake. Quake III: Arena took a different route to the previous Quake games. Quake and Quake II were primarily single player games with a strong multiplayer base. For the first time in the series, id software made a game that focused almost exclusively on multiplayer. Several issues of the previous games are addressed and they made a game that is going strong even after 10 years of its release.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Quake 3: Arena (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Friday, September 25, 2009, 7:39:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 1, 2009.\nMirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge is a first person running game developed by DICE. You play as Faith, a free runner. The story is set in a modern utopian society with a totalitarian government. Invasive surveillance is a part of life in this city and runners help exchange information between parties without getting caught.\nGame play is the most admirable aspect, its not perfect but its very innovative and first of its kind. I was skeptical of how the game is going on handle, and it seemed baffling that DICE would not go the Prince of Persia route and make this a third person game. I remember there being a lot of talk in the press wondering why DICE are not making this a third person game. I am glad that DICE persisted with the first person perspective because Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge is very unique.\nGraphics can be stunning, some of the views from the tall buildings are beautiful and vertigo inducing. During the frantic chase sequences when there is a real rush to escape, vision tends to get a little blurry by the edges when leaping over rooftops and I could feel my stomach lurch forward at times. Playing this on my 24 inch monitor at 1920x1200 at highest settings with PhysX enabled is real treat. PhysX are supposed to be the selling point for PC version, but I did not find anything special about them - not that they are bad, but we have seen this in games all the way back to Max Payne 2.\nI absolutely loved the soundtrack in this game. This ranks right up there with Halo for me. The theme song \u0026ldquo;Still Alive\u0026rdquo; by Lisa Miskovsky is now one of my favorite songs. Rest of the soundtrack includes some fast techno music which is perfect during free running segments. Voice acting is quite good as well. Sound is a very impressive aspect of this game.\nOn the flip side, Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge can be frustrating in spite of DICE getting all the hard parts right. They made a game that handles free running extremely well. I never found the camera to be a problem and the controls on the PC are great. I loved the the chase sequences and getting the stunts right is not very difficult. The is hurt mainly by some intentional bad design choices - the scourge of all games. Weapons are extremely weak, it reminded me of Tomb Raider Legend and not in a good way - those of you who played it would know the reference, and melee combat is frustrating and unsatisfying. This only serves to break the momentum needlessly and seemed like an after thought. DICE have developed Battlefield games, so its not as if they are inexperienced in first person shooters, yet the gun play in Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge is very inadequate. I would recommend playing the game on Easy setting to avoid the frustration of combat.\nAlso, the game is quite short. On Easy I finished the game in about 7 hours. For a free running game to be truly effective, it must have the feel of an open city where the game play is not restrictive. Mirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge in this case is like a modern version of the old school platform adventures because most often, there is one and only one way of proceeding. I can understand that at times this might be necessary, but throughout the game, you will be in a huge city, which you cannot explore and the path is very linear - just like an old platformer. I also get the feeling that it could benefited from the no-death mechanic of Prey, Bioshock and Prince of Persia.\nPuzzles in the game are fairly intuitive but there are places where the player can get stuck without a clue. I remember a couple of such instances. Thankfully, Xfire\u0026rsquo;s in-game browser supports this game, and I could quickly log into Youtube for the video walkthrough. That said, the free running part is very well done, but there are always some needless breaks in the free flowing game play, and the linearity would impede this too.\nMy biggest complaint is the lack of realizing the full potential, reminds of Quake 4 in a way for not capitalizing on key moments.\nI bought this game for $7.22 with shipping on Amazon and I also got an audio CD with the soundtrack, and for that money, it is well worth it. If I paid the full price though, I would be very disappointed. Anything around $15-$20 would be a good price. So if you can find it around that price, this is a must buy.\n+ Free running is very well done\n+ Visuals\n+ Brilliant soundtrack\n+ Decent story telling\n+ Some segments are truly breathtaking\n+ Tight controls\n- Very weak combat\n- Some puzzles break the momentum\n- Short\nVerdict: Buy it for around $20\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 02:08:33 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/09/reviews/mirrorsedge-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eFriday, September 25, 2009, 7:39:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on November 1, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMirror\u0026rsquo;s Edge is a first person running game developed by DICE. You play as Faith, a free runner. The story is set in a modern utopian society with a totalitarian government. Invasive surveillance is a part of life in this city and runners help exchange information between parties without getting caught.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mirrors Edge (PC) Review"},{"content":"An unfortunate event that occurred in PC gaming is the decline of certain genres and franchises which deserved to be recognized but somehow became underrated and made a quiet exit. When I think of such franchises, Deus Ex comes to mind.\nWebsites all over the internet have only great things to say about this game. And yet, it hasn\u0026rsquo;t become popular like other mainstream titles. This game has a target audience in mind, it\u0026rsquo;s certainly not for the casual weekend gamer, nor is it for someone who is enjoys run and gun sort of gameplay.\nWith all this in mind, I set out to see what the game is all about.\nNever having played a RPG game before this, I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what to expect. I didn\u0026rsquo;t think much about the game when I first started playing. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t impressed with the visuals and I almost gave up playing. However I got a little curious about the RPG elements, so I decided to play a little longer.\nThe game was visually very unappealing and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to ignore mediocre graphics. Graphics have evolved so much that we are not impressed with anything less than spectacular.The graphics in the game are just that – mediocre. They are not particularly ugly, but they are not very pretty either. The entire game takes place in night time; the atmosphere for most part is very gloomy. You either find yourself out in the open under street lights with plenty of dark shadowy regions or you are inside buildings with florescent lights. The monotony is broken a few times during the game when you enter inside some buildings which are truly breathtaking. Character models are decent, but nothing like they are now.\nHaving said that, the game isn\u0026rsquo;t meant to be played for its graphics anyway, they serve the purpose, but nothing more. This is one of those games where the gameplay is so good that you will soon forget about the visuals. As I played the game, I got used to the dull settings, I found myself caught in the riveting gameplay.\nYou play as JC Denton, a human cyborg working for the UNACTO in the counter terrorism unit. The game is set in the future where the world is in turmoil. There is a deadly plague epidemic and the only cure for this disease is Ambrosia – a concoction synthesized from rare chemicals.\nIt does appear like a routine story where the world is chaos and in need of a savior but all is not as it seems. You will soon realize that the conspiracy runs a lot deeper and unwittingly you become the center of plot and the fate of the world actually rests on your actions. I cannot give away too much, but rest assured that the game has one of the best storylines ever. I especially like the way the story unfolded.\nOne of the interesting aspects of this game (like most RPG games) is that impact that your actions have on the way the game is played. In most FPS games, you play along a predetermined path and perform actions exactly the way they were meant to be performed in order to make progress. The path is very linear and there is hardly any room for freedom. In Deus Ex, there are a number of ways a certain task or level can be completed. Your earlier actions determine the way the game is played. Almost everything that you do will make a difference.\nAs you keep playing, you will accumulate skill points, which can be used to increase skill levels in a lot of areas, such as Pistols, Rifles, Melee attack, Medicine etc. You will play the game differently based on different upgrades. If you upgrade your Rifle skill, you can afford to attack more, if you increase your Melee skill level, then you will be able to use stealth to your advantage and be very quiet and deadly. Most of the times, you will need a combination of your skills to get through the game.\nThe game has to be played to grasp the significance of this concept. Having certain skills will make certain tasks easier but there will always be a compromise. So you are never a master at all the skills. There is always a balance and this determines how the game is the played.\nHowever, you don\u0026rsquo;t get skill points for using a certain skill; rather you accumulate skill points for discovering hidden areas, accomplishing goals etc, which can be used to upgrade skill to different levels. But that makes sense; the protagonist in the game isn\u0026rsquo;t completely human, so skills aren\u0026rsquo;t developed the traditional way. There are also several augmentations available throughout the game which will give you special abilities, like speed, vision etc. These can be upgraded throughout the game.\nAs a player, you have a greater role in the game than to just kill enemies and complete levels. You get to decide your own path in solving the tasks at hand. The skills that you have upgraded as well as the augmentations play a vital role in how the game progresses. Since a grouping of these factors is responsible for the gameplay, it\u0026rsquo;s possible to play the game in very different ways using different styles.\nNPCs play a very vital role throughout the game. Interaction with them is important and you get access codes, secondary quests, items and useful snippets of information. Although sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s not mandatory, it usually helps in either understanding the game better or gathering some information that makes solving tasks a whole lot easier.\nA lot fo work has been put into the sound. Every location has distinct sounds, like techno music in a nightclub, eerie music when going through cemetery etc. The soundtrack is excellent and I enjoyed listening to it. It is very solid and adds to the atmosphere a great deal.\nPlaying Deus Ex is by far one of the most satisfying experiences in gaming. The game builds up gradually to a superb conclusion. It\u0026rsquo;s a pity that we don\u0026rsquo;t get to play games like these anymore. After having playing countless FPS games over the years, sometimes I long for a game that is very profound and thought provoking.\nOnce finished, you will carry along that feeling of having been on a remarkable journey and wonder why Deus Ex did not do well in spite of being so ground-breaking.\n+ Excellent level design\n+ Story\n+ Music\n+ Freedom to chose the type of gameplay\n+ Multiple endings\n+ Twist in the tale\n- Visuals are not its strength\nVerdict - Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 11:50:29 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/10/reviews/deusex-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAn unfortunate event that occurred in PC gaming is the decline of certain genres and franchises which deserved to be recognized but somehow became underrated and made a quiet exit. When I think of such franchises, Deus Ex comes to mind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWebsites all over the internet have only great things to say about this game. And yet, it hasn\u0026rsquo;t become popular like other mainstream titles. This game has a target audience in mind, it\u0026rsquo;s certainly not for the casual weekend gamer, nor is it for someone who is enjoys run and gun sort of gameplay.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Deus Ex (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, September 3, 2009, 3:02:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on October 1, 2009.\nWhen Wolfenstein was first announced back in 2005, I had very high hopes. I could not wait to play it. Return to Castle Wolfenstein remains one of my favorite games. Having played Soldier of Fortune and enjoying it immensely, I was happy to know Raven would be in charge of the development. After playing Quake 4, I was confident it would be fantastic.\nFour years later, I am not sure if am entirely happy with the game.\nB.J Blazkowicz returns as the protagonist to fight against the Nazis. The game begins with Blazkowicz on a Nazi warship getting ready to launch missiles on London. He battles the Nazi soldiers on the ship and makes a last minute getaway with the help of a medallion with mystical powers. He discovers that the medallion contains crystals which are found in in Isenstadt, and that the leader of the excavation is a Nazi general named General Zetta. Blazkowicz goes to Isenstadt to uncover the secret, and meets with the agents of rebel forces from the Kreisau Cricle and the an occult group called the Golden Dawn in order to end the control of Nazi\u0026rsquo;s over Isenstadt. There is plenty of action throughout, with lots of weapons. Flamethrower and Leichenfaust44 deserve a mention here. Leichenfaust44 is Wolfenstein\u0026rsquo;s version of BFG - its fantastic.\nAlmost the entire game is set in the city of Isenstadt. The game is somewhat linear, you need to travel through the city to various locations to access missions. The city is well created but there are some nagging flaws in the execution. The game tries to be an open world game, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite live up to that and it feels contrived. For example, when you backtrack to a location within the city, everything is respawned including enemies and fuel barrels! That just feels really wrong especially when you shot the very fuel barrel less than 10 minutes ago. It immediately has an effect on immersion, and feels like a cheap trick to create an illusion of an open world. The changes are not persistent. After a battle in an area, should you leave it and return, there will be absolutely no sign of anything, and enemies will be back in their place, going about their patrol. No lessons learned from STALKER, because its Diablo 2 style monster respawn - seeing this in a first person shooter and Wolfenstein at that, just didn\u0026rsquo;t feel right.\nHighlight of the game are the veil powers that the medallion lets you have; a slightly different version of Nano suit from Crysis. Once accessed, the veil takes over and everything turns green - basically lets the player into an alternate universe. This allows the player to spot enemies easily, move faster, access hidden location, increase damage, and acquire shield which can deflect enemy bullets. I thought the visual effects in the veil were very well done. Taking down enemies with these powers is a lot of fun.\nThere is a certain RPG element in the game as well - you get to upgrade veil power and existing weapons. This can be done by completing missions and earning cash rewards and then going to the nearest Black Market and spending them on veil power and/or weapons.\nSoundtrack is really good, and audio, as in weapon sounds and sound effects, is quite impressive. The voice acting - not so much. The fake German accent is cringe-worthy.\nThe game is built on Doom 3 engine. Its not spectacular, but I had no issues with the visuals at all. My biggest complaint with the game is the gameplay - it just does not feel like an id game. Let me give you an example.\nYou are in a big room, with all doors locked and enemies are attacking you, you manage to defeat the enemies and the door automatically opens for no particular reason. I understand the reason this has to be so, but here is where it failed badly. One of the enemies was half dead - the enemy wouldn\u0026rsquo;t move and I naturally assumed it to be dead, yet the door wouldn\u0026rsquo;t open because all the enemies are not completely dead. I spent about 20 minutes trying all possible ways to get out of the room, when i suddenly realized, all corpses vanished except for the one in the corner, so I shot at it, and pop! The door opens.\nYou kill the final two bosses multiple times - four and three respectively. I thought those boss battles were boring, and given the fact that there is no quick save in the PC version (!), it was frustrating as well. Half-Life 2 managed to deliver fantastic endings just fine without any lame design to prolong gameplay, in fact prolonging the gameplay was never an issue. That clearly is the concern here, for I see no reason for some very stupid design decisions - the door opening for example. Scripted gameplay is fine if its done right, but in this case, the developers employed some very archaic methods at linear gameplay. If in a Mario game, you had a room full of enemies, and you have to defeat all of them for the door to open, it probably makes sense, but in a \u0026lsquo;serious\u0026rsquo; first person shooter, an innocuous door staying locked for no reason while enemies are alive\u0026hellip;just doesn\u0026rsquo;t cut it. This could have been done a lot better if some thought went into it.\nTo me, Wolfenstein is a disappointment. I feel sorry for fans of the series who paid full price for this, expecting a game in the same league as Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which this clearly isn\u0026rsquo;t. I don\u0026rsquo;t hate consoles, but its a shame when a PC game is built with console gamers in mind, and given that fact that this series is a PC classic just makes it worse.\nIs this a bad game? Technically, its not. Is this something worthy of id software/Raven? No. Not from the people who made Doom 3 and Quake 4.\n+ Veil powers\n+ Excellent soundtrack\n+ Lots of action\n+ Weapons\n+ Sound effects\n+ idTech 4 engine still looks good\n+ Lengthy single player campaign, about 12 hours on hard\n- Bad gameplay design\n- Does not have the atmosphere of Return to Castle Wolfenstein\n- Very bad voice acting\n- Everybody calls him BJ\u0026hellip;\n- Fake German accent\n- Feels like a console game\n- Traveling through Isenstadt completely breaks the momentum\n- Lack of quick save\nVerdict - Buy for it for about $20 or less.\nThis post is published on Apr 19, 2026 Sunday 10:36:23 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/10/reviews/wolfenstein-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, September 3, 2009, 3:02:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on October 1, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Wolfenstein was first announced back in 2005, I had very high hopes. I could not wait to play it. Return to Castle Wolfenstein remains one of my favorite games. Having played Soldier of Fortune and enjoying it immensely, I was happy to know Raven would be in charge of the development. After playing Quake 4, I was confident it would be fantastic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Wolfenstein (2009) (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Monday, August 13, 2007, 1:21:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on September 13, 2009.\nWorld War II was not just about charging head on into enemy territory in Normandy. There is an entirely different facet to war - to infiltrate behind enemy lines and wreck enemy operations from within.\nCommandos 2, like its predecessor, follows the exploits of a group of British Commandos who penetrate enemy operations and cause major destruction.\nThis visually stunning sequel retains the core gameplay of the original and builds off of the features from Beyond the Call of Duty expansion and adds plenty of great new ideas. For the first time in the series, the player gets a little more control on how the mission is accomplished. Stealth is not a strict priority; you get to steal weapons, health packs, and other items from dead/stunned soldiers. Resources are not as scarce, which seems more realistic, and provides a lot of interesting ways to completing tasks.\nMissions in the game are impressive. The objectives are varied and plenty. The game takes place in Europe, South Pacific and Asia. The art style in the game is beautiful, with a lot of attention to detail, be it the Arctic snow desert or the swamps of Burma. Level design is almost flawless throughout the game and completing a level gives a great sense of accomplishment.\nIn comparison, there are 10 main missions in the game – small in number, but the levels are huge and it takes a lot of planning to finish them. The game does not get progressively harder, but the final level is truly epic.\nAll the characters in the previous games make a comeback here with a few new ones: Natasha, Paul Toledo (thief), and Whiskey (dog). Having an animal in the midst of things provides an interesting gameplay addition to completing missions. It was slightly disappointing that Natasha is not used as much as throughout the game. It would have been a lot of fun to have two spies in the same mission.\nThe key to finishing a mission lies in staying hidden while secretly eliminating guards that bar your passage. It is sometimes possible to shoot your way out, but not all the time. Enemy guards’ line of sight is represented by a colored cone. It is now possible to eliminate guards quietly in a lot of different ways. Green Beret does not have to do all the work. Green Beret\u0026rsquo;s still adept at knifing them up close, while the marine has perfected throwing his blade, making him perhaps the most lethal of his comrades.\nMost characters can now punch guards unconscious; they will come to their senses later, however it is possible to tie them, taking a more humane approach to get the job done.\nAnother addition to gameplay is the ability to change uniforms. All characters can now change into an enemy uniform, but they will be recognized up close. Only the spy can travel freely within the enemies.\nCommandos 2 on normal difficulty is more forgiving then the previous games. There is less frustration to be had here, and more room for improvisation. The learning curve is high for newcomers. It is easier than the previous game, so a little bit of effort and thought into the game will make it a enjoyable experience.\nWe rarely see sequels being better than original – this is one such instance. Commandos 2 is a brilliant game, which tactical strategy fans will love.\nThe only downside that I can think of is the high learning curve. Commandos 2 is not as difficult as the previous games, but there is a lot to learn here. Tactics used in the previous games are transferable, so a novice might find it hard to complete levels as easily.\nExperienced players are going to love this game, but new comers need a little more patience to appreciate it.\n+ Fantastic visuals\n+ Level of detail\n+ Locations\n+ Level design\n+ More abilities to Commandos\n- High learning curve\nVerdict – Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:19:20 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/09/reviews/commandos2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eMonday, August 13, 2007, 1:21:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on September 13, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorld War II was not just about charging head on into enemy territory in Normandy. There is an entirely different facet to war - to infiltrate behind enemy lines and wreck enemy operations from within.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCommandos 2, like its predecessor, follows the exploits of a group of British Commandos who penetrate enemy operations and cause major destruction.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Commandos 2: Men of Courage (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, May 28, 2009, 8:05:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 20, 2009.\nNeed For Speed series was reinvented with Underground, the series focused solely on illegal street racing. Underground and Underground 2 focused on nighttime racing. Most Wanted takes place during the daylight. It is a welcome change after two games which were exclusively under street lights.\nThis time around, there is a stronger emphasis on the story. Underground 2 had a story for the first time in the series but it was weak and was not treated very well. Most Wanted has a better story line and played a stronger part in the game.\nThe career begins with the player taking on the role of a nameless protagonist, who enters the city of Rockport to be a part of the street racing circuit. As you win races you go up in the Blacklist. The story starts to unfold when you enter a race with Razor. Razor sabotages your car and wins it from you at the end of the race, and you get caught by the police and land up in jail; but released soon due to lack of evidence.\nYou get help from a mysterious woman named Mia. She assists you in getting a car and taking part in the Blacklist races to win your car back from Razor, who reached the top of the Blacklist with it.\nThe police keep an eye on your from the beginning and as you start to win races they get more aggressive in their pursuit. Winning races in the Blacklist involves meeting certain criteria, such as having certain amount of bounty, evading cops in chases, and finally winning a one on one race against the opponent. This process repeats until you defeat the final Blacklist racer.\nThe story is told through full motion video with real actors. You won\u0026rsquo;t remember the game for the acting, it is just about in the same league as your latest Fast and Furious movie, which is to say, mediocre and laughably bad at best but still fun to watch. Story is compelling enough with a few obvious plot twists to hold the interest to see it through the end.\nThe game makes it easier to jump in to a pursuit or a race right from the menu without having to drive in the city, which is convenient if you want to get into action right away. This makes the game less tedious. It thankfully does not follow the GTA style of having to drive to a certain location to get the mission; that would have been a completely unnecessary way to prolong game play.\nEvading the police is a welcome return to the franchise; they were not to be found in the last two games. A chase typically starts slow with one car on your tail, but soon you might find 20 cars giving chase, in addition to a chopper flying overhead. Getting to the top of the Blacklist to beat Razor needs a LOT of work. There are tons of races and cop chases you need to beat to even get to race with a Blacklist driver. Halfway through the Blacklist, this process started getting tedious, more so because the AI starts to act crazy. For instance, I was in the final lap of a race and I was almost three quarters of a lap ahead of the race, and I happened to crash, and before I know, the AI is almost on top of me in a matter of seconds; and another time I was way behind in the race when the AI inexplicably slows down to allow me to win the race. The AI tends to do more of this as you go higher up; it oscillates between extremely tough and extremely easy.\nThe game has a lot of licensed cars that can either be purchased or won; I particularly loved the Ford Mustang GT. The customization of parts is really fun, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment when you install a higher upgrade of nitro and race past the AI.\nThe game, for the first time, has a speed breaker, which is a version of bullet time. The game slows down to a crawl and this allows you to navigate some really sharp turns without crashing. I thought this was a nice addition to the game.\nGraphically, the game looks great. Playing it at 1600x1200 with all settings maxed is very exciting. The large environments of the city are well done. The different parts give a nice sense of variety, and the car models look sharp, especially when you start painting them with crazy triple-colored paint. The visuals scale reasonably well, I tried this game on machines with AGP cards and it worked well.\nThe game has outstanding engine noises that change depending on which car you\u0026rsquo;re in and which upgrades you have. The rest of the sound effects are also of excellent quality. The game uses quite a bit of voice acting in the story, which is good, but sometimes they are entirely out of context. That\u0026rsquo;s easily forgiven.\nMost Wanted is an excellent arcade racing game with high quality visuals and sounds and some very interesting gameplay additions.\n+ Visuals\n+ Cop chases\n+ Sound effects\n+ Full motion video\n+ Ford Mustang GT!\n+ Speed breaker\n- Racing in career mode can be tedious\n- Unpredictable AI\nVerdict - Buy\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:51:38 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/07/reviews/needforspeedmostwanted-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, May 28, 2009, 8:05:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 20, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeed For Speed series was reinvented with Underground, the series focused solely on illegal street racing. Underground and Underground 2 focused on nighttime racing. Most Wanted takes place during the daylight. It is a welcome change after two games which were exclusively under street lights.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis time around, there is a stronger emphasis on the story. Underground 2 had a story for the first time in the series but it was weak and was not treated very well. Most Wanted has a better story line and played a stronger part in the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005) (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 10:09:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 27, 2009.\nGears of War is a 3rd person shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was first released as an Xbox 360 exclusive, and it went on to become one of the most successful games for the console. It was later released for the PC with some added content and better visuals to support the high end graphics cards.\nYou play as Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier who was imprisoned for abandoning his post, and reinstated into command and asked to join the Coalition to fight Locust. The game is quite different from most 3rd person shooters in that, it relies heavily on cover mechanics. You take cover behind various objects during firefights, and stand up to shoot and duck back out of sight.\nEven in the casual setting, there is some frustration to be had. Difficulty climbs quite steeply in these sections; I felt there should have been at least one checkpoint during these parts, instead there were none.\nThe sound track is good, but it could have used more variations. Every time there an action sequence, the same music kicks in throughout the game. Granted that the game itself is not very long, yet, listening to the same tune over and over again tends to get monotonous, and however good it might be. The effects are top notch, weapons pack a punch, especially the top gun and the six-shooter.\nWeapons are fun to use. I especially loved the torque bow it reminded me of Rambo. In fact, the whole game feels like a big Hollywood movie. It\u0026rsquo;s very slick and fast paced. The melee combat has some great moments. The chainsaw to the machinegun was a great idea; when you get a chainsaw kill on an enemy, the game takes over and it shows you slicing an enemy into half. As cool as this might be, it could have been implemented better, because sometimes it doesn\u0026rsquo;t work like it should.\nThe best in the game for me are the visuals. Gears of War uses Unreal 3 engine, and it looks fantastic. I played the game in DirectX 10 mode at 1920x1200 with all settings on maximum on my EVGA GeForce 260GTX, and it looked out of this world. There is something about the art and environment though, while they are beautiful and unique, most of the game the environment is various shades of dirt. This can seem monotonous after a while. This could have used some lush green jungles as seen in Crysis. It would have looked beautiful in Unreal 3 engine.\nTechnically speaking, there is a nasty savegame bug that causes the savegames to disappear after exit. This happened a few times even after patching it. If you are playing offline, there is a fix, and also a way to backup the save games.\nOver all it\u0026rsquo;s a fantastic experience. Gears of War is an excellent port. It has all the qualities of a good port should have and some bad ones too. Controls are very well optimized for the PC. I have no hesitation in recommending this game.\n+ Graphics\n+ Sound effects\n+ Level design\n+ Fast paced game play\n+ Cover system\n+ Weapons, especially torque bow\n- Savegame bug\n- Repetitive soundtrack\n- Uneven checkpoints on two occasions\nVerdict - Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 02:22:39 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/gearsofwar-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finished this game on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 10:09:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 27, 2009.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGears of War is a 3rd person shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was first released as an Xbox 360 exclusive, and it went on to become one of the most successful games for the console. It was later released for the PC with some added content and better visuals to support the high end graphics cards.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gears of War (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Wednesday, August 29, 2007, 8:03:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 14, 2009.\nThis game is a sequel to the fairly successful Red Faction. It explores the situation back on earth in 22nd century, 5 years after the uprising on Mars.\nFor 15 years Chancellor Victor Sopot has oppressed the people on Earth belonging to the Commonwealth. You play the role of Alias, a demolitions expert, who is a part of a 6 member rebel group united to put an end to the tyranny of the evil Chancellor. As you play the game, you will find that the story takes a few unexpected twists.\nThe game play is very similar to its predecessor. Geo Mod once again is in focus, and it plays a greater role. Battles take an advantage of the Geo Mod, and you are never quite safe when hiding behind a wall or a barricade, because it can be destroyed with the right kind of weapon. This makes the game play challenging and the battles can be quite intense at times.\nThe weapons are quite good. There are all kinds of different weapons to be had in this game. Playing with these toys is a lot of fun, especially because of the destructive environments.\nBut the good part is over.\nThis game is a PS 2 port, so the graphics seem very dull and dated. I am not really impressed with the visuals in general. The game almost looks the same as Red Faction, which was released almost 2 years ago.