Born deep in the Hoarfrost Mountains, secure inside the dwarven settlement of Soranathold facing out onto Mirror Lake, the young girl was raised under the religious guidance of her mother. The girl was baptised in snow as Teghannarak Soularath, the Soularath family were well respected for their jewel and armourcraft amongst the skilled trades folk of the Soranath Clan. Indeed the elaborate breastplates made by Teghannarak's father were almost legendary amongst the other dwarven clans in the Mror Holds.
Teghannarak enjoyed a relatively peaceful childhood raised in a time when the dwarven clans had put axe and blade down and settled their differences with diplomacy and negotiation via the Iron Council. Almost coddled by the Church of the Sovereign Host, Teghannarak dutifully took up the ecclesiastical duties that were asked of her. Gentle of spirit, she would spread her divine inspiration amongst the clan with much enthusiasm, however, she considered the robes of the Church most drab, so she took to wearing off cuts and experimental pieces of Armour that her father had forged. She would often find herself in the forge, excitedly trying on new shining plate. She became interested in her apparent strength to carry such weight on her shoulders. And led to quite a trivial contest between other dwarves to test their strength with a baton. Flailing the baton and beating a sheet of steel plate, to measure ones power in the diameter of impression made. Teghannarak always felt blessed with power in her heart and in her hefty arms. The Hosts will surged through her.
Although her direction was intended to take up the cloth and preach, Teghannaraks divinity usurped her destiny and edged her more towards channeling her good into a combatant guardian of all dwarven kind. Against her mothers wishes, she enrolled for cleric duties, that combined over enthusiastic preaching with defensive combat practice. It seems her fathers blood flowed more readily in her than her mother had anticipated. Adventure seemed to beckon to her, at the end of her training as a battle cleric. More than she realised. It broke her mothers heart, and steadied her fathers hammering arm, as he beat Teghannarak's coming-of-age set of Armour over a melancholic anvil of loss.
Leaving the clans and the Hold, equipped with youthful exuberance and her fathers Armour she made her way to the fabled City of Towers, Sharn. A place where magic and industrial machines come together. A place where all walks of life converge and mix in equal parts. It was time for Teghannarak the dwarven girl to adopt an identity befitting an adventurer in such a cosmopolitan and multi-cultured city. She mixed with the city life for a while before gravitating towards the not so respected academic institute known as Morgrave University. Street talk and rumour guided her towards this temple of skewed knowledge and intrigue. She shortened her name to allow the non-dwarven tongue to speak it easily. Her appearance to most was one of a hefty swollen lady in shiny Armour, so her name had to diffuse the prejudice. She took the name Tegana Soul. Hopefully retaining enough similarity to her true name as to do honour by the Host to her family name and her clan.
Bewitched by the city and the University, Tegana swiftly took up the challenge of preaching the way of the Sovereign Host and yet learning more about the history of the city and the different races and their cultures. Never had her eager mind had so much diversity to feed upon, using her divine teachings as fuel she began settling in to academia paying her way with research opportunities that seemed to come her way without her trying. Several of these 'opportunities' involved some exploration of lands further afield, as well as a lot of book work. More and more, her direction was almost being guided unknowingly into harsher and more dangerous expeditions. And Tegana thrived off the excitement it presented. Her jewelcrafters eye had caught a liking for the artifacts that were being revealed in these so-called research outings. The most recent expedition had her praying in battle Armour on her way to the lands of the Giants, Xen'drik, to a city called Stormreach....
Friday 19 May 2006
Thursday 18 May 2006
Red Orchestra
http://www.redorchestragame.com/
Red Orchestra, a total conversion mod for Unreal, is now available on the Unreal 2.0 engine and is packaged as a standalone game. More importantly it a bargain at about £13 bought and downloaded over Steam. This is close to the game I've always wanted. A World War II FPS game that holds more weight as a 'war simulation' than a 'war game'.
