subimpact.net

Year: 2014

  • Dark Souls II : Slay, Die, Repeat Reviewed

    Dark Souls II is one of the most brutal unforgiving ARPG of all time based from its predecessors, Dark Souls 1 and the father figure Demon Souls which was only available on PS3. Its been release for the PS3 & Xbox 360 on March 11 2014 and PC version on the 24 April 2014.

    Over the week, been hibernating at home (reason for not updating thy blog) was due to an itch for a hardcore ARPG dungeon slaying game. I did missed on the bandwagon of the initial released of the game on PC which was on the 24 April 2014. Didn’t compelled on actually playing Dark Souls 1 too since my PS3 pretty much kinda unofficially died and that really did put me off on getting it for the PC version because during that time my laptop is not that of an uber beast to run the game.

    I truly loved Demon Souls, it was so old school and yet hardcore at the same time. I kinda racked up like a solid 300 hours in that game on the PS3. I thinkso left off like 5 – 8  trophies before getting a plat for it.

    Alas this month, I’ve manage to snag if off STEAM and able to venture into the depths of stress and despair this time around. Story talks about us being a cursed undead and how we need to find some cure , via starting up at a main town called MAJU-LA (Advance la if in direct translation of manglish) and the story unfolds, about a King went into exile due to his evil evil wife queen in the land of Drangleic.

    As for the first impression, oh boy the graphics is amazing even on medium settings, blur motion effects , the foliage, lighting effects from the sun , spells and stormy weather is absolutely gorgeous.

    Players able to use an in game currency which is called Soul which is obtained by killing stuff  or using trapped souls collected from dead bodies or treasure chest all around Drangleic. Do note that this currency is also used in levelling up character stats and certain spells requires a small usage of soul as well.

    Death in the game is all seem to familiar like in the franchise line where you will drop all your Souls (currency) on the first death and turn your character into a hollow (undead). Players would need to track back to their death point and retrieve their souls and of course, mobs that been killed will be respawn. Adding to the tension, dying the second time trying to retrieve your previous souls will lead to the evaporation of that soul pool. Not to forget each death in hollow form will reduce your max health.

    In order to regain human form, one must attend in Co-Op and assist other players in defeating bosses or accomplishing in an orderly manner timed. using the white soap stones to let others to summon you to assist them. I always chuckle when I always as my friend to drop the soap during our co-op sessions.

    Most of the time, the game leaves me cringing on my mouse tightly due to the experience we tend to face more often on challenging map designs which may kill you soon enough before you know it. ahem.. The Gutter and the Majula’s Pit.

    Other times, is being over confident in progressing on a single zone while forgetting to rest at a bonfire tends to lead to bad consequences which fills me up into a raging fits which plays in my mind. (Lucky didn’t flip my computer table)

    Boss fights are beautifully crafted with dodging and precision timing avoiding what ever the boss is throwing towards your character. But after awhile it some boss fights will get kinda repetitive except a few exceptional like the pursuer, looking glass knight, ruin sentinels, royal rat authority, dark lurker and of course the final boss 😀 below is one of the many boss fights:-

    On thing that puts me off was , the game did went easy mode on me when I’ve obtain like 2+3 rings of life/soul protection which nullifies your death penalty whenever you die. Death was never a bother to me any more. Spells in this instalment feels less overpowered other than dark hexes which I felt imbalance for PVP due to its crazy DPS output on other players with low Dark defences.

    Plus side this franchise never disappoint in a wide arrays of arsenal for your disposal from knuckle weapons , bows to crossbows, many kind of swords,  hammers, staff, chimes, shields and ogling fancy armour sets to top on into the souls recipe of full win. oh ya not to forget *WHIPS* too……

    Story at times can be very weird and gets even weirder but hey its a Japanese game what else can be any weirder… but I really like the dungeon sensation whenever you enter to a new zone, trying to embrace what death lies ahead for you. Eerie feeling tends to happen from time to time at certain zones for instance when over heard some women voice singing at a far off your location at shrine of Amana.