\nThere are slightly better particle effects, but that\u0026rsquo;s about it. I feel that PC gamers deserve better visuals than the dated PS 2. It feels more like an after thought and an attempt to cash on the franchise.\nThe game is more like an arcade shooter than a serious action game. It is terribly short\u0026hellip;it can be completed in one evening without any difficulty. So PC gamers are going to feel terribly cheated out of a good shooter that they would have expected to see, after the solid content the first game delivered.\nOver all, I am quite disappointed with this title. I expected some solid game play, but it was over before I knew it. I finished it in a matter of 6 hours of casual gaming.\nPerhaps fans of the series might want to play this in the wake of the release of Red Faction Guerilla. Otherwise, there is not much to be missed.\n+ Geo mod\n+ Weapons are fun to use\n+ Plot twists\n- Short\n- Dated visuals\n- Feels like an arcade shooter\nVerdict - Pick it up if you find it for less than $5.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 01:06:27 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/redfaction2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finished this game on Wednesday, August 29, 2007, 8:03:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 14, 2009.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis game is a sequel to the fairly successful Red Faction. It explores the situation back on earth in 22nd century, 5 years after the uprising on Mars.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor 15 years Chancellor Victor Sopot has oppressed the people on Earth belonging to the Commonwealth. You play the role of Alias, a demolitions expert, who is a part of a 6 member rebel group united to put an end to the tyranny of the evil Chancellor. As you play the game, you will find that the story takes a few unexpected twists.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Faction 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Monday, February 5, 2007, 10:52:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2009.\nCall of Duty United Offensive is an expansion to Call of Duty. It is developed by Grey Matter Interactive. They developed games such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.\nThe game is centered around three allied forces – United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union. It includes some of the key battles of World War II such as Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Kursk, and the Invasion of Sicily.\nGraphics are better than the original, with a heavily tweaked Quake 3 engine; explosions look superb with great particle effects. There were a few framerate issues though, but they are only few and far in between to affect the gameplay. My 7600GS AGP was able to run this game just fine at maximum settings without any problems.\nEnvironments are varied, and like in the first game, you get to be a gunner on a variety of vehicles. I particularly loved the Sicily level where you get to be a gunner on the sidecar of a motorcycle and the driver navigates through the narrow streets at breakneck speed. Very exciting!\nThe sounds set the mood of the game, with battle cries and occasional orchestra music. There is a sound issue when using my Creative soundcard, so I had to switch to Miles 2D audio. There was a lot of crackling and static at times when I was using Creative hardware drivers to play the game. Sometimes restarting the game helped solve the problem.\nThe game is not too long, it shouldn’t take more than 6-7 hours to finish in normal difficulty mode. It keeps you hooked until the very end, just like the original. Most of the missions involve demolition, and it’s always fun to watch your hard work paying off at the end with sweet sight of everything exploding and falling to pieces.\n+ Very intense action\n+ Great visuals\n+ Level design\n- Minor technical issues with sound\nVerdict: Must play\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 06:35:47 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/callofdutyunitedoffensive-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eMonday, February 5, 2007, 10:52:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCall of Duty United Offensive is an expansion to Call of Duty. It is developed by Grey Matter Interactive. They developed games such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game is centered around three allied forces – United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union. It includes some of the key battles of World War II such as Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Kursk, and the Invasion of Sicily.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Duty: United Offensive (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Saturday, June 6, 2009, 11:49:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 7, 2009.\nFor the first time ever, a Quake game is not developed in house by id Software. Raven Software, the developers of Soldier of Fortune, were entrusted with the job of creating a new Quake game. The story continues right after Quake 2, where the unnamed marine destroyed the Makron, and the player, as a part of Rhino squad has to secure the planet of Stroggos.\nGraphics are stunning. Shadows are very realistic and add atmosphere to the game. There are a few low resolution background textures, which stand out poorly in comparison. Indoor levels look fantastic. Player and enemy models are rich in details and fluid in movement. Doom 3 engine really shines here.\nA word has be said about the hydraulics in the game. As you can see in the video (00:29), they are these elaborate set pieces, and while you cannot call them beautiful, they are awe inspiring mechanical marvels. Its fairly obvious that a lot of work went to designing these machines throughout the game. I have never played a game which had this kind of environment, where machines are so well created.\nSound quality is good, and weapons sound better than they did in Doom 3. I enjoyed using the shotgun a lot, it packs a lot of punch, and it is very lethal at close range.\nMost of the weapons here are variants of the old ones, which work very well for the game, but I thought the BFG was somewhat lacking the power of its predecessors. Quake II and Quake III had better BFG. I was hoping to see a BGF that was similar to Quake III.\nVehicle section are basic, but fun, and they break up the action very well. I particularly enjoyed the mech walker level.\nPerhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game is the potential that was left unexplored. About a quarter of the way through the game, the player is captured by the Strogg, and undergoes a ‘Stoggification’ process. This involves a rather gruesome bioengineering process where the limbs are severed, and mechanical counterparts are attached in their place. The brain is implanted with a neuro chip which when activated, turns the human into a Strogg. Kane is rescued just before the activation is complete, and so remains as a human with Strogg implants.\nThe developers had the chance to turn the game around with this, and yet, we never get to see any real gameplay changes. There is a slight health increase, and it is now possible to read the letters on the walls, pass through some portals towards the end, but nothing much else. There are no abilities to be gained here. So, that part was disappointing. It would have made a difference between a good shooter and a great.\nOverall, my reaction to this game is very positive. This is a fantastic game, albeit it does not utilize its full potential. Given that the game is very cheap and latest official patch will make the game work without the CD/DVD (that’s the kind of support I’d like to see from developers), it must be bought and played.\n+ Stunning visuals\n+ Lots of action\n+ Plenty of weapons\n+ Fairly long single player\n- Missed out on better game play\nVerdict: Must buy\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 09:20:53 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/quake4-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSaturday, June 6, 2009, 11:49:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 7, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the first time ever, a Quake game is not developed in house by id Software. Raven Software, the developers of Soldier of Fortune, were entrusted with the job of creating a new Quake game. The story continues right after Quake 2, where the unnamed marine destroyed the Makron, and the player, as a part of Rhino squad has to secure the planet of Stroggos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Quake 4 (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 3:36:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 3, 2009.\nI believed that FPS genre has reached a point where there is not much room for innovation, especially after Portal. Crysis for me, took action FPS in a new direction.\nCrysis is set in the year 2019. Us scientists have made some significant discoveries on one of Lingshan Islands. The North Korean government then goes on to seal the island and hold several American citizens in custody. Raptor Team, a US Army Special Forces unit is sent to rescue the scientists. This was not a war but a rescue mission. However, things turn nasty when they discover that they are not just fighting the Koreans, but extra terrestrial life as well.\nAs a part of the special forces unit, the player, i.e. Nomad, gets to use a nano suit. This suit gives the player the ability to use speed, stealth and strength. These functions are seamlessly integrated into the game. After a while, switching between different functions is so natural and intuitive. The suit changes the way the game is played. It can be used to employ different strategies to take out enemies. The semi sandbox nature of the game allows for a lot of freedom in the initial levels.\nCombinations of abilities will lead to some very interesting gameplay moments. The same scenario can be played differently depending on the gameplay of choice, either use stealth throughout, or run and gun, or a little bit of both.\nI would call a game immersive when I tend to keep playing and forget to quick save. This happened to me a lot in Crysis. I kept going and I never really saved. If I died, I was happy replaying from the last save point, and trying a different approach. Personally, I have not had that kind of immersion in a very long time.\nLet me make this very clear, this is not Far Cry with better visuals. Far Cry is a good game, but this is way better. I played this game on hard difficulty, and I found it to be challenging and fun.\nVisuals in this game are stunning. They are much talked about, and rightly so. In my opinion, this is the best looking game on the PC yet. I played the game on Core2Quad 2.66GHz, 4GB DDR 800, GeForce 260GTX and Acer 24\u0026quot; widescreen. The game ran quite smoothly on high settings at 1920x1200, with 2xFSAA. There were times when the framerate took a hit, but that was a very occasional snag. Overall, it was very satisfactory, and I am glad I waited for as long as I did to play it.\nThe game is not all about the visuals though. They play a huge part in the experience, but there are plenty of features which make it fun. I cannot recommend playing it on a machine which meets the minimum requirements, but to be honest, it can still be enjoyed on low settings.\nSound effects through out the game are solid. Weapons, vehicles sound effects are well done.\nThere are good number of weapons; assault rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, LAWs, shotguns, miniguns, sniper rifles, gauss rifles, an Alien energy-based mini-gun. Most of the weapons can be customized with silencers, scopes, laser light etc.\nVehicle sections are also very well done. I didn\u0026rsquo;t use a whole lot of vehicles except tanks, but when I did use them, they were smooth and easy to handle.\nIf I absolutely have to criticize this game, then yes, all is not perfect. I found the voice acting to be very inadequate, especially the repetitive taunts of the Korean soldiers. It was just…lame. The AI can be a little erratic at times, although this is really not a concern, just nitpicking.\nThe finals levels of the game are not as good as the rest. They are more confined, and do not offer a lot of freedom. Comparatively, I did not enjoy them as much.\nThe VTOL aircraft was hard to handle. That\u0026rsquo;s not something I enjoyed. It could have been a lot better.\nNow, that\u0026rsquo;s out of the way.\nI have to ask myself, is this the best single player game I played so far? Yes. Undoubtedly. I am so surprised to hear gamers complain about Far Cry being better. It makes me wonder if they even played the same game, because the improvements are so obvious that such a statement seems ludicrous.\nI am glad PC gamers had a chance to play an exclusive, something that did not happen for a very long time.\nCrysis gets two thumbs up.\n+ Fantastic visuals\n+ Great level design\n+ Nano suit\n+ Weapons\n+ Vehicles\n+ Sound effects\n+ Made me forget to quick save\n- Voice acting\n- Weak story\n- Final levels are not as good\n- VTOL could have been better\nVerdict – Fantastic, groundbreaking and an absolute must-have for all PC gamers.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 09:03:13 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/crysis-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eWednesday, April 29, 2009, 3:36:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 3, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believed that FPS genre has reached a point where there is not much room for innovation, especially after Portal. Crysis for me, took action FPS in a new direction.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCrysis is set in the year 2019. Us scientists have made some significant discoveries on one of Lingshan Islands. The North Korean government then goes on to seal the island and hold several American citizens in custody. Raptor Team, a US Army Special Forces unit is sent to rescue the scientists. This was not a war but a rescue mission. However, things turn nasty when they discover that they are not just fighting the Koreans, but extra terrestrial life as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Crysis (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, November 23, 2004, 5:23:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 2, 2009.\nDesperados: Wanted Dead or Alive belongs to the subgenre of tactical strategy. Such games have enjoyed success in Europe, but not so much in North America.\nAlthough this game is called a Commandos clone; I do not think so, just as Crysis is not a clone of Far Cry. It has taken the elements of Commandos and perfected them. The setting helps show off these innovations.\nThe story is set in New Mexico, 1881. Many trains have been robbed the last few months by a bandit called \u0026ldquo;El Diablo\u0026rdquo;. The railroad company has offered a bounty to anyone who can stop El Diablo. Bounty-hunter John Cooper accepts the task, despite the objections of bad-tempered Marshal Jackson, but soon learns the mission is not as simple as he first assumed.\nHe then decides to enlist the help of his old friends. The initial missions involve rounding up the gang members – Sam, Doc and Kate, each of who have tutorial missions. These missions are integrated quite well into the rest of the missions and they do not feel disconnected. Later in the game, two more characters – Sanchez and Mia - become allies, making it a total of six characters.\nEach characters have unique abilities. The game does not impose stealth as heavily as Commandos did, this leaves a lot of room for different strategies. It is not necessary to maintain cover at all times, so Sam’s shotgun and Cooper’s colt come in handy often. The other characters have decent weapons as well, except Mia, who has a blowpipe, which I was not very useful.\nI found that I did not use certain skills all that often. For example, Kate can blind enemies using her mirror, and I did not use this in the game anywhere but in the tutorial. Same goes for Doc’s balloon.\nCopper is the protagonist, but he is not expected to do all the work in the game. Each character plays an important role, and its not as if they are useful at the very end to blow something up. It is possible to chose a certain character to perform majority of the tasks, but ideally, the game becomes a lot more interesting when all possibilities are explored.\nQuick action comes in very useful when there are multiple enemies to take out, and multiple characters to control. What this does is, help you assign an action to each character, and “save” the action. This action can be performed quickly at the press of a button. Very neat feature.\nLevel design is fantastic that way. It is challenging without being frustrating. I never had to spend too much time trying to figure out a way, because often, there is not just one way to accomplish tasks. Of course, this game has the Commandos syndrome too, in that, if you need to blow up a bridge, you will need Sam to do it for you. The story involves travelling through the American west, Mexican haciendas, and heavily guarded prison fortresses, providing a lot of variety. There are also night and day missions, so the strategies employed will be vastly different. The game contains 25 levels in all, and it takes a while to complete them.\nEnemy AI is fairly intelligent. There are vision cones to see the field of vision. Green indicates all is well and the enemy saunters around. Once suspicion is aroused, the cone changes to yellow and the enemy scans in all directions frantically to find you. This gives you a clear indication of the situation at hand.\nVisually, the game is stunning. The artwork is beautiful, the detail that has gone into it is amazing. Graphics are in 2D, and I got the feeling that a 3D engine would have done more justice to the excellent style in the game. Zooming in would make the game a lot pixelized, so this is not recommended, but it is sometimes useful.\nCut scenes, voice acting and sound deserve a worthy praise. The story is very well told and all the characters sound authentic. Sounds in the levels are very well done. Night time levels have crickets chirping, and water cascading and so on, which add atmosphere to the levels.\nAnyone who has played and enjoyed Commandos should definitely play this. Its fantastic and will give your money’s worth.\nHowever, this game, like all others in the genre, has a high learning curve. I cannot imagine a casual gamer putting in the time and effort to plan each move to complete a huge level. Its not a fast paced game at all. It is meant to be enjoyed for a long time, not something that can be casually beaten.\n+ Excellent level design\n+ Beautiful artwork\n+ Challenging yet fun game play\n+ Quick action\n- High learning curve\nVerdict – Excellent.\nThis post is published on Apr 09, 2026 Thursday 07:24:14 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/06/reviews/desperadoswanteddeadoralive-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, November 23, 2004, 5:23:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 2, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesperados: Wanted Dead or Alive belongs to the subgenre of tactical strategy. Such games have enjoyed success in Europe, but not so much in North America.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough this game is called a Commandos clone; I do not think so, just as Crysis is not a clone of Far Cry. It has taken the elements of Commandos and perfected them. The setting helps show off these innovations.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, March 19, 2009, 11:19:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 21, 2009.\nA sequel to the 2003 game, Call of Duty 2 tells the story of three soldiers from different parts of the world – Russia, UK and US, fighting against the same enemy – Nazi Germany.\nCall of Duty 2 takes the high standards higher. The campaign is more visceral and engaging. Although the core game play aspects remain the same, some minor changes go a long way in making the game more immersive.\nYou are only a soldier in a group fighting against odds in the midst of heavy battle, there are no one man army missions, and you are always a part of a platoon. This gives you the feeling of being a small part in a great battle.\nYou begin your campaign in Russia as a private in the Russian army fighting to regain control of Stalingrad. Once you capture the city hall from German army, you move on to the British operation in Africa. You attack the Germans in tanks and race through the narrow streets of Tunisia in an armored car evading the Panzerfaust, and then a final mission in Amaye sur Seulles will see the end of the British campaign.\nThe American campaign begins in frenzy on the D-Day, not at the Omaha beach in Normandy (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, remember?), but at the foot of steep cliffs of Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France. You are a part of United States Army Ranger Assault Group in Operation Overlord. You have to scale the cliffs and gain the control of the 155mm guns. This for me was the best part of the game. It was truly epic.\nThe visuals and sound ensure that you are completely immersed in the game. At high settings the game looks amazing. Particle effects, explosions and rain have been greatly improved using the proprietary graphics engine. The game has native widescreen support, so there is no need to resort to user created patches. Character models look great, and the animations are very smooth. Soldiers don\u0026rsquo;t appear to glide like they did in the previous game.\nLevel design is top notch. Environments in different parts of the world have been created with a great detail. The sand covered deserts in Libya and Egypt, icy streets of Russia and the ruined cities in France are outstanding.\nSound increases the intensity of the battle. The weapons sound really sharp and the score is very moving. You can hear soldiers screaming and taunting, and the sound of explosions create a great atmosphere. The Battle for Hill 400 level comes to mind; it begins with a battle cry and the allies charging to take on the Germans. The game puts you in a war movie.\nEach level begins with real World War II footage and all the battles are factual. You get to read the diary entries of the character before each mission. It shows the work the developers put into the game to make it as real as possible.\nGame play has received some minor tweaks. Unlike most other games, there is no concept of health packs. When you are hit by an enemy, your vision is blurred, and it turns red. You need to find cover quickly to recover. I was initially surprised and not sure if I liked it. After having played for a few minutes, I realized I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about getting health packs, and I could concentrate on the action instead.\nThe save mechanic in the game is different too. You don\u0026rsquo;t ever have to save your game, the does this for you – it\u0026rsquo;s a checkpoint system. When you start the game, you don\u0026rsquo;t have to look through a save game menu, you just hit resume game and you are done. While I am not such a fan of not having Quick Save, I think in this game, it works perfectly, because there are no frustrating parts that would require you to play over and over. The pacing is just right.\nI played the game on hard difficulty, and the enemy AI presents quite a challenge, so you don\u0026rsquo;t ever want to rush into a fight. Instead you take cover, flank the enemy, use smoke grenades etc. The friendly AI is also very helpful and they often rescued me from tight spots.\nPerhaps the only negative aspect that I can think of is the infinite soldier spawn. There are times when you have to advance in battle or else enemies keep spawning endlessly. You could be crouching behind a wall and kill hundreds of soldiers, and unless you move forward, they keep coming at you. This will not spoil your experience by a long way, but I expected something more than the age old infinite enemy spawn trick.\nThe campaign is about 15 hours long at Hard difficulty setting. This game deserves to be played by all FPS gamers. It is an amazing experience.\n+ Great graphics\n+ Some innovative game play changes\n+ Excellent friendly and enemy AI\n+ Sound\n+ Level design\n- Infinite enemy spawn\nVerdict - Must Play!\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 06:37:14 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/03/reviews/callofduty2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, March 19, 2009, 11:19:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 21, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sequel to the 2003 game, Call of Duty 2 tells the story of three soldiers from different parts of the world – Russia, UK and US, fighting against the same enemy – Nazi Germany.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCall of Duty 2 takes the high standards higher. The campaign is more visceral and engaging. Although the core game play aspects remain the same, some minor changes go a long way in making the game more immersive.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Duty 2 (PC) Review "},{"content":"VIDEOS I decided that I am going to upload my videos on YouTube from now on. The video player on GameSpot has a lot of problems. It would be easier for me to embed videos on Reviews Without Scores blog.\nI recorded a few videos, and here they are:\nSome of the videos are old, but I just uploaded them.\nMOVIES Lets talk about Far Cry movie.\nI watched this god awful movie yesterday. Ben recently talked about how bad it was in his blog - https://www.gamespot.com/users/nutcrackr/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25640278/\nFirst off, why is Jack Carver a German soldier? He was American in the game. It was probably Uwe Boll\u0026rsquo;s idea of capturing the German audience.\nTil Schweiger is not fit for the role of Jack Carver, he sounds funny. It was a WTF moment when I first heard him talk. Emmanuelle Vaugier\u0026rsquo;s acting in this movie is poor, nonexistent even. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t even given a chance to do a lot of bad acting.\nThe movie only vaguely follows the main plot of the game. The action is mindless, and the acting is horrible. Far Cry (game) didn\u0026rsquo;t have a great story; it was very straight forward, with a few surprises thrown in. This movie had none of that. I cannot understand how you could make such blunders with a simple story. He didn\u0026rsquo;t even get the easiest part right.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t get me started on the obligatory soft sex scene and a really lame attempt at humor that follows. It\u0026rsquo;s predictable, unfunny and it made me cringe.\nThere is absolutely no suspense in the movie, unlike in the game, which has a few plot twists.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t want to hate Uwe Boll\u0026rsquo;s movies. I tried to remain objective throughout, but it\u0026rsquo;s just not possible. He loves to butcher video game franchises. I hope he doesn\u0026rsquo;t get to work on any video game movies. He takes good games and turns them to horrible movies.\nThe film completely lacks the tension the game creates. The game had a lot better action (remember the hand glider bit?) than the movie. I suppose due to budget constraints, they couldn\u0026rsquo;t hire a good special effects team.\nThe only good part of the movie was the action choreography – it wasn\u0026rsquo;t terrible.\nEverything else about the movie is.\nREVIEW I wrote a review of Prince of Warrior Within, you can check that here: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Don\u0026rsquo;t forget to pick up the little bonus I got there.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/03/2009-03-16-videos-uwebollmadness-and-review/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"videos\"\u003eVIDEOS\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI decided that I am going to upload my videos on YouTube from now on. The video player on GameSpot has a lot of problems. It would be easier for me to embed videos on \u003ca href=\"https://reviewswithoutscores.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  \u003cspan class='link-color'\u003eReviews Without Scores\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n blog.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI recorded a few videos, and here they are:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/G2YvAwasFyc?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Videos, Uwe Boll Madness and a Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 2:14:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2009.\nPrince of Persia Warrior Within is a sequel to Sands of Time. The story picks up seven years after the Sands of Time.\nThe Prince finds himself hunted by the Dahaka, the guardian of the timeline. Anyone who opens the sands of time should die, but the Prince escaped his fate, and the Dahaka who is a reincarnation of fate, tries to ensure that the Prince dies as he was meant to.\nSeeking counsel from an old wise man, the Prince learns of the existence of the Island of Time, where the Sands of Time were created, which is ruled by the Empress of Time. The Prince sets sail for the Island of Time to attempt to prevent the Sands of Time from being created. The mysterious island is said to contain several time portals which enable the Prince to travel back in time. He believes that if there are no Sands of Time, the Dahaka will cease to exist as well.\nThe story has taken a much darker turn this time around. The Prince is no more the young and restless chap he was in Sands of Time. He is weary, scruffy and very angry.\nThe premise of the story is very interesting to me, but the way it is told was very convoluted. I was really confused some way through the game about my objectives, and I was playing through the levels not knowing what was going on. This made the game less immersive.\nAlthough you understand the bigger picture of the plot, you are never quite sure the exact reason you are doing something. This is a result of the complicated story telling. Having said that, the story is unique and I quite enjoyed the ending and reading about the plot that I had missed during the game.\nThe level design is very interesting. Rather than taking the player to different locations, the whole game is set in a big palace. While you get to explore the palace, which is quite big, you get to do it in different time periods – the past and the present.\nTraveling through time will greatly modify the levels; in the past, the palace is shown in all its glory, and in the present, it is a vine covered derelict with walls crumbling apart, and in a state of ruin.\nI like the concept of showing the same levels at different times. It brings a sense of nostalgia. Having said that, the complex story telling disorients the player and the objective is not quite evident. This means a lot of needless backtracking. Of course, not all players might feel find this as a problem.\nCombat is something I enjoyed for most part. The much publicized freestyle combat is a lot of fun. It was a little difficult to get all the combos right at the exact time you want to execute them, and often the combat turns into furious button mashing, yet it is very entertaining. Sometimes you got to pull off some really cool moves unintentionally – that is a very sweet feeling. There are a lot of combos to perform, and the game sets up quite well to execute them. The quality of animation is superb.\nBut like all other aspects of the game, there is a flip side to this. Certain parts in the game are very frustrating, especially when you don\u0026rsquo;t get to have better weapons, and you get to see the Game Over screen very often.\nThe camera sometimes plays tricks and it is not possible to align it the way you like, making it harder to control the character. The controls are camera dependent, meaning W does not always mean forward, so should you ever be hanging onto a pillar and need to a jump to a ledge, if you do not align your camera right, you might leap to your death. If you have enough sands though, it\u0026rsquo;s always possible to rewind.\nI got the feeling that the game was unduly challenging sometimes because of the game play issues rather than the player\u0026rsquo;s ability.\nThe boss fights are tedious at times and it requires a lot of retrying, which was very frustrating for me, especially because the camera has a mind of its own, and decides to act a little crazy during a crucial fight.\nI understand that having checkpoints in a game will make it exciting for some, but there were times when I wished it had a proper save system and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to go through the same part over and over again.\nGraphics in the game are very good, and they are very scalable, so older computers can handle this game very well. The environments are both vibrant and colorful or dreary and desolate depending on the time period.\nPuzzles are for the most part are very well designed. Puzzles for the same level change with the time period, this is because they are environment based, and the environment sometimes vastly differs with time.\nThe choice of music for this game is very strange. I loved the music in Sands of Time and I was hoping I would see (hear) more of the same, but to my surprise, there was Rob Zombie playing in the background. I am a fan of heavy metal music, but in this case, it\u0026rsquo;s definitely out of place. I would have loved more of the Persian/Middle Eastern kind of music in this game.\nAll said and done, Warrior Within is a solid game. I do not have second thoughts about recommending this. Keep in mind though that there is frustration in store for you, but it\u0026rsquo;s a great journey.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 07:26:19 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2009/03/reviews/princeofpersiawarriorwithin-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, June 3, 2008, 2:14:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2009.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrince of Persia Warrior Within is a sequel to Sands of Time. The story picks up seven years after the Sands of Time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Prince finds himself hunted by the Dahaka, the guardian of the timeline. Anyone who opens the sands of time should die, but the Prince escaped his fate, and the Dahaka who is a reincarnation of fate, tries to ensure that the Prince dies as he was meant to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, May 1, 2008, 9:31:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 26, 2008.\nWhen almost the entire PC gaming industry is waiting for the release of Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, Far Cry comes out of nowhere to compete against these giants. This game put German developers CryTek on the map.\nFar Cry is a first person shooter set on a tropical island. The player assumes the role of Jack Craver, who is hired to sail a woman named Valarie around the pacific. The situation goes completely wrong when the ship is attacked, and Valarie is kidnapped. It’s now your job to rescue her and get away from the island.\nThe first thing that comes to your mind about Far Cry is the graphics. If you have the hardware, then you will be treated to some excellent visuals. The islands are beautifully created and the water effects are superb.\nThe game offers some panoramic views over cliffs and waterfalls. I cannot count the number of times I spent gazing over the horizon at the beautiful scenery. Some of the indoor levels are extremely well done too. The shadows help make in making them very creepy at times; it’s very immersive that way.\nThe environment for most part is very open, and it gives you a feeling of freedom, although the game is fairly linear. However, it does not restrict you to take a single route to your objective. There are often multiple ways to accomplish the goals on the islands and some routes can be easier than the others.