Back at Last, Really Tired (blame clank) and I don't really like CoD

It has been a while. I apologise for my failure to rant, discuss and review this last month but I have been incredibly busy. I have been trying to get into the games industry so have spent much time on my personal development and sorting out my Résumé and online portfolio. Check out my site (which you may have arrived here via) at http://www.captainwizard.co.uk. I have also started a new blog for my audio experiments with a starting post about the great and wonderful Macca Strat. Check that out here http://circuitbentmind.blogspot.com.

With all this work I have become very tired, the winter is swooping down and my asthma is playing up. However this extra bedtime has given me more time with the lovely PS3 as me and my partner keep it in the bedroom. Playing through the start of Uncharted 2, dabbling with Killzone 2 and Motorstorm 2 and eventually getting round to playing Resistance 2 once more, I have been happy as PI. I have also had the pleasure of playing through Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, which may well be my best game of this year (or at least on par with Borderlands and ODST). If you are a fan of the franchise then it is a must as somehow it manages to improve of a near perfect gameplay to start with. The graphics are really sexy and the voice acting is spot on as normal. Many are put off by the friendly childlike front of Ratchet and Clank but i can assure you that this is just as hardcore as all the 1st and 3rd person shooters around but with loads of puzzles and platforming. I'm not saying that it would be every ones cup of tea, however i am saying that if you want a PS3 exclusive which is awesome then at least try it. Being a long fan of not only Ratchet and Clank but also its predecessor Spyro the Dragon, i can't get enough of this game.

On another strange note I have also been playing through Madagascar Kartz on the Xbox 360. I am not a huge fan of the Dreamworks films, however I LOVE go kart games. This is a really polished, straight to the point racer. It uses all the clichés and mechanics which you would expect from a go-kart racer, but that's what makes it so great. The 200cc i personally feel is really harsh, but that could just be me being a bit rubbish. The game costs between £15 - £20 new so is worth picking up, even if its for a easy 700-1000 gamerscore.

Me and my Mrs are still playing through Borderlands together. Currently around level 23 we are enjoying the progression and levelling, with lots of twitch shooter mixed in. I have also started a new character on single player but I'm 'not allowed' to progress him further than our Co-Op saves on fear of death.

The last small rant here today is about CoD4-2 or as i believe it's called Modern Warfare 2. I'm not really a CoD fan. It's a very well made war game, however it doesn't interest me. I played though CoD4 on the PC and half of it on the 360 and love the single player, but I'm not that excited about number 2. I'm in no way saying that it's a bad game because I'm sure it's epic, however I will leave that epicness to CoD heads. I am working at Game tonight between 11 and 2 for the midnight opening, so I'm not really that impressed about the lack of sleep it will bring me. I found this cool Kotaku post which may interest anyone who also prefers other shooters or genres of games - Kotaku - What to play while boycotting MW2

Halo: ODST - first impressions

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog. No real excuses really, but I promise that I'm back for good so I hope you enjoy.

Well today is the day. Halo ODST is finally upon us and I am rather excited. Although I am currently on my lunch break at work I still feel I should share my first thoughts with you on this hopeful masterpiece.

First of all it was a midnight launch. I love these, staying up late and wondering into town so we can stand with loads of nerds. Amy holding me back so I don't start arguing about the back story of Halo, which they all clearly have no idea about. Then we walk in, buy the game and then bugger off home to play it. Me and Amy had already decided that we would not start the campaign untill tonight so I was excited to start up some Firefight. I am really impressed and feel that it kicks the ass of other similar modes such as Horde on Gears2 and Survival on L4D. The slickness of it mixed with the semi-complexities make me smile. It also includes achievements which complement the mode very well and a push upon co-op play, which is much welcomed in my household.

Graphically its not a huge improvement from Halo3, but I didn't really expect it to be. The improvements I see could even simply be our new TV rather than the game anyway. The menu, organisation and layout of the game is familiar to players of halo2, 3 and HaloWars, again a welcoming comfort to what is my 2nd favourite franchise of all time. The two new weapons feel great and to be honest I didn't really notice the health system as it simply reminded me of Halo as I was a big online player of the PC version. Even though the campaign in unknown to me (I have avoided any spoilers and reviews like a rash) I already feel good about this game. It's not trying to out do it's older brother, or even add to it. It simply is giving us a new gaming experience in a world many of us are familiar with.