    To add the intensity of your stress & despair enjoyment, other players may also invade your realm as a phantom just like in the old demon souls. So cautious play style is needed at all times. One new feature was doing the Rat Covenant (ingame guilding system) where you are some sort of a dungeon master which requires set up traps in the zone for some victim to be challenged by your dungeon. Chameleon + backstab at its best to freak out passer by players 😛

    All in all it still does retain the demon soul minus the white and black tendencies of the game where it affects the game world. PVP system has been kinda of a stepped down but in replacement with other covenants to cover it up. Not to forget the major huge huge world of Drangleic which tempts you to explore every inch of the area. Some scenery is just too plain breath taking like the epic dragon aerie or Drangleic castle zone.

    After completing the game, I’ve still had some unfinished business on getting on with the game on New Game + which raises the difficulty another notch and new spells and monsters to be discovered. My take on this game would be a 9/10 could be a perfect 10 if they would retain some of the best aspect of demon souls, but hey one can only dream and can’t complain for some changes at least.

  • Warcraft Movie Shooting done on May 23 2014

    “For those counting down with me, we’re done shooting Warcraft in 3 weeks as of tomorrow! Holy shnikey…” –  Duncan Jones

    Got this off from the director official tweet on the movie progression which is based on the popular RTS game which branched out into other gaming franchise. With partnership with Universal Pictures, Legendary Pictures is holstering up the production of this movie. (I bet we are at save hands).

    Not much teaser has been released yet other than some info from BlizzCon 2013 panel, but hopefully will be reveal soon enough for this upcoming Blizzcon 2014 on the 7-8th November at Anaheim, California

     With a confirmed casting official cast of the feature film based on Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft franchise includes  Ben Foster (The Messenger, 3:10 To Yuma, X-Men: The Last Stand), Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Paula Patton (2 Guns, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Rob Kazinsky (True Blood, Pacific Rim, Red Tails), the movie will be heavily be a prime  focus on the orc-versus-human war just like in the first RTS game.

    Originally scheduled to be released Dec. 18, 2015, Warcraft is now set to hit theaters March 11, 2016

  • Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare Trailer

    Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Reveal Trailer, Release Date November 4

    Next instalment of  Call of Duty seems to fall into futuristic military shooters with a close mix from Metal Gear Solid, and Ghost Recon, Same developers that brought us Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games leave us with another fun fulfilling story telling depth of the Call of Duty franchise.

    So far just a trailer being released with a little glimpses of what has been installed for us which are HOVER BIKES, cloaking and military battle suit/ exosuits.

    A rough idea about the game is about PMC taking over / making a move on some kinda power strife.

    Official release date would be on November 4, 2014 which will roll out on  Windows, PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

    So CoD fan-boys rejoice! 😀

  • Amazing Spider-man 2 movie review: Tingling hyped subpar

     Manage to grab a seat on a premier opening of the movie. The Amazing Spider-man 2: Rise of electro.

    On the first impression of the opening screen, I thought it was gonna be one up with the rest of the superheroes movie for this year. Hey, its Sony + Marvel what can go wrong? I tried so hard to gave this 2nd part another chance since the 1st Amazing spider-man did shy away from my likings in sense of character build up.

    Movie starts with a brief backtrack in historical time on Peter Parker’s parents and the reason on why Aunt May was working her bums off to put Peter Parker in school.

    Moving forward towards the first opening action scene of a regular OSCORP heist where god no reason why did the baddies are trying to steal some kinda plutonium. This particular scene was actually trying to set in line to introduction a much later “soon to be villains”.

    Middle part of the movie, it gets draggy where the director tries to tie up all the connectivity of how Peter Parker’s decision making which might turn our quite the opposite. Oh, and not to forget a little dash of a happy love story between Gwen which seems too surreal for my mind to digest.  Can if repeat myself again ? mid-part section has quite a lot plot building hence the feeling of drag which does not compel me well. Spider-man with suit is brilliantly executed, however stripping it down to Peter Parker is just a re-bounce back to reality of the movie.

