So, I make a lot of noise in the back ground during the podcast, so I thought it would be a good idea to show the viewers what makes these noises. So, here is a video assembled at about 3:10AM.
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/DarkChaoMan75/?action=view¤t=Noises.flv
(Sorry for the link, the HTML is not working for me right now)
And, yes, I was stoned.
-Brendan
Yeah, I’m not around to participate in the wonders of Podcasting, I am here to write incoherant rants about stuff no one cares about.
So, as many of you probably guessed, I am in Boston, staying at an Hilton Garden Inn. The rooms are well kept, and the staff is nice. (Migule FTW!) 
I am off to Fenway Park here in a few minutes. After nearly getting my plane diverted, it is nice to be able to go relax, and enjoy at Coke and a Hotdog.
About me nearly getting my plane diverted, 4 words - Bomberman for the DS. I rented it from GameFly at the last moment, and totally unaware that you have the speak the word “Bomb” into the mic to drop a bomb in the game. Needless to say, “bomb” is not on the list of words that you should say while you are on a airplane.
So, I’m typing from a buissness lounge, and there is a growing mob for the use of the computer, so I have to run, and I am also going to steal this chair that I am sitting in, mad comfy.
Peace - Brendan
Civilization Revolution
Pros
- A lot of the micro management is taken out.
- The controls are simple and well thought out.
- Interface is simple and intuitive.
Cons
-Games take only 3-4 hours to complete.
- Difficulty ramps up a little too suddenly.
-Warrior vs. Tanks, why do warriors win?
(Note: This is for the Xbox 360 and singleplayer only)
Sid Meier is known for making great games (well other then Sid Meiers Pirate’s) and he does not disappoint with his newest addition to the Civilization franchise. Civilization Revolution is the newest addition to Meiers beloved franchise and is the first of the Civilization franchise to be on home consoles. From top to bottom the game has been over hauled to look and feel like a slimmed down and easier version of Civilization. And overall its one damn fun game!
The game of Civilization is rather simple, through one of many ways dominate the globe and become the dominate Civilization. In Revolution the game slims it down to just four, economic, technologic, cultural, or military. While each is easy and fun to do, the game does have a slight leaning towards the use of military might. While it isn’t a big game altering problem it still feels like Fireaxis could have balanced the win conditions a little better. One of the better additions to the game is the ability to switch strategies on the fly. You don’t have to stick with one plan to win, and you can instead change the conditions of your civilizations within mere seconds. For example, if you have been taking a more economic path and you realize war has been declared against you, you can switch up to a more military driven society in seconds.
One of the other great additions to the game is a flawless control scheme. The game maps all of your cities on the right bumper (Xbox 360) making it easy to scroll through your cities to change build orders or prioritizes workers to certain jobs. With this simple control scheme comes a couple of little problems. Some of the higher level micro management you could do in the original Civilization have been left to the control of the computer instead, keeping you from asserting any control over them. Not to say this is change is a bad addition; however, it may be a bit of a disappointment to the more hardcore Civilization players who are used to having such a high level of control.
One of the other neat additions to the game is the size, the game just has a standard size that they neither improve nor disprove. The scale of the game stays great throughout; with on 6 players on the map the game never gets out of hand like Civilization on the PC. The games take up to 4-5 hours to complete (depending on what kind of victory you’re aiming for). But with some many different Civilizations and victory conditions you could probably plays this game for 40+ hours.
One of the many other strengths of the game is its AI, while easily manipulated it still is smart enough to know your plans. While on the lower levels of the game they can be over come later on (on say oh… King) they seem to read your mind. They feel like their always one step ahead of you and sometimes a little too much so. The one complaint I would label against the game is the incredibly hard AI curve. The lower levels of the AI are manageable, such as chieftain and warlord. However, the later difficulties can be very overwhelming. The 12 or so time I attempted on King Difficulty I was usually wiped out in less the 10 turns which can be frustrating.
Overall Civilization Revolution is a great addition to a long time beloved franchise, while different in many aspects it still feels like a nice slimed down version of its PC predecessor. While it may have a few slights (Warriors vs. Tanks and Warriors win?) it still is an enjoyable game to anyone vaguely interested in Strategy games or god game of any sort.