\nThe action is very intense throughout, because even on Normal settings the game is quite hard. It’s not advisable to attack in the open, you are often required to take cover and move carefully. The game does have a little bit of a stealth factor, but the slightest bit of a noise is enough to alert everyone on the island.\nI thought this could have been implemented better. Going through the forest generally provides some good cover, but not for long. You only need to make a small commotion to alert everyone – it’s almost as if there is a marker pointing right to your location.\nThere are a variety of enemies to deal with, both human kind and the mutated kind. The humans tend to take cover and shoot through the forest. This usually means waiting for the right moment to attack. Headshots become essential to conserve ammo and deliver a deadly blow. The mutants tend to jump at you and can kill very easily.\nYou also get to drive plenty of vehicles such as boats and jeeps, and for the first time that I have seen in games, you have a hand glider to use. I thought this was really well done. I enjoyed jumping off a huge cliff with a hand glider and falling slowly into the water.\nThe audio provides a good experience for those with a good sound system. The sounds effects are excellent, and the weapons sound realistic. Each scenario has its own sounds; the jungle has the chirping sounds of birds, and the indoor sound effects such as hissing of steam through pipes contribute heavily to the atmosphere of the game.\nAlthough visually the game is almost perfect, there are a few gameplay glitches that keep showing every now and then, such as erratic enemy behavior – they sometimes tend to get stuck into walls or bounce about in water; and a certain level glitch which will prevent progress. Updating the game will solve this problem.\nThe game is fairly long, and provides 20-30 hours of gameplay, which is quite unusual for most shooters, which tend to be shorter. Given the aggressive AI and the checkpoint system, it’s almost certain to take as long to finish this game.\n+ Excellent graphics\n+ Beautiful environment\n+ Great level design\n+ Plenty of vehicles to use\n- Hard!\n- Checkpoint system\n- Technical glitches\nVerdict - Must Play!\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:55:53 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/07/reviews/farcry-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, May 1, 2008, 9:31:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 26, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen almost the entire PC gaming industry is waiting for the release of Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, Far Cry comes out of nowhere to compete against these giants. This game put German developers CryTek on the map.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFar Cry is a first person shooter set on a tropical island. The player assumes the role of Jack Craver, who is hired to sail a woman named Valarie around the pacific. The situation goes completely wrong when the ship is attacked, and Valarie is kidnapped. It’s now your job to rescue her and get away from the island.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Far Cry (PC) Review"},{"content":"I have lived in my city for 25 years so far, and it\u0026rsquo;s time to move out. I am going to a different place, to start a different life. The reason for my absence on GameSpot is because I have been extremely busy trying to sort things out. In less than 12 hours, my entire life will change.\nHopefully, the new life will be better and I shall enjoy it. I will write more about it soon. I am sorry for not visiting your blogs as often as I should have. You all must know that things have been tough, so I am hoping I will not be forgiven.\nMore updates shall follow. Thanks for reading!\nUPDATE - 7/21/2008 12:25 AM Level 28 - Bionic Commando\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/07/03_movingoutupdate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have lived in my city for 25 years so far, and it\u0026rsquo;s time to move out. I am going to a different place, to start a different life. The reason for my absence on GameSpot is because I have been extremely busy trying to sort things out. In less than 12 hours, my entire life will change.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHopefully, the new life will be better and I shall enjoy it. I will write more about it soon. I am sorry for not visiting your blogs as often as I should have. You all must know that things have been tough, so I am hoping I will not be forgiven.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Moving Out Update"},{"content":"I have been playing PC games for 8 years now - not a long time compared to most people, but I\u0026rsquo;ve played my fair share of games, and I thought it would be a good idea to look back some of the best games I have played so far. Read the preview and guess the game I talking about. No cheating!\nSo here are my favorites, in alphabetical order:\nThis is the best World War II shooter I have played so far. I played it\u0026rsquo;s sequels as well, but so far, no other game has matched its quality, in my opinion. Spoiler Call of Duty\nTactical strategy is not is for everyone; it has a high learning curve and almost no room for mistakes, yet this franchise managed to keep me interested enough to play three out of four games released so far. Among the three that I have played, this is the finest. Spoiler Commandos 2\nContrary to the popular belief, creating a good clone of a well established game is not an easy task. Commandos had a monopoly in the tactical strategy games department, but this game stole the show from the heavyweight and created its own fan following. Spoiler Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive\nIt is a pity that we do not see titles like this anymore. Inimitable in its storytelling, this game was by far one of the best experiences in gaming I\u0026rsquo;ve had till date. Critical success didn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily translate into commercial success, and subsequently, a mediocre sequel followed, and soon the studio was dissolved. Shame! Spoiler Deus Ex\nSimple in execution, yet the depth (literally) of gameplay offered is hard to describe. After a decade, it still remains as one of the very best RPGs of all times. Take a bow! Spoiler Diablo\nIt\u0026rsquo;s like a rollercoaster ride - completely linear, but there is something inexplicably great about this game. It creates nostalgia the moment you set foot in the besieged city, one of the rare occasions a sequel has managed to surpass the massive expectations. We have a legend here. Spoiler Half-Life 2\nTedious story, over the top action, cheesy dialogue, all the usual parts of a B movie come together in this game to create a fantastic experience. Play it to believe it. Spoiler Max Payne\nWhy the 60s remain unexploited in the gaming industry, I cannot tell. It is even more puzzling when you have a series that captured the psychedelic atmosphere that we relate to the 60s, so beautifully. A surprisingly fun game that doesn\u0026rsquo;t take itself too seriously. Spoiler No One Lives Forever\nHow can you ever do something different with a first person shooter? The bottom-line is always the same isn\u0026rsquo;t it? You have a gun and you shoot at things. Right? Wrong! Spoiler Portal\n1996 is a year in gaming like no other. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to talk much about it, I have a feeling most of you already know the game I am about to mention here. The rest, as they say, is history. Spoiler Tomb Raider\nThis game deserves a special mention - an equivalent to a life time achievement award if you will. Every FPS gamer should have this installed on their computer at all times in my opinion, you never know when someone might challenge you for a 5 minute round in the Campgrounds!\nSpoiler Quake 3 Arena\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/07/02_gamingnostalgia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been playing PC games for 8 years now - not a long time compared to most people, but I\u0026rsquo;ve played my fair share of games, and I thought it would be a good idea to look back some of the best games I have played so far. Read the preview and guess the game I talking about. No cheating!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo here are my favorites, in alphabetical order:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis is the best World War II shooter I have played so far. I played it\u0026rsquo;s sequels as well, but so far, no other game has matched its quality, in my opinion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\n\u003cdetails\u003e\n  \u003csummary\u003eSpoiler\u003c/summary\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eCall of Duty\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gaming Nostalgia"},{"content":"Hello all,\nMy absence from GameSpot took as long as I predicted it was going to be. It has been a tough month but I was fairly successful in my endeavors, so I am not complaining.\nI am back here with some time on my hands, which is great, because I missed this place, and I missed gaming too. Of course, I did play Quake 3 with my friends on LAN, but it\u0026rsquo;s not like playing an engrossing single player game.\nI also played some Deus Ex Invisible War and Peggle Extreme.\nPeggle is a very fun and addictive game, I loved the concept. I wish I could say that about Invisible War. It\u0026rsquo;s not that Invisible War is a bad game, but it\u0026rsquo;s different from the first game in all the wrong ways. I tried to be objective about it, but the game was modified heavily for the consoles.\nI have nothing against games being released for consoles and PC just as long as the quality of the game is not compromised. So hopefully, Deus Ex 3 will not make the same mistake.\nWhile we are on the Deus Ex topic, I purchased the original of Deus Ex. I was out of town recently, I went to this big city for some work, and on the fine evening of July 3, I went to this CD store, and purchased the game for 299/-, which is about $8US. Not bad, yes?\nI also managed to get this emblem - I don\u0026rsquo;t know how that happened.\nTop 100\nPower and influence.\nThose who rank amongst this hallowed 100 greatly benefit those searching for critical information about games. These individuals\u0026rsquo; thoughtful, analytical reviews tend to be much more detailed and sophisticated than most of the so-called professional game reviews you could find elsewhere. Sure enough, the top 100 tend to be prolific writers and avid game players.\nSo now, I am looking forward to some gaming time. I intend to finish Deus Ex Invisible War soon and I got to work on some reviews as well. I will keep you all posted on that as usual.\nTake care everyone, and see you around!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/07/01_back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello all,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy absence from GameSpot took as long as I predicted it was going to be. It has been a tough month but I was fairly successful in my endeavors, so I am not complaining.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am back here with some time on my hands, which is great, because I missed this place, and I missed gaming too. Of course, I did play Quake 3 with my friends on LAN, but it\u0026rsquo;s not like playing an engrossing single player game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, September 7, 2000, 1:30:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on May 10, 2008.\nThe third installment in the highly successful franchise, Tomb Raider III tells the story of a meteorite crash that occurred millions of years ago in the Antarctic region. The Polynesians discovered the meteorite crash site and settled in that region until they were forced to leave due to terrible events that ensued from living in that area.\nIn the present day a research company, RX Tech headed by Dr. Willard, is excavating the crash site and discovers the journal of a sailor, Charles Darwin. According to the journal, a few of his group members have explored the interior of the crater. The sailors soon travelled to different parts of the world and died, each leaving behind an artifact taken from the meteor.\nOblivious to this history, Lara Croft is in India in search of one of those artifacts, the Infada artifact. She encounters the hired mercenaries of RX Tech and soon learns the reason behind their presence. After retrieving the artifact she meets Dr. Willard and sets out in search of the rest of the artifacts.\nThis journey takes her to different parts of the world – London, South Pacific, Nevada and finally to Antarctica where she learns the truth behind the expedition.\nThe gameplay is essentially the same as the previous two games. You are given huge levels filled with various puzzles which have to be solved to get to the next level and so on. However, the addition of new moves in the game adds some form of variety in the way these puzzles are implemented, but the concept does not bring anything new to the series.\nFor the first time, the players can choose their path of progress. The first and the last chapters of the game will remain the same, but the order in which the middle chapters are played is up to the player. This does not impact the game in anyway, but its just an interesting addition.\nThe puzzles have evoked mixed reaction from me. Some of them were very innovative and some are extremely frustrating. More often than not, solving a puzzle is not difficult once you figure out what to do and that is the hard part. The clues, if you chose to call them that are very obscure and very often you find yourself in a situation where you are completely stumped and a walkthrough is your only hope. Frustrating as this might be, I had a lot of fun playing through the levels and trying to figure out the puzzles on my own.\nThe levels are bigger than ever and they are filled with traps, enemies throughout. The combat is more prevalent in this game, and you are fighting every step of the way in a given level. The emphasis seems to have shifted more towards fighting enemies, unlike in the previous games where exploration was the key feature. I am not sure I like that shift, because Tomb Raider for me has always been about solving puzzles and exploring, with combat included to break the monotony.\nAnother major flaw is the locations. Tomb Raider II had its little share of urban settings, but Tomb Raider III takes that to a different height. Nevada, London and partly the Antarctic are all urban settings, which made me wonder why this game was even called the Tomb Raider. There is nothing remotely resembling a tomb in these levels. This is not just an occasional aberration in the game. Three out of the five chapters feature complete urban environments. I was not pleased with that at all.\nThe game doesn\u0026rsquo;t flow at a steady pace like the previous versions. You find yourself getting stuck in places not knowing what to do VERY often. You find yourself struggling every step of the way. Some might find this challenging, but to me it was frustrating. As if this wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough, there are a few bugs in the game, and should you activate it, then its game over. You\u0026rsquo;ll have to revert back to a previous save game, or download one from the web.\nHowever, there are some definite improvements. I thought the game started off extremely well with the India levels, which are quite creepy at times, and the puzzles in these levels are very fascinating. The South Pacific levels are very entertaining as well.\nThe game has a lot of enemies depending on the location. India levels have tigers and giant cobras, the south pacific levels have all sorts of different enemies like dinosaurs (including the Tyrannosaurs Rex), Polynesians. So there is a lot of fighting to be done throughout the game.\nThe graphics are quite good throughout the game, but the lack of bump mapping means that you get to see a lot of sharp edges on characters and objects in the environment. This is only just a minor observation, overall the game looks great.\nThe audio for most part is very good. Sound effects are very well done and it adds to the atmosphere, the Indian jungles have excellent background audio of rainfall and insects chirping. The game doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a lot of music, but when it does, it\u0026rsquo;s done right; the sudden sound effects produced when a booby trap is sprung are very startling.\nOne part of audio that I did have a problem with was the voice. It\u0026rsquo;s not that acting isn\u0026rsquo;t well done; just that the clarity of the voice during the conversation is surprisingly poor and it\u0026rsquo;s quite hard to follow what\u0026rsquo;s being said. I thought there might have been some problem with my CD audio, but turns out that a lot of people had this issue.\nThis makes following the story, which is complicated as it is, even more difficult. Also some of the accents in the game are bad and hard to understand as well. Lara\u0026rsquo;s voice though, for most part is quite good. The rich English accent is well done by Judith Gibbins.\nOverall, I had mixed reactions about Tomb Raider III. I tried hard to look past the level design and the often frustrating puzzles, but this is just not what I expected from a Tomb Raider game.\n+ Graphics\n+ Interesting puzzles at times\n+ Audio\n+ New moves\n+ Some levels are brilliant\n+ Vehicles\n- Too many urban levels\n- High difficulty\n- Bad voice acting\n- Technical issues\nVerdict – Does not live up to the standards of the previous game. It manages to be mediocre with flashes of brilliance in between.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:59:39 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/05/reviews/tombraider3-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, September 7, 2000, 1:30:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on May 10, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third installment in the highly successful franchise, Tomb Raider III tells the story of a meteorite crash that occurred millions of years ago in the Antarctic region. The Polynesians discovered the meteorite crash site and settled in that region until they were forced to leave due to terrible events that ensued from living in that area.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider III: Adentures of Lara Croft (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, November 28, 2002, 6:57:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 25, 2008.\nTomb Raider 2, released in 1997, is a sequel to the very successful Tomb Raider. It is arguably the most eagerly awaited game of the year.\nThe story concerns the Dagger of Xian, an ancient Chinese weapon used by the Emperor to command his army. By plunging the Dagger into its owner\u0026rsquo;s heart, the weapon has the power to turn the person into a dragon.\nIn one such battle, the warrior monks of Tibet succeeded in removing the dagger from the emperor\u0026rsquo;s heart and the battle was won the monks. The dagger was restored to its resting place in the Great Wall for centuries.\nIn the present day, Lara Croft is investigating the truth behind the legend of the dagger when she discovered the entrance to chamber at the Great Wall. However, the entrance is locked and the mechanism to open the entrance is located elsewhere. The search for the key to the chamber takes Lara to different parts of the world – Venice, Adriatic Sea, Tibet and back to the Great Wall.\nThe presentation of the story is somewhat unconnected, and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to understand it at times. The game tends to meander along during the middle, but picks itself up for a very good finish. The locations for most part are very interesting, and beautiful.\nThe graphics are tweaked to deliver some great visuals, stunning landscapes, beautiful snow covered mountains, and the eerie catacombs of the Great Wall. This game looks a lot better than the original – of course, a full year has passed since the release of the first game, but the visuals draw a lot of attention because of their good looks.\nLevel design is somewhat different, with more difficult puzzles and urban settings. This game features vehicles for the first time in the series; cruising through the waterways of Venice is a lot of fun, so is driving through the snowy landscape of Tibet.\nOverall, the levels are great, except during some where the level design tends to get a little monotonous. The Great Wall and Tibet levels are very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The scale of the levels is huge, which is particularly noticeable in some of the Offshore levels. Lara is often dwarfed by the environment.\nThe emphasis of gameplay has shifted a little. Tomb Raider 2 contains more combat with all kinds of new enemies – tigers, yetis, sharks, thugs, spiders, etc. The AI is not the greatest, but the enemies provide a lot of challenge, more so because they often tend to attack from behind, or jump out of dark corners without any warning and so the gameplay becomes very challenging.\nLara is equal to the task, with a variety of weapons at her disposal. The weapons are more powerful and do a lot more damage. The sounds of the weapons have been changed to provide the right effect, and the result is very satisfying.\nApart from inexperienced gamers, Tomb Raider 2 should not frustrate anyone who played the previous game, because this heavily relies on gameplay elements perfected by the original, so apart from a few nagging puzzles, everything flows at a steady pace.\nThe problem with Tomb Raider 2, if you can call it a problem, is the lack of innovation. Tomb Raider was revolutionary, it set an example for all the other aspiring 3D games, but one year afterwards, the sequel did not break any new boundaries, the gameplay essentially remained the same. So this is somewhat disappointing.\nThat is of course the bigger picture. However, all that won\u0026rsquo;t matter while you are busy dodging booby traps and flying over bottomless chasms with the snowmobile, because the game is immersive and addictive enough to play it through to till the end, giving a huge sense of accomplishment once it\u0026rsquo;s done.\n+ Great level design\n+ Improved graphics\n+ Vehicles\n+ Interesting choice of locations\n- Urban settings at times\n- Not enough innovation\n- Persentation of story\nVerdict – Must play.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:30:44 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/04/reviews/tombraider2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, November 28, 2002, 6:57:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 25, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 2, released in 1997, is a sequel to the very successful Tomb Raider. It is arguably the most eagerly awaited game of the year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story concerns the Dagger of Xian, an ancient Chinese weapon used by the Emperor to command his army. By plunging the Dagger into its owner\u0026rsquo;s heart, the weapon has the power to turn the person into a dragon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider II (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, January 3, 2008, 9:30:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 12, 2008.\nDiablo is a simple RPG made by Blizzard, in 1996. The premise of the game is very simple, explore the depths of the church and kill all the monsters. Yet, the game manages to be very complex and satisfying, because the number of ways the levels can be finished are numerous.\nThe story is like this: Tristram, once a peaceful town, has entered dark times when it was attacked by demons and it is up to you to save the town and its inhabitants. There is a lot more to the story than this, but I\u0026rsquo;ll leave it for you to find out.\nThe player gets to choose from three different classes of characters – the warrior, the rogue and the sorcerer. Each class has a different approach to combat.\nThe warrior specializes in melee combat, effectively using swords and axes. The rogue relies on accuracy; with high dexterity, the rogue can kill enemies before they have a chance to get close. The sorcerer can cast spells destroying enemies with the use of magic.\nThe experience will be very different depending on the class of the character. The warrior can rush into battle, while the rogue and sorcerer have to use the hit-and-run strategy at times.\nAs the game progresses the player gets to level up, and develop the character. Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Magic can be improved with progress. New weapons or new spells will be unlocked giving rise to a number of different ways in which a same level can be played.\nAnother huge positive aspect of the game is the replay value. Each time a new character is created the levels are generated randomly, which means that Level 1 with a character is not the same as Level 1 with another character. So even if the game is completed, it can be replayed using a different character and the levels are never repeated.\nAlthough the game is linear in its conclusion, that is no matter which character is chosen, the ending is always same, the path to the ending is always different. To have implemented this when almost all other games during its time are strictly linear makes Diablo stand apart from the rest.\nThe game is not without its faults or fault as I can only think of one. I thought the whole idea of going through levels back and forth to visit the town was a little tedious, but that didn\u0026rsquo;t stop me from playing the game, and I\u0026rsquo;ll have you know that I am playing the game again with a different character. The game is that good.\nEven after 11 years of its release, Diablo is still regarded as one of the best games of all time. New generation of gamers may not be acquainted with this game, but I think it should be tried by everyone. If you manage to look past the graphics, Diablo has a lot to offer.\n+ Excellent level design\n+ High replay value\n- Backtracking through levels\nVerdict – Excellent!\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 01:02:35 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/04/reviews/diablo-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finished this game on Thursday, January 3, 2008, 9:30:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 12, 2008.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDiablo is a simple RPG made by Blizzard, in 1996. The premise of the game is very simple, explore the depths of the church and kill all the monsters. Yet, the game manages to be very complex and satisfying, because the number of ways the levels can be finished are numerous.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Diablo (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:28:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 6, 2008.\nSplinter Cell is a stealth based game in which the player assumes the role of Sam Fisher.\nSam Fisher is an operative of Third Echelon, which is a part of the NSA consisting of an elite team of strategists, hackers, and field operatives who gather intelligence from various sources to anticipate crisis and act swiftly.\nWhen diplomatic relations need to be maintained, espionage operations are carried out by deploying a lone field unit by the Third Echelon who is accompanied by a remote team relaying instructions through radio contact. Sam Fisher is the Third Echelon\u0026rsquo;s best agent – A Splinter Cell. They are granted the use of Fifth Freedom – protect United States using any means necessary, and should the agent be captured, the United States government will deny all knowledge of their existence.\nWhen two CIA undercover agents disappear in Georgia, Sam Fisher is sent to investigate the matter and rescue them. Fisher soon uncovers a deeper plot involving a Georgian invasion on United States through nuclear warfare.\nSplinter Cell is played in the 3rd person perspective with an over the shoulder camera when in combat mode but the emphasis on stealth.\nThe game manages to stay interesting because the levels are varied and in some levels the player is allowed the freedom to use force and other less subtle means of approach. Yet the game difference from other action games because the player has to be careful about the ammo, which is sometimes limited.\nThankfully, Fisher has the ability to sneak behind enemies and deliver a blow that will cause the enemy to lose consciousness, this comes in handy when ammo low. But I never encountered a situation where I ran out of ammo even when I used my weapons to take out enemies most of the time; getting headshots will ensure that you get maximum return for your ammo spent.\nweapons are good although somewhat lacking in variety, but the gadgets are very interesting. You are given a SC-20K M.A.W.S. (Modular Assault Weapon System) and a SC Pistol attached with a silencer and an assortment of tools such as lock picks, optical cable, camera jammer etc, along with the trademark goggles which has thermal and night vision modes.\nI felt that the pistol could have been more accurate and the sniper mode in the SC-20K could have benefitted with less amount of head bob, that is just a minor observation though.\nPC gamers gain the advantage of having a quick save feature, which comes in as a blessing. I would have detested the use of checkpoint system in a game such as this.\nThe graphics are very impressive. The lighting effects are superb and the use of shadows is excellent throughout, in fact, it is very essential to use them to your advantage. You are given a visibility meter, and if properly concealed in darkness, the character is as good as invisible.\nSound effects are superb with good voice clarity. Footsteps can be heard very distinctly and this helps to alert the player of enemy presence. There is no music during the game on most occasions, but the music in the cutscenes is very good, and so are effects such as splintering of glass, computer keystrokes and so on.\nOne of my main complaints about the game is the linearity. You proceed in the exact same path that the developer intended you to, and perhaps that makes this game rank below Dues Ex and such because there is no replay value.\nOverall, Splinter Cell is a great experience, which does not follow the usual route of other action games, but tries to be a little more realistic.\n+ Graphics\n+ Sound effects\n+ Great use of stealth\n+ Level design\n- Linear\n- No replay value\n- Weapons lack variety\nVerdict – Sam Fisher is the PC version of Solid Snake. Excellent game.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 07:22:14 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/04/reviews/splintercell-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:28:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on April 6, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSplinter Cell is a stealth based game in which the player assumes the role of Sam Fisher.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSam Fisher is an operative of Third Echelon, which is a part of the NSA consisting of an elite team of strategists, hackers, and field operatives who gather intelligence from various sources to anticipate crisis and act swiftly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, March 25, 2004, 1:25:00 PM and the first version of this review was published on Monday, March 31, 2008.\nChronicles is the fifth game in the Tomb Raider series. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, which ended on an interesting note, gave rise to a lot of speculation about the next game. Tomb Raider Chronicles promised a lot, but I am afraid that it did not deliver.\nThe game had a lot of potential, but instead of carrying the story forward, it dwells on the past exploits of Lara Croft, previously untold adventures discussed by a group of friends who mourn her believed loss. I felt quite disappointed to know that the game does not shed any light on the future.\nThe graphics are almost identical to the last installment, with a few improved textures and bump mapping effects thrown in. The game supports higher resolutions, but those who have played Last Revelation will have weary feeling of déjà vu, because the improvements are not very perceptible.\nThe sound is as good as ever, whether or not there are any actual improvements is hard to say, it remains solid throughout the game. Unlike in Tomb Raider III, this time it is possible to follow the dialogue without any difficulty.\nGameplay wise, apart from a new weapon and the ability to walk on a tight rope, not much has changed. I was willing to tolerate more of Last Revelation type of gameplay but the levels do not capture my interest. Although the starting levels were quite good, and I enjoyed them, the rest of the game does not offer a lot, because you find yourself in many urban settings.\nThere is an entire episode dedicated to young Lara Croft, where you play without any weapons, and evasion is your only course of defense. Yet again, this is not something new, we have seen this in the previous games, and personally, I found these levels quite tedious.\nI did not quite understand this decision by the designers to include such levels in the game. Seeing the lukewarm reaction they got with Tomb Raider III, they should have realized their mistake, especially because Last Revelation has redeemed the series with excellent level design.\nI have to mention some technical flaws as well. The game has a few bugs in the final levels, and if they are activated, it would be impossible to finish the game, and sometimes the player may not even know that the bug was activated. I know I had to face that problem.\nIn spite of these faults, Chronicles is not such a bad experience. I did enjoy some parts of the game, and to its credit, it is not very frustrating. It is the shortest of all the Tomb Raider games so far, and that works in its favor.\nCoupled with a level editor for the PC, this game has some good value for money. Tomb Raider fans like me would enjoy it. By itself, it is not such a bad game, but it just does not have a lot to offer and being the fifth game in the series, that is a bit of an offense.\n+ Decent graphics\n+ Good quality sound \u0026amp; voice acting\n+ Level editor gives good value for money\n- Poor level design\n- Technical faults\n- Not enough innovation\nVerdict - Fans of the series might want to play this; others need not bother.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/tombraiderchronicles-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, March 25, 2004, 1:25:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e and the first version of this review was published on \u003ccode\u003eMonday, March 31, 2008\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChronicles is the fifth game in the Tomb Raider series. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, which ended on an interesting note, gave rise to a lot of speculation about the next game. Tomb Raider Chronicles promised a lot, but I am afraid that it did not deliver.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider Chronicles (PC) Review"},{"content":"There\u0026rsquo;s a rather glaring error in the installation of the Zune theme that causes such things as Windows Explorer\u0026rsquo;s Places Bar (i.e., the left side of the window with common tasks, when the Explorer Bar is closed), as well as Control Panel\u0026rsquo;s Places Bar and Category View (i.e., the left and right sides of the window), to have only white backgrounds, rather than correctly displaying the theme\u0026rsquo;s dark gray, light gray, and orange colors.\nThese are among other anomalies found elsewhere. Unless the sub-directories are correctly placed, which the installer doesn\u0026rsquo;t do, you will only get part of the theme. (As in the Aero theme in Vista, even though only one color scheme is defined, the Theme Management Service still needs its sub-directories, and its resources, in the right places).