Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Veet Strips Brazilian Wax

Review: Mass Effect 2 (PC)

The continuation of the space RPG from Bioware stands still in the character drawing, but has done something for the masses. The focus is transferred to RPG Shooter, streamlined the missions in length. Nevertheless, Mass Effect 2 is the best sci-fi RPG is in the lengthy and violent history of the role players and prepare a sovereign prior to the epic finale of the trilogy. I will be as spoiler free review as possible, only with the history information of the first hour and a few character mentions. The nature of the trilogy, it requires that I have on massive spoilers from Mass Effect 1 already in the intro in detail.
That was the last warning.


Intro: Schpärd is dead.
Mass Effect can create a startup to choose a new character or import the Schpärd from the first part. The import has many advantages, among others, appear again and again to characters of the first part, or write to an e-mail. It starts with more credits and resources is also the disposition (Paragon / Renegade) transferred. The impact on the Alliance and the Citadel after the attack by Reaperschiff Sovereign, however, is rather trivial, Schpärds missions are in the outskirts of the galaxy and therefore for the Citadel politicians "out of sight, out of mind".

The intro in Mass Effect 2 will start with the old crew of the Normandy, as a solar system for signs Geth . Investigate Suddenly an unknown ship and rips the Normandy formally in several parts. While the crew can save on the escape capsules, Schpärd is thrown out into space where he / she floats towards Planet suffocating and dying a cruel death. Should be like all the intros.


But the end is only the beginning, and the Schpärd'schen remains recovered from the pro-people group Cerberus and its (the emancipated audience forgive me that I will now describe the Schpärd as male) body in 2 years reconstructed. In this phase, one can choose his class, and if desired, to change appearance (the Face is imported from Mass Effect 1 character, minus the scars options from the first part). After the rude awakening on the station Schpärd is the "Illusive Man charged with investigating the disappearance of the human colonies in the terminal sector, as the Illusive Man suspected behind the Reaper.

Mass Effect 2 Mass Rectruit
for his mission will be charged to the Schpärd a new, improved Normandy available, and 2 officers Cerberus: the genetically perfect (Las) Miranda and the rate of black ... His name escaped me. To turn off the Reaper threat, must also collect Schpärd the smartest, most dangerous and insane minds in the galaxy. This recruitment make a large part of Mass Effect 2 off, I would say even more interesting than the story of the human colonies. For one part this is understandable, as a trilogy is not equal at all to destroy bad guys, but something more could have been allowed to push the story.

the recruitment and related characters are by no means unimportant. Each character was carefully crafted and has a plus Rektrutierungsmission a loyalty Mission, which opened in time (long calls). Loyal crew members have a bonus power and are "interested" in a positive outcome of the mission. There are some incredible wacky characters like Jack rektrutiert a "Suicide Girl" in Space, so to speak (google SuicideGirls not ask you to NSFW!) or an analytical salarians doctor who murdered in cold blood (preventive help ...). On the new Normandy hear again and again the crew talk to each other about the mission ( the Scottish accent of Donnely is cruel genius!), And many many vieeele citations and allusions were built everywhere in the game by Bioware. Part to bring the Easter Eggs a tear in the eye, such as an advertisement for the reasoning advanced by Elcor Hamlet version (an elephant-like race that speaks extremely monotonous). You may also like romances in Mass Effect 1 track. In short, there is much talk and listen in the galaxy, but please with the English dub. The installation language is adopted for the game and can be changed only with a new installation. I kept close to the German version of the intro.

The distribution of directions is still typical conversation with the Upper Bioware "I forgive you your sins, my child, may your soul find eternal peace in the paradise of God," the Middle "Meh, less red." and the lower "I'm your worst Alpraum * occurs in the abdomen *" Call options. Plenty of predictable and therefore easy to manipulate for the player, as a call to develop should. If you are cute enough or evil, open blue and red options to his mind a little more to give the other party. Moral issues can be obtained only in talks, the spec is for level rise for the morale removed. Interestingly, the representation of the moral sentiments to the face of Schpärd, heal the artificial implant is worse with a bad attitude and shining red through the eyes wide open scars. The good spirit can heal the wounds of the OP Schpärd faster and looks young and crisp.