When I fired it up, I was immediately thrust into a world where I had no cross hairs, I had to reload my rifle manually, where just to relocate involved a lot of use of cover and terrain. In order to fire back, you have to be very observant and spot slight movement, or muzzle flashes from weapons being fired. I died a lot, in the early acclimatisation period. You learn pretty quickly not to pop your head too high, or to run without cover for too long. Death is instant. Wounding is a rare occurrence.
The graphics are adequate, they're not state of the art, but they do the job, and look very authentic. Theres no gleam and glint of Battlefield or Call of Duty here. The sound is tremendous and really adds to the whole ensemble. You will hear enemy movement, reloading rifles, gun shot cracks from somewhere to your left. The ambient war noise in the background, isn't just a fluff track running on a loop, its actual combat, and machines, and men breathing too hard.
The weapons themselves are awkward, without a cross hair to use, firing from the hip feels very haphazard and actually is very inaccurate. Unless you are shoulder to shoulder with your enemy, buzzing an MP40 at them doesn't necessarily make the kill. To shoot with more accuracy you need to use the 'Iron Sights' where you draw the weapon up to your eye line. This slows you down, both movement and turning. It obscures your view, but it does make the weapon more accurate in its use. Taking a crouch or prone position also helps, as well setting up near a window ledge or sandbag. You gain an accuracy bonus for anchoring your weapon at these sort of points. You have to re-load your rifle, manually. This basically means clicking fire once to shoot the gun, and then click fire again to reload it. However reloading does take a chunk of time, time when you're very vulnerable, so timing your shots and making them count is the order of the day with any of the single shot rifles. Adopting the Iron Sights when crouched or prone also brings you slightly out of cover to shoot at the enemy, so flicking back and forth from the Iron Sight is a valuable technique to get used to. It gives you the ability to nod out and lay some fire down, then quickly take cover when return fire arrives. On most guns you can attach bayonets for the moments when close combat are required. Its a small price in accuracy to pay for a good stab in the enemies heart, rather than a pregnant pause trying to stick another round in the barrel.
The armoured vehicles are authentic, and you cannot drive one unless you have the appropriate qualifications. At the start of a round, there are a list of troop types you can pick from, and a number of these are tank orientated, tank commanders, gunners and drivers. Pick one of these and you can enter the tanks available. To successfully use a tank in combat you need at least a driver/commander and a gunner. Its tricky to solo a heavy tank driving and then switching into the gun position. There are vehicles such as half track transports and jeeps that your average rifleman or machine gunner can drive, usually with a gun position attached, so you can wait at the spawn point and take a few troops in with you. The views from inside the vehicles tend to be very restrictive and its difficult to land specific kills because you just can't see much from within, you end up laying down mostly suppressing fire. A brief not no suppressing fire, which is worth a mention here, is that whilst a troop is pinned by suppressing fire, his view becomes blurred, and shaken, and its quite tricky to make an accurate target. Another feature that emphasizes the games attention to detail and realism. Driving the vehicles isn't like the arcade pursuits of games like Battlefield, instant turning circles, fast reverse out of trouble, the vehicles in RO require gear management almost. They feel sluggish, and they take a while to master.
Basically, in RO, if you go off solo, you're likely to die, quickly. Sticking together and providing cover and support is the only way forward. The troop selection at the beginning of the scenario ensures that there is an equal mix of troop types. No legions of snipers or tank commanders, there is a place for everyone, and its in the squad as a team player. This game promotes good team play, there are no apparent scores for killing or head shots, no ranks or leader boards as such, the win is decided on base capture alone. And to do that you have to suppress and overpower the enemy to gain the ground.
Some of the maps are expansive, where a number of large tank battles can take place, with infantry supplying the base capture element. Some of them are close quarter battles in war torn Stalingrad, building to building combat with fierce consequences if you pop a "cooked" grenade too close to yourself or your troops. There was even a very small novelty scenario, where the Russians in a POW camp had managed to overcome the guards in the cells, and take their pistols, and the German troops in the guardroom had to suppress the uprising. Cue lots of Soviet troops providing crossfire support with stolen Lugers against Machine gunning Nazi guards.
The thing I like about RO, is its attention to detail, everything is geared towards making you feel like you are in the war, warts and all. There are no punches pulled. Bring your usual FPS skills here and you'll probably take a good few in the head before you realise that staying alive is an achievement in itself. You have to know what the other side looks like in its uniform to be able to tell friend from foe. And often you have to be able to distinguish this from a long distance away. Since you'll be kicked from the server for too much team killing, you have to be cautious in your gunning. Even the VOIP that it supports is only available locationally (I believe). On the public servers there can be a lot of death and a lot of confusion, but get a decent clan together where people know how to cover each other and it starts falling into place.
RO has a big thumbs up from me, this is what I first tasted in the original Operation Flashpoint, combat realism over arcade gaming. Fulfilling a man's dream to experience proper World War II combat without the risk to his own life. To taste a little of what it might have been like to follow in my Grandfathers hobnail boots... albeit this is on the Eastern Front.
Red Orchestra, a total conversion mod for Unreal, is now available on the Unreal 2.0 engine and is packaged as a standalone game. More importantly it a bargain at about £13 bought and downloaded over Steam. This is close to the game I've always wanted. A World War II FPS game that holds more weight as a 'war simulation' than a 'war game'.When I fired it up, I was immediately thrust into a world where I had no cross hairs, I had to reload my rifle manually, where just to relocate involved a lot of use of cover and terrain. In order to fire back, you have to be very observant and spot slight movement, or muzzle flashes from weapons being fired. I died a lot, in the early acclimatisation period. You learn pretty quickly not to pop your head too high, or to run without cover for too long. Death is instant. Wounding is a rare occurrence.
The graphics are adequate, they're not state of the art, but they do the job, and look very authentic. Theres no gleam and glint of Battlefield or Call of Duty here. The sound is tremendous and really adds to the whole ensemble. You will hear enemy movement, reloading rifles, gun shot cracks from somewhere to your left. The ambient war noise in the background, isn't just a fluff track running on a loop, its actual combat, and machines, and men breathing too hard.
The weapons themselves are awkward, without a cross hair to use, firing from the hip feels very haphazard and actually is very inaccurate. Unless you are shoulder to shoulder with your enemy, buzzing an MP40 at them doesn't necessarily make the kill. To shoot with more accuracy you need to use the 'Iron Sights' where you draw the weapon up to your eye line. This slows you down, both movement and turning. It obscures your view, but it does make the weapon more accurate in its use. Taking a crouch or prone position also helps, as well setting up near a window ledge or sandbag. You gain an accuracy bonus for anchoring your weapon at these sort of points. You have to re-load your rifle, manually. This basically means clicking fire once to shoot the gun, and then click fire again to reload it. However reloading does take a chunk of time, time when you're very vulnerable, so timing your shots and making them count is the order of the day with any of the single shot rifles. Adopting the Iron Sights when crouched or prone also brings you slightly out of cover to shoot at the enemy, so flicking back and forth from the Iron Sight is a valuable technique to get used to. It gives you the ability to nod out and lay some fire down, then quickly take cover when return fire arrives. On most guns you can attach bayonets for the moments when close combat are required. Its a small price in accuracy to pay for a good stab in the enemies heart, rather than a pregnant pause trying to stick another round in the barrel.