\nTo correct this, on your desktop, create a new folder called Shell, and, within this new Shell folder, create another new folder called NormalColor. Go to:\nC:\\WINDOWS\\Resources\\Themes\\Zune and drag the new Shell folder into the Zune folder. Then Cut shellstyle.dll in the Zune folder, and Paste it into the NormalColor folder, so that you end up with:\nC:\\WINDOWS\\Resources\\Themes\\Zune\\Shell\\NormalColor\\shellstyle.dll\nand NOT\nC:\\WINDOWS\\Resources\\Themes\\Zune\\shellstyle.dll\nTo re-apply the theme, you can double click on\nC:\\WINDOWS\\Resources\\Themes\\Zune\\zune.msstyles.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/2008-03-14-microsoftzune/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere\u0026rsquo;s a rather glaring error in the installation of the Zune theme that causes such things as Windows Explorer\u0026rsquo;s Places Bar (i.e., the left side of the window with common tasks, when the Explorer Bar is closed), as well as Control Panel\u0026rsquo;s Places Bar and Category View (i.e., the left and right sides of the window), to have only white backgrounds, rather than correctly displaying the theme\u0026rsquo;s dark gray, light gray, and orange colors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rectify problems with Microsoft Zune Theme"},{"content":"I finished this game on Saturday, May 1, 2004, 7:30:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2008.\nHitler has captured most of Europe, and has turned his attention towards Britain. As a last resort to foil the Nazi efforts, the Prime Minister authorized the deployment of a squad of elite soldiers, the Commandos.\nCommandos is a unique strategy game, the first of its kind to gain recognition. Unlike most strategy games, the concept of gathering resources does not exist here, the resources given are very limited, and just enough to complete the mission, the focus is entirely on tactical gameplay.\nThe game involves controlling your Commandos in enemy territory to achieve the required goal. All missions require the use of stealth to a degree – some more than the others.\nPerhaps the most deterring aspect is how unforgiving the game is at times. Caution is extremely important, and the progress is slow, often involving a number of attempts to complete the objective. Usually mistakes would mean the end of the game; reloading is the only option. This is definitely not a game for casual gamers.\nYet, the game is very rewarding. It is very satisfying to watch the mission progress according to the plan, and frequently there will be some fireworks at the end of the assignment – by destroying a dam, or blowing up a mansion and so on. Not all missions involve destruction; there are a few rescue missions to break the routine.\nYou have a total of 6 Commandos.\nTiny (The Green Beret) – The strongest of all the commandos; excellent at melee combat.\nDuke (The Sniper) – Expert shooter, and uses the sniper rifle, with limited ammo of course.\nFins (The Marine) – can dive underwater in aquatic missions and carries an inflatable boat.\nInferno (The Sapper) – demolitions expert, can rig up explosives to cause widespread destruction.\nTread (The Driver) – expert at handling vehicles and provides transport for escape of other commandos.\nSpooky (The Spy) – can infiltrate enemy camps using soldiers\u0026rsquo; uniforms and has the ability to distract other soldiers allowing the other commandos to carry their work unsighted.\nSucceeding in a mission involves collectively using the abilities of the commandos assigned for a particular mission. Some missions are straightforward and others are quite difficult involving a lot of planning and patience.\nThe game will run on basic computer hardware. It uses 2D graphics to render the visuals. The background contains some detailed textures and the sprite animation is quite good. The audio is quite well done. Sound effects in the environment, vehicle noise and the voice acting are top quality.\nIn spite of the difficulty, the game is very innovative, and the focus is more on the gameplay than the visuals.\n+ Excellent level design\n+ Very rewarding experience\n+ Low hardware requirements\n- Difficult for beginners\nVerdict - Excellent.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:26:46 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/commandosbehindenemylines_review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSaturday, May 1, 2004, 7:30:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHitler has captured most of Europe, and has turned his attention towards Britain. As a last resort to foil the Nazi efforts, the Prime Minister authorized the deployment of a squad of elite soldiers, the Commandos.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCommandos is a unique strategy game, the first of its kind to gain recognition. Unlike most strategy games, the concept of gathering resources does not exist here, the resources given are very limited, and just enough to complete the mission, the focus is entirely on tactical gameplay.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 12:29:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2008.\nTomb Raider 3 was a bit of a disappointment for a lot of fans; it strayed away from the classic gameplay of the original. The series needed to be redeemed after the wayward sequel.\nThe Last Revelation goes back to the roots in a lot of ways. The series needed to be reinvented and this game does a very good job at it.\nLast Revelation explores the childhood of Lara Croft by providing an insight into her early life. You get to play as the teenage version of Lara croft for the first time in the series. The game starts with young Lara Croft, on an expedition with Warner Von Croy, in Cambodia, in search of an artifact known as the Iris. Lara barely escapes with her life from the ordeal that ensues.\nMoving to the present day, Lara is in Egypt in search of the Amulet of Horus. She finds the artifact in the burial chambers embedded on the sarcophagus. Upon removing it, she unknowingly releases the curse of Seth upon the world. Now, it is up to you to set things right by imprisoning Seth in the Temple of Horus.\nThe emphasis in this game is on exploration unlike in Tomb Raider II \u0026amp; III. The puzzles are innovative, and require some thinking to solve. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t frustrated with this game, although the difficulty can sometimes be quite high. I think that\u0026rsquo;s one of the reasons I like this game so much. I love the way puzzles have evolved.\nWe see a whole new inventory system this time. No more use of the passport, and it works better too. It allows players to combine objects and weapons, which is crucial in solving puzzles.\nYou get your share of vehicles as well. The jeep which is available in the early part of the game and the motorcycle which is available a little later handle well, and provide some exciting moments.\nApart from the first two levels, the locations are all set in Egypt. Lara will not be travelling the world in search of objects. The gameplay is more focused on one location, which is not your usual Tomb Raider material. I thought the developers did a fantastic job creating the Egyptian environments.\nContrary to the perception that all locations might look alike, they are surprisingly varied and very beautiful, which leads us to graphics.\nThe engine is not new, but it is heavily tweaked. The textures are much better and the Lara Croft model looks more consistent because of single skin texturing; unlike in the previous games where it looked as if the model was a combination of different body parts tailored together. I was pleased with the result; I didn\u0026rsquo;t care if the engine was not new. Besides it was 1999, graphics were not what they are now.\nThere are some technical faults to be mentioned though. The game contains some bugs in the later parts of the game, so it\u0026rsquo;s not technically polished. I believe patches are released to prevent this bug, so applying those will save some trouble.\nThe gameplay involves traveling back and forth between levels and sometimes that can be quite disorienting, because you tend to lose sight of your goal at times. That was a minor gripe I had with the game.\nAll in all, I am thoroughly pleased with Last Revelation. Given the thrilling ending, this is a true sequel to the original Tomb Raider.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:55:56 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/tombraiderthelastrevelation-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, May 29, 2001, 12:29:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomb Raider 3 was a bit of a disappointment for a lot of fans; it strayed away from the classic gameplay of the original. The series needed to be redeemed after the wayward sequel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Last Revelation goes back to the roots in a lot of ways. The series needed to be reinvented and this game does a very good job at it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PC) Review"},{"content":"This is the review of the original PC version of the game, first published on March 8, 2008 on GameSpot.\nVice City is the next episode to GTA III. It is not exactly a sequel, more like a prelude to GTA III.\nYou play as Tommy Vercetti, a thug working for a mafia boss. When a drug deal turns into a bloodbath, you go to Vice City to settle some scores and earn back the money. Your stay in Vice City becomes longer than planned and it will eventually become your new home.\nFirst, let us talk about the good parts of the game.\nI loved the way the story progressed. You come to the city with no money, and start running errands for the local gangs; soon you climb up the ladder, start acquiring properties, and become rich enough to run the city.\nVice City is a sprawling metropolis. It contains two islands connected by bridges and some islets as well. What this means is that, you will spend a lot of time exploring the city which makes the game quite long, and very enjoyable for most part.\nThe missions are non-linear, you do not have to follow the main mission; you could just pick one of the many side quests, and get to the main mission at your own pace. Completing certain main missions is necessary to unlock parts of the city, more side missions or to buy properties etc, and also to earn the much needed money – you can\u0026rsquo;t hope to earn all the money needed driving a taxi or delivering pizza.\nSome of the vehicles seen in GTA III are seen again, like Cheetah and Patriot, but the most significant introduction is the bikes. I spent a lot of time driving through the city on the bike, squeezing between cars at break neck speed!\nMost of the vehicles handle very well, some better than others of course, and soon you will have your own favorites. You also get to fly a helicopter and a plane during the game, so there is no shortage of variety in Vice City!\nThe graphics in the game have received a lot of makeover. Even though the game runs the same engine as GTA III, it looks a lot better. The draw distance has improved, and this is particularly noticeable when flying.\nSound is very good, with excellent voice acting from Hollywood celebrities. I also loved listening to the radio while I was driving. I can recollect driving through the city just to listen to the radio station, some of them are hilarious, especially KCHAT and VCPR.\nGiven the excellent features of the game, I have some mixed feelings. The game is brilliant. There is no doubt about that, I would not spend 46 hours playing it, if it was not good, but the game has certain inexplicable flaws.\nTo being with, getting to a mission involves driving to a certain place, picking up a certain person etc. Sadly, it is not possible to save the game during a mission, or even at the start of a mission. One slight mistake is enough to fail in the mission, which most of the times means you will have to restart from a previous save point, and go through the whole process of driving to the place, going through the cut scene and what not. To add to the frustrating, you die for stupid reasons such as falling into a puddle.\nControlling the flying vehicles, especially the RC (Remote Control) Helicopter is extremely tough. You are a given a mission where you need to pick up and drop bombs in certain places using the RC Helicopter within a time limit, and there are people shooting at it.\nSimilarly, you need to control an RC Plane while it is being shot at, and its fuel is running low. I just could not get this to work on my keyboard, and I had to resort to my controller, which defeats the whole purpose of playing on the PC.\nI cannot imagine why these defects even exist. What is the point of not having autosave during missions like on consoles? Why were the controls for flying vehicles not tweaked for the PC\nI tried hard to love this game, and give it a 9.5, but bearing these faults in mind, the PC version is just not that good. Mind you, the game is still worth playing, but I am severely disappointed with some of the gameplay elements.\nIf only the developers were not so dim-witted, this would have been a classic, it probably is for many people; just not for me.\n+ Open ended gameplay\n+ Great level design\n+ Bikes!\n+ Good story \u0026amp; voice acting\n- Terrible save system\n- Mediocre graphics\n- Some vehicles handle very badly\n- Frustrating gameplay design\nVerdict - Very good, but it could have been a lot better.\nThis post is published on Apr 18, 2026 Saturday 10:48:00 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/gtavicecity-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the review of the original PC version of the game, first published on March 8, 2008 on GameSpot.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVice City is the next episode to GTA III. It is not exactly a sequel, more like a prelude to GTA III.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou play as Tommy Vercetti, a thug working for a mafia boss. When a drug deal turns into a bloodbath, you go to Vice City to settle some scores and earn back the money. Your stay in Vice City becomes longer than planned and it will eventually become your new home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":" Grand Theft Auto Vice City (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, November 30, 2006, 10:11:00 AM. A slightly modified version of this review was first published on March 5, 2008 on GameSpot.\nJedi Outcast is a sequel to Dark Forces II. You re-assume the role of Kyle Katarn, the mercenary working for the New Republic.\nKyle Katarn and Jan Ors go on a mission to investigate an abandoned Imperial outpost on Kejim, but it turns out that the outpost is not abandoned, and they discover an operation involving lightsaber crystals. Two dark Jedi known as Desann and Tavion are behind the operation. The story then starts to unfold and will eventually lead to Kyle travelling to the Valley of the Jedi to regain his force powers to defeat the dark Jedi.\nRaven, who developed the popular shooter Soldier of Fortune, have been given the task of creating this game, and they did a great job.\nThe game is divided into two parts. In the first part, Kyle Katarn is a mercenary, who has relinquished his force powers, and therefore uses projectile weapons to attack enemies and it is played in the first person mode. The second part begins when Kyle returns to the Valley of the Jedi to regain his force powers to fight the dark Jedi and gets his lightsaber; from then on, the game is played in third person mode whenever the lightsaber is used.\nAlthough the focus of the game is on the lightsaber combat and the use of the Force powers, both parts of the game were equally good.\nOnce you attain the Force powers, you have the ability to control the minds of some of the weaker enemies, the force pull and push, force grip, force lightening, force jump and the ability to slow time. As you keep going further into the game, the strength of your force powers increases as well, and you will eventually turn into a master Jedi who can kill a number of storm troopers in swift motion using the force pull or the push.\nI thought the Force powers work brilliantly. It was a lot of fun to use the powers against a group of storm troopers who do not stand a semblance of chance against you. The lightsaber can deflect blaster fire, just like in the movies.\nHowever, it is not going to be easy against some of the tougher enemies who use the Force as well. It takes some doing to defeat those enemies, and you will discover that even as a Jedi, you are not invincible warrior; so there is a lot of balance in the combat.\nThe game is not all about using guns, lightsaber, or the Force powers. There are plenty of puzzles to solve as well, sometimes they can be quite difficult, and that provides a bit of a break from the combat. Some may like it and others may not. I have played many puzzle-based games over the years and I did not have any problem with that. It was a welcome change for me.\nThe atmosphere is beautiful and you will have a definite sense of déjà vu if you have seen the movies. The game uses a heavily modified Quake 3 engine with double polygon count, and it shows. It looks fantastic. All the cities, jungles, Jedi temples etc. are very well created and retain the feel of Star Wars.\nYou cannot mention a Star Wars game without taking about the audio. I thought the audio in this game was top notch. The soundtrack from the movies is used throughout and the voice acting is excellent. The sound along with the visuals capture the Star Wars universe and the fans are going to love it.\nIf some of the flaws of the game have to mentioned, it must the complete linear gameplay. You do not have the ability to choose the powers that you want to upgrade or the path you intend to follow. The game does this for you. This in a way hinders your experience a little bit. Although this game has the makings of a very good RPG, those elements are not carried out.\nBoss battles are quite tough; your foes are too powerful and the force powers are not as effective. Sometimes it comes down to button mashing in lightsaber battles. This could have been done better because there is a lot of luck involved at times.\nIn spite of that little shortcoming, this remains one of the best games I have ever played.\n+ Graphics\n+ Soundtrack\n+ Force powers are a lot of fun\n+ Variety of weapons\n+ Excellent level design\n+ Special appearance by Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian.\n- Lacks RPG elements\n- Linear gameplay\n- Boss encounters\nVerdict - Excellent\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 01:16:44 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/swjediknight2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, November 30, 2006, 10:11:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. A slightly modified version of this review was first published on March 5, 2008 on GameSpot.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJedi Outcast is a sequel to Dark Forces II. You re-assume the role of Kyle Katarn, the mercenary working for the New Republic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKyle Katarn and Jan Ors go on a mission to investigate an abandoned Imperial outpost on Kejim, but it turns out that the outpost is not abandoned, and they discover an operation involving lightsaber crystals. Two dark Jedi known as Desann and Tavion are behind the operation. The story then starts to unfold and will eventually lead to Kyle travelling to the Valley of the Jedi to regain his force powers to defeat the dark Jedi.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Wednesday, August 9, 2006, 4:07:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 3, 2008.\nThe game is based on the 1991 Gulf war. Through most part of the game, you control 4 characters that have to infiltrate enemy camps, destroy missiles, warheads, and rescue POWs etc.\nThe game spans 15 missions\u0026hellip;fairly decent gameplay time, any more than that, I would have quit playing. After the 10th mission, I had just about enough of this game, but I don\u0026rsquo;t usually leave games this easy unfinished.\nLet me highlight something good about this game before I go on to the many bad aspects.\nThe graphics are decent…nothing special, but they are not too bad either, and the game has some huge environments, all of it is desert landscape, with varying degrees of visibility and time. Oh yes, there are night and day missions too. In one of the missions, the day turns to into night, and that was a bit of a surprise for me, because I wasn\u0026rsquo;t expecting anything slightly creative, and then there are desert storms, which are quite well done. In this case, the visibility is very restricted.\nAfter a couple of missions, once the control system gets familiar, playing the game isn\u0026rsquo;t as tedious as it is in the beginning.\nThe enemy AI is nothing special, but the enemies have an incredible gift of sight it seems. Even during night missions, they never seem to miss spotting your soldiers in spite of being miles away. Also, in every mission there are a huge number of soldiers, so their stupidity doesn\u0026rsquo;t really matter much because they are going to keep you really once that alarm is raised.\nThe same can be said about your teammates I suppose… they are equally up to the task when it comes to clearing crowds of enemy soldiers. But sometimes they act really insane, like walking into the enemy\u0026rsquo;s line of fire, wasting away rockets ad such. So you have to constantly watch over your teammates, watch the kind of weapon they equip themselves once they run out of ammunition for a certain kind of weapon.\nFor example, one of the soldiers was carrying two fully automatic machine guns, and a pistol. While fighting a bunch of enemy soldiers closing in, this guy ran out of ammunition and equipped himself with a pistol instead of another automatic machine gun, just because the pistol happens to be the next item in the inventory. And this cost me the mission and I had to reply from the previous save point all over again.\nNow the most irritating part of the game is the controls. Even to do simple things like using a medi-pack, or changing a weapon, you have to go through elaborate procedure of scrolling the inventory by holding the shift key. If you are in a battle situation, either you will get killed or suffer a significant loss of health.\nAlso the movement is terrible. When they are confronted with a wall, the character cannot turn right or left, you have to move back and then turn, so if you are running from enemy fire, and happen to run into a wall, consider yourself dead. Also they move quiet slow…\nFinally, the game could have been better, but the control issues and movement have spoilt the experience for me. I know some people don\u0026rsquo;t find this a problem, but I have played a lot of 3rd person games, and after having played them, this game just didn\u0026rsquo;t cut it for me.\nDisappointed.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 10:35:58 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/03/reviews/conflictdesertstorm-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eWednesday, August 9, 2006, 4:07:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 3, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game is based on the 1991 Gulf war. Through most part of the game, you control 4 characters that have to infiltrate enemy camps, destroy missiles, warheads, and rescue POWs etc.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game spans 15 missions\u0026hellip;fairly decent gameplay time, any more than that, I would have quit playing. After the 10th mission, I had just about enough of this game, but I don\u0026rsquo;t usually leave games this easy unfinished.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Conflict: Desert Storm (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 2:35:00 PM. This review was first published on February 17, 2008.\nIn the year 2000, gamers were treated to an amazing 60\u0026rsquo;s style movie like game called The Operative: No One Lives Forever. I had the good fortune of playing the demo when it first came out, and very soon, I went on to play the full version and enjoyed it immensely.\nNow, after 5 years of its release I finally started playing No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M\u0026rsquo;s way.\nI am delighted that the game picks up right where NOLF 1 left us. The game retains the 60\u0026rsquo;s style setting of the first game. If you enjoyed NOLF 1, you are going to enjoy NOLF 2.\nThe graphics in this game are top notch. For its time, the game required a high end computer to make it run at high settings, but most of the current computes can handle the game without any problems. I played the game at high settings and never had any frame rate issues. But of course, my computer is way over the requirements, but I suspect even medium range modern computers will run the game without any problems.\nThe Jupiter engine does a great job with the outdoor environments and character models. The textures are sharp and there are some great particle effects on display.\nThe music in the entire game is has a 60\u0026rsquo;s groovy psychedelic pop theme, with a few remixes thrown in depending up on the location. All in all, the music complements the location of the, unlike some games, where the music and setting do not match; none of that here.\nVoice acting deserves a special mention. Although the accents may not be authentic, they manage to be very entertaining.\nThe game has some very basic RPG elements. There are different attributes that can be upgraded over time within the game. Skill points can be collected by finding hidden packages, intelligence items, messages etc. Once enough skill points are collected, they can be spent for upgrading various skills, such as targeting ability, searching ability, gadgets, etc.\nUpgrading one or the other will not make a huge impact, because the game is linear, but it can make certain parts a little easier.\nOne of the aspects that made the first game so popular was the humor; I am delighted to say that this game has managed to retain all the humor, and if you actually spend time reading through the letters, messages, memos, or hearing conversations, you will find yourself having a good laugh.\nThere is one thing about the game I didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy as much, minor as it maybe, it is worth mentioning. In certain parts of the game, enemies tend to spawn infinitely; there is just no end to it. I thought for a game that sets very high standards, this is a bit of a blemish on a clean slate. This shouldn\u0026rsquo;t stop anyone from playing the game though.\nIn conclusion, No One Lives Forever 2 is a fun experience, and I enjoyed it all the way through.Give it a chance. I think you will enjoy the exploits of Cate Archer just as much as I did :)\n+ Graphics\n+ Humor\n+ Basic RPG elements\n+ Voice acting\n- Infinite enemy spawning at times\nVerdict - Excellent!\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 11:47:22 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/02/reviews/nolf2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, November 27, 2007, 2:35:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on February 17, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the year 2000, gamers were treated to an amazing 60\u0026rsquo;s style movie like game called The Operative: No One Lives Forever. I had the good fortune of playing the demo when it first came out, and very soon, I went on to play the full version and enjoyed it immensely.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.s Way (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Saturday, September 13, 2003, 1:54:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on January 27, 2008.\nMuch has changed in gaming since the early 90\u0026rsquo;s, and old school gamers would have been delighted to know that a sequel to one of the most famous games during its time, Wolfenstein 3D, is going to be released in the new millennium. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a successor to Wolfenstein 3D that was released over a decade ago; Wolfenstein has come of age and is keeping up with the times.\nThe game is set in 1943 Germany, the player returns as U.S. Army Ranger B.J. Blazkowicz, who is captured and is being held in the dungeons of Castle Wolfenstein. Upon escaping the castle, a plot is unveiled involving Nazi experiments into cybernetics and the occult to gain supremacy over the Allied forces.\nThe game uses Quake 3 engine to render the beautiful graphics seen throughout. Nvidia users will be treated with improved textures that will make a lot of difference. The snowing mountain ranges of Germany are wonderfully recreated. The cobblestone paved roadways and bridges, and castle interiors are a work of art.\nThe catacombs are very reminiscent of levels in Quake 3, they have an eerie atmosphere and while the game is not meant to be scary, they do manage to make you feel a little uneasy.\nThe combat is very engaging and the cable car part in the game seems to have been taken right out of Where Eagles Dare. Very well done.\nThe AI in the game is very competent, and you will be dealing with a lot of different types of enemies, living and the undead. They do not rush at you squeezing rounds or waving their arms about; instead they take cover, throw grenades, making your progress harder. The perception of the AI has also been considered. They can hear footsteps or any noise that the player might make. So if you fire a shot in room, expect the soldiers in the other room to hear it and attack you. While the AI is not the greatest, it will still provide a challenge.\nThe weapons models belong to the World War II era, you get to use the Luger, Thompson, Sten gun, the German Panzerfäuste, chain gun and something called a Tesla cannon. This is a heavy weapon that sends rays of electric current in all directions. It\u0026rsquo;s not the most effective weapon but it\u0026rsquo;s quite fun to use at times.\nSpeaking of fun to use weapons, the flamethrower has got to be one of the best weapons I ever used. The flame effects are still regarded one of the finest in gaming. I remember people being mesmerized when they first got to see the screenshots of the flamethrower, and personally, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait to get my hands on it in the game.\nThe sounds of the weapons are very realistic, and the music adds a lot to the experience. The soundtrack in this game isn\u0026rsquo;t talked about a lot, surprisingly. I thought it was really good.\nReturn to Castle Wolfenstein is an excellent game that will offer a little over 10 hours of very engrossing gameplay. I am thoroughly satisfied with this game. It does not break any boundaries, but provides a solid experience.\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/01/reviews/rtcw-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSaturday, September 13, 2003, 1:54:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on January 27, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuch has changed in gaming since the early 90\u0026rsquo;s, and old school gamers would have been delighted to know that a sequel to one of the most famous games during its time, Wolfenstein 3D, is going to be released in the new millennium. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a successor to Wolfenstein 3D that was released over a decade ago; Wolfenstein has come of age and is keeping up with the times.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Friday, December 21, 2007, 4:26:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2007.\nValve has decided to be generous to gamers by introducing episodic content in Half-Life 2 series. Instead of making everyone wait till the next big Half-Life game to find the outcome of the ending of Half-Life 2, they released Half-Life 2: Episode One.\nEpisode One begins exactly where Half-Life 2 left us. Without giving too much away, Episode One answers most of the questions posed in Half-Life 2, but the story telling is still very surreptitious, because there is still a lot left unanswered and we can only hope that future episodes will shed more light on the matter.\nThe game is much more polished and I never noticed any bugs within the game, which is excellent because Half-Life 2 had its little share of bugs. It\u0026rsquo;s a fairly short journey this time around, but there is not a moment\u0026rsquo;s rest throughout. Thankfully Alyx is there for support for most part, and trust me, you are going to need it.\nVisually, the game looks a lot better than Half-Life 2. If you have a video card that can support HDR, the lighting throughout the game is enhanced and it looks amazing, especially in the outdoor areas. The textures have received some treatment as well, because you will notice that models in the game look a lot more realistic, especially Alyx.\nThe environments are very familiar because they are seen in Half-Life 2 as well. But with improved graphics and lighting effects, they look a lot better than the previous game.\nI am going to keep this review short, because if you have played Half-Life 2 and enjoyed it, then you should play Episode One. The game is now a part of the Orange Box bundle, so price shouldn\u0026rsquo;t really be an issue.\nThere, now you have no excuse for not playing this beautiful game.\nStop reading and start playing!\nBe warned though, it will be over in a hurry, but you have Episode 2 as well, so you will not be left disappointed.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:42:17 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/01/reviews/halflife2episodeone-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eFriday, December 21, 2007, 4:26:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eValve has decided to be generous to gamers by introducing episodic content in Half-Life 2 series. Instead of making everyone wait till the next big Half-Life game to find the outcome of the ending of Half-Life 2, they released Half-Life 2: Episode One.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEpisode One begins exactly where Half-Life 2 left us. Without giving too much away, Episode One answers most of the questions posed in Half-Life 2, but the story telling is still very surreptitious, because there is still a lot left unanswered and we can only hope that future episodes will shed more light on the matter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Saturday, July 22, 2006, 5:41:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on January 06, 2008.\nAnyone can review a Half Life game. Nothing special about that.\nBut it takes a special kind of a writer to write something about a game like Terminator 3: War of the Machines.\n.\n.\n.\nOk, so at this point, I spent 10 minutes thinking about what I should write and all I can think of is – nonsense! Rubbish! Garbage! What the…!\nWell, I guess I am not so special after all. Don\u0026rsquo;t play this game. You might give this game as a gift to someone you hate, but apart from that I can\u0026rsquo;t think of any good reason for you to buy or even pirate this game.\nBut since I have to write some facts about the game, here goes: it tries to be Battlefield, but it isn\u0026rsquo;t.\nLeave this one alone.\nRemember, I played it, so you don\u0026rsquo;t have to.\nThis post is published on Apr 11, 2026 Saturday 12:08:16 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/01/reviews/terminatorwarofmachines-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSaturday, July 22, 2006, 5:41:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on January 06, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyone can review a Half Life game. Nothing special about that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it takes a special kind of a writer to write something about a game like Terminator 3: War of the Machines.\u003cbr\u003e\n.\u003cbr\u003e\n.\u003cbr\u003e\n.\u003cbr\u003e\nOk, so at this point, I spent 10 minutes thinking about what I should write and all I can think of is – nonsense! Rubbish! Garbage! What the…!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Terminator 3: War of the Machines (PC) Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, 6:37:00 PM. This review was published on GameSpot on January 5, 2008.