The walk-in stations and planets have been reduced and streamlined, the Citadel is not nearly as freely accessible as in the first part. The price for the mass appeal of a game, and many "players" who have enough valid only on the shooter a bottle hirnzefressenden halos can, of course, little more than run straight and are overwhelmed with large, wide stations.

Gameplay: I want an action-skip function
The gameplay has been simplified greatly, halved the usable skills in classes almost. Mass Effect 2 is now geared more to the standard fare of the 3rd person shooter like a GEAAARS of War (yes, the kids, the men with neck tumors emulate and beer cans crush on her high skulls try) where you placed by chance (!) Waist walls in the Area can take cover and can shoot down the enemy from the cover Gäähn * *. The game punishes the Shooting now in free standing around. The blades and the life force very quickly fall for hits and regenerate only when you go * * drum cover! I would love to shoot the gameplay Dev with the Renegade option ...
The system with the coverage is by no means perfect, it will stick again and again to the false wall, or you can not time out from their cover. Enemies that come very close, can hardly be killed (it is missing a semi-automatic targets), because the weapons from the shoulder aiming view for at least 2 meters forward, no matter how hard you try the guy that just at gnaws you to kill. You can hold a rule that ranged classes like Sniper expected a much more relaxed game.

The weapons you have now also equip each member, and not for loot, the option was removed completely. From time to find a new weapon, and these can be equipped before that in each member. Level ups are now offering, together with much fewer resources and a slower progression. The Hackspielchen were displeased by my memory games, replaces a nightmare for people with no memory. Unfortunately, you have to chop a lot, because you credits for the purchase of new upgrades (to shops on different planets) are required.
the country with the Mako on the planet for Ressorcensuche is omitted, it is possible to scan planets and degrade with probes. Here we look at a radar and shoots a probe on the body which has particularly high concentrations of a metal. With the degraded materials so purchased upgrade projects are explored, it is better shields for the ship or major damage effects of certain weapons.
I was exploring with the Mako is not so bad. The panorama when you landed on another planet, offered the necessary atmosphere of the great and vast space. The dismantling of the probes is simply boring and you are motivated only by the fact that it is possible for barging nice upgrades.

Conclusion: The wait for Mass Effect 3: The impatience kills my Schpärd still
Mass Effect 2, we carried on the ratio of Schpärd to his crew. Depending on the crew can grow one right to the heart, disputes among members can lead to loss of loyalty. In a larger context is found by the crew members and the rich background of Mass Effect again, are political and ethical decisions demands and prepare for the finals in the third part vor.Wie should I have to work with the Krogan salarians together as I introduce myself regarding the Quarian-Geth problem? Is humanity more important than the other races, and if so, it aims to extreme Cerberus go off? I could write pages and pages only on the background ...

When the final mission in Mass Effect 2 starts, you get a taste for the epic size of the seal in this sci-fi universe. The previous hours of detailed character drawings are really into wearing, because in this final mission some may die to all crew members, including Schpärd. In addition to loyalty and other factors play equipment for the survival of an important role: Tactical questions for the conduct of the mission be sent to Schpärd, who is in charge as the diversion team, who chopped off the doors, or who's back indemnified. Who can watch as Commander, by bringing his crew successfully without losses and save the galaxy ... at least for now.

In the end we see the approaching apocalyptic threat that must be Schpärd in Mass Effect site 3. The decisions should be importable back, and I ravish with delight when I see the sheer variety of options that have been carefully positioned in the previous parts. The strength of the opponent is immensely powerful, the cohesion of the galaxy hanging by a thread. Mass Effect 3: The end is nigh (Of course, in 2012). My Schpärd is ready.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Toe Cuticle Infection Cures

Bioshock 2 Review (PC)

Bioshock was one of the outstanding games the last decade, content and play it clearly stands out from other generic 1st person shooters. Bioshock 2 takes players back to the underwater city of Rapture where things have improved after the failed utopia of Andrew Ryan is not much. This month, Bioshock 2 for X360, PS3 and PC has been released.

Launch Trailer


Bioshock: The dream of a man
The original Bioshock was released in 2007 for the Xbox360 and the PC, the PS3 version came a year later. At that time I wanted to buy the PS3 version and waited over a year, but raised the PS3 port is as technically weak (one of the main characters was extremely pixelated, "Pixelated Daddy" he was baptized by evil tongues). This stroke of fate led me to buy the now dirt-cheap PC version, which was graphically impeccable.