The armoured vehicles are authentic, and you cannot drive one unless you have the appropriate qualifications. At the start of a round, there are a list of troop types you can pick from, and a number of these are tank orientated, tank commanders, gunners and drivers. Pick one of these and you can enter the tanks available. To successfully use a tank in combat you need at least a driver/commander and a gunner. Its tricky to solo a heavy tank driving and then switching into the gun position. There are vehicles such as half track transports and jeeps that your average rifleman or machine gunner can drive, usually with a gun position attached, so you can wait at the spawn point and take a few troops in with you. The views from inside the vehicles tend to be very restrictive and its difficult to land specific kills because you just can't see much from within, you end up laying down mostly suppressing fire. A brief not no suppressing fire, which is worth a mention here, is that whilst a troop is pinned by suppressing fire, his view becomes blurred, and shaken, and its quite tricky to make an accurate target. Another feature that emphasizes the games attention to detail and realism. Driving the vehicles isn't like the arcade pursuits of games like Battlefield, instant turning circles, fast reverse out of trouble, the vehicles in RO require gear management almost. They feel sluggish, and they take a while to master.Basically, in RO, if you go off solo, you're likely to die, quickly. Sticking together and providing cover and support is the only way forward. The troop selection at the beginning of the scenario ensures that there is an equal mix of troop types. No legions of snipers or tank commanders, there is a place for everyone, and its in the squad as a team player. This game promotes good team play, there are no apparent scores for killing or head shots, no ranks or leader boards as such, the win is decided on base capture alone. And to do that you have to suppress and overpower the enemy to gain the ground.
Some of the maps are expansive, where a number of large tank battles can take place, with infantry supplying the base capture element. Some of them are close quarter battles in war torn Stalingrad, building to building combat with fierce consequences if you pop a "cooked" grenade too close to yourself or your troops. There was even a very small novelty scenario, where the Russians in a POW camp had managed to overcome the guards in the cells, and take their pistols, and the German troops in the guardroom had to suppress the uprising. Cue lots of Soviet troops providing crossfire support with stolen Lugers against Machine gunning Nazi guards.
The thing I like about RO, is its attention to detail, everything is geared towards making you feel like you are in the war, warts and all. There are no punches pulled. Bring your usual FPS skills here and you'll probably take a good few in the head before you realise that staying alive is an achievement in itself. You have to know what the other side looks like in its uniform to be able to tell friend from foe. And often you have to be able to distinguish this from a long distance away. Since you'll be kicked from the server for too much team killing, you have to be cautious in your gunning. Even the VOIP that it supports is only available locationally (I believe). On the public servers there can be a lot of death and a lot of confusion, but get a decent clan together where people know how to cover each other and it starts falling into place.
RO has a big thumbs up from me, this is what I first tasted in the original Operation Flashpoint, combat realism over arcade gaming. Fulfilling a man's dream to experience proper World War II combat without the risk to his own life. To taste a little of what it might have been like to follow in my Grandfathers hobnail boots... albeit this is on the Eastern Front.
Thursday 4 May 2006
Guitar Hero
Take one bucket of iced Buds, a suitably sauced mate or two, a copy of Guitar Hero complete with Gibson controller and you have a recipe for a night of dreams, aspirations and dextrous dabblings in the world of the Rock Star!Guitar Hero for the PS2 has got to be considered a novelty game, one which delivers the usual novelty controller peripheral, its a party game, like Eyetoy, Singstar and that bongo drum playing game on the Cube. Most of these games are sold on the backs of beer and pizza gatherings, or something to keep the kids quiet at the weekend, whilst Mam and Dad, "lie down" and "have a rest".
The thing that makes Guitar Hero stand out from all the rest of the crowd, is the fact that it actually does feel like you are playing the music. Singstar lets you warble to your hearts content and you hear the tone deaf squawks over the backing track. You can never truly feel like a Star Vocalist. Banging your bongo's or karate chopping think air can never give you the sense of chasing a dream. But laying down a complex set of fretwork to land that all important power chord combo and make the TV rattle and rumble like a Jet plane leaving the runway of mediocrity and soaring into superstardom, truly gives you a buzz. I'm not kidding. My love for the song Iron man has truly been enhanced by spanking my plastic Gibson.
It's not overly easy. Kids will take a bit of aclimatising to the co-ordination required to fret and strum at the appropriate places. However even on easy mode, it tests your "metal" during those early songs. I like the fact that there is replayability built into the game, easy mode has you spanning only 3 of the coloured frets and you can plough through the songs gaining some confidence, learning the patterns associated with the chorus, verse and obligatory guitar solo. Step it up to medium mode, and you add another fret into play, along with almost a total redesign of the tracks patterns to play out, more frets, more power chords (where you have to span two or more frets). The speed of the approach of the song has changed, you now have more notes to hit per bar. Essentially you have to learn the same song over again, with a major change of most aspects of the track from the previous difficulty level. And there are 4 difficulty levels. So as you can see, the more you become adept at a particular level, the more the game will allow you to go one step further and take the same song, and tax you to a new level of skill. Nice replayability there.