    They tried to make us feel connected between each characters however, the only good touch base was with Harry Osborne, a 20 year old Billionaire. Didn’t really liked the smirk on Peter’s face throughout the movie.

    And close to the finale , the action pack scenes did not seize to stop till the end where at the tipping point of Mr. Spidey incident. From my perspective, it was pretty short lived just like in part .1 where the battle scene would go like 15 mins or so before it ends in a tragic lost (referring to part.1 )

    All in all, the show was trying to cramp up all the fan-service it could and make path for the upcoming instalments for Spidey 3,4,5,6???  which made the movie a bit too rushed at the ending,  but who knows how this franchise will be milked dry like any other SONY movie counterparts (Resident Evil). Not forgetting subliminal ads on BLU-RAYs and SONY gadgets. Makes me wanna just rush out and buy a SONY gadget now.




    Conclusion , all the hype on this movie died the moment I stepped out from the cinema. Quite a disappointment for me to see such a potential REBOOT go to waste. But lets not stab in deeper, it is still a good movie to enjoy, with a little WUBWUB (dubstep) score and fancy light works and comical gestures thrown out by Spidey himself  just keeping the movie intact. 6.5/10

  • Brick Mansion Movie Review

    Brick Mansion Movie Reviewed and also a tribute to the late Paul walker.

    As for a tribute to the late Paul Walker, I had to catch this show during the weekends. Of course not to forget RZA is in it as well. ahem (WU-TANG CLAN)

    The show quickly opens up in the near future 2018 where Detroit has been being cut off from the daily social living of the outside world due to its notorious gang activities where cops had to build a thick wall over the parameters instead of enforcing the streets.

    In the later opening scene, Lino (David Belle) was trying to outrun a gang with his parkour skills. At this point , my impression on the show was like , “this is gonna be an awesome show!”. However to my dismay, it was shortly lived, and that’s where the movie went on a declining spiral of B-Movie flick.

     Damien, portrayed by Paul Walker gets an assignment into infiltrating Brick Mansion to neutralize some threat which also gives him an edge to hunt the gang leader Tremaine (RZA),  which had some unfinished business.

    Plot wise, director tried to made a plot twist but they gave it away in the early beginning of the movie where the Mayor wanted some land in order to rebuild a better Detroit, DUH!. I still did laugh at some of the action-comedic scenes between David Bell & the late Paul Walker. Not to forget the best music which Damien played at his apartment! 😀

    I think so its quite a staple get up for Paul Walker majority of his movies to wear a T-shirt and a jeans. Most of the action scene does have its little sheer moment of excitement but quickly way out with its corniness.

    Overall it was a good movie but sadly to say, David Belle played a better part in the movie comparing to the main actor, as most attention does goes to Lino even though the screen time for him is lesser comparing to the character Damien. Maybe due to the dynamics of David’s character, which grew on me through out the movie. With the weird ending plot twist where all hold hands and sang “kumbaya” (almost sang, I swear!) I guess this movie is watchable as a 2nd last tribute to the late Paul Walker. ( we will still see him in F&F7)  6/10

    In memories of Paul Walker 1973 – 2013

  • Extreme Mountain Biking On A Cliff

    This video catches me on how extreme mountain biking can be. Being an adrenaline junkie, this video took me on another level state of conciousness.

  • heroes of the storm beta sign up!

    Was just lurking blizzard website and behold!! beta signup is up 🙂

    currently few weeks without updates due to getting back into good old diablo 3 paragon leveling 🙂

    so check it out a MOBA game which is Free-to play from Blizzard!! all your famous characters from warcraft, starcraft and diablo will be playable heroes in this arena battle fest game! can’t wait for it all the blood-fest of your favorite characters… hmmm i wonder if deckard cain would be a playable hero haha!

    link: http://www.heroesofthestorm.com/

  • #kangkong #keepcalm faceplam

    Weird when Malaysian PM comparing prices with kangkung….