I shall write a full review tomorrow once I have had a good bash through the campaign so watch this space.

Song for my Big Brother - Player 2

I decided a few weeks ago to write a song for my big brother Danny as he has been pretty ill lately. He is pretty much the main reason that I am such a big gamer(/nerd) today. Anyway take a listen I hope you like. The song isn't quite finished yet, as I need to work on some of the parts, but as I had some free time today i thought I would record what I had and send it out over the net. The lyrics are posted below, though some may vary from time to time. This song will be included in it's final finished form on my current CD project I am creating entitled 'Glitchy Folkpocalyptic Grunge Mind Melt' which is a mish-mash of different parts of my compositional mind.

Hope you enjoy



Click here to download the MP3 (190k)


Player 2 by Jamie McDonald 2009

I take the controller and I press start,
as the game begins I can feel my heart,
my mind goes blank as I remember the moves,
no matter what happens I'm sure I'll still lose,
I look up to you, to teach me this game,
as many times before you've put me to shame,
you know every gun, you drive all the cars,
you can make every jump seem to go so far,

'cause I am your player 2,
and for this I thank you,
your would teach me every day,
you would show me how to play,
'cause my life is now with games,
I dreamt a dream and shot my aims,
because no matter what I do,
I'll always be your player 2.

your score would rise, and you would smile,
as the bullets fly and the corpses pile,
but then your face it turns to a frown,
as your health creeps low and you turn around,
I'm standing there with a great big gun,
and it dawns on you just what you've done,
now your one more frag upon my list,
you taught me to shoot but never miss,

'cause I am your player 2........

I found the save point in my life,
I killed the Strogg, and I finished the fight,
but Gorden freeman would be history,
if you hadn't been there to teach me,
I'm your Padawan, and it must be true,
so we formed a guild, i fought beside you,
I will remember everything you say,
cos I'm your player 2 and I'm ready to play,

'cause I am your player 2........

Forced Feedback Episode 11 - Gaming Pervert Special

Forced Feedback Episode 11 - Finally the Internet Pervert Feature is here!!!!

Forced Feedback is the Podcast of The Feedback Force. We are Captain Wizard, Freckled Moon and Orifister. The podcast is musings and general news from this week. It is published every Thursday and will include a guest every so often.

Forced Feedback Episode 11 – 25/06/09 – 1hr 45 mins



Download the MP3 (64K) Here (right click to save)


Presenters - Captain Wizard, Freckled Moon and The Orifister

Guest - Various Internet Perverts

Currently Playing - Red Faction, Lego Battles, Rocket Riot, Gears of War, Buzz, Mass Effect, Champoions Online, Saints Row 1, prototype

Whats New - Droplitz, Garou-MOW, Battlefield Heroes, DeltaForce Steam, Arma2 demo, Bigs2 Demo, Dynasty Warriors 6: Emipires, Overlord 2, Fight Night Round 4, Transformers 2, Ice Age 3, Superstar v6, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, Tales of Vesparia, Spore Galactic Adventures, Anno1404, Wii Resi Evil Archives, Lego Battles, Fuel PC.

News - ZeniMax ID takeover, John Romero Spoke Out, Mythic and Bioware happy togetherm Sony Motion at Develop, 360 Fuck up, Duke Forever/Begins, Chinatown Wars for PSP, Activision PS3 stoppage, Game Disc Locking.

Feature - Internet Pervs Special - The problems, and how to aviod.

Disclaimer - everything said in this podcast are opinions, sources are mentioned when known and everything is assumed to be subjective/speculative. Its just bit of fun and arguments about gaming.

click here to subscribe to this podcast using iTunes or Preferred RssCatcher http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ForcedFeedback

Or find us on iTunes in the 'Games and Hobbies/Video Games' section or by searching Forced Feedback.

Please check out and join our Steam Group http://steamcommunity.com/groups/forcedfeedback

Please check out and join our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57517608266&ref=ts

Check out and follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/forcedfeedback

Forced Feedback - Episode 10

Forced Feedback Episode 10 - No amy but loads of news, Plus some red faction chat.