Final verdict:
“Sid Meier hits it out of the park with this brand new addition to an already beloved franchise”
-Adam
Ya, I am really bored.
We here at Up Down Left Right would like to apolgize for are absents in the podcast sphere and hope to get a show together soon. In the meantime I would like to inform all of are fans or listeners or whatever that as of September Up Down Left Right should have both gameplay videos and video reviews thanks to Easy Cap.
Other then this momentous news I thought I should announce that I will be reviewing Civilization Revoultions and Soul Caliber 4 (look for those next week). So sorry for the delay but things have been a little crazy and we hope to get back on track soon.
-Adam
1. Livin in the City by Fear
2. Injustice System by Sick of it All
3. Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam
4. Runnin With the Devil by Van Halen
5. Keep Fishin by Weezer
6. Where the Streets Have No Names by U2
7. Don’t Call me White by NOFX
8. Salad Days by Minor Threat
9. Rock the Casbah by the Clash
10. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed by The Allman Brothers
11. Banquet by Bloc Party
12. Soul Man by Sam and Dave (Blues Brothers Cover Version)
13. Leave the Light On by Brothers Past
14. Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
15. Robot Rock by Daft Punk
16. Waiting Room by Fugazi
17. Red House by Jimi Hendrix
18. Omerta by Lamb of God
19. One Arm Scissor by At the Drive-In
20. Wax Simulacra by the Mars Volta]
21. Holy Wars by Megadeth
22. The Impression That I Get by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
23. Dashboard by Modest Mouse
24. Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
25. Intro/ Cartridge In the Chamber by Rise Against
26. Holiday In the Sun by Sex Pistols
27. Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
28. Seventeen Years by Ratatat
29. Sellout by Reel Big Fish
30. Small Print by Muse
31. Leeches by In Flames
32. Chemical Warfare by The Dead Kennedys
33. Crooked Teeth by Death Cab for Cutie
34. Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
35. Angel of Death by Slayer
36. Knowledge by Operation Ivy
37. Yesterday by Muster Plug
38. TV Party by Black Flag
39. Battle for Evermore by Led Zeppelin
40. Bleeding In a Cab by New Loud Rockets
By: Adam
Call of Duty 4 is one of the best games to be released in recent years and offers possibly the greatest online mulitplayer of this generation.
Pros:
Cons:
Call of Duty 4 is the return to Infinity Ward’s work on the series and leaves World War II in the past to take on the modern world. In this installment of Call of Duty you will experience the battles of a fictional conflict that could trigger World War III or a nuclear holocaust, it is your job to prevent this from happening. Missions vary from infiltrating a Russian freighter to the fire fights in the middle east.
The game begins with you playing as a prisoner being dragged to a car and being driven off as you part of the game’s plot is revealed through hearing a speech that is being broadcasted. This mission does not last long and ends with you being executed, triggering an invansion by the US and it’s allies. This is where the fun starts.
Your first proper mission involves you and your team, a highly trained SAS strike force, infiltrating a Russian cargo ship that is out at sea. This mission offers intense close quarters combat that kicks off the game’s non stop campaign of Call of Duty 4. From here you discover what you were sent there for and what the crew had been trying to protect. I will refrain from spoiling anything in this review. From here you will enter the role of an American marine fighting in the middle east and you will switch between the marine and the SAS soldier throughout the story. The only draw back to the game’s campaign is that it is fairly short, but for what you will experience it is well worth it.
The gameplay controls much like the other Call of Duty games, with a few additions. You use the left trigger to aim through the gun’s iron site and use the two bumpers to throw grenades. These controls are very responsive and work well throughout the entire game, as well as when your playing online. The shooting is very realistic and adds a new dimension to the combat.
There are plenty of guns at your disposal throughout the game, anything from assault rifles, sniper rifles, submachine, heavy machine guns, and pistols. As well as a variety of explosive devices. All of these guns can be found in the single player campaign as well as in the online multiplayer, offering different strategic elements depending on how you want to play.
Call of Duty has been known for it’s online multiplayer and the fourth installment takes it all to the next level of greatness. Call of Duty 4 is possibly the greatest multiplayer game on any console, still holding strong after its release date late last year, and may be the best online shooter of this generation. The game offers a class creation option that allows you to mix and match different guns and perks to fit your style of gameplay. Perks are gameplay tweaks that give you an advantage by giving you more health or allow you to do more damage for example. You progress through a series of ranks that unlock new weapons and perks for you to customize classes with. There is a variety of game modes that all offer different kinds of gameplay. These modes include the usual team and solo deathmatch options to modes such search and destroy, sabotage, and domination.
Search and destroy is a team based game mode that is similar to Counter-Strike where one team must plant a bomb and the other must defend the area. Sabotage is much like search and destroy except the bomb is located in the middle of the map and the two teams must fight to control it. Once a team has the bomb they must plant it at the other team’s base. Domination is another team based game mode where the teams must fight for three different control points spread across the map.
What makes Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer so replayable is the Prestige Mode. This mode allows players to go through all of the ranks once again starting from scratch. This option is available up to ten times and each Prestige Mode gives the player a new rank emblem. Each emblem shows off your experience and how far you have gone in the Prestige Mode.
Call of Duty 4 is possibly the greatest game to come out in recent years and offers some of the best multiplayer seen in any shooter. The game’s campaign is fairly short, but what you experience is still more than what many other games offer. Call of Duty’s plot is very engaging and action packed, never letting up at one moment. Combined with the amazing online multiplayer and a gripping single player campaign, Call of Duty 4 is one of the best games of this generation.
Hello all and fellow podcasters!
I have returned after a little time off dude to technical issues with my computer, thus the reason why I was not able to be on the most recent (and very entertaining if I might add) Up Down Left Right A B Start podcast. That probably has to be one of the best episodes ever recorded to date, congrats guys.
We have a new addition to the crew, Corey and I would like to use this to quick post to welcome him into our ranks. It seems we have a new intern so be prepared to do our bidding and I guess this means Brendan isn’t on point anymore for Left 4 Dead.
I don’t have much else to say, I just wanted to let everyone know that I did not bail out of working on the site. I fixed my computer issues and I am excited to get back to podcasting and what ever it is we do on this crazy site.
I guess I’m gonna go back to playing Flight Simulator 98
-Frank
In recent weeks there has been some controversy surrounding the upcoming title Too Human. Much has been said about this game and most of it has been negative, even though nobody has had to chance to actually play the game until a few days ago.
The demo hit Xbox Live just a few days ago during the madness of E3 and hour long Skype rants. From what I had heard from my co-writers the game was a total let down, but not being the kind of person to base my own opinions off of the thoughts of others I checked the demo out. When the download reached 100% I was eager to see what was in store for me.
As I was presented with the class selection screen I scrolled through the various selections and finally selected the only playable class in the demo. Once that was done with the game’s story was introduced and the fun began. Yes I said fun, the demo was quite good. After hearing so much negative feedback I found myself surprised.
At first I found the control system a little clunky and annoying, but once I had it down everything went smoothly and I was bashing robot goblins in no time. Controlling the combat with the right thumbstick actually worked pretty well for the melee combat and the shooting works well also. This does not mean that the game is free of flaws.
My biggest complaint is not being able to directly control the camera. You are able to choose from a number of camera viewpoints, either zooming in on your character or panning out for a larger view of the enviornment. Although you are able to change the view, your only actual control is through tapping the left bumber to center the camera. This seems like a simple solution, but it is not executed that seemlessly because when you do this the camera still may not be where you would like it to be.
The story for the game seems pretty interesting from what was shown. You are on an expidition to locate a creature named Grendel who has been killing men and drinkning their blood. As you progress through the mission you occasionally trigger cut scenes that reveal more about what you are doing and the game’s universe. I am interested in seeing what the game has in store for the rest of the story from what I saw.
Too Human’s take on combining hack and slash gameplay with role playing elements offers a fun and unique style of action. The control system is different that most games, but it has its advantages during combat and does not feel like any other game available. Besides a few flaws, Too Human’s gameplay innovations and interesting plot definitly blew away my expectations.
By: Frank
