Short Review: Crysis

Title - Crysis
Genre - First person shooter / Action
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - First impression of the graphics was just amazing, the level of detail on textures and interaction with the environment are something I have yet to see another game mimmick. I very seldomly enjoy a FPS for its story line, and I have only finished very few games of this genre. This game however has a very real feel to its unreal story line. The NPCs are very realistic in terms of sounds and visuals, and everything adds to a great experience. If I thought that FPSs were basically all the same, I was shocked to see a new game come out with an old type of game and still make it feel like its new. The nano suit abilities add a very interesting aspect to the gameplay, and it is not very difficult to use, even though it is difficult to master. There are tons of neat tricks you can learn to do, and the game has a nice replay value simply due to the great gameplay. Basically it is fun to shoot people and when you do the graphics looks very real. I recommend this game to anyone that has a PC that can handle the video, and has a nice sound system for the great audio as well.

Short Review: Neverwinter Nights 2

Title - Neverwinter Nights 2
Genre - RPG
Platform - PC
Rating - C+
Comments - It is sort of disappointing when you have such high expectations for a game and it turns out not so great. I'm not sure why it received so many great reviews since I personally thought it was extremely weak. It requires so much of your PC while the graphics are pretty mediocre. I never played NWN1 so I did not know that this was a heavily scripted game. I feel like I have been spoiled with my RPG choice so far and playing a regular RPG game felt the same way I use to feel about them years ago, slow and boring. This game just reminded me of a time when I really disliked RPGs. Well there are nice things about the game, such as a neat story line and a huge variety of classes, races, spells, orientation and all sorts of things that probably enhance the value of this game. However, I don't think I'll ever have the patience to finish it. Another issue was the controls, which I didn't like and I didn't like how the camera or the characters move through the game. If you are new to RPGs or you just want a new game to try out, I'd recommend TES: Oblivion over this one, the graphics are way nicer and it seems like it runs more smoothly as well as being a HUGE fun game.

Short Review: Battlefield 2

Title - Battlefield 2 Deluxe
Genre - First Person Shooter
Platform - PC
Rating - A-
Comments - Great game with very impressive graphics and very fun gameplay. It is hard for any FPS to get me going because I automatically compare it to CS, which I'm sure a lot of people do, this however is the first time another FPS actually caught my attention. CS's gameplay has not been beaten yet but this game is really fun to play online and they added several features that add a bit more value to the game such as ranks and unlockable weapons. I also like the in game grouping system. If you feel like your PC is too good for CS but you want that FPS experience again, try this game.

UNL: Season 7 new purchases

It's the start of a new season and there is a bit of activity going on with Heidelberg's roster.

Last season we had to sell One of our top players, Juan Graciano Arrua, which went to CSKA Moscow for 12M. Not a bad transfer in termos of money considering we bought him for 1M back in 2014 from St. Davids City. I didn't really want to let Arrua go since he was still growing as a player, and very young. We also sold Takayasu to FC Berliner for 110K.

So far during this pre-season we have spent quite a bit of the money we received from the EURO cup last season and transfer cash. We purchased Tihomir Maric from Stuttgart for $6M. This is a very promising young striker that I believe in time could be much better than Arrua even.

I believed that our squad was a bit lacking in the left wing so I went out looking for a good winger, ideally with some experience since right now we only have young wingers in the squad. Unfortunately I found a 20 year old winger that was just too tempting to pass. The extremely speedy Brazillian winger, Nilson was our other purchase for a sum of $8.75M. While he is only 20, his numbers are very impressive and last year he played for Anatolis SK achieving an average rating of 7.13. He has had 7+ ratings for over 3 years now and I think this guy has a great future in our squad. I see this guy as a long term investment.

UNL: Conclusion of the 17/18 campaign

After a bit of a small blogging hiatus, here is an update on my current FM13 save. I just finished season 6 with Heidelberg (2017/2018) and despite some struggles along the way I think we are establishing ourselves as a real challenge in the UN League. In the previous season we ended up not doing as well as I would like, but this time we managed to end in 6th place after spending months stuck in 7th. Although I secretly hoped for a better position, I admit the competition was fierce, and we also focused a lot in our international efforts, in particular the EURO Cup, which we managed to get to the semi final, only to lose to Liverpool by 3x2 in aggregate. Not a bad performance, which brought in some money and respect from the board. Next season I would definitely want to make it to the top 4 if I can, but that is to be seen.

I think overall I finally got the squad to find its weapon, a 41221 formation, with a fairly attacking mentality. We had a strong period when Arrua was really causing some damage to the opposition with his goals. This young player really was an asset to the team up until he asked to be traded. I was pretty upset about the prospect of losing one of my best current players and one of the players I had invested a lot into for future seasons. The one positive is the fact I managed to get over 11M for him which should help me get some new talent in the following season.

Once Arrua was out, our new Chinese youngster, Zhao Zhengbin, was given a lot more responsibility, and I have to say he delivered wonderfully despite his young age and inexperience. I have great hopes for him and unless he asks to be traded I feel he will eventually be one of our historical players, part of the team that raises the UNL trophy, or so I hope.

There were a few players I would like to highlight from this season. Starting with our top player this season, Zelimir Busic. Once again this great player managed to shine despite not looking terribly impressive when you look at his stats. Somehow he seems to always manage to deliver good performances, getting him a record number of player of the match titles, an extremely high average rating and a place in the top 3 defenders of the league this season. All of this from a seemingly mediocre 27 year old that gets paid less than 6K per week. Just shows that stats will only tell you part of the story.

Jose Goncalves once again deserves attention. This is our reliable and experienced center back, often playing with Busic. While Busic is the man in the air, Goncalves is the one I tend to rely on for most defensive needs.

Zdenek Svoboda, our right winger has also shown to be a valiable player to our club. I will say he is not as consistent as the two center backs, but when he plays well he can have a major impact on our performance. He boasts great speed and a strong crossing ability. He is still young and I have high hopes for this player in the next couple of seasons, when I expect him to really shine.

I've already mentiond Zhengbin, but he really is right now my most exciting player. This is because he is only 19 years old and he has already taken our starting target man position. While Arrua will be missed, Zhengbin really suits the lone striker role I have in my tactics better. He has great overall attributes, but his strength and aerial ability really make him a great player to have up front. This will certainly not be the last time I mention him here.

Lastly, here are some more stats I've collected from this last season... If I have the will I will analyze and post a few more number on later posts.

Short Review: Sim City Societies

Title - Sim City Societies
Genre - Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - F
Comments - I just noticed how few bad reviews I have given, and let me explain that the reason for that is the fact I usually do my research before I start to waste my time on any particular game. Despite reading many reviews on this one, I went ahead and got it anyway. I have always been a fan of the Maxis games, and Sim City specially has always been one of my favorite games as I have stated before. I have owned every single Sim City ever released. This version however, has been severely modified to suit a different audience. Developpers claimed that they attempted to keep old fans happy and get a new crowd to play it, well they FAILED. As an old fan of the series, I must say this game has nothing to do with the original versions, and insted of improving on something that had already been working for over a decade, they changed the game to suit different players, retarded ones or infants. The game is extremely simple and the new building system is extremely slow and unrewarding. The beauty of the old games, was the freedom to not only have fun building a city the way you wanted to look, but the fact that it was a science to keep the city running smoothly. I loved how they allowed me to decide on what buildings would be on my city through an indirect method of giving incentives to cater to certain types. On this game instead of allowing an indirect control over the buildings, you simply place them yourself, which takes away all the fun of creating a balance. The graphics on this new game are only marginally better. Overall this game was a waste of time,and a big disappointment on a series that was built by Will Wright, and completely destroyed by EA.

Short Review: World of Warcraft - Burning Crusade

Title - WoW - Burning Crusade
Genre - MMORPG expansion
Platform - PC
Rating - A
Comments - What was great just got better. Two new races were added to the game, and more importantly a whole new continent with things for level 60-70 players to enjoy. A lot of new places to go and the end game stuff now does not require 40 players, only 25 players which makes it a lot more accessible than before. Really nice change for those that try to maintain a social life.