So, if you like rock, and you like the idea of rhythm guitar being able to knock out lead guitar licks, then Guitar Hero is for you. It panders to those who love guitar music, and fancy waving an "axe" around in the air, whilst enjoying the euphoria of being a part of creating some of your favourite tracks. I like the fact that some of the tracks available are personal favourites of mine, something I didn't expect in a gimmick game marketed for the general public. The White Zombie track, Ziggy Stardust, No One Knows, Killer Queen and of course.. Iron Man. It mixes it up nicely, with classics and fringe tracks and new bands getting a look in. Looking forward to an expansion disk.Be a Gibson Guru, Be a Rock Legend. Be a Guitar Hero.
Tuesday 2 May 2006
Tanks
Spent an awestruck day at the Tank Museum in Bovington, UK. My appreciation of all military vehicles is heightened beyond normal enthusiasm when you're up close and personal with them. The scale of the exhibits against oneself, being such a attractive draw to me, I can fully let my imagination run riot, when I'm up close with these precious fragments of a history gone by - as always putting yourself in the position of the men who manned these rolling guns. How cramped the internals are, how large the guns are, and how thick the armour. With an audio commentary on most of the larger pieces on show, along with side displays that allow people to understand the most basic functions of these weapons, you get a full sense of appreciation of the technology and the sheer power behind these steel beasts.
There are too many stand out exhibits to list, but seeing the DD sherman (the skirted amphibious ones that sunk just outside of Omaha beach during the normandy landings), or the Tiger, or the captured Iraqi tank, just knits armoured vehicle history together and takes you from the trenches of WWI and the crude gun boats through to the massive Tortoise of WWII, and on to modern day tanks, the likes of the Leopard or the Challenger.
Amongst the excitement, I was able to 'have a go' with the sidelined gun games, shooting an RPG at tanks and bunkers, or taking in some target practice with a Bren machine gun or a Lee Enfield rifle. Ashamed at my poor accuracy on the Bren (a gun my Grandfather once wielded in WWII), I redeemed my self esteem on the Lee Enfield rifle, pulling out a marksman score. A highlight of the whole tour. The guns were suitably rigged up with compressed air mechanisms to simulate recoil in the stock, and being modified originals gave you an accurate impression of the weight. At 1 pound sterling a go, it was a small price to pay for a few moments of immersion.
With spirits high, it will take a lot of will power to keep me away from the Tank Museum, on the forthcoming Tankfest Event, to witness some of these Steel Beasts rolling around..
There are too many stand out exhibits to list, but seeing the DD sherman (the skirted amphibious ones that sunk just outside of Omaha beach during the normandy landings), or the Tiger, or the captured Iraqi tank, just knits armoured vehicle history together and takes you from the trenches of WWI and the crude gun boats through to the massive Tortoise of WWII, and on to modern day tanks, the likes of the Leopard or the Challenger.
Amongst the excitement, I was able to 'have a go' with the sidelined gun games, shooting an RPG at tanks and bunkers, or taking in some target practice with a Bren machine gun or a Lee Enfield rifle. Ashamed at my poor accuracy on the Bren (a gun my Grandfather once wielded in WWII), I redeemed my self esteem on the Lee Enfield rifle, pulling out a marksman score. A highlight of the whole tour. The guns were suitably rigged up with compressed air mechanisms to simulate recoil in the stock, and being modified originals gave you an accurate impression of the weight. At 1 pound sterling a go, it was a small price to pay for a few moments of immersion.With spirits high, it will take a lot of will power to keep me away from the Tank Museum, on the forthcoming Tankfest Event, to witness some of these Steel Beasts rolling around..
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