\nCan a game ever be perfect?\nEvery time we try and answer that question about a game honestly, we usually come up with some feature that we are not too pleased about, something that doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite fit in, something that isn\u0026rsquo;t as good as the rest. This is typically the case with most games. No matter how much we like it, personal opinions apart, there are always some flaws, some are glaring while some are very minor, but they exist.\nHowever, some games give you a very hard time to find something wrong with it. You have to be extremely judgmental and fastidious to pick these barely discernible imperfections. The point I am trying to make very indirectly is that once in a while a game is made that pushes almost all existing boundaries and goes that much closer towards perfection.\nHalf Life 2 I will not waste a lot of time with this review – if you have been living under a rock for the last 9 years or so and don\u0026rsquo;t know what Half Life is and you just happened to come out from underground then you should immediately buy this game and play it. But since I have a job to do, I will tell you why you should take my word.\nNow, I am not endorsing this product, in fact I am not even a fan of this genre until very recently, which explains why I have started playing the game 3 years after its release – you see, I\u0026rsquo;ve been living under a small rock of my own as well. Umm…ok, now that we are done with this living under a rock business, let\u0026rsquo;s move on.\nI set out to write a lengthy review on this game, but frankly, no review is good enough to explain what Half Life 2 is all about, because for one thing, we are talking about gameplay experience here. It has to be played to fully realize what sets this game apart from all the other FPS games. I could go on and describe the unbelievable physics, very adaptable graphics, fantastic level design and whatnot, but you should play it and see for yourself.\nWhat Valve has done is that they created a whole world in the game that is very interactive. Very often you will have puzzles that involve dealing with the environment. For this to be possible, every part of the environment must have its unique properties, so what looks like wood, actually behaves like wood, it will break into splinters and float in water just like actual wood. The same goes for all the objects that are found in the game. This might seem insignificant when you read it, but when you play it, that\u0026rsquo;s when you see the difference.\nHowever, there are a few faults that are worth mentioning. The game has certain bugs like the popular elevator bug and some video and sound glitches, these can be quite annoying. However, there are fixes to be found on the internet and it comes down to a matter of applying a patch or two.\nThat said I couldn\u0026rsquo;t find any other problems with the game. The only problem is a technical issue; I have no complaints at all with the gameplay elements. It is a fantastic journey that you will embark on, the moment you set your foot outside the train and into the subjugated City 17.\nThis game has to go down in history as one of the best games ever.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:34:34 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/01/reviews/half-life2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, October 30, 2007, 6:37:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was published on GameSpot on January 5, 2008.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCan a game ever be perfect?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery time we try and answer that question about a game honestly, we usually come up with some feature that we are not too pleased about, something that doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite fit in, something that isn\u0026rsquo;t as good as the rest. This is typically the case with most games. No matter how much we like it, personal opinions apart, there are always some flaws, some are glaring while some are very minor, but they exist.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Half-Life 2 (PC) Review"},{"content":"Happy New Year everyone, I hope 2008 will be great for all of you. I wish you success, good health and happiness.\nI know it\u0026rsquo;s a little late and it\u0026rsquo;s been a while since I wrote, but I have been terribly busy. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t gather my thoughts clearly enough to write, I\u0026rsquo;d like to think I\u0026rsquo;ve been missed, although I have a suspicion that no one even noticed it.\nI did manage to play a few games in the meanwhile. I finished a couple of games since my last post - Half Life 2: Episode One and Diablo.\nBefore I go on talk about these games, I want to thank my friend nutcrackr for helping me finish the game because I was quite clueless at times. Thanks a lot man! Your help is appreciated!\nMoving on, Episode One is brilliant. Need I say that? Virtually the entire gaming population feels that way.\nDiablo on the other hand, is a very pleasant surprise. I remember playing this game back in 1998 in a friend\u0026rsquo;s house. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have a computer back then and I didn\u0026rsquo;t care for them; I was busy with real life, playing cricket, reading books, etc.\nSo, I didn\u0026rsquo;t think much about the game back then, and when I got my computer eventually in 2000, I played more contemporary games such as Tomb Raider etc. Recently, I got this game for free with a magazine, and I decided to give it a try. I heard a lot about the game and I have never really played a RPG before, unless you wish you count Deus Ex.\nMuch to my surprise, despite the dated graphics, the game is really immersive. Just goes to show that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t take a lot to make a great game sometimes. What struck me the most was the simplicity; I think people looking to start playing RPGs should first try Diablo.\nThe game is very rewarding and there are a few difficult places, but nothing too complicated.\nThe replay value is amazing. Once you finish the game you can replay it with the same character and finish the quests that weren\u0026rsquo;t available in the previous attempt, or create a new character and play the entire game differently.\nI am working on the reviews of both the games, so fear not; my opinion will be available very shortly :)\nBut if you absolutely must read one of my reviews, read my No One Lives Forever 2 reviews HERE.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s about all for now,\nHave a nice day everyone.\nThis post is published on Apr 26, 2026 Sunday 06:23:56 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2008/01/2008-01-04-belatedhappynewyear/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year everyone, I hope 2008 will be great for all of you. I wish you success, good health and happiness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know it\u0026rsquo;s a little late and it\u0026rsquo;s been a while since I wrote, but I have been terribly busy. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t gather my thoughts clearly enough to write, I\u0026rsquo;d like to think I\u0026rsquo;ve been missed, although I have a suspicion that no one even noticed it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI did manage to play a few games in the meanwhile. I finished a couple of games since my last post - Half Life 2: Episode One and Diablo.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Belated Happy New Year"},{"content":"Hello all,\nIt took longer than I expected for me to be back here. Let me update you all on everything that has happened over the last few weeks.\nExams The gist of the matter is of course my exams. I am happy to announce that I did fairly well, and I should pass with decent marks. I am quite relieved with the way the exam situation went, because it could have been a lot worse. The problem was, I had 5 exams in 5 days, from 9AM-12PM. Some of the subjects I had this semester were quite difficult, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t get to sleep well during the course of the exams. I might have slept for about 2-3 hours each day. My body cycle was disturbed because I had to sleep right after my exam and study through the night. I had slight fever for my last exam, but I wrote the exam better than I thought I would, so I am quite pleased with the outcome.\nCleaning After my exams, I immediately started with the room cleaning process. I was quite determined to get rid of all the junk that accumulated for years. The whole process took me 4 days to complete, during which time my computer was dismantled, so I couldn\u0026rsquo;t get online.\nApart from just cleaning, I also wanted to make my room feel pleasant. So I took off the old curtains, and bought new ones. I love the way my room looks now; I think they match the off white color of the walls very well.\nI also removed some unwanted pieces of furniture, so my room is very spacious and it is now my sanctuary where I can relax without being disturbed. I think I needed a place like this after a hectic time during my exams.\nI will post old and new pictures of my room. I just need to get my hands on a digital camera.\nGames As you all know (or at least I think you do), I have been playing No One Lives Forever 2 for a while now. I managed to finish it yesterday. I loved the game and I recommend it to all PC gamers. I heard that the console version of the game isn\u0026rsquo;t good - yet another example where cross platform ports don\u0026rsquo;t live up to the standards. I am going to work on the review soon, I just need to find a little time for that, I have a lot of correspondence I need to tend to before I can get to review the game.\nAs of now, I started playing Half Life Blue Shift. I was hoping to finish this game in a day or two at the maximum, but I don\u0026rsquo;t think that is possible, I have a very busy day ahead of me, but I think I should be done with it by the weekend if time permits.\nClosing That\u0026rsquo;s about all for now; I am looking forward to getting a camera so I can post pictures. I hope you all have been doing well. See you around!\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/11/01_backinbusiness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello all,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took longer than I expected for me to be back here. Let me update you all on everything that has happened over the last few weeks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch6 id=\"exams\"\u003eExams\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe gist of the matter is of course my exams. I am happy to announce that I did fairly well, and I should pass with decent marks. I am quite relieved with the way the exam situation went, because it could have been a lot worse. The problem was, I had 5 exams in 5 days, from 9AM-12PM. Some of the subjects I had this semester were quite difficult, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t get to sleep well during the course of the exams. I might have slept for about 2-3 hours each day. My body cycle was disturbed because I had to sleep right after my exam and study through the night. I had slight fever for my last exam, but I wrote the exam better than I thought I would, so I am quite pleased with the outcome.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back In Business"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, May 2, 2002, 12:08:00 PM. This review was published on GameSpot on November 4, 2007.\nModern day gamers are very jaded. They are desensitized and it takes a lot to surprise them, and for a good reason too; they have seen it all happen in the last few years. Gaming has changed completely from what it was in the early 90s.\nGamers are very demanding; it’s almost impossible for a game to be unanimously accepted as a great game. No matter what game we are talking about, there are gamers who seem to find it detestable; even the mighty Half Life 2 wasn’t spared by contemporary gamers. It got ratings all the way from 3-10 on GameSpot.\nBut there was one game that comes to my mind which was spared all this negative criticism and was accepted as one of the greatest games ever, and actually went on to receive tremendous commercial success – unlike other innovative games, like Deus Ex and Commandos.\nTomb Raider Back in 1996, Tomb Raider is not what it is right now. In fact, gaming back then is not what it is right now. For better or worse, gaming was a lot…simpler. As a PC gamer, you weren’t forced to upgrade ever so often to keep up with the changes in hardware. All it took back then was a PC with 4MB video RAM and 32MB main memory to get going.\nThe market was filled with shooters like Doom, Quake and Wolfinstein and female lead characters were almost unheard of in mainstream titles. Tomb Raider defied the trend by having Lara Croft as a lead character and went onto become one of the biggest video game franchises ever.\nBut let’s talk about Tomb Raider as a game.\nThe game was released in 1996, when the concept of 3D gaming was still in its nascent stage. Of course, there were the three giants from id software – Doom, Quake and Wolfinstein, but not much else.\nAt a time like this Tomb Raider changed the whole scenario by featuring beautifully created 3D environments. The game is played in the 3rd person’s perspective where the player gets to control Lara Croft - the game’s heroine.\nLara Croft is a renowned archaeologist who at the age of 21 was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Himalayas. Being the only to have survived, she learned to live by herself and endure in harsh living conditions. She soon stumbled into the village of Tokakeriby, an experience which changed her life.\nShe soon left her family and lived on her own in an inherited mansion to pursue her life exploring different parts of the world, and collecting ancient artifacts.\nWhen she is in Calcutta, India, she is approached by Jacqueline Natala, who asks for her help to retrieve an ancient artifact called the scion. The quest for this artifact takes her all over the world including the lost island of Atlantis.\nThe graphics in the game are extremely good. The exotic locations are rendered beautifully, the snow filled caverns of Peru, the pyramids of Egypt, and of course, the incredible Atlantis among others. The most amazing part of some of the levels is the scale at which they are created. The colossal statues and the gigantic monuments are a sight to behold! They offer a panoramic view of the settings when you make your way to their crest.\nLara Croft is also a work of art. Her movements throughout the game are very fluid and the character is very easy to maneuver. The game contains a lot of puzzles that needs some very agile moves, and Lara is quite capable of executing them flawlessly.\nThe puzzles in the game are yet another innovation. They are not entirely basic; it requires some thinking to navigate through various levels. The puzzles are sometimes quite challenging, but somehow they were never frustrating. They manage to be tough without making the player lose interest in the game. This, more than anything is the reason for the success of the game, in my opinion.\nThe game is not without its action elements. Throughout the game, the player will encounter various foes, like wolves, bears, cougars, Tyrannosaurus Rex, raptors and super natural enemies such as mummies, mutants etc. Defeating some of these enemies is not child’s play either! They tend to take a lot of damage and seem to inflict a lot more! Suffice to say, they do not make things any easier and provide a constant challenge.\nThe game is quite long and will keep you engrossed for hours. Any modern day gamer who hasn\u0026rsquo;t played this game because it’s too old, should give up on that idea and play it right away!\nTry as I might, I am not able to think of anything negative about this game. Judging purely based on the fun factor and nothing else, this game receives the perfect score – 10/10!\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/11/reviews/tombraider-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, May 2, 2002, 12:08:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was published on GameSpot on November 4, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eModern day gamers are very jaded. They are desensitized and it takes a lot to surprise them, and for a good reason too; they have seen it all happen in the last few years. Gaming has changed completely from what it was in the early 90s.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGamers are very demanding; it’s almost impossible for a game to be unanimously accepted as a great game. No matter what game we are talking about, there are gamers who seem to find it detestable; even the mighty Half Life 2 wasn’t spared by contemporary gamers. It got ratings all the way from 3-10 on GameSpot.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider Review"},{"content":"Hello all, I understand that I am not supposed to be here, but how many times will there be a first time Crysis demo release? And how many times does a high profile game live up to it\u0026rsquo;s huge expectations? :)\nI throw my pebble in the pile so to speak. So here you go: Crysis - First Look.\nSunday, October 28, 2007 8:52 PM Finished downloading the demo!\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:02 PM Just finished installing the special drivers for the game, and for those of you who don\u0026rsquo;t know, these can be found on the official website http://www.incrysis.com/\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:04 PM Installing the demo. So far so good.\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:17 PM Just started the game\u0026hellip;I waited 31 hours for the download to finish!\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:21 PM Everything in the game is set to low and the resolution was automatically set to 800x600. I decided to change the change the resolution to 1024x768 and see how the game would work. Should I dare to change it to 1280\u0026hellip;?\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:24 PM Awesome into sequence! Somehow reminds me of Quake 4.\nI just did a test run of this game right after the intro sequence. Since the setting is night time, the game was running alright. I wonder how that is going to change once the time of the day changes.\nAs of now, I am waiting for Xfire update to be finished so that I can play this game through Xfire and take some screen shots.\nThe story hasn\u0026rsquo;t changed it appears. There were reports at one time that the story was changed\u0026hellip;but from the looks of things, it may have remained the same. I can\u0026rsquo;t say for sure yet\u0026hellip;but that\u0026rsquo;s the impression I got. There might have subtle changes though\u0026hellip;\nSunday, October 28, 2007 9:38 PM There is no support for this demo on Xfire it seems, so I will have to continue with my game. I\u0026rsquo;ll see if there is a way I can take screen shots within the game, perhaps the function exists.\nSunday, October 28, 2007 11:56 PM Phone calls, dinner and other such real life obligations delayed my work here.\nMoving on to the game, I am very pleased to report that the game seems to be very well optimized to run on computers that just about meet the minimum requirements.\nI was very apprehensive when I started installing the game. I didn\u0026rsquo;t think it would work on my computer with playable frame rate. So I started with low resolution (1024*768 ) and all settings low. The game worked fine.\nNow I decided to push the limits and increased the resolution up to 1280*1024 and increased some of the settings to medium and high. The shadows, shaders were kept at low. To my surprise the game worked fine. I didn\u0026rsquo;t notice a severe drop in frame rate, it does lag every now and then, but after all, I am playing the game on an AGP card with medium-low settings at a high resolution, so I think the performance I am getting is very acceptable.\nOf course, the game still doesn\u0026rsquo;t look as good as it is supposed to, but I am satisfied. Although this game might be extremely demanding when running at higher settings, it is still very good on older machines.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t finished the game as yet, so I think I am going to get to it right now, will update this as soon as I am done playing. I\u0026rsquo;ll see if I can push the settings any higher and see how my video card might take it.\nMonday, October 29, 2007 7:02 AM Will give this game another run now. Will probably finish it and write about the other technical aspects of the game. I should have finished it last night, but there were several interruptions.\nMonday, October 29, 2007 10:48 AM Finished the demo at last! The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. I will not give away the surprise; those of you who haven\u0026rsquo;t played the game yet, must give this demo a try. I spent over 30 hours to download this game and tolerated several annoying interruptions - friends coming in unannounced, untimely phone calls, power failures; all that was worth it!\nThis game is going to be one of the most entertaining games ever!\nGood on you Crytek for a job well done.\nFinal verdict Before I write my closing comments, take a look at my computer configuration:\nManufacturer: INTEL Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs) Memory: 1790MB RAM Hard Drive: 84 GB Total Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS Monitor: LG 17\u0026#34; CRT Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy Speakers/Headphones: Creative SBS 360 5.1 Keyboard: Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard Mouse: Logitech Optical Mouse Surface: Standard surface Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 When I first started the game, it auto detected my configuration and determined that the game delivers optimal performance at 800x600 resolution with all settings low. I changed the settings a great deal - increased the resolution to 1280x1024, set some of the options (physics, sound, game effects, post processing) to high, Object Detail was set to medium and the rest to low without FSAA and AF.\nExcept for situations where a heavy battle took place, the frame rate was very steady. Although the requirements are quite high to run the game at maximum settings, it can still be played on PCs that meet the minimum requirements.\nThe question though is, should it be played on PCs with minimum requirements? I don\u0026rsquo;t think so. This game thoroughly deserves the monster PC it requires. I will wait for an upgrade before I play this game and if you don\u0026rsquo;t have the hardware to play it right now, I strongly suggest exercising patience.\nThere are some very interesting gameplay elements and the most important of all is your new nano suit. This suit gives you the ability to customize your strength, speed, armor, weapons and almost renders you invisible for a limited amount of time! The way this feature is implemented is extremely good, accessing the different functions is very easy and doesn\u0026rsquo;t take a lot of time to get used to it. Excellent feature this.\nI am not very happy with the AI. For most part they are extremely competent, and do a fine job at filling your nano suit with lead, but there are times when they react rather abnormally. For example, I made my way through the dense foliage, and stumbled right in front of guard, and yet he never made a move or called for help. I took the opportunity and silently finished him off with a well timed shot at point blank range.\nApart from this, I do not have any complaints with the game. This is sure to be a huge success.\nVerdict - 9.5/10\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/10/2007-10-29-crysisfirstlook/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello all, I understand that I am not supposed to be here, but how many times will there be a first time Crysis demo release? And how many times does a high profile game live up to it\u0026rsquo;s huge expectations? :)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI throw my pebble in the pile so to speak. So here you go: Crysis - First Look.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"sunday-october-28-2007-852-pm\"\u003eSunday, October 28, 2007 8:52 PM\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinished downloading the demo!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"sunday-october-28-2007-902-pm\"\u003eSunday, October 28, 2007 9:02 PM\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust finished installing the special drivers for the game, and for those of you who don\u0026rsquo;t know, these can be found on the official website \u003ca href=\"http://www.incrysis.com/\"\u003ehttp://www.incrysis.com/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Crysis - First Look"},{"content":"Certain versions of Quake 2 show the error\n\u0026ldquo;This version of Quake II will not install on this language version of windows 95/NT\u0026rdquo; when installing in Windows XP.\nThis problem can be fixed by following these steps:\nControl Panel \u0026gt; Date, Time, Language and Regional Options \u0026gt; Regional and Language Options\nIn the Standards and Formats section, select English (United Kingdom)\nChange the location as United Kingdom\nNow click on the Advanced tab\nIn the \u0026ldquo;Language for non-Unicode programs\u0026rdquo; section, select English (United Kingdom)\nIf you need install the files, do so using your Windows XP CD. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have to, then save the settings and restart your computer.\nNow you should be able to install Quake 2 without any problem. If you want to revert back to the original settings, you can do so after installing the game.\nThis post is published on Apr 25, 2026 Saturday 03:37:06 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/08/2007-08-06-quake2-languagefix/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCertain versions of Quake 2 show the error\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;This version of Quake II will not install on this language version of windows 95/NT\u0026rdquo; when installing in Windows XP.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis problem can be fixed by following these steps:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eControl Panel \u0026gt; Date, Time, Language and Regional Options \u0026gt; Regional and Language Options\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the Standards and Formats section, select English (United Kingdom)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChange the location as United Kingdom\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow click on the Advanced tab\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Quake 2 language fix"},{"content":"I finished this game on Monday, February 26, 2007, 7:49:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 27, 2007.\nI usually don’t review a game unless I have finished it completely. However, after having finished 65% of this game, I say without a lot of doubt that this is one of the most entertaining games I have played.\nI have to draw comparisons with Tomb Raider sometimes because Prince of Persia set out to be a Tomb Raider initially, but now the trend has been reversed.\nLet me talk about this game, one part at a time.\nGameplay Those of you who have played Prince of Persia 3D will know that the series was really going down the drain. That game was an awful Tomb Raider clone. The controls were not responsive, the environment was restrictive most of the time, the combat was boring at best…I played through half of it and I got tired and left it. The series was going a disaster. What it needed was a solid game to make for Prince of Persia 3D.\nPrince of Persia Sands of Time was perfect in that sense. This is a genre defining game, so much so that the new Tomb Raider had very similar control system. I guess this goes to show how good the game actually is.\nThere is never any dull moment in the game. The puzzles basically involve precision jumping and movements and of course moving around objects. And that’s one of the highlights of the game. The movement of the character is incredible, I mean if you thought that Lara Croft was agile in Tomb Raider then this game will make your head spin.\nThe kind of moves that Prince can pull off is insane, and that’s one of the most fun parts of the game and I don’t remember seeing anything like this. Ever. There are often puzzles that require you to navigate spike traps, rolling blades, swinging, spiked columns etc. And you will have to jump off walls, climb up pillars, shimmy across narrow platforms and more to make it past these traps. It can get a little difficult, often frustrating, but it’s really just a matter of practice.\nThere is also the whole concept of the Sands of Time. The prince has in his possession a dagger that can control time. You are given about 4 sands clocks in the beginning, and the number will increase as the game progresses. What that means is that you can rewind time, it’s nothing like the bullet time concept that we have seen a million times in video games. This actually turns back time, so can execute your moves better, kill enemies effectively etc. You get to gain the sands by killing enemies and taking their sand. It’s an interesting concept; very unique.\nStory I really didn’t bother too much with the story, but it goes something like this: The prince along with the King, invade a kingdom in India and acquire among many treasures – an hour glass and a dagger which gives the possessor the control over the sands of time.\nThe evil Vizier tricks the prince into using the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time. This results in complete chaos and turns everyone in the kingdom into monsters save for three people – the Prince, the Indian Princess Farah who assists the prince during the course of the game and the evil Vizier, and all these three people are vying to possess the dagger.\nI thought the way the story unfolds was pretty good; it’s actually told by the Prince as the game progress, so it’s a sort of a flashback.\nGraphics Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite subject – graphics. The game looks beautiful. I played it on high settings and I was particularly impressed with the water and fog effects. For its time, this game was truly ground breaking. The atmosphere has been superbly created with excellent effects.\nThe dungeons have a very eerie feel to them and the open environments are expansive and stunning at times with lush green surroundings and waterfalls. Although most of the time the Prince is perched on a high cliff or on top of a castle and you don’t actually get to travel through backdrop, but it adds to the atmosphere nevertheless and it’s beautiful.\nMost of the game takes place in the castle and that’s where the level design truly shines. The interiors are magnificent and the attention to detail is truly amazing. This adds to the overall feel of the game and on high resolution it’s brilliant.\nFlaws Well, that’s a very relative term, so these are just my personal opinions and need not reflect anyone else’s opinion of the game. Since I am new to playing these kind of games, I guess I am not able to adapt to this as easily as most other gamers.\nThe camera can be a little difficult to control, and the controls are camera sensitive. That means ‘W’ doesn’t always mean move forward, it actually depends on direction in which the camera is positioned. Getting used to that is a pain…if you are inexperienced like I am, you will find yourself making mistakes very often, and initially that might mean instant death. There is a particular location where there are number of sand creatures to be fought in a closed room, and camera was very hard to position the way I wanted. That was extremely frustrating for me.\nAnd that’s another complaint, I got the feeling the Prince died way too easily in the beginning…just a couple of blows from the enemies, or a fall from a ledge is enough to kill the Prince. This was frustrating in the beginning, but as the game progresses the health bar increases, and the resistance increases as well.\nWhile the combat is a lot of fun, each enemy has to be killed about 4 times on an average. Every time you kill an enemy, take their sand that is, the enemy will re-spawn, and this goes on for about 4-5 times. AND there are about 3-4 enemies attacking you at the same time, so that means a lot of time is spent blocking them and moving about. So it’s not as easy as you think it might be, attack too soon, and you will get hit, and if you are in the initial stage, that’s game over.\nI can recall this initial battle where I think I had to kill the enemies 7-8 times each, and my health bar was still quite low, and I had to replenish it ever so often. That was so frustrating that I almost gave up. But once you keep playing, you will get a hang of it, and then it doesn’t get as frustrating.\nAnother disappointing factor is that there is no Save Anywhere feature in the game; you will have to reach checkpoints in the game that allow you to save the game. Although the checkpoints are fairly evenly distributed, I felt I would have enjoyed the game more if there was a Save Anywhere option. But that’s just my personal opinion, some people find the lack of this option perfectly acceptable, and some might even feel the need for it. But initially, inexperienced gamers will find it frustrating.\nI have not encountered any bugs so far in the game, it seems pretty solid although the audio could have been better I felt – just a personal opinion. All in all this is a very solid and fun game which can be frustrating initially, but with a little persistence it will become very immersive. I would recommend people to try this once and see if they are patient enough to play certain parts of the game over and over, and if they can actually get a hang of the controls. If yes – you will enjoy the game and the sequels, if not, give it a rest.\nI can say for sure that this game is not for everyone. Those who enjoy the straight forward gameplay of First Person Shooters will have a hard time adapting to this one. But since I have played Tomb Raider before, and I am somewhat used to the whole idea of solving puzzles to progress, I guess I could say that the learning curve for me was not as high. But in general, the learning curve for an average gamer that plays shooters is quite high.\nVerdict - Give it a try, you might just like it.\nThis post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 01:20:57 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/07/reviews/princeofpersiasandsoftime-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eMonday, February 26, 2007, 7:49:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on July 27, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI usually don’t review a game unless I have finished it completely. However, after having finished 65% of this game, I say without a lot of doubt that this is one of the most entertaining games I have played.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have to draw comparisons with Tomb Raider sometimes because Prince of Persia set out to be a Tomb Raider initially, but now the trend has been reversed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PC) Review"},{"content":"Well, the dreaded level 20 is finally here. Let\u0026rsquo;s see how long it takes to get a Level Up.\nUpdates Not much is happening in my life (big surprise there). My final semester in college is yet to begin, so for now, I am a bit of a free man.\nGames As you all can see on my Xfire tag, I am still playing Deus Ex. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know the game would take this long to finish. I also didn\u0026rsquo;t know there was so much depth in the gameplay. I have never previously played any RPG games, and so I made some blunders with the skill points initially, but that didn\u0026rsquo;t cost me too much. Now I am more cautious and prudent with the skill points that I acquire.