  • Lone Survivor : Don’t watch after heavy meal

    Thanks to nuffnang for providing me an early movie screening of Lone Survivor. It was pretty last minute to reach to the cinema and grab a pair of tickets.

      Lone survivor tells a true story about a team of navy seal trying to face all odds on a covert ops when bad things happen through decision making. This pretty much proves that all humans tend to make mistakes and face consequences as a results.


    Movie starts with Mr. Mark Wahlberg trying to be resuscitate back to life, while transitioning to 3 days before into a  breathtaking scenery somewhere in Afghanistan, and with other pretty cool stills of the environment makes you feel so clam… yea clam before the storm…..

    For the first 1 hour in the show, it was more of setting the plot (drama talking) and getting a rough idea of each characters in the movie. Right at the one hour mark, things get bloody… very bloody and from here onward, it gets much uglier.

    Pretty much some parts was literally nerve wrecking moments, which made me hold on to my cinema seat. Trying to put one selves in their shoe really make me have a full immersion on the whole movie affect on a person being a soldier.

    There is some very much touching scene during the end of the movie which I thought was pretty much the best ever thing that could every happen. Reflect on a saying where “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” . Within the controlled boundaries of the vicious Taliban, there would still be people opposing them.

    You get a bang for your bucks, with a decent drama build up , tension between inter dispute among the army ranks, as well as bad decision making and some light jokes. However I must clearly said that Mark Wahlberg IMHO did not gave his best into his character abiding from his other 3 fellow supporting characters which really made  the movie shine and add significant value towards it.

    It’s a up to par movie like Black Hawk Down and i would definitely give it a 8/10. So far a sweet movie for the month of January 2014

    p/s: a big hoo ha to all those servicing in the Army and my deepest condolence to those brave men that fought for honor! R.I.P brothers

  • Humble weekly Trine 1 & 2

    This week offering for a mere USD 6 for 5 awesome titles by FROZENBYTE.

    Shadowgrounds


    Shadowgrounds is the impressive, top-down action-shooter fromFrozenbyte. Enter a research facility infiltrated and overrun by colonies of aliens, growing more fierce by the second. Armed with a devastating arsenal of military-grade weapons, it’s up to you take down these beastly creatures and reclaim the facility. The adrenaline-pumping, top-down gameplay and audiovisual fireworks set the scene for this new action experience which can be played single-player and co-op.

    Trine







    Enter the magical fantasy world of Trine, where you’ll create and use physics-based objects to solve crafty puzzles and outsmart unruly enemies. Three heroes are on a mission, guided by a mysterious device called the trine, to save their kingdom from the grips of evil. Boasting intricately woven scenery and a fantastical world makesTrine the perfect game for players at all levels. The highly-acclaimedTrine won Gaming Nexus’ “Game of the Year” award in 2009.



    Jack Claw Prototype







    Jack Claw is a prototype game developed by Frozenbyte. Although it is an unfinished project, Frozenbyte is also including the editor, assets and source code in the Humble Weekly Sale. Experiment with the amazing extended claw by swinging objects around and generating mayhem!

    Shadowgrounds Survivor





    Shadowgrounds Survivor is the sequel to the intensive and fast-paced shooter Shadowgrounds and turns up the action with three playable characters and the introduction of RPG elements. Stranded on Jupiter’s moon and overwhelmed by the alien hordes inhabiting the surface, you must shoot your way out if you hope to escape alive. Shadowgrounds Survivor features the same high-tech weaponry, but with added features like a sentry turret and napalm flame, so you can kill these ghastly aliens in style.



    Trine 2: Complete Story







    Immerse yourself in brilliantly rich graphics and a wondrous magical world in this side-scrolling action-puzzle platformer. You’ll need to make use of a wizard, a thief and a knight and their unique abilities in order to complete puzzles and defeat enemies in Trine 2: Complete Story. Play by yourself and toggle between all three characters, or play with up to two other friends in co-op mode.



    all includes soundtrack as well! so hurry get em before they are gone @ https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly