Mass Effect 2: Best game I've played?

http://youtu.be/R5DL6jFXfhM Mass Effect 2 for most people truly ascends what us mere mortals call 'a video game', it changed the whole way people saw gaming and elevated Bioware's status to become one of the best gaming developpers out there. But why has it become blasphemy not to give this game a perfect 10/10 rating? Well, for one week (towards the end of the Summer Holiday when I had nothing to do) I sat cooped up in my Bedroom playing both the first game and the second game non-stop, and...THIS GAME IS AWESOME! Never have I felt so emotionally attached to a Game (heck after a week of almost non-stop playthroughs I started to breath this thing!) in all my life. The characters just seem to suck you into this almost Blade-Runner-crossed-with -Serenity-and-a bit-of-Star-Wars-esque World thats so compelling and surprisingly logical and realistic that it COMPLETELY blows your mind! By the end of ME2 I truly felt it when one of my squad died. The gameplay/combat isn't Call of Duty good but its still really enjoyable (Note: the first games combat was kinda boring, you only really played it to advance the Story and see where it would go, so a real improvement). 

 The Story and setting is what elevates this game and turns it into a masterpiece worthy of any classic Sci-Fi film though, the Story is just SO Epic! You play as well, anyone you want to be, you can change the characters gender, face, colour, name, personality and craft a character that really fits with you (you have the option of being a real Jerk, as displayed in this video http://youtu.be/xFajRU4xAVI or you can play as this really nice, sweet guy who cares for everyone. Other options include the stoic Hero, who sacrifices everything for the greater good or maybe even a mix of any two, or even of bit of all three! The game leaves the options up to you). I choose to be overly nice, but when the time comes a heart of complete stone. These options alone mean you'll have too play it for at least 100 times over to get every single miniscule amount of content in the Game. It doesn't stop with customising your character though, because thats just the start: EVERYTHING in this game can be changed, altered or reconstructed from the relationship you have with the Characters, Weapons, Skills, even shaping and modeling the Story! 

 Everything you do in the game will affect the endings outcome, heck if you've been a mean Bastard throughout the Game's entirety, the Game will reward you with all your Teamates dying at the end, and even YOU can die as well, ending the game completely:  http://youtu.be/pRHhdc53Od8 or like me everyone could make it out alive: http://youtu.be/e-RFVPZhXbo . The coolest thing though is all the choices you made in Mass Effect 1 (sacrificing one character for another, one teamate dying in a arguement with another Team member ect...) can be IMPORTED into Mass Effect 2 so you can continue your 'arc' or 'journey' and then (reportedly the 1000+ decisions you would make over the past two games) that will be carried onto the final game Mass Effect 3 (its got this big Lord Of The Rings Trilogy thing going for it) and ALL OF THEM will shape the ultimate, ultimate ending. So the game can be played differently every time you play it then, which is just amazing! The fact that a programmed game can do  this is just groundbreaking in terms of technology, giving you the impression that its 'your story'. Another, important thing you must do in the game is your Relationships with the other characters. And boy, there are tons of them, ranging from Assasins to Justicars, Robots to Merecenaries to Clones to, well every weird alien character there can be. Some provide comedic relief, others have some really F*cked up backrounds so theres plenty of diversity. 

 The fact that you'll like some more than others will also affect the Game, you can forge relationships over a period of time in the 30-80 Hours you will play ME2, with four optional love interests if you a play a man (http://youtu.be/oNixoKm9T7w , http://youtu.be/YLPk4pwmQ9Q , http://youtu.be/MP1gfoVQSyY , http://youtu.be/1Ja3EjKOqTU ) and three if you play a Woman ( http://youtu.be/ZinuVrgE7So , http://youtu.be/kFMdhHGKRZk , http://youtu.be/_9vMF7ooJes) *COUGH* Theirs even a...erm...Lesbian romance in there somewhere....better not show that..! So as you can see by now, Mass Effect 2 truly is as good as people are saying, and over the period of Days, Weeks (1 Week in my case) or Months that you play this game it will continue to evolve into something truly groundbreaking. This is a 'experience' unlike any other in a Game I've played, attaching you emotionally in a way that Movies or T.V never can. The interactability and diverse nature of this game DOES make it the best Game I've ever played and will definately pull on your heartstrings by the end. Just the fact that you get to be the main Character means its a experience worth searching for...              

NORMANDY OUT!

Do you know what really Grinds my Gears Part 1: Sport

Welcome to What Really Grinds My Gears Part 1: Sport. Now I love alot of things (Doctor Who, Merlin, My Dog, Movies, Peter Pan, Games, My Computer ect...), and I mean ALOT of things...but there is still alot of stuff that I HATE, stuff that I could probably fill a entire Book with (School, Homework, Sport, My Brother, those really long queues at at Theme Parks ect...), or better yet, a Blog Post. This really is one of my pet hates at the moment though: Sport! It is by far the most unfair, pointless and quite simply painful thing around! At the moment we're doing Baseball on Wednesdays and Endurance on Thursdays:

 Baseball is unfair. Its unfair because everyone else on the other team IS SO FRIKKEN GOOD! Why do they keep putting all the weak ones in the same Team? THATS NOT EVEN! ALL THE GOOD ONES ARE IN THE OTHER TEAM! So I was holding the Bat, whacking the Ball and racing towards the first base, only for this really annoying French voice to yell: "YOURRRRR OUTTTT!" I was just Nanometres away from it! They had caught the ball in mid air (which, in this game means that everyone thats not at a Base at this point in the field will be eliminated)! Not just me, but five players were eliminated in one fell swoop. And this one guy catches the ball EVERY single time! The score by the end of the game was 7-32! THATS HARDLY FAIR! HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY WIN AGAINST THIS GUY? Not that I hate him, but he's too far too good, and its just ruining the game for all of us (apart from the people on his Team of course). We tried to eliminate him when we were in Defense, but he hits the ball to the OTHER END OF THE FIELD, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CATCH THAT IN MID-AIR! And by the time we return the Ball he's already done like THREE HOME-RUNS! *SIGH* The funny thing is, this guy only comes up to my waist (HE IS THAT SMALL!) and I'm not kidding, he wears Baby shoes he's so small. He is the closest thing to Speedy Gonzalus on this Earth! And theres always that Jack-ass that likes to rub it in! YES I GET THAT WE'VE LOST, SHUT UP! (Note: I don't actually talk alot in School, so this is just what I'm thinking in my head, not what I actually said.) This guy is just a ASSSS-HOLE! He is just evil to everyone (luckily he mainly keeps away from me most of time) in my School, so nobody tolerates it, and the Teacher actually applied disipline for once when he started flying Insults to everyone. Baseball is clearly a pain, but its nothing compared to Endurance!             

 Endurance is painful both PHYSICALLY AND PAINFULLY! It tests your will in the most brutal of ways and will make your legs ache forever! (My legs are still aching from Thursday!) Endurance, quite simply put, is Running without stopping for fourteen minutes. Sounds simple doesn't it? But NOOO, its the longest fourteen minutes you'll ever have! My legs turn to jelly after the first lap and after the second lap of the field my Body fails completely, and only the sheer power of will alone got me through the next ten minutes! Its the closest thing to Torture, it truly is! The cross country race is on October 15th at our lake, and this is what they've been preparing us for, But Why Though? Why do we have to suffer? I don't know, apparently its a 'tradition'. BULLSH*T! THIS IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY POINTLESS CRAP THAT TORTURES THE SOUL, RUINS YOUR BODY, AND TESTS YOUR WILL! IT WILL DESTROY YOU! WHY TORTURE YOUR ALREADY OVERWORKED STUDENTS THAT (QUITE FRANKLY) CONTINUES TO PRODUCE AMAZING RESULTS ON A WEEK-TO-WEEK BASIS?! ENDURANCE IS EVIL! WHOEVER ADDED THIS TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FRANCE SHOULD BE SHOT IN THE HEAD! NOW THIS IS WHAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

     

Tonights Merlin Rocked!