\nIf there are any FPS fans out there that haven\u0026rsquo;t played this game then give this game a shot. You don\u0026rsquo;t get to play games like this every day. It\u0026rsquo;s not your average FPS game, and the visuals are a bit dull but you\u0026rsquo;ll soon forget that once you get into the gameplay, which is very smooth and keeps you riveted.\nNo reviews this time around. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what to review actually. I am thinking about reviewing all the Tomb Raider games that I have played, from 1 to 5. I have written a Tomb Raider 3 review already, so I am looking to work on the other titles.\nI have played Quake 3 online was a friend from GameSpot, and my internet kept choking. Guess I\u0026rsquo;ll have to wait for an upgrade in connection by the ISP. It could take anywhere between 1 month and 1 year. Until then I\u0026rsquo;ll keep pwning bots in Nightmare:D\nI am downloading a video of Microsoft\u0026rsquo;s conference at E3 \u0026lsquo;07. It took 8 hours already, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything better to download anyway; one of the many advantages of having internet 24/7 even though it\u0026rsquo;s slow.\nVideo\nvideo=JHc6wzX85b8Mujfb\nHere we have a video of Crysis being explained with its key features showcased. I am very impressed with the game. Now I don\u0026rsquo;t know if it\u0026rsquo;s going to run on this machine, but rumors have been floating around that the game is designed to work on a GeForce 6200 and its ATi equivalent. Now I hope that\u0026rsquo;s true. I cannot afford an upgrade just yet and I am still on AGP.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s about it everyone. Hope you are all doing fine. Take good care. See you around :)\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/07/01_level20metalslime/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, the dreaded level 20 is finally here. Let\u0026rsquo;s see how long it takes to get a Level Up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"updates\"\u003eUpdates\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot much is happening in my life (big surprise there). My final semester in college is yet to begin, so for now, I am a bit of a free man.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"games\"\u003eGames\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs you all can see on my Xfire tag, I am still playing Deus Ex. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know the game would take this long to finish. I also didn\u0026rsquo;t know there was so much depth in the gameplay. I have never previously played any RPG games, and so I made some blunders with the skill points initially, but that didn\u0026rsquo;t cost me too much. Now I am more cautious and prudent with the skill points that I acquire.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Level 20 - Metal Slime"},{"content":"Once you have collected 100 points of adrenaline, you can perform one of six moves that last until your adrenaline wears down. These moves are performed by pressing a series of keys in order. The commands listed are used with the default control scheme.\nSpeed This power up increases your movement speed, allowing you to run at twice the speed. Command: W, W, W, W\nRegenerate This power up replenishes your health every second by five points. If you manage to reach 199 health, it will begin adding to your armor count. If you manage to reach 150 armor, it will stop until you lose health/armor, or until your adrenaline runs out. Command: S, S, S, S\nInvisibility This power up renders you invisible. While enemies at a distance cannot see you, those who are right next to you will be able to make out a faint a outline of your character, like a watermark. Don’t rely on it completely. Command: A, A, D, D\nBerserk This power up increases the damage you cause. It works like a Double Damage power up. Combine both the Double Damage and this ability for one hell of a destructive rampage. Command: W, W, S, S\nCamouflage This power up blends your character into foliage and rocks, making you harder to see. This can only be activated if the Bonus Combos mutator is enabled. Command: D, D, D, D\nPint-Size This power up turns your character into a tiny player, making you harder to hit for the duration. This can only be activated if the Bonus Combos mutator is enabled. Command: A, A, A, A\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 07:01:50 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/2007-06-27-adrenaline-powerups-unreal-tournament2004/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOnce you have collected 100 points of adrenaline, you can perform one of six moves that last until your adrenaline wears down. These moves are performed by pressing a series of keys in order. The commands listed are used with the default control scheme.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"speed\"\u003eSpeed\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis power up increases your movement speed, allowing you to run at twice the speed. Command: \u003ccode\u003eW, W, W, W\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"regenerate\"\u003eRegenerate\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis power up replenishes your health every second by five points. If you manage to reach 199 health, it will begin adding to your armor count. If you manage to reach 150 armor, it will stop until you lose health/armor, or until your adrenaline runs out. Command: \u003ccode\u003eS, S, S, S\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Using Adrenaline Powerups in Unreal Tournament 2004"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, January 25, 2007, 9:49:00 AM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 27, 2007.\nI didn’t know what to expect from Medal of Honor when I started playing it. I had no idea that the game was based on the solid Quake 3 engine. Having started the game, it strong resemblance to Return to Castle Wolfinstein was striking, which basically means solid visuals are guaranteed throughout the game.\nSo I won’t even talk about the visual aspect, because it’s bound to be very good, after all, we are talking about the Quake 3 engine, which was also used for Call of Duty, albeit modified.\nAbout the gameplay itself, it’s a standard FPS game, although you are joined by other soldiers a few times, it doesn’t happen a lot, and more often than not, it’s up to the player to do the job. And what a job it is! Although the basic premise of the game remains the same, the missions are varied enough to keep you playing. There are escort missions, sniper missions and more, you even get to drive a tank, although it’s a little sluggish\u0026hellip;but I have played Battlefield 2 just a while before playing those particular missions and naturally it feels that way, however it’s not frustrating.\nThere is wide range of levels as well, from Africa to Austria, so that gives a lot of variety. The AI of both the enemy soldiers and team mates is a bit of both good and bad, or should I say mediocre. The enemy snipers seem to spot you no matter where you are hidden, behind bushes, trees etc. and I have tried to use stealth to catch them off guard, but it almost never worked for me, so I used to the classic way of going about the business – attack head on and shot till you hit! Of course, the sniper rifle in your armory is very effective, and I used it quite a lot as well.\nOne of the things I found really strange about the game was that ammunition lying on the ground after you kill an enemy soldier would strangely disappear after a minute or so…this was a little annoying, but then in the large scheme of things, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot.\nOver all, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game, and I would definitely recommend it any FPS player. It’s a solid World War 2 game, and the level in Omaha beach invasion was particularly thrilling. The atmosphere throughout the game is extremely good. If I am not mistaken this is one of the first World War 2 shooters, and it certainly set a very high standard for future games.\nThis game is about 5 years old, so that means it will run quite well on most of the new computers, even those with onboard display, so budget or casual gamers should find that to their liking.\nDon’t waste time soldier, get on the battlefield! There is a war to win!\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:47:29 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/reviews/medalofhonoralliedassault-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, January 25, 2007, 9:49:00 AM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 27, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI didn’t know what to expect from Medal of Honor when I started playing it. I had no idea that the game was based on the solid Quake 3 engine. Having started the game, it strong resemblance to Return to Castle Wolfinstein was striking, which basically means solid visuals are guaranteed throughout the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Review"},{"content":"I finished this game on Sunday, March 18, 2007, 11:04:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 26, 2007.\nLet us ask ourselves, why do we play games? Is it for entertainment? For kicks? To escape reality? To vent our anger and not end up jail?\nIf you want to vent your anger then you should play Soldier of Fortune 2, because it can work wonders that way. You get to show all your anger on the helpless enemies, who don’t stand a semblance of a chance against your Rambo like ability. You can dismember their body parts, send their heads flying across the room, and spill more blood than you would find in a lot of blood banks…combined.\nBy the time you are done with this game, you will no longer feel the need to attack your classmate/boss/colleague/ with a shotgun and splatter his/her brains on the wall. You can live your like any normal person without any outward trace of homicidal tendencies. Outward traces, mind you.\nNow I might have come across as being mocking, but I am not. This game is certainly not normal that way. Let me explain.\nThis game is a successor to the violent classic Soldier of Fortune. When Soldier of Fortune was released, it was genre defining in some ways, more so because of the realistic violence within in the game. Until then FPS games were about shooting zombies, stroggs or terrorists holding hostages in tall buildings. They all strived to be politically correct. Not Soldier of Fortune. It couldn’t have cared less about politics.\nThat game was one of the most violent games ever to have been released. Before you go on tell me about 11 other games that are equally violent, let me tell you, I haven’t heard of those, so they are not popular enough. But I did hear about Soldier of Fortune, I played and finished the game. I even killed Saddam Hussein and his posse in the game (I told you the game didn’t care about politics).\nIn Soldier of Fortune 2, you reprise role of John Mullins. He is a Rambo in disguise. You work for a secret organization called The Shop, which is located somewhere in Texas. You are typically sent on near impossible missions to various parts, to basically save the world. One man against entire terrorist organizations of the world.\nThe game uses a modified version of Quake 3 engine and Raven’s GHOUL II technology. It’s not cutting edge, even for its time, but the engine had never been modified this way, it actually looks good because of the high polygon count. There seems to be some sort of a problem when the game is played at the highest detail. Everything appears to be like an architectural model, so I had to reduce the detail. The water looked like this during the entire game:\nWater mesh\nThe locales are varied, and you don’t linger in one place for too long, so at least that part it doesn’t get repetitive.\nThere are a variety of weapons, like knives, M1911A1 semi-automatic, AK-47, the special military OICW, shotgun, Uzi pistols, grenade launcher etc. Pistols and Uzi can be dual wielded, although I didn’t use this feature a whole lot, it’s fun initially.\nThe sound is top notch, with excellent effects. The weapons sound very realistic and they deliver just as well. The enemies emit a guttural sound when they are shot at, scream in different languages depending upon the location. It’s a good acoustic experience with my Creative speakers and Audigy soundcard. Everything sounds crips and clear. Very nice. But the story didn’t have to be believable, although it tries to be. As I said before, its one man out to save the world from a mad terrorist who unleashes a deadly virus onto the world and tries to make millions by manufacturing the antidote. It really doesn’t matter too much; your job is to kill anyone pointing a gun at you. And that’s where the violence comes in.\nThe violence is very believable. There are a lot of hit zones on the enemies, so they would react depending on where they are shot at. Apparently there are 16 dismemberment zones and 36 damage zones, and they can be killed in a variety of ways using the same weapon, and they will not have the same reaction.\nThere is also a violence lock in this game, but I don’t think anyone would have ever used it. I have a feeling it was done to avoid a possible lawsuit. Imagine the consequences if this game were to fall in the hands of a maniac with a shotgun in the closet. This is game is for mature players who can tell the difference between a game and real life.\nThe enemy AI is pretty good. I played in experienced difficulty mode, or something similar to that, and I found that the enemies are not going down easy. They take cover, throw smoke grenades, and lean from the corner and take shots at you, so you don’t get to walk over them, but they are not the brightest bunch either. They have this kamikaze tendency to rush at you at times, so all you have to do it wait in the corner and pick them off one by one.\nThe game is pretty long. There are 55 levels in all, set in varied locations like streets of Hong Kong, jungles of Cambodia, onboard a cargo ship and The Shop itself. But it didn’t take me too long to finish the game. It took about 3 weeks of very casual gaming to finish it.\nThere are some stealth missions in the game, and I use the word stealth very lightly because, they are quite monotonous, where you cannot use your usual weapons. You’ll have to go about your business with knives and a pistol with silencer (provided you included that in your inventory). I felt these levels could have been implemented better. All it takes to raise the alarm is for the enemy to just spot you. No flipping of switches, no speaking into walkie-talkie, everything works on telepathy here.\nThe strongest point of the game is the action. In those levels where you don’t have to use stealth, you are kept quite busy because there are tons of enemies. By the end of the game, you would have killed almost the entire population of a small city.\nOnce you are through with the missions, you don’t have to uninstall this game in a hurry, because there is multiplayer as well as a random mission generator. I don’t know much about the multiplayer, I cannot say if people are still playing this game online.\nThe random mission generator however, is an interesting feature. You can select different types of missions like assassination, infiltration, demolition, escape. You can customize the mission by choosing the difficulty, time of the day, time limit and location. Once you do that, you are off on a single independent mission. This increases the replay value of the game quite a bit.\nThis is not the most spectacular game you will ever see, neither is it groundbreaking, but it’s a solid game, that will guarantee some hours of fun.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:50:14 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/reviews/soldieroffortune2-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eSunday, March 18, 2007, 11:04:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 26, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet us ask ourselves, why do we play games? Is it for entertainment? For kicks? To escape reality? To vent our anger and not end up jail?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to vent your anger then you should play Soldier of Fortune 2, because it can work wonders that way. You get to show all your anger on the helpless enemies, who don’t stand a semblance of a chance against your Rambo like ability. You can dismember their body parts, send their heads flying across the room, and spill more blood than you would find in a lot of blood banks…combined.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (PC) Review"},{"content":"First published on GameSpot\nWell, apart from saying this is one hell of a pointless game, I cannot think of much to say. I borrowed this game from a friend of mine back in 2001, when I was still a novice in PC gaming, not that I am a real expert now, but I am lot better.\nSo anyway, I managed to finish the game in 3 hours or thereabouts. I had no idea that this was such a short game; only 6 missions. Now that\u0026rsquo;s probably a good thing, because the game has no good qualities. The graphics are bad, the sound is just a formality, and missions are as straightforward as they get.\nThe title itself suggests, you are a member of the CIA, and you have one objective – world peace. You go to different locations, kill enemies with very predictable AI, and then you are done. Just like that. Pointless.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 05:28:32 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/reviews/ciaoperativesolomissions-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, apart from saying this is one hell of a pointless game, I cannot think of much to say. I borrowed this game from a friend of mine back in 2001, when I was still a novice in PC gaming, not that I am a real expert now, but I am lot better.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo anyway, I managed to finish the game in 3 hours or thereabouts. I had no idea that this was such a short game; only 6 missions. Now that\u0026rsquo;s probably a good thing, because the game has no good qualities. The graphics are bad, the sound is just a formality, and missions are as straightforward as they get.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CIA Operative: Solo Missions Review"},{"content":"Yahoo! Messenger 7.5 and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice 8 is the install messaging client from Yahoo! which now able to exchange and send instant messages to Windows Live Messenger’s users. Like Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger has all the best features, with lots of advertisements and animated ads. If you don’t like the ads and wants no ads on Yahoo! Messenger window, there are few ways that allow you to remove the advertisements.\nAds in Yahoo! Messenger can be removed by manually editing the registry.\nLaunch Registry Editor (Start -\u0026gt; Run -\u0026gt; Regedit). Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\yahoo\\pager\\YUrl Replacing the following registry values with dummy asterisk (*): Messenger Ad Webcam Upload Ad Webcam Viewer Ad Webcam Viewer Ad Big Webcam Viewer Ad Medium Change Room Banner Conf Adurl Chat Adurl After change, the registry keys and values will looks like this:\nIf the registry key doesn’t exist, simply create a new String Value registry key with the name by right clicking on the above registry branch and select New -\u0026gt; String Value.\nClose Registry Editor and launch Windows Explorer. Go to C:\\Program Files\\Yahoo!\\Messenger\\Cache\\ Locate the file urls.xml Clear the content of urls.xml Save the empty urls.xml file (it should be an empty file). Change the attributes of urls.xml to Read-Only by right click on the file and select properties, and click on Read-only. That should make your Yahoo Messenger look like this:\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/2007-06-17-yahoomessenger-remove-ads/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYahoo! Messenger 7.5 and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice 8 is the install messaging client from Yahoo! which now able to exchange and send instant messages to Windows Live Messenger’s users. Like Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger has all the best features, with lots of advertisements and animated ads. If you don’t like the ads and wants no ads on Yahoo! Messenger window, there are few ways that allow you to remove the advertisements.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Remove Ads in Yahoo Messenger"},{"content":"I finished this game on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, 10:19:00 PM. This review was published on GameSpot on June 12, 2007.\nRed Faction is a surprise package. I didn’t expect the game to be as entertaining and gripping. I am glad I played this game, even after such long time after its release.\nThe game starts out pretty slowly. You play as Parker, a miner on Mars, working for a company called Ultor. The miners are exploited, overworked and underpaid, living in miserable conditions, ill-treated by the guards and facing a lifelong service in extremely tough conditions.\nA small group of rival miners decide to revolt when a plague breaks lose killing miners. You inadvertently become a part of the revolt against the corporation that doesn’t care whether you live or die, as long as you are getting their work done.\nWe don’t get to see socialist upraising in games all that often. Of course, there are a few mutants and zombies thrown in, but that only breaks the routine. For most part of the game, you battle against guards and mercenaries or Ultor.\nI got the feeling that the game tried to be something like Half Life. Somehow the visuals look very similar and you get to ride the tram more than once in the game, you have a space suit that is very similar to the hazard suit in Half Life!\nThe visuals are very good. The graphics capture the atmosphere of the red planet very well and you get the feeling of being a part of something truly out of this world. I did experience frame rate drops a few times, but that isn’t a problem.\nYou get to drive a few vehicles in the game, like a Submarine and other land vehicles. I thought this part could have been a little better. For most time, the vehicles are pretty slow to respond, but since the enemy vehicles are slow as well, it doesn’t leave you a disadvantage. Had the vehicles handled better, the action in the game would have been a whole lot intense.\nThere are tons of weapons to be used in the game, like assault rifle, precision rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher and others. As the game progresses, you get to use better weapons, and consequently the enemies get a lot tougher. But they are not very intelligent, they tend to come in packs, just fire at them Rambo style with your heavy machine gun, and you’ll finish them off in no time.\nHowever, towards the end there are some mercenaries using rail guns, and they can kill you in one shot, and they tend to be quite accurate as well. This part is challenging and a lot of fun to play. Using your rail gun to aim on a mercenary far off just as he tries to get an aim on you can be pretty intense. There are quite a few such rail gun duals towards the end of the game.\nNow, probably for the first time in games, we have truly destructible environments. Using certain weapons, like rocket launchers, remote charges you can destroy walls etc. This is a lot of fun to use, although it is very primitive in the way it’s implemented.\nThe audio in the game is good, no complaints here, although the constant screaming of scientists and other non-hostile NPCs when they see you carrying your weapons can be irritating, but otherwise, the sound is solid, and the music, when it plays, also adds to the thrill at times.\nMy final verdict – standard FPS fare, that doesn’t deviate much from the generic formula and for a good reason. The geo mod technology is an interesting feature, pity it wasn’t implemented more often.\nWorth playing.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:32:42 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/reviews/redfaction-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eTuesday, June 12, 2007, 10:19:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was published on GameSpot on June 12, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRed Faction is a surprise package. I didn’t expect the game to be as entertaining and gripping. I am glad I played this game, even after such long time after its release.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe game starts out pretty slowly. You play as Parker, a miner on Mars, working for a company called Ultor. The miners are exploited, overworked and underpaid, living in miserable conditions, ill-treated by the guards and facing a lifelong service in extremely tough conditions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Faction (PC) Review"},{"content":"This review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2007.\nNovalogic have been veterans in the gaming industry. Their games usually tend to create games based on the exploits of the U.S Military, and not those routine FPS games with experiments gone wrong, aliens and mutants.\nIn an industry that is saturated with such titles, Novalogic have stayed away from the generic formula of gaming, and focused on creating contemporary military titles. Or so it would seem.\nThe initial two games in the Delta Force series were innovative and fun to play. But their progress seems to have come to a standstill since then. A lot of below average titles were released, claiming to have better enemy AI, improved graphics with fancy names such as special voxel engine and ambient atmosphere with varied locations etc.\nNow, you don’t expect any game developer who wants to make money in the market to say that their game doesn’t offer anything new from the million other FPS games out there, and if anything, it’s a lot inferior comparatively.\nBut Novalogic have stretched the truth a little too far. Because since Delta Force 2, we haven\u0026rsquo;t seen anything new in the series of titles that Novalogic have released.\nEvery game that has come out since Delta Force 2, seems to have used the same engine and same gameplay, which is to just navigate from one way point to another amid mindless chatter over the radio passing instructions which make no difference to the game. You could blatantly ignore the instructions more of the time, and still complete the mission.\nComanche 4 is no different. It uses the same engine that was used in Delta Force 3, except that instead of a person, you man a chopper. The graphics look extremely dated and yet again, the gameplay is repetitive like in Delta Force and Armored Fist.\nTo its defense, Comanche 4 has some interesting gameplay elements, like battling unmanned drones in an urban setting etc. But the fact that you cannot save during the mission is extremely frustrating, because some of the missions tend to be quite long, and this is not a game you would want to play repeatedly.\nAny game that challenges you play over and over should be extremely entertaining and riveting, something like Price of Persia. Comanche 4 does entice you to play a mission over and over to succeed. The game is just not good enough.\nI am not only talking about the visuals, the gameplay in general tends to get boring once you are through a few missions. I finished 25 of the 30 missions, and I just didn’t want to play any longer. It seemed like a complete waste of my time; especially when there are so many better games to be played.\nWhile I admire the fact that Novalogic have taken a different approach, the games have not evolved with time.\nIt’s pretty sad that a series that was released in 2000 has virtually remained unchanged for over two years, and the graphics and gameplay have been rehashed to create a new bunch of titles in 2002. They are just not good enough to keep you interested for long.\nVerdict – Fail.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:35:21 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/06/reviews/commanche4-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis review was first published on GameSpot on June 10, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovalogic have been veterans in the gaming industry. Their games usually tend to create games based on the exploits of the U.S Military, and not those routine FPS games with experiments gone wrong, aliens and mutants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an industry that is saturated with such titles, Novalogic have stayed away from the generic formula of gaming, and focused on creating contemporary military titles. Or so it would seem.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Commanche 4 Review"},{"content":"The demo was released on May 25th and it took me two days to get my hands on it. I\u0026rsquo;ll say its well worth the time and effort.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s no surprise that Lara received yet another minor make over, and she looks a lot better than she did in Tomb Raider Legend, in my opinion.\nSpeaking about the game, the 270MB demo features the Lost Valley level, any of you who have played the first game (released in 1996) would be familiar with this level. The scenery is recreated beautifully. The game uses a tweaked version of the engine that was used for Tomb Raider Legend. The shadow and lighting effects are extremely well done. There were a few problems with shadows in Legend, and but none of that here. The water effects such as reflections and the way Lara\u0026rsquo;s body is glistening as she steps out of the water are also well done.\nI played the game at high settings (2x FSAA, 1280x1024 resolution with everything else set on high) and I had absolutely no problems on my 7600GS. That\u0026rsquo;s good news because even older cards can handle the game without compromising on the visuals.\nI am extremely impressed with the graphics, the way Lost Valley is designed and the solid frame rates of the game even on high settings. The outdoor setting, even though you don\u0026rsquo;t get to see a whole lot of it in the demo, is also very good. The misty cave overlooking the lush green valley is a fantastic sight. Any player who liked the first game is going to enjoy playing Anniversary it appears.\nBut the game is not without its problems. There are some sound issues just as they were in Tomb Raider Legend, so let\u0026rsquo;s hope the full version doesn\u0026rsquo;t have any of those. I had to disable hardware acceleration in Windows to get rid of the crackling noise in the game.\nAlso, I am not very pleased with the combat system. It takes about 10 hits to kill a wolf, which is pretty absurd to me. I remember saying the same thing about the Egyptian dogs on Tomb Raider 4. It takes a lot of shots to kill those using normal pistols. That\u0026rsquo;s pretty much the same here.\nBut that\u0026rsquo;s only a minor problem; it really doesn\u0026rsquo;t affect the gameplay. I don\u0026rsquo;t think a lot of people would even find that as a problem. I just don\u0026rsquo;t enjoy emptying 20 rounds to kill a wolf, so that\u0026rsquo;s strictly personal.\nI am not going to give away too many details about the demo; I don\u0026rsquo;t want this to be a spoiler. But I\u0026rsquo;ll conclude by saying that Tomb Raider Anniversary is a very promising title, and I think it has succeeded in bringing Tomb Raider into the next generation. If any game deserved a remake, this is it!\nYou can download the theme music from the demo HERE. Thanks Mike!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/05/03_trademoimpressions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe demo was released on May 25th and it took me two days to get my hands on it. I\u0026rsquo;ll say its well worth the time and effort.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s no surprise that Lara received yet another minor make over, and she looks a lot better than she did in Tomb Raider Legend, in my opinion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking about the game, the 270MB demo features the Lost Valley level, any of you who have played the first game (released in 1996) would be familiar with this level. The scenery is recreated beautifully. The game uses a tweaked version of the engine that was used for Tomb Raider Legend. The shadow and lighting effects are extremely well done. There were a few problems with shadows in Legend, and but none of that here. The water effects such as reflections and the way Lara\u0026rsquo;s body is glistening as she steps out of the water are also well done.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider Anniversary Demo Impressions"},{"content":"I figured that I really needed to clean my room and my computer. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I cleaned either of those for over a year now, so it\u0026rsquo;s about time I did that.\nOver the months, so much stuff has accumulated in my room that I felt like I was living in a junk yard. I HAD to get rid of things that I don\u0026rsquo;t need or things which I don\u0026rsquo;t intend to use but I have kept them just for the sake of keeping them. I threw away a lot of cricket memorabilia, old CDs, cassettes, clothes etc.\nI got my previous semester results a few days ago, and I cleared all my exams! So that meant, I could toss all the notebooks, study material and other miscellaneous print outs which I had saved just in case I flunked. All those were sold for a price of 3 rupees a kilogram. I found myself richer by 9 rupees - 22 cents. However, money isn\u0026rsquo;t the point\u0026hellip;my room is tidy and I made enough money to buy a bottle of Pepsi.\nI also removed some furniture from my room. Right now, I have only the bare essentials - a computer table, swivel chair, my bed and a foldable chair. I removed the study table and a couple of wooden shelves. My room is really spacious now, and I feel a lot better about it. I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine how I lived in this place earlier. It was a MESS!\nI also physically cleaned the computer. I dismantled everything and used a dry paint brush to remove all the dust; it\u0026rsquo;s unbelievable how much has gathered in the CPU fan. I am surprised it even worked in such a condition.\nAnd then I had to reinstall Windows because I hadn\u0026rsquo;t done that either for a long time, and my computer has become very sluggish for some reason - maybe the registry is too big, or maybe too many unwanted DLL files\u0026hellip;not too sure. Bottom-line is, it had to be reinstalled, so I took a backup of all the save games, and reinstalled Windows again.\nAll this took over a week, and so I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to get online as often.\nThe summer heat is intense, and my room is like an oven. Yesterday the temperature was over 40C here, and it touched 49.8C in one part of the state. It\u0026rsquo;s getting really crazy here\u0026hellip;but the heat should subside over the next couple of weeks, because I am told that the peak summer is over. I can only hope.\nI had to remove one side of the cabinet because it gets really hot inside in this weather. I am also planning to buy a pedestal fan, I am not rich enough to own an air conditioner\u0026hellip;well, actually I am rich enough to own one, but not rich enough to pay the power bills, so I\u0026rsquo;ll have to settle for a good fan instead.\nMoving on to games - I think I have finished Need For Speed Underground 2. I mean, I don\u0026rsquo;t find any races on the map anymore\u0026hellip;but the status says I have finished on 68%\u0026hellip;so I don\u0026rsquo;t know. I have finished all the 4 stages and there are no more races left. If someone knows what to do next, let me know.\nI am thinking of playing Doom 3 now. I haven\u0026rsquo;t finished this game, so I want to get back to it\u0026hellip;but the spiders\u0026hellip;ah well, I\u0026rsquo;ll learn to get over my phobia.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s all for now folks. Now I am off to check all your blogs and see what you all have been up to.\nHave a nice day!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/05/02_cleanlife/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI figured that I really needed to clean my room and my computer. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I cleaned either of those for over a year now, so it\u0026rsquo;s about time I did that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the months, so much stuff has accumulated in my room that I felt like I was living in a junk yard. I HAD to get rid of things that I don\u0026rsquo;t need or things which I don\u0026rsquo;t intend to use but I have kept them just for the sake of keeping them. I threw away a lot of cricket memorabilia, old CDs, cassettes, clothes etc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Clean Life"},{"content":"The reason for the absence and lack of activity on my part was due to semester exams, which were over on May 1st. Now that\u0026rsquo;s a huge relief, let me tell you. However there are still lab exams to go, but I am not going to study for those. I have no more patience left after going through hell for two weeks.\nI am happy to let you all know that I did pretty well. Should make it with a decent percentage\u0026hellip;will let you know the results when I get them. That\u0026rsquo;ll take a while though.\nSo anyway, just wanted to say that life on GameSpot shall return to normal again\u0026hellip;I shall be active in the forums and on some of the unions I belong to.\nI have downloaded xfire recently, and my screen name is chandu83. So if anyone wants to add me, please feel free to do so, although I do not play any multiplayer games. I intend to use it to log my single player game time.\nAs of now I am playing Need For Speed Underground 2 (I like this one!). I haven\u0026rsquo;t played Commandos 2 in a while now. I should get back to it sometime. For some reason SiN Episodes wouldn\u0026rsquo;t work anymore\u0026hellip;I don\u0026rsquo;t know what\u0026rsquo;s wrong with it\u0026hellip;I\u0026rsquo;ll have to figure it out sometime.\nSo yeah, that\u0026rsquo;s about my gaming so far. I am still working on some reviews, I shall post them soon enough.\nNot much else is happening. I am sorry I haven\u0026rsquo;t been on your blogs for a while. I\u0026rsquo;ll be sure to check everything now.\nLater!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/05/01_examsover/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe reason for the absence and lack of activity on my part was due to semester exams, which were over on May 1st. Now that\u0026rsquo;s a huge relief, let me tell you. However there are still lab exams to go, but I am not going to study for those. I have no more patience left after going through hell for two weeks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am happy to let you all know that I did pretty well. Should make it with a decent percentage\u0026hellip;will let you know the results when I get them. That\u0026rsquo;ll take a while though.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Exams = OVER"},{"content":"I finished this game on Thursday, February 1, 2007, 4:56:00 PM. This review was published on GameSpot on April 03, 2007.\nAfter having finished Medal of Honor only recently, I was left wanting for more engrossing World War 2 action. So I decided to play the highly acclaimed Call of Duty. I do not have anything different to say from what countless others have already said - that the game is fantastic. I cannot recollect a single incident throughout the game where I got bored. I have played the game on Pentium 4 3.0GHz machine with 1.75GB DDR 400MHz RAM and a GeForce 7600GS with 256MB RAM. The game worked like a charm at highest settings with 4X FSAA and 4X AF. The good part is, the game can be played on low end machines with onboard video and sound without too much of a problem. Of course, the game doesn’t look and sound as good without all the particle effects, but the frame rates aren’t going to be a problem.\nI am used a Creative Audigy Soundblaster 24-bit sound card, with EAX enabled. The sounds in the game are fantastic with explosions and your teammates and enemies shouting during the batter – very realistic. The weapons sound good as well, the single shot of a sniper rifle is lethal and the muffled sound of a sten gun sounds every convincing as well.\nPersonally, I appreciate a good challenge in games, and as long they are not frustrating, because I hate to play a game over and over. That’s one of the best aspects of Call of Duty, the game is challenging, and yet, its flows at a steady pace…I never got frustrated while playing the game because I was constantly making progress. This was one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing this game the most.\nUnlike Medal of Honor, your team mates have a greater role in the game; however, it’s always possible to take on the enemies alone. In that sense, I guess the game has an arcade quality, but that’s not necessarily bad. The AI is pretty good, although nothing exceptional, they are not going to make things any easier for you. They don’t just charge in great numbers, they exhibit solid behavior like taking cover etc. This makes victory more satisfying.\nAll in all, a fantastic World War 2, which I thought was better than Medal of Honor Allied Assault. It’s a must-play for all FPS fans, and the good part is, it doesn’t require a high end computer to run the game at decent resolutions.\nExcellent game by all means.\nThis post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:32:57 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/04/reviews/callofduty-review/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI finished this game on \u003ccode\u003eThursday, February 1, 2007, 4:56:00 PM\u003c/code\u003e. This review was published on GameSpot on April 03, 2007.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter having finished Medal of Honor only recently, I was left wanting for more engrossing World War 2 action. So I decided to play the highly acclaimed Call of Duty. I do not have anything different to say from what countless others have already said - that the game is fantastic. I cannot recollect a single incident throughout the game where I got bored. I have played the game on Pentium 4 3.0GHz machine with 1.75GB DDR 400MHz RAM and a GeForce 7600GS with 256MB RAM. The game worked like a charm at highest settings with 4X FSAA and 4X AF. The good part is, the game can be played on low end machines with onboard video and sound without too much of a problem. Of course, the game doesn’t look and sound as good without all the particle effects, but the frame rates aren’t going to be a problem.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call of Duty Review"},{"content":"It has been a long time since wrote in my blog, mostly because life has been busy, and when it\u0026rsquo;s not, I have been lazy. I have tried not being, but somehow I always succumb to it, much to my dislike, but all we can do is try.\nAnyway, where do I even begin? A lot has happened. Let me first being with gaming.\nI started playing Hitman Blood Money a while, but I uninstalled the game because I cannot save during a mission and then quit the game. If I do, I would have to begin the game from the beginning again. I usually don\u0026rsquo;t have the time to play and finish one mission at a stretch, so I am going leave this game for later.\nAfter much thought, I decided I am going to pick Commandos 2 again. I have played this game a long time ago, finished a couple of missions but left it after that. I cannot remember why I did that. So I started playing it right from the start again. It\u0026rsquo;s an amazing game, which has improved a lot over the previous two versions (Commandos Behind Enemy Lines and Commandos Beyond the Call of Duty). I have finished both those games, and I found them to be insanely difficult. This game isn\u0026rsquo;t that difficult and progressing through the missions is even. But I am not going to review this game right now, once I am through with it, I will write the review.\nI have finished a couple of games recently, Soldier of Fortune 2 Double Helix and Unreal Tournament 2003. Both are very solid games, as most of you all would already know. I haven\u0026rsquo;t started working on the reviews yet\u0026hellip;I should in fact.\nI also set up dual monitors in my room, just for the sake of experimenting. Nvidia has excellent driver support for dual monitors. I don\u0026rsquo;t know a whole lot about other video cards, but Nvidia has made it extremely easy to configure and use dual monitors. I am using one monitor regular work, while the other I use for watching movies only. The other monitor is closer to the bed, so I can play a movie and lay back on my bed watch it, instead of sitting in front of the computer - which is much awkward comparatively.\nI should make it a point to update my blog at least once a week, lest my friends should lose interest in me! I have become extremely disorganized over the past few weeks\u0026hellip;I don\u0026rsquo;t know even what I did with my time. I played games of course, but I did that for years, so nothing new there, but apart from that, I don\u0026rsquo;t know how the time has passed. I have become a chronic procrastinator! But I will try my best to mend my ways.\nI want to thank my friends for being patient with me. It\u0026rsquo;s you guys that make GameSpot special, and not just another gaming site, you have my gratitude.\nNow, I better go read all your blogs! See you around!\nEDIT: Checked all your blogs, good to know that most of you are doing well. Some of those who are not having such a great time, don\u0026rsquo;t worry about it, everything will change for the best. You have all your friends here for support anyway. So I guess it\u0026rsquo;s not that bad :)\nAnd hello all my friends who are online: DB2006, Lallard, kbfc00, LeenaParvin, SYdoggXxX, roguele_beau, tushiq, madman683, Riku_Lover93, death5ter\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/03/01_muchneededupdate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a long time since wrote in my blog, mostly because life has been busy, and when it\u0026rsquo;s not, I have been lazy. I have tried not being, but somehow I always succumb to it, much to my dislike, but all we can do is try.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyway, where do I even begin? A lot has happened. Let me first being with gaming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI started playing Hitman Blood Money a while, but I uninstalled the game because I cannot save during a mission and then quit the game. If I do, I would have to begin the game from the beginning again. I usually don\u0026rsquo;t have the time to play and finish one mission at a stretch, so I am going leave this game for later.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Much Needed Update"},{"content":"It has been a while since I was last here on GS. Let’s just say that I haven’t had the best start to the New Year, and to make matters a lot more inconvenient, I don’t have broadband anymore. I have contacted several other ISPs but it appears it’s going to take a while to get broadband.\nAs of now, I am accessing the internet using my friend’s mobile phone. The speed is pretty decent at 115Kbps; at least I can surf without having to wait forever for pages to load. But the catch is, I can access internet from 10PM-6AM only. I could log in during the day time, but it’s really expensive at .60/- a minute. But I am glad I at least to get to check my email, and log onto my communities every day. I felt like I was cut off from the world when there was no internet.\nLife without internet is no fun at all..\nI am yet to read the blogs of my friends, so much seems to have happened in two weeks! Lots of catching up to do\u0026hellip;\nI did pretty well in my exams, well enough to clear them at least, so that’s a huge relief. I have more exams coming up in April, but that headache is far off, so I won’t have to worry about it just yet.\nOn gaming front, I bought a new GeForce! It\u0026rsquo;s a BIG GeForce 7600GS AGP with 256MB RAM. It’s a solid card that allows me to play most of the games on 1280*1024 with 2X FSAA, which is good enough for me. Of course most of the games that are going to be released from now on will struggle to work on this one, but at least I can play the games that I have without having to compromise on visuals, and that’s really important because I have a lot of games that I delayed playing because I couldn’t get the best out of them on my GeForce 6200.\nSo as soon as I got my hands on the card, I started playing Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Not that the game will test the capabilities of my card or anything, but that’s one of the games I wanted to play since a long time. I suppose the game will work just fine on my old 6200, but then again, for some reason I waited. And I suppose that’s a good thing, because I played the game at 1280*1024 with 4X FSAA and 8X AF, I have my doubts if 6200 could have handled this. Pleased with the results, I have finished the game in about 10 days…and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Medal of Honor remains one of the best World War 2 games I have played.\nI felt while 6200 is a decent entry level card, it just couldn’t handle FSAA, its way too ‘weak’ for that, and after playing games with Anti-Aliasing I have started to realize the difference. F.E.A.R works like a charm with medium-high settings and with 2X FSAA, I really couldn’t ask for much more.\nI am looking to play Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Prey etc. As of now, I am playing Call of Duty…seems like I have World War 2 fever! But this game is so much better than Medal of Honor Allied Assault, even though both of them are based on Quake 3 engine, I felt Call of Duty had has more impressive visuals, and the AI is a lot better as well. But that’s just the way I feel…\nHere are the scores on 3D Marks 2005 of the all the GeForce cards that I have used until now:\nBFG GeForce 5500OC (256MB RAM): 216 3DMarks Game Tests GT1 - Return To Proxycon: 0.8 FPS GT2 - Firefly Forest: 0.7 FPS GT3 - Canyon Flight: 1.2 FPS CPU Score: 1096 XFX GeForce 6200 (256MB RAM): 1010 3DMarks Game Tests GT1 - Return To Proxycon: 4.3 FPS GT2 - Firefly Forest: 3.4 FPS GT3 - Canyon Flight: 4.5 FPS CPU Score: 3748 BIG GeForce 7600GS (256MB RAM): 3811 3DMarks Game Tests GT1 - Return To Proxycon: 16.4 FPS GT2 - Firefly Forest: 11.6 FPS GT3 - Canyon Flight: 18.6 FPS CPU Score: 3703 First published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2007/01/01_goodtobeback/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a while since I was last here on GS. Let’s just say that I haven’t had the best start to the New Year, and to make matters a lot more inconvenient, I don’t have broadband anymore. I have contacted several other ISPs but it appears it’s going to take a while to get broadband.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs of now, I am accessing the internet using my friend’s mobile phone. The speed is pretty decent at 115Kbps; at least I can surf without having to wait forever for pages to load. But the catch is, I can access internet from 10PM-6AM only. I could log in during the day time, but it’s really expensive at .60/- a minute. But I am glad I at least to get to check my email, and log onto my communities every day. I felt like I was cut off from the world when there was no internet.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Its Good To Be Back"},{"content":"My recent absence from GameSpot (in case anyone has noticed) and internet in general is because my internet account has expired and I didn’t bother to renew it right away because the service has been pathetic…so I am looking to switch ISP, but that’s not going all that well either. Right now I am on a slow temporary internet connection.\nWell, at first, I couldn’t imagine life without internet…checking email first thing I wake up has been a ritual for many months now. So I was very apprehensive about how things will be without internet. I was almost tempted to renew my connection with my ISP just so that I could stay online.\nBut somehow I felt that internet is consuming my life…ever since I got my broadband, I have spent more time at the computer and less time outdoors…when I think about it, it just doesn’t seem right, does it? I mean internet is great, there is no doubt about that, but I shouldn’t let my life revolve around it. I didn’t have internet for long either.\nSo I thought it was good to get away from it for a while, and I made it point to include some sort of physical activity in my daily plan. I have started walking, and in a few months time I hope to be back in shape again, not that I am particularly out of shape now, but my body has changed gradually over the last couple of years…and my energy levels have gone down. I really think that’s because of the sedentary lifestyle that I got used to.\nI haven’t been playing sports, and while that may not be possible now because of time restrictions, I should make it a point to go for a walk.\nWell, other than that, not much else has happened. I am reading books now, and as of now I am reading Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov; it’s a fantastic book, so you guys should it read it, if you are into science fiction that is.\nWell, I am sorry I haven’t been checking all your blogs like I should, but it’s a little late right now, and I better get to bed. I shall get back to you all tomorrow.\nTake care!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/12/01_lifewithoutinternet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy recent absence from GameSpot (in case anyone has noticed) and internet in general is because my internet account has expired and I didn’t bother to renew it right away because the service has been pathetic…so I am looking to switch ISP, but that’s not going all that well either. Right now I am on a slow temporary internet connection.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, at first, I couldn’t imagine life without internet…checking email first thing I wake up has been a ritual for many months now. So I was very apprehensive about how things will be without internet. I was almost tempted to renew my connection with my ISP just so that I could stay online.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Life Without Internet"},{"content":" Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, confirms today that they are developing a special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider. The new game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who recently launched Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend on Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, PC and PSP, with versions on Nintendo DS, GBA and GameCube later in 2006.\n\u0026ldquo;Our \u0026lsquo;10th Anniversary Edition\u0026rsquo; of Tomb Raider, is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, it will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience.\u0026rdquo; said Larry Sparks, Head of Brands Management at Eidos.\nTomb Raider originally launched in 1996 and is still one of the best selling videogame franchises of all time, with over 30 million copies sold. The special \u0026lsquo;10th Anniversary Edition\u0026rsquo; of Tomb Raider will be available on PlayStation 2, PSP and PC.\nThat was taken from Tomb Raider Chronicles. Personally speaking, I am really looking forward to this game. I have played Tomb Raider 1 and that was a fantastic game. I loved it, even though I had to play without sound for most part of the game, somehow the sound started working at the end. Anyway, it still remains as one of my firm favorites of the series.\nIt does seem like a convenient way to make a lot of money by remaking an old game by adding whole new graphics, but in this case though, I am glad they are using the Legend engine to make Tomb Raider. After Angel of Darkness, the series really needed a solid game to sort of revive the series, and Legend was better than expected.\nNow I can finally play Tomb Raider with sound, the way it was meant to be played!\nSomehow, I now forgive Eidos over the Angel of Darkness fiasco, and not mention firing Core Design. Crystal Dynamics is doing a great job with the franchise.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/11/01_tranniversaryannouncement/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"italic-block\"\u003e\nEidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, confirms today that they are developing a special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider.\n\u003cp\u003eThe new game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who recently launched Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend on Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, PC and PSP, with versions on Nintendo DS, GBA and GameCube later in 2006.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Our \u0026lsquo;10th Anniversary Edition\u0026rsquo; of Tomb Raider, is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, it will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience.\u0026rdquo; said Larry Sparks, Head of Brands Management at Eidos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider Anniversary Announcement"},{"content":"I have been playing this game for a while now. Finished about 10 levels I think. This is one of those rare games where transition from FPS to TPS has been made so seemlessly. I have absolutely no idea why this isn\u0026rsquo;t as popular as Half Life and Quake.\nI have played Half Life only recently, and while I am not saying that Half Life isn\u0026rsquo;t as good as it\u0026rsquo;s made out to be (it\u0026rsquo;s as good and better), I cannot imagine why Jedi Knight didn\u0026rsquo;t go on to win awards, and why only a little over 10,000 people on GameSpot own the game.\nI suppose it\u0026rsquo;s unfortunate, this situation reminds of me No One Lives Forever, one of the best FPS games I have ever played - excellent and varied level design, hardly any bugs, totally solid game, yet didn\u0026rsquo;t become popular.\nHowever, I am happy that I finally got to playing this game. It\u0026rsquo;s fantastic, and I remommend this game to every fan of FPS games, even if you don\u0026rsquo;t like Star Wars.\n12:03 PM 11/21/2006 I think the best part about the force is that it will replenish on its own. I have finished stage 11 of the game, and I found that the saber combat with the reborn is still not very fluent, and it’s a little awkward. Mind you, the its still good, but comparatively, it could have been better.\n11:20 PM 11/21/2006 Finished the 12th level. The final fight with Tavion wasn\u0026rsquo;t as hard as I thought it would be. I just lured her into one of the dark corridors and used Force Speed and quick tapping of primary fire to defeat her.\nI was hoping the force powers ranking would increase, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t. Perhaps they will incease in the next few levels or so. It would be fantastic to have the same sort of the powers as the reborn.\n11:47 PM 11/28/2006 Three more levels to go and I will finish my first Star Wars game. It should have been Phantom Menace, but unfortunately, that CD got damaged and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t play any longer\u0026hellip;just when there were 6 levels remaining. That game was a lot more difficult compared to this game, I felt, because the view is more isometric and not strictly 3rd person. But some of the levels were fantastic, and the puzzles were hard to figure out as well.\nHowever, I like this game better than Phantom Menace, and I cannot wait to get to the end.\n10:13 AM 11/30/2006 Just finished the game. The final level wasn\u0026rsquo;t as difficult as I thought it was. I have been playing a whole lot over the last couple of days and went through the levels pretty quickly. Just when I felt I had enough of the force and lightsabers for a while, I finished the game.\nGreat game play experience along with great audio and soundtracks from the movie, make this one of the best I have played. Now I need to find another game to finish.\nLet\u0026rsquo;s give the force a rest.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/11/02_nowplayingswjediknight2jedioutcast/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been playing this game for a while now. Finished about 10 levels I think. This is one of those rare games where transition from FPS to TPS has been made so seemlessly. I have absolutely no idea why this isn\u0026rsquo;t as popular as Half Life and Quake.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have played Half Life only recently, and while I am not saying that Half Life isn\u0026rsquo;t as good as it\u0026rsquo;s made out to be (it\u0026rsquo;s as good and better), I cannot imagine why Jedi Knight didn\u0026rsquo;t go on to win awards, and why only a little over 10,000 people on GameSpot own the game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Now Playing - Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast"},{"content":"As I am writing this, I am copying Caesar 4 demo from my pen drive to my hard drive. It’s a pretty hefty 446MB download. I told my friend to download this for me last week, and I got it from him tonight.\nI have just about had enough with Caesar 3…after playing until Pro Consul mission; I couldn’t go on any longer. It was too difficult and frustrating. I am hoping that Caesar 4 would retain all the good aspects of the game, and get rid of all that annoyed me immensely in the previous title.\nMINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIRED Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 1.6 GHz or equivalent AMD(R) Athlon(TM) processor or higher Windows(R) 2000/Windows XP Home or Professional (including Service Pack 2 or higher) 512 MB of RAM 64 MB video card (with Hardware T\u0026amp;L including Pixel Shader 1.1 or higher support) 2.0 GB of free hard disk space CD-ROM Drive DirectX(R) 9.0c Mouse Keyboard As it turns out, this game requires a newer version of DirectX, and the DirectX that I have on my machine isn’t the latest, and since I cancelled the DirectX update after the game installation, I have to uninstall the game and reinstall it all over again. Great!\nWell, now that I installed and played the game, or at least tried playing the game on my 6200, I can see why they call this the entry level card. I had to play this game on low-medium settings, and that totally beats the whole point of even playing games let alone this one.\nThis card simply isn’t powerful enough to play this game the way it’s meant to be played, it needs at least a 6600 to give reasonable frame rates.\nThe game on the other hand is brilliant, the graphics requirements are a little high, I mean Doom 3 worked just fine on this same computer, but apart from that, the game has improved quite a lot, and I can say those who have liked Caesar 3, will absolutely love Caesar 4, only problem being, the graphics requirements are high. FX card owners can forget about playing this game…sure, the minimum requirements say that a 64MB card will be enough, but I can assure you, it wouldn’t be worth playing a beauty like Caesar 4 without all the settings on high.\nThe game is completely changed, and is fully 3D, with great textures and fantastic shadow and bloom effects. Only after enabling them, the game plays like a slide show on my computer, but it look absolutely beautiful.\nThe principle of the game is pretty much the same, build a city, reach the ratings, and move on to the next one, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds.\nThere are lots of new structures, beautiful terrain, and other game play improvements. There are too many to tell actually. And what’s more, advancing through housing too is different now, for example, you can directly build a villa instead of building a hut and making it evolve. Like I said lots of changes and improvements in the game, fans of the previous games and the genre will love this one. Just make sure you have a good graphics card though.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/09/2006-09-08-caesar4demo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs I am writing this, I am copying Caesar 4 demo from my pen drive to my hard drive. It’s a pretty hefty 446MB download. I told my friend to download this for me last week, and I got it from him tonight.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have just about had enough with Caesar 3…after playing until Pro Consul mission; I couldn’t go on any longer. It was too difficult and frustrating. I am hoping that Caesar 4 would retain all the good aspects of the game, and get rid of all that annoyed me immensely in the previous title.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Caesar 4 Demo"},{"content":"6:09 PM 8/27/2006 Well, I had see what the fuss was all about, so I finally started playing Half Life. I had this game for over 5 years now, and I played a little bit back then and gave up\u0026hellip;.I can\u0026rsquo;t remember why. Anyway, I started this game a while ago, and I managed to finish quite a bit till now.\nI can imagine why this game became so popular back in 1999. The graphics were really good for its time, after all it\u0026rsquo;s the Quake 2 engine we are talking about! The game play is not repetitive, and the level design is great.\nThe story is really complex though, I am yet to read the whole thing, but I will sometime soon. I found this fantastic site, which has the entire story of the Half Life series so far.\nLink (http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/index.htm)\nI am almost at the end of Residue Processing level. Will update this once I am done with it.\n12:47 PM 11/30/2006 I finished this game a while ago, and I forgot to update the post. That\u0026rsquo;s one more game off the list. Needless to say, but I still have to, the game is flawless, and the ending is really good. I shall look into playing Blue Shoft and Opposing Force as well. But I don\u0026rsquo;t have opposing force, but I will try and get my hands on it somehow.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s over and out for now.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/08/01_nowplayinghalflife/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"609-pm-8272006\"\u003e6:09 PM 8/27/2006\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, I had see what the fuss was all about, so I finally started playing Half Life. I had this game for over 5 years now, and I played a little bit back then and gave up\u0026hellip;.I can\u0026rsquo;t remember why. Anyway, I started this game a while ago, and I managed to finish quite a bit till now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI can imagine why this game became so popular back in 1999. The graphics were really good for its time, after all it\u0026rsquo;s the Quake 2 engine we are talking about! The game play is not repetitive, and the level design is great.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Now Playing - Half-Life"},{"content":" #244321 +(15576) - [X]\nCthon98: hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars Cthon98: ********* see! AzureDiamond: hunter2 AzureDiamond: doesnt look like stars to me Cthon98: AzureDiamond: ******* Cthon98: thats what I see AzureDiamond: oh, really? Cthon98: Absolutely AzureDiamond: you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2 AzureDiamond: haha, does that look funny to you? Cthon98: lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as ******* AzureDiamond: thats neat, I didnt know IRC did that Cthon98: yep, no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as ******* AzureDiamond: awesome! AzureDiamond: wait, how do you know my pw? Cthon98: er, I just copy pasted YOUR ******\u0026#39;s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause its your pw AzureDiamond:oh,ok. #104052 +(14264) - [X]\n\u0026lt;NES\u0026gt; lol \u0026lt;NES\u0026gt; I download something from Napster \u0026lt;NES\u0026gt; And the same guy I downloaded it from starts downloading it from me when I\u0026#39;m done \u0026lt;NES\u0026gt; I message him and say \u0026#34;What are you doing? I just got that from you\u0026#34; \u0026lt;NES\u0026gt; \u0026#34;getting my song back fucker\u0026#34; #334762 +(11383) - [X]\n\u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; I swear to god \u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; I\u0026#39;ve just heard a duck tell a joke \u0026lt;Jock\u0026gt; o...k \u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; there was as group of ducks on a pond near where i live \u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; one of the ducks was quacking away looking straight at a group of like 10 ducks \u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; then he stopped and all the other ducks went mental \u0026lt;UKDJ|Planet\u0026gt; it looked just like duck stand-up comedy ","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/07/2006-07-16-quotesfrombashorg/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bash-org-archive.com/?244321\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  #244321\n\u003c/a\u003e\n +(15576) - [X]\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eCthon98: hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars\nCthon98: ********* see!\nAzureDiamond: hunter2\nAzureDiamond: doesnt look like stars to me\nCthon98: AzureDiamond: *******\nCthon98: thats what I see\nAzureDiamond: oh, really?\nCthon98: Absolutely\nAzureDiamond: you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2\nAzureDiamond: haha, does that look funny to you?\nCthon98: lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as *******\nAzureDiamond: thats neat, I didnt know IRC did that\nCthon98: yep, no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as *******\nAzureDiamond: awesome!\nAzureDiamond: wait, how do you know my pw?\nCthon98: er, I just copy pasted YOUR ******\u0026#39;s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause its your pw\nAzureDiamond:oh,ok.\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bash-org-archive.com/?104052\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\n  #104052\n\u003c/a\u003e\n +(14264) - [X]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Funny Quotes From Bash.org"},{"content":"Life has become busy rather unexpectedly, and I am going to be away from GameSpot for a while. A lot of things have to be done, and I need some time away.\nI will be back very soon though.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2006/06/01_awayforafewdays/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLife has become busy rather unexpectedly, and I am going to be away from GameSpot for a while. A lot of things have to be done, and I need some time away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI will be back very soon though.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Away For a Few Days"},{"content":"3:01 PM 5/27/2006 Started playing Caesar 3 a couple days ago. Theory exams are over and one more lab exam to go, so I found some time, and I am looking to finish the game.\nCurrently in Valentia level, my ranking is Praetor. I have finished the War mission and try to finish the peace mission for the 4th time.\nI have employed a different strategy to complete this mission this time around. Earlier, I used to make one single connected unit and build housing. Now, I am making several individual blocks and making them self sufficient with food, pottery and furniture.\nAs of now, I have over 3000 population. Need 7000 more.\nI think the whole idea behind this level is to build several self sufficient blocks; so that you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to bother about them any longer.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll be looking to take the population to over 4,500 by tonight.\n3:06 AM 6/2/2006 I haven\u0026rsquo;t played the game in a couple of days. By the last time I played the game, I got the population to over 5000 and conditions in the city are fairly stable. I am still building the city on the coastline; except for a few Olive farms and Vines farms, and enough housing to support these, there is not much else in the farm land area.\nI am looking to build the rest of the city in and around this area, and develop the housing to a better level as well. I am going to need so I can get the prosperity rating higher.