The story of Bioshock is set in 1960, where the protagonist Jack a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean to survive and can save a lighthouse island. Inside the lighthouse, he finds a diving capsule, which transported him to the underwater city Rapture. Having recently arrived in Rapture, he finds a city in ruins and is instructed by radio contact from the city residents Atlas to overthrow the tyrant Andrew Ryan. Throughout history, Jack learns more and more of the dystopia of the town's founder, Andrew Ryan.
The finding of the objectivism (Ayn Rand's philosophy, which puts the self above the common good benefits) believing businessman Andrew Ryan, built in 1946, an underwater city, where people could live without political, economic or religious constraints. At first flourished Rapture, technological progress was followed step by step. could produce with the discovery of a snail, the stem cells, the fate changed abruptly from Rapture. Use the worm could be "Adam", that stem cells are derived, and thus allow genetic experiments. Soon, the first sold on ADAM-based genetic resources, where people stronger, smarter or even more than human Skills could provide. To speed up the supply of ADAM, the snails were in the bellies of little girls, "Little Sisters" transplanted, and increased production by several times.
A revolt of the underclass in the New Year's Day of 1959 led to a civil war between the rulers of Andrew Ryan and Atlas broke the underground leader in Rapture. The people increased, more and more with Adam, whose excessive consumption caused insanity and mutation. Rapture was soon drawn into a whirlpool of violence, where neither side could gain the upper hand. This changed with the arrival of Jack.

Bioshock then shone with a detailed History and background of the atmospheric depiction of Rapture. The main character Jack was silent, the only contacts were talking by radio with him. Throughout Rapture you could find the audio cassette Statdbewohner that's life before the fall of Rapture in personal anecdotes documented. In addition to a gelungengen plot twist was the half-flooded city of Rapture is a highlight of this game. Playful Jack was able to use the ADAM to get yourself genetically modify (throw fireballs, freeze enemies, etc).
There was also a moral Dillema: To get to the rare ADAM, could be killed in the city free-running Little Sisters and gain a large amount of ADAM. Or, if the killing of small Zombie girl was a heartless, you had to remove their parasites and make them human again (without getting ADAM). The small Little Sisters were so-called "Big Daddy", people of welded in diving suits protected, which constituted one of the toughest opponents in the game.

Bioshock 2 - Daddy is back
Bioshock 2 10 years after playing the action of the original Bioshock. Man takes on the role of the first Big Daddy "Delta", which was founded in 1958 linked to a particular hormone Little Sister. In an attack on his Little Sister, Delta hit by a hypnotic substance and must passively watch his Little Sister Sofia Lamb is taken and ordered him to death by his own hand.


wakes up again 10 years later, Delta and find Rapture in ruins. He is contacted by Dr. Tennenbaum, who once again was involved in the ADAM project and now is committed to saving the Little Sisters. With the help of the Delta must now find themselves bound to Little Sister Eleanor, who still is from Sofia Lamb held.

Rapture, Home Sweet Home
After the first few minutes of this one is eerily sympathetic feeling to be back in Rapture. Atmospheric the game shines particularly in the first hour, where many details such as advertising posters from the former peak the city testify. Most of the story is told over the radio conversations with the contacts, the number of audio cassettes to fill the back-story around Rapture. There are new places like the amusement park or the slums, the mutations of their former inhabitants are full. Unfortunately, the change of scenery is not as great as in the first part, but you can take underwater walks.
The main adversary this time is Sofia Lamb, a psychologist chosen altruistic (the exact opposite of Andrew Ryan's performances so) which will create from the ruins of Rapture their version of utopia. Everywhere there are photos of Sofia Lamb and her trademark, the butterfly, as a symbol of rebirth. The story is well thought out, open questions such as eg. why Delta is alive again, be answered at the end. Only measured at the previous one can represent the history as disappointing as simply missing plot twists. It feels like a very good side story that has a strong emotional conclusion. How do the first part of the decisions taken in the game, whether you get to see the good or bad end.