I've been watching the BBC 1 drama Merlin now since it's second season, and after last week's and tonight's Episode has now become my third (maybe fourth) favourite programme on T.V right now. I rarely watch T.V nowadays, as I'm far to busy playing Video-games or trailing the Net to care, but Saturday night T.V still holds an interest for me. I caught the Season 2 premiere last Year mainly because I had heard a few people from Doctor Who were cast in it. It was a good show, not Doctor Who good (as that would be Blasphemy) but meh, it got a little bit better as the Series got on and it even tried to do something Epic towards the end but ultimately fell victim to what I thought was a good but quite a underwelming Finale (partly due to budget constraints I thought, as in one scene, when Arthur is preparing to bravely ride out of the Castle with his men to slay the big evil Dragon, he only actually rides out with half a dozen or so Knights, which is hardly a army worthy of Camelot! How are they going to slay that Dragon with only a few men? It can breathe fire for gods sake! Surely that isn't the most the Castle has to offer? THEY WILL ALL BE KILLED INSTANTLY! YOU NEED MORE! Which, almost poking fun at its clear lack of money, the show pretty much kills off all those Knights except Arthur in the first few SECONDS of the fight! Well I hate to say it, BUT I TOLD YOU SO!! Another one that slightly bugged me was the fact that The Dragon was only in the Episode for about three minutes, which I assume is because they didn't have alot of money for the CGI and just sprinkled little glimpses of him every now and then throughout the Episode). In Short: it had the Epic scale implied and the emotional strengh of a great story but didn't really show it enough.

Well I sat myself down on the sofa last Week and watched the Season 3 Premiere: The Tears Of Uther Pendragon Part One. And I was pretty much blown away. For starters the mostly Lighthearted nature of the Series was completely gone, and now had a strong darkness to it all. In the penultimate Episode of Season Two the King's ward, Lady Morgana (gives you a hint there about her destiny as a Character) was poisoned by Merlin and basically Teleported away to live with her evil Sister Morgoath for a Year to recover. In this Episode she comes back, but not as the nice, thoughtful and overall good natured Character I saw in Series 2, but instead as a bloody evil and twisted Character, stabbing a guard (which when she finds out is still alive and recovering from his vicious stab wounds, makes no delay in Poisoning him to finish the job before he can tell anyone about her true, bitch-y nature!) and driving the King insane, literary. Thats a pretty steep Character change isn't it? I suppose that's what happens when you spend a Year with your evil half-twin-Sister? Interesting to see how she became to be so Evil in future Episodes! Anyway, at the end of the Episode we find a 20,000 strong army marching towards Camelot, which isn't exactly depicted as this gigantic Lord Of The Rings type Castle capable of withstanding such numbers. Merlin is also found trapped in a creepy Forest with unbreakable chains and surrounded by gigantic poisonous Scorpions! In short: they're all F*cked! Thats the most epic thing I've ever seen out of a T.V programme, apart from the Doctor Who Episode where the universe actually does end (at least for a while, which was 2000 Years in the Episode!). The show has just completely changed in tone, Character and Story for me. The 2nd part, which aired tonight, was equally as awesome, and involved a epic battle that was actually shown and not just hinted at. Clearly someboy had a much needed rise in the Budget department!


Two gripes though: Nine animated Skeletons aren't exactly going to change the course of the Battle! Just lock them up in the Castle prison for a bit! And when the nine Skeletons were destroyed (which were doing a piss poor job of distracting Camelots Army and causing them to fight on two fronts by the way, as they only distracted two, maybe three guards as there was so few of them to start with!) all of a sudden the Enemy decided to withdraw HIS ENTIRE FREAKING ARMY, WHICH AFTER SUFFERING ONLY MINOR CASUALTIES AND STILL BEING 9000+ STRONG WAS A BIT OF A DUMB MOVE! Clearly in reality Camelot would be not only completely ravaged and utterly desecrated by the might of such a Army (20,000 MIGHT I ADD!) it could have NEVER stood a chance AT ALL! The nine animated Skeletons were really pivotal to the battle then it seems...


Still, even after all that, I found the past two Episodes of Merlin to be THE BEST ONES YET! I'm hoping next week will continue this revived feeling. Although it does look like it will go back to that Lighthearted tone again next week, with a Goblin let loose around the Castle causing mayhem!