\nThings got a little hectic at home, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t play game, also my scumbag ISP keeps having some problem or the other, and the internet seems to stop working.\nAh well\u0026hellip;things are getting back to normal.\n4:15 PM 8/27/2006 I officially quit playing this game. I\u0026rsquo;ve had enough of this, and I am never getting back to this\u0026hellip;I hate to give up, but in this case, I am glad to admit that I am defeated. This game is too difficult for me.\nFirst published on GameSpot. This post is published on Apr 10, 2026 Friday 08:28:41 AM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/05/2006-05-25-nowplayingcaesar3/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"301-pm-5272006\"\u003e3:01 PM 5/27/2006\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStarted playing Caesar 3 a couple days ago. Theory exams are over and one more lab exam to go, so I found some time, and I am looking to finish the game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCurrently in Valentia level, my ranking is Praetor. I have finished the War mission and try to finish the peace mission for the 4th time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have employed a different strategy to complete this mission this time around. Earlier, I used to make one single connected unit and build housing. Now, I am making several individual blocks and making them self sufficient with food, pottery and furniture.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Now Playing - Caesar 3"},{"content":"Hmmm\u0026hellip;made it\u0026hellip;Ikari Warrior it says\u0026hellip;wonder what that means\u0026hellip;\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2006/05/05_level9/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHmmm\u0026hellip;made it\u0026hellip;Ikari Warrior it says\u0026hellip;wonder what that means\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Level 9 - Ikari Warrior"},{"content":"Yep. It\u0026rsquo;s been consoles all over the place this year, so this is some consolation for PC gamers.\nhttp://www.actiontrip.com/features/e32006babes.phtml\nGameSpot is too busy covering console games on E3 and I have been waiting for ActionTrip to publish these. Enjoy :)\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/05/04_gamespotpccoverage/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYep. It\u0026rsquo;s been consoles all over the place this year, so this is some consolation for PC gamers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.actiontrip.com/features/e32006babes.phtml\"\u003ehttp://www.actiontrip.com/features/e32006babes.phtml\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGameSpot is too busy covering console games on E3 and I have been waiting for ActionTrip to publish these. Enjoy :)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"E3 Coverage on GameSpot"},{"content":"active until after May 20th. Because that\u0026rsquo;s when my exams end. I have joined a few unions till now, but contributed nothing.\nHowever, it\u0026rsquo;s just a matter of two weeks. Hope I do well in my exams!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2006/05/03_cannotbeactive/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eactive until after May 20th. Because that\u0026rsquo;s when my exams end. I have joined a few unions till now, but contributed nothing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, it\u0026rsquo;s just a matter of two weeks. Hope I do well in my exams!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Cannot Be"},{"content":" US rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers have hit out at a music \u0026ldquo;pirate\u0026rdquo; who leaked their new album, Stadium Arcadium, onto the internet.\nBass player Michael \u0026ldquo;Flea\u0026rdquo; Balzary said the group would be heartbroken if fans downloaded it illegally before its official release.\nStadium Arcadium, the band\u0026rsquo;s first studio album in four years, is due to go on sale next week.\nA spokeswoman for the band said she did not know who leaked the album.\n\u0026lsquo;Poor quality\u0026rsquo;\nIn a letter on the band\u0026rsquo;s website, Flea wrote: \u0026ldquo;For people to just steal a poor sound quality version of it for free because some **** stole it and put it on the internet is sad to me.\n\u0026ldquo;I cannot put in words how much this record means to us, how sacred the sound of it is to us, and how many sleepless nights and hardworking days we all had thinking about how to make it be the best sounding thing we could.\n\u0026ldquo;Now for someone to take it and put it out there with this poor sound quality it is a painful pill for us to swallow.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis and U2 are among the other stars who have fallen victim to internet leaks.\nFalling CD sales have been blamed on piracy but an industry campaign to prosecute illegal uploaders has struggled to contain the problem.\nIn the US, people who copy music and films before their official release date face up to 11 years in prison under the 2005 Family Entertainment and Copyright Act.\nhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4972790.stm\nDamn! To think that the album is out on filesharing networks even before it\u0026rsquo;s actually released\u0026hellip;.these pirates work really fast!\nNow, I have been thinking. No doubt the members of the band are really mad, but here is some consolation, well, in a twisted way at least.\nA lot of people who download music illegally over the internet, never actually have the intention of buying the original records. They download it because it\u0026rsquo;s there, and it costs them nothing but bandwidth. Now, I am not saying that’s the case with everyone, but I think we can safely assume that most people think that way when they pirate music, software etc.\nI’ll give you an example. I’ve got friends who are living in US. When one of them had come to India, he was surprised to find that DVDs of all the latest movies are available here (pirated of course) for as low as 99/- ($2.20). He bought some movies like ‘For a few dollars more’, ‘Enter the dragon’ etc. Now this guy is a huge Star Wars fan, and there were Star Wars DVDs available for the same price. But he never bought them.\nHe went back to US and bought the whole set of DVDs for something like $70 (3,140.20/-). He could have easily bought the set for about 500/- ($11.14), but he didn’t, because he says he is loyal Star Wars fan and wouldn’t mind spending as much money on DVDs.\nAnd that makes sense, to me at least. While I am not supporting piracy at all, I am just looking away from the legal and moral aspects of it.\nIt’s like I wouldn’t ever go the theatre and watch Uwe Boll’s masterpiece ‘Alone in the dark’, but give me a chance to download the movie and check out how bad it actually is; I might just. And frankly, in this case, Uwe Boll shouldn’t be complaining. The fact that someone is watching his movie, pirated as it maybe, should make the man very happy.\nBut without going off on a tangent here, I’ll just say that while piracy is very much illegal and it costs a lot of money to the industry, I don’t think it’s as bad as it’s made out to be, for a simple reason that most pirates out there never have any intention of buying legitimate material in the first place.\nSure it’s twisted and might sound really stupid, but it’s true.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/05/02_rhcpalbumleak/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"italic-block\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUS rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers have hit out at a music \u0026ldquo;pirate\u0026rdquo; who leaked their new album, Stadium Arcadium, onto the internet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBass player Michael \u0026ldquo;Flea\u0026rdquo; Balzary said the group would be heartbroken if fans downloaded it illegally before its official release.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStadium Arcadium, the band\u0026rsquo;s first studio album in four years, is due to go on sale next week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA spokeswoman for the band said she did not know who leaked the album.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Chili  Peppers Angry At Album Leak"},{"content":"my level drops from 8 to 00\u0026hellip;\nI wonder if it\u0026rsquo;s something I did\u0026hellip;ah well\u0026hellip;\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/drafts/2006/05/01_leveldrop/","summary":"\u003cp\u003emy level drops from 8 to 00\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wonder if it\u0026rsquo;s something I did\u0026hellip;ah well\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"All of a Sudden"},{"content":"has really insane system requirements.\nMinimal configurations to play the demo are:\nPentium IV 2Ghz Windows XP/2000 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6/7 or ATI® Radeon® 9600-9800/X 1024 MB RAM and 5 GB of hard drive space 5GB for a demo?? Damn\u0026hellip;the consoles are ruining the PC. Clearly this game is designed for the consoles in mind, and the code is not optimized for PC.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/04/04_ghostrecondemo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ehas really insane system requirements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMinimal configurations to play the demo are:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003ePentium IV 2Ghz\nWindows XP/2000\nNVIDIA® GeForce™ 6/7 or ATI® Radeon® 9600-9800/X\n1024 MB RAM and 5 GB of hard drive space\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5GB for a demo?? Damn\u0026hellip;the consoles are ruining the PC. Clearly this game is designed for the consoles in mind, and the code is not optimized for PC.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst published on GameSpot\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ghost Recon Demo"},{"content":"I am not uspposed to be here until after May 20th\u0026hellip;supposed to be studying, but life never goes on as we want it to, right? So yeah, in spite of having an exam tomorrow, I am here updating my blog. Compulsive? I don\u0026rsquo;t know. Bored out of my skin? Certainly.\nWell, when I am here, I may as well be cheerful. There is no point in whining too much. We all have problems, so nothing new there.\nI have just discovered that the demo of Desperados 2 is out! Good news indeed. Bad news is, its 406MB. It’s going to take a while to download it. I don’t know if I should download it, or wait until it’s out on DVD which comes along with the monthly computer magazines.\nHere in India, we don’t have a lot of gaming magazines, so getting hold of the latest demos is a little difficult. I have not decided yet…I think I will wait until my exams are over to download the demo. It’s very unlikely that the demo of this game would be out next month on DVD.\nI haven’t been playing any games lately. Except the demo of Need For Speed Most Wanted – my 7 year old cousin wants me to play it at least once a day.\nI am seriously thinking about resuming Caesar 3 again, once my exams are over that is. Two more levels to go before I finish the game…I just want to be done with it. I hate leaving games unfinished.\nHmm…that’s about all for now.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/04/03_whatcanisay/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am not uspposed to be here until after May 20th\u0026hellip;supposed to be studying, but life never goes on as we want it to, right? So yeah, in spite of having an exam tomorrow, I am here updating my blog. Compulsive? I don\u0026rsquo;t know. Bored out of my skin? Certainly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, when I am here, I may as well be cheerful. There is no point in whining too much. We all have problems, so nothing new there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Can I Say?"},{"content":"Exams are starting from next week, and my preparation hasn’t been very satisfactory, so I am going to be away from the PC for a while. I will be back online once again after May 20th, the last day of my semester exams.\nI just want to be done with studies before I do some serious gaming. You know what they say, work hard, play harder!\nGoodbye until May 20th!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/04/02_takingbreak/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eExams are starting from next week, and my preparation hasn’t been very satisfactory, so I am going to be away from the PC for a while. I will be back online once again after May 20th, the last day of my semester exams.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI just want to be done with studies before I do some serious gaming. You know what they say, work hard, play harder!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGoodbye until May 20th!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taking a Break"},{"content":"Tested on: Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz with 800MHz FSB Intel 865GBF XFX GeForce 6200 256MB RAM 1 GB DDR RAM @ 400MHz 80GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive 17” LG monitor Creative SBS 5.1 Played with standard keyboard and mouse; as well as with Saitek rumble force game controller. After waiting for almost 3 years since the release of Angel of Darkness, most gamers finally get to play the official demo of Tomb Raider Legend.\nEven before I go ahead with my review, I will say that Crystal Dynamics have done a great job, and judging from the demo, we have a very solid game on our hands here. So yes, my verdict is the game is very good.\nI was quite excited to try this game, and I downloaded from Action Trip’s FTP overnight. I got a decent 30k download speed through out, and I was able to finish the download in about 4½ hours.\nThe into video sequence is pretty good, showing a lot of different locations in which the game is set, very polished.\nThe menu isn’t the traditional passport anymore; something I hoped would make a return but didn’t however it’s not a complaint, just an observation.\nNow for the game itself, I played the game on 1024*768 resolution with 2x Anisotropic filtering enabled, and shadows turned off. I had no problems whatsoever. The demo doesn’t have the next generation content enabled, so there was no way I could test that. But I would think it would be rather painful to watch this game with the next generation content on my computer, I am quite convinced that my GPU will struggle to keep up if at all.\nThe game play is still quite similar to the old Tomb Raider games with a lot of emphasis on exploring, and solving puzzles, and a bit of action thrown in here and there. However, the this isn’t the traditional 3rd person Tomb Raider we knew.\nPrince of Persia 3D, released in 1999, was modeled after Tomb Raider, now Tomb Raider Legend is returning the favor. The control is just like the later versions of Prince of Persia. And frankly, I would have preferred the old style, but I don’t think it would have been possible to perform those insane stunts with a stationary camera. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the camera isn’t good, it’s just that I am used to the old style of gaming.\nGetting used to the new controls and camera isn’t all that difficult. Sure, there will be these odd times when you go wrong, but that doesn’t happen too often; not unless you are a particularly bad gamer.\nThe moves of Lara Croft are much better, not like the old games, where the response time of the character is pretty slow. The engine is quite easy to control, and I never got any feeling that it was sluggish, it was very smooth and easy to control once you get the hang of it.\nThe learning curve isn’t high at all. It wouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes to get used to the game. It’s very intuitive, and easy. However, I had a lot of problem controlling the movement of the camera with my game controller. I guess I am just not good at it. I could never set the camera the way I wanted it to be, something I could easily do with the mouse. However, whether or not this game is good with the game controller, I don’t know. I am not a console gamer, and I use my controller only play racing games.\nNow for the best part – graphics. I don’t know if a lot of people would share my sentiments about this, but the way I would describe the graphics in the demo level would be pretty, very pretty.\nThe demo level starts with a cinematic of Lara hanging on the ledge of a mountain, Mission: Impossible 2 style. After doing some really ‘impossible’ stunts to get to the rock platform, the game begins.\nThe location is very picturesque, with really excellent water effects. This is the best looking Tomb Raider – undoubtedly. And it does require a powerful GPU to enable all the eye candy. While I turned off the shadows, I didn’t really miss themJ. The game was looking that good. And Lara is glistening wet when she gets out of the water, with water dripping off her clothes. Very sweet. The particle effects are really good, and there was no drop in frame rate at all. So all in all, graphics are top notch, and while doesn’t require a 512MB 7800 to run this game, it does require a GeForce 6 series card at least. FX cards would struggle to keep up.\nI am yet to test this game on my 5500, but I will do so soon enough.\nThe sound is pretty good, no complaints there. The effects are well done, and the voice acting is good, and clear, unlike in Tomb Raider 3, where I had to strain to hear what was being said.\nI had a feeling that the AI isn’t all that good. The enemies don’t always react instantly. There were two guards standing next to each other turned away from me. I started firing at one of them, and the other one didn’t react for a while. I don’t know if this is going to be the case in the full version of the game, I hope it wouldn’t.\nThe puzzles are extremely good. I have to say that. Without giving away too much, the demo does have a very unique puzzle right at the very end of the game, and this is something that was never done before in any of the Tomb Raider games. And then of course, there are these standard puzzles, moving blocks, rolling stones off the ledge etc. It’s those physics puzzles as I wish to call that have impressed me the most.\nThe traps aren’t all that tough to negotiate, but they do spring a surprise. And often it requires the use of the grappling hook to get out of a tough spot. Once again in where it requires the use of different actions quickly, the intuitive controls make the passage very smooth. It does take a little learning though, little mind you.\nAnd the end of it all, I am a very satisfied person. I am glad that Tomb Raider has returned as a solid game with great visuals, and sound; and most importantly with better controls.\nWell done!\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/04/2006-04-02-tombraiderlegenddemo/","summary":"\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eTested on:\nIntel Pentium 4 3.0GHz with 800MHz FSB\nIntel 865GBF\nXFX GeForce 6200 256MB RAM\n1 GB DDR RAM @ 400MHz\n80GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive\n17” LG monitor\nCreative SBS 5.1\nPlayed with standard keyboard and mouse; as well as with Saitek rumble force game controller.\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter waiting for almost 3 years since the release of Angel of Darkness, most gamers finally get to play the official demo of Tomb Raider Legend.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tomb Raider Legend Demo Review"},{"content":"I upgraded my internet connection to 256Kbps, I get a decent download speed of up to 32KBps, but here is the problem, I get to access internet only from 10PM to 8AM.\nHowever, I still prefer this plan because I am not at home most of the time in the morning anyway, and there is another computer upstairs that is connected to the internet so I can check my email in the evening if I have to.\nI think I would now be able to play Quake 3 online without too much of a lag. Looking forward to that :D\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/07_connectionupgrade/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI upgraded my internet connection to 256Kbps, I get a decent download speed of up to 32KBps, but here is the problem, I get to access internet only from 10PM to 8AM.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, I still prefer this plan because I am not at home most of the time in the morning anyway, and there is another computer upstairs that is connected to the internet so I can check my email in the evening if I have to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Connection Upgrade"},{"content":"While, I don\u0026rsquo;t agree with software and movie piracy, I think differently for music.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll tell you the reason why I do so. To the best of my knowledge, musicians make most of their money from concerts and endorsements. So if you are downloading the latest Green Day\u0026rsquo;s song from the internet, chances are that it will not effect them at all. Bear in mind that this don\u0026rsquo;t make downloading any less illegal.\nSo more often than not, its not the artists but the record label companies who have a problem with P2P, BitTorrent etc.\nMy view might seem very twisted, but reading ahead might make it more sensible.\nThere are several Indie Rock groups like Interpol, The Bravery, who are not mainstream artists, and P2P makes it possible for them to reach a wide audience. Had it not been for P2P, I would never have heard of The Bravery, and their awesome song - Fearless.\nSo sharing music over P2P is not always bad\u0026hellip;illegal as it maybe. I do not download mainstream music over the internet, never, but I do download music of Indie Rock groups.\nPersonally, I feel that the record companies are far from being broke, they make their money in millions, so P2P really won\u0026rsquo;t hurt them so to speak. I am not saying it makes distrubution of copyright material is legal, in fact, I firmly believe in buying original software, even if it is expensive - but with regards to music, I think it\u0026rsquo;s not so much about right or worng, there are a lot of grey areas. I perfer to look at the \u0026lsquo;right\u0026rsquo; aspect rather than the \u0026lsquo;correct\u0026rsquo; aspect.\nAnd musicians make all their money from concerts and endorsements anyway :D\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/06_piracy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile, I don\u0026rsquo;t agree with software and movie piracy, I think differently for music.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ll tell you the reason why I do so. To the best of my knowledge, musicians make most of their money from concerts and endorsements. So if you are downloading the latest Green Day\u0026rsquo;s song from the internet, chances are that it will not effect them at all. Bear in mind that this don\u0026rsquo;t make downloading any less illegal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Piracy"},{"content":"Speaking personally, developments over the last few months have been quite grim.\nPC hardware is changing like never before. And with the release of Windows Vista, a complete change in computer lifestyle seems inevitable.\nBut that question that has been nagging me, how long can Windows XP last?\nVista is bringing with a vast number of changes, and I am not too sure I can keep up with this change. Rumor has it that the operating system is going to cost anywhere between $400-$500, convert that into Indian money, and it\u0026rsquo;s an insane price range of 17,710 - 22,137.50 Rupees. I could buy a new computer with that price!\nHowever, the price might well justify the quality of the product. But if the price is anywhere close to those figures, I will have to stay with Windows XP for a long time.\nI have used Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, and I liked XP the best. I am so very comfortable with it right now, that even the promise of a better operating system will not convince me easily to migrate.\nMicrosoft have withdrawn support for Windows 98, I don\u0026rsquo;t know when this has happened, but it did. However, I believe there is still support for Windows 2000 and XP.\nI hope it stays that way for a long time to come, becuase Windows XP is Microsoft\u0026rsquo;s best operating system to date, and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want it to be outdated anytime soon.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/05_windowsxp/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpeaking personally, developments over the last few months have been quite grim.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePC hardware is changing like never before. And with the release of Windows Vista, a complete change in computer lifestyle seems inevitable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut that question that has been nagging me, how long can Windows XP last?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVista is bringing with a vast number of changes, and I am not too sure I can keep up with this change. Rumor has it that the operating system is going to cost anywhere between $400-$500, convert that into Indian money, and it\u0026rsquo;s an insane price range of 17,710 - 22,137.50 Rupees. I could buy a new computer with that price!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How Long Will Windows XP Last?"},{"content":"I finally got the speakers that I wanted for a long time now. Creative 5.1.\nThese speakers are amazing. The previous speakers I had, Intex 4.1 2600W PMPO, were decent, but to get the best out of gaming audio experience, they really were not good enough.\nSetting up the speakers is a bit of a task, it took me a while to get everything done. And after configuring the audio driver, I played Green Day\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;Boulevard of broken dreams\u0026rsquo;. It was something else.\nI wonder how it would be like, play Doom 3 on my PC now, with dim lights in my room. It\u0026rsquo;s going to be pretty scary, that\u0026rsquo;s for sure.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/04_creativespeakers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finally got the speakers that I wanted for a long time now. Creative 5.1.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese speakers are amazing. The previous speakers I had, Intex 4.1 2600W PMPO, were decent, but to get the best out of gaming audio experience, they really were not good enough.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSetting up the speakers is a bit of a task, it took me a while to get everything done. And after configuring the audio driver, I played Green Day\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;Boulevard of broken dreams\u0026rsquo;. It was something else.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Creative Speakers"},{"content":"After what has been a hectic week, I am back to normal again\u0026hellip;going out in the evening with friends, listening to music, playing games, you know the rest - the good life :)\nThere are still some aspects about my college that are extremely infuriating, but for now, I don\u0026rsquo;t have to think about them. I am taking the next week off from college, and planning to get some studying done. I know that doesn\u0026rsquo;t make too much sense, but going to college is hardly any good as far as studying is concerned; going there is just a formality - nothing good can possibly come out of it. But it has to be done. However, there is a twisted solution for a twisted system.\nI am going to be 23 next monday - I don\u0026rsquo;t know if I should be happy or concerned. but I\u0026rsquo;d like to think that I am doing the right thing. However only time will tell.\nComing back to games; something I am really passionate about, I am buying a Creative 5.1 Soundworks spakers today. They are going to cost me a bomb, but, I think they are totally worth it. Can\u0026rsquo;t wait to listen to \u0026lsquo;Ich Will \u0026rsquo; when I get them :D\nAnd I am going to resume where I left off, probably try and finish GTA 3. But that\u0026rsquo;s about all for now.\nUntil later, it\u0026rsquo;s goodbye.\nFirst published on GameSpot\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/03_muchneededbreak/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter what has been a hectic week, I am back to normal again\u0026hellip;going out in the evening with friends, listening to music, playing games, you know the rest - the good life :)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are still some aspects about my college that are extremely infuriating, but for now, I don\u0026rsquo;t have to think about them. I am taking the next week off from college, and planning to get some studying done. I know that doesn\u0026rsquo;t make too much sense, but going to college is hardly any good as far as studying is concerned; going there is just a formality - nothing good can possibly come out of it. But it has to be done. However, there is a twisted solution for a twisted system.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A much needed break"},{"content":"3/11/2006 9:33:58 PM As of now, I am trying to balance between studying, gaming, exercise, social life, and internet life. I really need to prioritize everything.\nI have exams next week and as ever I have no inclination to study, I don’t know what\u0026rsquo;s gotten into me; I didn’t have this problem before. I hope I can work it out somehow.\nI didn’t make too much use of today, I should have studied a lot more than I did, but then, I did get a start, and looking at things on the bright side, if I should carry on from here, I don’t have too much to worry about.\nI hope, I can make tonight count. Because I got up pretty late today, I want to study through the night – it’s something I have done in the past, but not recently. I need to get back to old habits of studying for long hours.\nI have become quite lazy over the last few months – not good.\nI need to exercise as well. I did my share of crunches today, so I am happy about that, and I want to keep it going. Consistency and planning are the key, I feel. I hope I can get it right.\nLike I said, I want to study hard, exercise hard, and play harder! Good luck to me :D\nFirst published on GameSpot. This post is published on Apr 04, 2026 Sunday 10:18:00 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/02_strikingabalance/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"3112006-93358-pm\"\u003e3/11/2006 9:33:58 PM\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs of now, I am trying to balance between studying, gaming, exercise, social life, and internet life. I really need to prioritize everything.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have exams next week and as ever I have no inclination to study, I don’t know what\u0026rsquo;s gotten into me; I didn’t have this problem before. I hope I can work it out somehow.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI didn’t make too much use of today, I should have studied a lot more than I did, but then, I did get a start, and looking at things on the bright side, if I should carry on from here, I don’t have too much to worry about.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Striking a Balance"},{"content":"I intend to write about the games that I am currently playing. I want to record my progress, and my thoughts through out the games that I play.\n10:48 PM 3/10/2006 Currently playing GTA 3. I finished \u0026lsquo;Espresso-2-go\u0026rsquo; missions today. Two more missions to go till the end of the game. I think I played this gamer for about 2 months, not too sure, but it\u0026rsquo;s certainly addictive.\nThis is one of those few games which have a very high replay value. Some of the missions are quite frustrating, at least that\u0026rsquo;s what I felt, but over all, this happens to be a great game.\nSure enough, it has a lot of voilence, and it\u0026rsquo;s certainly not for everyone, because there is offensive language, but in a way, it\u0026rsquo;s only appropriate.\nAll in all, I think the makers got everything just right. And as the popular saying goes, you are only as voilent as you want to be.\n9:04 AM 3/11/2006 I intend to find more hidden packages before I go on to finish the game. I think I found about 62 of them, I want to make it to a 100. Very ambitious, but with a good walkthrough in hand, I don\u0026rsquo;t think it\u0026rsquo;s going to be very difficult :D\n9:27 AM 3/11/2006 Found one more hidden package in Portland, increasing the count to 63. I am too lazy to find the rest now, I think I shall go get some sleep. I will probably get back to this game at night. For now, I want to sleep for a hour and then start studying.\n2:28 PM 3/11/2006 Found one more hidden package. I\u0026rsquo;ll play this game at night again. For now, I really should get back to studying, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to be failing my exams I have next week. As the saying goes - Study hard, play harder!\n10:20 PM 3/11/2006 3 more hidden pacjages in Staunton Island! Got to study now!\n1:01 PM 3/12/2006 Finally made it to 70 hidden packages, and also earned quite a tidy some sum through Taxi missions as well. I want to find 10 more hidden packages, so I could get the Sniper, looks like I am going to need it in the last level of the game\n10:01 PM 3/21/2006 Did some random driving in the city, made some money by exploding some cars, stunts, and by accidently driving over people.\nI attempted the mission called S.A.M, the penultimate mission of the game, and failed at the very ending by drowning. However, this mission isn\u0026rsquo;t all that difficult, and I feel I should get it right the next time I attempt it.\nI am not looking forward to playing the last mission of the game. That mission seems to be very difficult. I have just read the walkthrough. Apparently, I am going to lose all the weapons I have. Ah well\u0026hellip;\n6:40 AM 3/22/2006 Played and finished S.A.M mission but a the expense of my bulletproof patriot.\nThe stupidest thing happened, I finished the entire misison, and I was making my way back to my hideout from the construction site, and during my misguided attempt to drive carefully, the car overturned. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I am going to need this vehicle for the last mission, but I would still like to have it.\nPerhaps I\u0026rsquo;ll replay the mission.\n2:58 AM 3/28/2006 Finished the game a couple of days ago. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t update this post ealier because of my internet.\nAll I can say is, broadband in India is a joke.\nBut, I am done with GTA 3 now, I don\u0026rsquo;t know what I am going to play next, there are a few games on my mind, I want to finish a praticularly hard mission in Caesar 3; which I have been trying for about a year now.\nWell, I\u0026rsquo;ll close this post for now, until I being my next game, or resume as the case may be, it\u0026rsquo;s good bye!\nFirst published on GameSpot. This post is published on Apr 04, 2026 Sunday 10:18:00 PM CDT\n","permalink":"https://blog.alinuxuser.com/posts/2006/03/01_nowplayinggta3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI intend to write about the games that I am currently playing. I want to record my progress, and my thoughts through out the games that I play.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"1048-pm-3102006\"\u003e10:48 PM 3/10/2006\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCurrently playing GTA 3. I finished \u0026lsquo;Espresso-2-go\u0026rsquo; missions today. Two more missions to go till the end of the game. I think I played this gamer for about 2 months, not too sure, but it\u0026rsquo;s certainly addictive.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of those few games which have a very high replay value. Some of the missions are quite frustrating, at least that\u0026rsquo;s what I felt, but over all, this happens to be a great game.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Now Playing - GTA 3"}]