Forced Feedback is the Podcast of The Feedback Force. We are Captain Wizard, Freckled Moon and Orifister. The podcast is musings and general news from this week. It is published every Thursday and will include a guest every so often.

Forced Feedback Episode 10 – 18/06/09 – 1hr 54 mins



Download the MP3 (64K) Here (right click to save)


Presenters - Captain Wizard and The Orifister

Guest - Lt. Shmoopy

Currently Playing - InFamous, Red Faction: Gurillia, Magic the Gathering, TF2, Trash Panic, Prototype, Beautiful Katamri, COD 5 DLC,

Whats New - Magic the Gathering LIVE, Sam and Max, ArmA2, Ghostbusters, Hail to the Chimp, Cake Mania 2, Eldar Scrolls on Steam, Americas Army 3, Rock Band Unplugged, Lets Tap, The Munchables.

News - Halo3 Killer, Burnout/N4S mashup, Ghost Busters Region unlocked, iPhone gaming network, Call of Duty Online fees, Konami Pregnant Woman Courtcase, Realtime Worlds Hiring, Dante Inferno protests, PS3 in Prison, New 360 Rumours, Direct X 11 news, Lucas Arts rereleases.

Feature - No feature ran out of time as usual....Next week is definatly the internet purves special.


Disclaimer - everything said in this podcast are opinions, sources are mentioned when known and everything is assumed to be subjective/speculative. Its just bit of fun and arguments about gaming.

click here to subscribe to this podcast using iTunes or Preferred RssCatcher http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ForcedFeedback

Or find us on iTunes in the 'Games and Hobbies/Video Games' section or by searching Forced Feedback.

Please check out and join our Steam Group http://steamcommunity.com/groups/forcedfeedback

Please check out and join our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57517608266&ref=ts

Check out and follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/forcedfeedback

Review - inFamous

Review Section - Games : The Games that Shaped Me

Developer - Sucker Punch
Publisher - Sony
Platform/s - PS3 Exclusive
Price I payed - £37
Average price at time of writing - £40
Release date - 29th April 2009


This is one of the most anticipated PS3 releases of the year. An ambitious game which will either rise in its own glory or fail in a mess of what it should have been. Sucker Punch weren't lucky in this case. They didn't make a PS3 game, they made 'THE' PS3 game. I do not have any favours over Microsoft, it just so happens that multiplatform games are usually chosen for their system in my household. When a decent PS3 exclusive comes along it always makes me smile and happy that i chose to own all of the current gen platforms, instead of choosing just the one.

In inFamous you play a chap called Cole. He starts off his normal day and then BOOM; big explosion; lots of people dead. You wake up in the epicentre of it all. How did you survive? No one knows and at this point and no one really cares. This sequence acts as your tutorial and it does it very well. This game is broken up into several days after the blast. You start at day 14. You quickly come to grips with your powers and then the fun starts. Do you blast every person in sight, or do you just zzap the bag guys. This is up to you, but you soon become aware of how an obvious looking karma system is actually working under the hood at all times. Every so often the games stops the narrative and runs you though Cole's head. You have a good and a evil choice. Which you choose is up to you. As someone who has played the game through twice (Once as a Normal Good Guy and Once as a Hard Evil Maniac) i can say that the only real difference it makes it with your powers. Obviously leaving any spoilers aside i don't want to give examples, but even though this game has a very robust narrative, it has minimal differences depending on what side you join. Maybe I was expecting to much, but as i played through as a good character i had an alternative story rolling around my head for when I decided to play as evil. But alas i was slightly disappointed. This however didn't stop me from playing it again.

Not many games entice me to start the game instantly again once i have finished them. This however did, and the experience was completely different. I decided to up the difficulty to Hard and to be as evil as i could. Watching peoples terror as i walked past or decided to suck the bio-electricity from their face was a crazy experience compared to the applauding and cheering crowds of my previous play through. The difficulty is interesting. I had to rinse and repeat two or three missions as i discovered better strategies etc but other than that it wasn't a big leap. That was until i met the final boss. He is ridiculous on hard. If i remember rightly he was also pretty ridiculous on normal as well.