Gameplay - Consistent quality with small improvements
Even if you now as Big Daddy rumstampft, playful there were only minor improvements. When can I use Big Daddy in the right-hand weapons for melee the drill, the left hand is for the genetic superpowers. The enemies are still the "splicer," genetically mutated people you know from the first part. There have been added only 2 new enemy types, and the genetic modifications are almost all the same. The fighting is still maintained and are tactically challenging because of the simultaneous use of super power and hand gun. My personal favorite is the combination of the harpoon gun Eiskräften, I'm just ice cubes.
addition, you can adopt as a Big Daddy now a Little Sister, which collects for an ADAM. In these passages, it is necessary to protect the girl for so long before opponents until their work is done. Still present is the moral conflict of whether to kill or rescue the Little Sisters. Its cute nature of their adoption (Eine Kleine when I put a Splicer under power: "Look Daddy he's dancing") can be an almost impossible, to add the girls any harm.
gameplay scenes for further visualization:


Conclusion: A good spin-off
Bioshock 2 feels and plays very much like its predecessor. The experience was the most technically refined and offers 10 hours entertainment in a city suffering from insanity and impossible utopias. I like Rapture are still very mixed with the flair of the 60 underwater-Horror is a wonderful melancholic mood. However, I would recommend the first part of a compulsory experience, the second part rather than as a dessert for Durn. The altruism of Sofia is not Lamb half as impressive represented the objectivism of Andrew Ryan. What's more, that the first part of Bioshock the plot had been satisfactorily completed by the fall of Rapture. Without the eye-opening experience of the city itself felt, the second part of little importance as one of the many side stories that could play after the fall of Rapture. A third part is already in Mache, forced the commercial exploitation of the artistic importance outweighs appear in the gaming industry.

And yes, I had the best ending (of 4 possible), protective instinct is thanks. These little things you can bend (n) no hair ...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Best And Easiest Way To Clean Suede Boots

Star Trek Online: Commander Muemeyyiz Bugs in Massive

Oh Oh Cryptic Cryptic! Today the server for the preorder accounts have been closed down, so you had to enter its retail code to continue playing. Like any man with a trace of common sense I did this not because of bugs and server stability allowing a normal player at this time. The 30 days free game time I will take next month in a claim, provided you have terminated about 80 percent of the players after the free month of their account. The remaining 20% can speak fluent Klingon and will never voluntarily evacuate the server. Last weekend I was able
but let the 20-30 level range behind me.

Commander Schpärd would be green with envy
who reach the 21th level, the unhealthy reddish Muemeyyiz appointed Commander. With his promotion, he was allowed to change to the next level of class escort, which actually resembled in size the dimensions of a light cruiser. After presentation of the personal note in the ship editor mutated the USS Suicide by Star "into a pure-bred warship, which had 3 weapons bay front and 2 rear Todmachern demanded of himself in his Normandy Schpärd the beads of sweat from his brow.

The USS Suicide by Star before the remains of the planet Romulus


levels in the 20's: Old friends and the tortures of the Space key
The transport also increased the number of personal and bridge officers skills that space battles were still unbehäbiger to control. Here are two big drawbacks of the gameplay were very significant: the limited car fires and the low degree of tilt of the ship.
The degree of tilt is more of a problem for the class escort in particular. touted as a distinctive characteristic of the handling, I can not fly with the ship 90 degrees above or below gene. The weapons fire with hardly a 45 degree angle in the height dimension so that articles and ships that are below or above me, are not available. This leads to scenes like abstruse runterschlängelt a truck of a mountain that I slowly at a 45 degree angle, the Y-axis runterrotiere since the engine seems to crash no real 3D space.
The car fire was limited to a weapon in front and one rear weapon. Now I'm in outer space more than 10 forces for insertion, while I control is the correct ship position with the mouse and weapons and shields must operate. I lose valuable time trying to shoot the stupid now 5 weapons, while I would much rather focus on my tactical positioning and insertion of forces. Man erwischt sich dabei, die Space Taste dauernd anzuhauen, da sie alle Waffen ausser den Torpedos auslöst. Und mit dauernd meine ich jede Sekunde. Man ist doch schliesslich Commander und nicht der Kanonier des Schiffes...

Das Leveln ist weiterhin im Alpha Centauri Sektor, wo man sich mit den Romulanern rumschlagen muss. Der Content Mangel setzt sich wie gehabt fort, als Konsequenz levelt man auch relativ schnell (eine Episoden Mission steuert einen halben Level bei, eine Runde Erforschen ein Drittel). Die Episoden Geschichten sind auf dem gewohnt hohem Niveau, selbst ich als Non Trekkie finde immer wieder Anspielungen an die alten Serien und Filme. Manche Geschichten haben sogar überraschende Wendungen und es gibt gar einen Fall, wo man bei einem conflict has to choose between the two fronts. The Federation acts still too aggressive.

The equipment begins to slow to gain importance. During the missions you can always play with items essential to win bonuses, with exploration badges can be from NPC merchants that also Ertauschen. The skill tree of your character runs from the first general skills (training ship weapons) to specializations of (training: Quantum torpedoes), so that you can set up individual and his ship "more" out of date. The Rumwerkeln the ship is by far not a must, a ship can be the objects of episodes missions his work just as well , Do the differences are not decisive game (similar to the "City of Heroes" Equipment balance).
Personally, I have turned my ship successfully in a stalker-style (not Stealth). An enemy ship is not getting much of the "Suicide by Star" with scarcely in sensors reach their target systems are disrupted, while bringing a quick-fire energy projectiles to succumb to the shields. Even before the opponent can activate its emergency systems, a devastating salvo comes from quantum torpedoes flying towards them. Great fun.

ground fighting in their Skill trees grow not as fast as the space battles. The officers promoted to a skill more Advantage, I get only a cooldown reset. I should probably not mention that the fights are still extremely simple and play by themselves. At least there are nice effects for "City of Heroes" nostalgic and I live out my Dual Pistol noise.



"You are not allowed to login to the server at this time" The
A server is a horror. Over the weekend he was repeatedly forced to shut down, queues in the evening with over a thousand people waiting. If one may be lucky to get to the login screen, the server often bucks "You are not allowed to login ..." with the third or fourth attempt, he can but a pure.
The game itself is unplayable because of the lag in the evening, rubber band effects ensure that an arrival at the star chart twice as long. The zones in missions or in other sectors must hide from any thriller, mostly one sees in the loading screen "Lost Connection to Server" and pray that before the timeout the connection finds. It can be very good that you are flying at every other zones from the game and then get to the login screen to take its place in the endless queue.



El Capitan pulls up a mini
spite of the server, thanks to the quick level progression I could on the last day the "lock out" the population collecting enough Preorder Nimoy to be the Commander promoted to Captain. (Author's note: "Gratz to Nimoy" is placed by me Meme, as can be heard at every level up from the pit Leonard "Spock" Nimoy's voice Congratulations ). Full of anticipation I took my "tactical Escort" whom dream in my mind for a larger version of a butcher.
I could get a Mini.
sobering had me say that escorts are really small and agile ships to support, and my Commander ship more of a design blunder by Cryptic was. The iconic Defiant class from the series "Deep Space 9" I got my own . Call After Modifaktionen (to make it look bigger ...) and media tive minutes of pondering, I projected a emotioniale, enlightened description and christened the small escort "USS De Lorean SC89.
The DeLorean from the Deep Space 9 Station


Please comment how cute the little one is. With 2 cannons, 2 torpedo and a torpedo bay front and rear power tower is the little racer's death in Schiffsinifizierung. I quantum-torpedo to the Cardassian fleet back in the Zuku ... Stone Age.

also made such a scene change. The red changing genetic mishmash of a lump-El Capitan was sent toward Cardassian front to maintain an underground movement in check. After the Dominion War, the Cardassians are now hold no greater danger, but it seems other powers (shape-shifting?) Here the reins. The few missions episode promises some exciting stories (subjects covered: Travel in wormholes, militaristic Splitterguppen the Federation invasion of shape-shifting).
the DS9 station is accessible and offers well-known venues such as quarks bar Unfortunately, the station as the other centers get very small. The station will serve all appears to be a center for LV30 + players.


Star Trek Online? Maybe later.
As already mentioned, I will wait to use the 30 days off. A first content update was announced with a focus on the endgame and "Borg task forces. I expect the update in March, so that you give people a reason not to cancel my subscription immediately. Until then, we should have gotten the server problems under control.

My Account LOTRO will run continuously through February, which may happen in March, is still in the stars. As the PS3 games are waiting to Heavy Rain and God of War3 right delicacies Schpärd also wants some attention in Mass Effect 2

El Capitan Muemeyyiz this: "I'll be back."

Friday, February 5, 2010

Fugitive Recovery Clothing

Star Trek Online: LV10-20 in the sign of the Romulans

The official launch for Star Trek Online is done on Tuesday, but due to delivery problems, especially in the EU area we may still continue playing with the Pre code without having to have entered the retail code. My Red Alien was able to fight in time for the official start of the lieutenant commander with the LV11, so that he could back the Klingons can be towards Alpha Centauri.

a new ship for the Commander Lieutenant
The transport ships were released the next stage. In contrast to the starting vessel could be here also specialize in space on one of the three main classes: the cruiser ships as large, slow tankers, the smaller, agile Escort as damage dealer and mid-sized, equipped with powerful shields Science (crowd control) vessels.
was because my concept for Muemeyyiz out badly in the direction of a genetic experiment on race, I took the class escort in the hope of obtaining a fast warship. The different specializations also switched to the next skill level for the bridge crew release, while the escort vessels benefit from the tactical officers. After having thus carried his favorite tactical officer to lieutenant, one may need in the space combat an additional skill (in my case torpedo damage buff). The Escort
class plays in space much like a stalker, no invisibility, mind you. A single enemy can surprise you with a lot of damage, but then have to use the agility to intercept the opponent's attacks on all of shields. A Ecort ship has weak shields and can be destroyed by a few torpedoes.

Here is a pic of the USS Paradise Lost "before the Sol Station: Next


Station: Alpha Centauri
In Star Trek Online, there is only one continuous story (in this case episodes), by the Admiral of the the sector will be awarded. The Red Devil was sent into the sector, that the boundary between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire was formed. The episodes were well done, could be within the episodes the NPC chat even background info, but unfortunately too few episodes. Every 1-2 level will be awarded an episode, the rest XP needs to be worked out with patrols or exploration missions. These are relatively random and generic, like the "City of Villains" newspaper missions.

with the Romulans as a new opponent, the difficulty increases significantly. The ground fighting is "City of .." typically extremely simple, but the space battles now require more skill. The opponents are now using similar powers as the players, especially the D'Dedirex war ships (the largest ship in the Romulan) may result in my little Escort with the tractor beam to be in with 2 torpedoes to blow. Here you have to play to the strength of his class: Almost all ships have torpedoes for a 90 degree frontal angle, the tractor beams have a range of 5km. Now I can use my agility to the D'deridex to flank and destroy with short but strong waves of attack.

useless feature of the day: the bridge
the convoluted options can be found a feature that allows a beam to your own bridge. At first glance, "Housing YAY!" But then when you walk by the bridge ... zero interaction. You can see his crew members to handle different devices, but one can not even respond. In addition to the bridge you can not visit the engine room or other premises. The only option is a window where you can invite friends to the bridge to roleplay. Not even the space view on the main screen is real, only then glued texture.
Whatever, here's a pic from the bridge of Paradise Lost: Are


Starfleet Action, or Bugusing Deluxe
The Star Fleet Action instances raids for 20 people, depending on Raidart ground missions or space battles. In Alpha Centauri is such a Star Fleet Action, where to stay, the crystal-entity, a Planetary Eroding extraterrestrial beings. Normally, when one horizon in such an instance, is you have to wait to see the 5-minute countdown of the reset zone. In the crystal thing Raid seen with his ship at the single zone only a half zertörten planet, and many, many vessels are in front of snake. The first time I flew out of curiosity to the waiting ships, only to see that in the zone reset the pink crystal thing just spawn in front of us! In seeking a panic nor the buttons for the torpedoes, I noticed about 5 seconds later, like an explosion nearly destroyed my ship. The crystal was ding been destroyed by the rest of the players before I could fire a shot. As far as anti-climatic about.
The Star Fleet Actions have at the end of a successful raid a high score list and then the loot is distributed. But since the crystal thing on it went so fast, were high-level players, the instance at the Perma-farming, as it ships with the better, of course, spearheaded the leaderboard.
was fortunately fixed the raid last Thursday, this thing is now crystal (Hamidon anyone?) A true nightmare, specialist with over 800 thousand HP and smaller protective crystals.