IN SHORT: The new Merlin is very good. Also, I was bored and just decided to write another long Blog entry which was in the end only trying to convey those four words: NEW MERLIN, VERY GOOD! Which means that I spent an Hour writing this god damn thing when I could have just summed it up in four words! No wonder Twitter is so bloody popular!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjLOvOIFRRc 

What actually is the point of Homework? (Rant)

I'm in School for eight hours a Day: 8.16am til' 4.50pm (although I do get a 1 Hour lunch break). I normally get up around 7.30-ish, so I've got about 45mins to get dressed, brush my Teeth, eat my much needed Brekkie and perhaps do some Internet surfing for five small minutes but normally I take my time with my Breakfast. I spend the next painfully long eight Hours reminiscing mostly about what is the first thing I'll do when I get back Home (for me, it would have to be jumping into Bed and playing on my treasured Xbox console for an Hour before finally succumbing to my aching tiredness and just plain Crash-out!). But alas, now that isn't normally the thing I'll do. You see, they may keep you in School for eight Hours but they forget to mention the THREE HOURS OF BLOODY HOMEWORK they add onto the end of the each Day! What the hell has happened? Homework has gone up by nearly 30% compared to last Year! I never did understand why Homework was so important anyway. Why not just keep me in School for another three Hours? Surely I've got a life outside School?! All this Homework means that on average I only get about three to four Hours all to myself! That may seem like alot to some people but for me three Hours just passes by SO quickly (Ironically: three Hours in School lasts almost twice as long! But hey, I suppose thats life for you!). Why send me back Home in the first place? (Sometimes they let me off a bit though the Homework-o-meter has increased alot lately.) My point being: WHAT IS THE POINT OF HOMEWORK! Is it just there to annoy us even more and make Life PAINFULLY slower? Yes I'm sure there is an explanation on why they torture us like this but its still an annoyance/pain/bullet-to-the-foot! Sure you have your own option of choosing not to do it, but they sucker you into it with the PROMISE of good Test results (and a harsh penalty of punishment if you fail to do it, so really you have no choice)! Sometimes I think they give us Homework only for sake of giving us Homework! Example: For French on Monday I have to look up TEN Definitions of weird unprouncable words that nobody has ever even heard of! Why? Its not like I'll ever use them! Homework is just quite simply a unfair-affaire, it exists to Stress people over the fact that they have to learn 13 pages by Heart or get a bad Test Result (Not 13 Pages per Subject, but with all of them put together, you do have learn all that every few Days). God I hate Homework. 


P.S Yes I am aware that Homework is a neccessary part of Education and does help you to Progress in Life, my answer being: LIFE IS UNFAIR! Which is actually ironically funny for me.       

The First One Is Always The Best

My First Blog. 

A Blog you say? But haven't you already got a Facebook, Twitter, AND Skype account? Surely all this social interacting will corrupt my Brain! Well...no. In fact the only reason why I have a Blog is so I don't have to stuff the entire Week into short, bite-sized sentences! Yes I will continue to Twitter, or "Twatter" as my Dad and Jack describe it. I've actually been thinking about having a Blog for some time now, so its not really anything new. Blog posts will be longer but a bit less frequent, so about once a Week I'll post a page up of what's been happening, the different ordeals ect...
This Blog won't just be about life at School, I will post anything media related. I'm really quite exited about this whole idea, the fact that you can publish any weird crap on here for free. On YouTube a laughing Baby gets over 1 Million Views! ITS JUST A BABY! Heck even the Queen saw it! YouTube = Pile of Crap (mostly). I'm afraid Catalogue des Grenouilles on Radio 3 is on FAR too late this evening (My Uncle's weirdly named Song, no idea what's it about!) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tp97f   Another thing, what's your thoughts on the design of this Blog (Which took me the best part of 15 Mins). Check out my Facebook Page HERE: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001021141599 and my Twitter Page HERE: http://twitter.com/Timothyreader

God I love the Internet, so much there socially wise. 

Now without further ado, LET THE BLOGGING BEGIN!  


P.S
Seriously, Frog Catalogue is a weird name (Disclaimer: MEANT TO BE A JOKE!)