The game pretty much completely open. You have three island (similar to that of crackdown) which all have three different gangs/factions to fight with. You cannot move to the second and third island however until you move through the story. The game has an interesting method of keeping you in certain sections of the map. The power has been cut off in some districts and its your job to travel too the substations and bring it back on. If you move into a blacked out area you are pretty much dead. It's a matter of time before you will be completely surrounded by crazy bad guys with huge guns. The perk of going to the substations is that you gain a new power. These range from being able to fly/hover to bringing down huge lightning storms from the sky. You can also take over smaller sub districts to rid it from the enemies. This is done by completing small side missions.

Its hard to describe every aspect of this game without giving it to many spoilers. The gameplay is similar to that of crackdown and the Spiderman games. Except in this case you also have a karma system to keep an eye on and a really well knit story to distract you. When you finish this game you will soon realise that the entire game has been prologue to something much bigger. If Sucker Punch decide on another game then it will lead onto that. If they do not then it leaves an open canvas in your mind to decide where 'your' Cole goes next.


Round Ups

Core Gameplay - 95% - Pure open world happiness, plus a karma system, plus you can fly....what else does a electric super hero need.

Multiplayer Gameplay - n/a

Graphics/Physics - 90% - Not the best looking PS3 out there, but is still amazingly beautiful. Great draw distance and perfectly put together animations. Great physics although they are very subtle.

Sound - 85% - Very well polished and high quality voice acting and sound design. Little repetition on sounds. Nothing ground breaking with the design but overall a great sounding game.

DLC - n/a

Achievements/Trophies - 90% - A great set of Trophies. Non that require you to deviate from the core gameplay. They encourage you to explore, find things and level up. Encourages you to play the game through once as good and again as evil (or evil then good)

Overall = 90% - Is now in my top 5 games of all time. Is an enjoyable and addictive adrenaline ride of goodness. An essential to any PS3 owners game collection.

Forced Feedback - Episode 08 - E3-09 Special

Forced Feedback Episode 08 - The E3 09 Special

Forced Feedback is the Podcast of The Feedback Force. We are Captain Wizard, Freckled Moon and Orifister. The podcast is musings and general news from this week. It is published every Thursday and will include a guest every so often.

Forced Feedback Episode 08 – 04/06/09 – 1hr 46 mins



Download the MP3 (64K) Here (right click to save)


Presenters - Captain Wizard, Freckled Moon and The Orifister

Guest - Not this week i'm afraid

Currently Playing - inFamous, TF2, Damnation, Plants vs. Zombies, Bully, Saints Row 2 DLC

Whats New - Red Faction, Sims 3, Overlord Demo.

News - E3 - LISTEN TO FIND OUT THE GOSSIP

Feature - No feature....E3 is a big enough deal.


Disclaimer - everything said in this podcast are opinions, sources are mentioned when known and everything is assumed to be subjective/speculative. Its just bit of fun and arguments about gaming.

click here to subscribe to this podcast using iTunes or Preferred RssCatcher http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ForcedFeedback

Or find us on iTunes in the 'Games and Hobbies/Video Games' section or by searching Forced Feedback.

Please check out and join our Steam Group http://steamcommunity.com/groups/forcedfeedback

Please check out and join our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57517608266&ref=ts

Check out and follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/forcedfeedback

Average Game...but made for the Steam Punk Fans - A Damnation First Impressions

This is a great game. considering its roots and the company who made it, I feel its a pretty good attempt to penetrate the industry. The story is interesting and can be enjoyed by fans or steam punk or people who don't demand a epic storyline for every game. The standard 3rd person shooting encounters with some great Tomb Raider style platforming brings this game its charm. My main criticisms are the lack of navigation system and how the enemies can be hard to spot thanks to the nice shade of Next Gen grey. I am also not really impressed with the multiplayer system, however i haven't given it much time so it may grow on me I decided on 6.5/10 because its pretty average but if your a fan of the genre or mindless simple shooters then you will enjoy.

6.5 / 10

for more gaming news and reviews from a happy go lucky wizard visit http://www.captainwizard.co.uk