The game still has many bugs, some even prevent, as the signing of exploration missions. Kill All space missions annoy enemy ships that remain stuck in asteroids and not come out, as well as false Gegnerspawns in patrol missions.

Here is a Fleet action in space, a laser show:


Intermediate conclusion: I know what you did last summer, Paragon Studios!
The first 20 levels are played and I must say that the ground battles are still insignificant CoH'eske artillery duel, which you can not lose. The space battles have become more entertaining thanks to the specialized classes of ships and stronger opponents. The ship control system is complicated due to the growing skills (2 skill bars already full!) Worse and some enemy ships, it lacks the balancing, but that can get over it. Probably it should be the desire for group formation, as in "City of" increase, but so far there are more little groups. Only the episode missions will be asked publicly in the channel, and I had a couple of times the pleasure of playing in a group of 3, which increased the fun factor considerably.

I'm still not feeling this extreme CoH ignore. The setting is obviously different, but of the missions to the bugs is the recognition high. The game feels like a solid skeleton that stands there and is virtually Episode missions. Cryptic Studios has acquired the Star Trek license only a year ago, so I guess they made the Champions engine and the experience of "City of Heroes" have crafted an MMO in a hurry. Whether at Cryptic for Star Trek project staff Paragon has lured away? Sci-Fi
My heart will let me continue to play Star Trek Online. The urge for the next bigger ship is large (with LV21), and the few episodes are worth playing. The game design itself is not bad, just lack of content. The Focus on Rumgeballere but the "City of ..." Fans put more joy than the Trekkies, I am very sure.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Started Running And No Longer Having A Period

Star Trek Online: First impressions Head Start

The Schpärd! Sci-Fi is my euphoria brought back and in a hypnotic state, I've pre-ordered unkontrollierterweise Star Trek Online via Steam. As a Pre-biscuit you got together with some small stuff and the in-game access to Head Start, which began last Friday evening. In contrast to the normal Buyers who may not start until Tuesday evening, we were the chosen ones for the stress test before release.
Unfortunately I could only start last week for testing, because Steam had my pre-download and download times, I simply deleted Star Trek Online separately and had to install. Once again proof that Valve (heroic studio that Steam has invented so that the game world of PC games is assimilated) is a tool of the devil. Following my first impressions (and a lot of cool pics of my boat):



Tutorial: Hey, the character editor I know ...
First one is a screen thrown at his head, where you select the breed can choose the alliance nations. Each race has certain passive starting capacity. If you do not find interesting race, one can "Alien" and select more advanced in a "City of ..." Editor, his own race together yourself. Of course there no wings or capes, but you can pretty much all the Star Trek universe au Gesichtsdeforumung select, place, un rotate in a full color spectrum paint. Körpertreile may be distorted horribly with sliders, there are even a few postures. The graphic design is in contrast to Champions Online kept realistic, but you can clearly see the same engine that drives champions. Therefore, female characters still look very ugly formed from.
As a class choice you have the choice between tactical, technical and scientific officer. 3 basic classes of the MMO, as it could get out were raised: The Tactical is the damage dealer, the tank and the Technical Research is responsible for control / Heal. Impatient as I am, I took the tactical.
My first char was uncreative "Muemeyyiz", and I built an alien to unhealthy red skin and a strange skull. Even at the character creation could be named his ship, so zusammenhanglsos the unknown thing "USS Shattered Moon" was baptized.

The tutorial started on a ship (?), Where the crew running around calmly, while the Window Borg ships Starfleet ships at zerballern saw. Learn to walk but was much more important, and so began my training. The controller was used to and from the 3rd person view, as a first job I had the Borg from the engine room to beam out into space. Here you only had to click on a flashing console already plying the Red Devil (Muemeyyiz) around and beamed out of the Borg. Next, you had to heal injured: Click on the flashing people and watch. When Red finally pressed a phaser in his hand from her, it was allowed to irradiate anmarschierende Borg. It could also run to dodge a role when the direction key twice operated. If we flanked the enemy, they told more damage from. Eventually, even my contact had enough and I beamed onto the ship that I had bennannt in the tutorial.

As luck would have it, that was all spent on my ship, the captain and I as an emergency Capitan! help needed to drive the Borg. The ship's steering has got very unusual, you see your ship from the 3rd person view floating in space. Speed reduction and thrust is controlled by Q and E, the weapons, a laser beam and torpedo, the number fields. You can either try to ship with WASD control in 3D space, or you hold both mouse buttons so that the vessel is oriented in the direction of the camera. The mouse variant I gave the preference, as I steer with my left hand the rest could, while the mouse was only for flying.
The ship has a hull, the life bar, so to speak, plus energy shields. The shields are divided into the four cardinal directions, weakening an attack on the respective sign it. Once a sign is down, the sheath can be attacked. Signs can regenerate over time, so you keep all gleichstartk with clever rotating blades. The battles can be fought only within 10 km, one usually flies at full speed to the goal is to fight rotating speed, weakened to you has some shields and shoots the thing with torpedoes from space. This laser works better against shields, torpedoes while the shell . Crack
precisely according to this scheme ran from the entertaining battle against the Borg, and after they had destroyed the Borg cube, came a radio message from the Admiral, that officially Capitan! the ship was carrying.

Here is a pic of my USS Shattered Moon, when she disappointed by the much too small moon back to Sol station flies:


space station Sol, Home Sweet Home
After the tutorial undocked it from the space station on earth to exchange some words with the Admiral. The station is the center of things, where you can do several things. Here's a quick overview:

ship change
The Appearance of the own ship can be changed, I could replace the parts from 3 skins as desired. Even a few gabs patterns to choose from, you could color in the mood. We'll see when the first pink rumdüsen cruise ships ...

officers hired
Each Capitan! needs a crew. Bridge officers, one in space and on ground support missions, so you have a full team of Pets, if you find a team. You can adjust the bridge for a tactical, technical and scientific officer. When hiring may be adapted to the character editor, the appearance of the officer as he wishes. If, later, officers are hired Work out the capabilities of its existing bridge officers, rather than replacing them. But when one is fed up, they can also be dismissed.

auction house Olé!
Yes you can also sell their loot. The currency is an energy credit, the operating surface of the auction window is lousy portable. You can not even filter by price.

storage compartments for personal items, mail system
On the first day gabs already the first gold spammers in the mail. Hard-working farmers.

exchange dealer for everything
In outer space you will always find anomalies that can scan and insert the Loot can. On such dealers can exchange it for equipment of the chars and the ship.

dealer for everything
For the people who have earned enough credits in the auction house * cough *.


El Capitan! on quests in the vast open
The quests are divided into ship battles and land operations. The Story quest line is longer than an ordinary Quest and linked Allkämpfe and ground operations several times. During the fighting in space usually are out to anyone or what to save / scan / find where it "surprisingly" change round opponent and then the usual rotating orbital battles are conducted.
land use can vary. Besides the typical missions of rescue hostages, kill enemies, interact any Blinkis (imagine the "City of ..." mission architect before, only that it would take a few 100kb Mb for the mission are available) are also missions where one example. ausseridische eggs on the surface of a planet will scan and then to explain to the locals that the aliens they will not eat. I like this peaceful missions, gives a little breathing space. In a quest one also had multiple choice answers to choose from, but it seemed to be an exception. Too bad.

there to patrol missions, where you have to visit a certain number of star systems in a sector. The missions seem to generate random and then range from a Allschlacht, ground mission to explore issues of peaceful nature. In

discovery missions to fly in an unexplored sector, where the card is actually empty. Now you have to explore three "anomalies" which are actually a system where you have to unsubscribe happens to be a space battle or ground mission.

I've found so far only a Haupquest, and it seems to exist only one quest per level of experience. This course is not enough to go with a level of a quest, so one has to rely on the random emissions.

Alternatively, you can also fly through the sector and respond to messages such as "enemy contact" or "cry for help" because it is zoned back into a system and meets the random tasks.

succeeded Good: Gameplay ground missions, or City of Blasters ... in Space
The ground missions beamed you down to his crew, then where the targets are informed by the crew. Own equipment and the crew can be changed at will, in my case I had pressed all a laser rifle in hand. I myself lead a dual laser gun. Each weapon has a primary, secondary and melee attack. Depending on the choice of weapons, there may be different effects. My 2 laser gun could have a secondary attack a cone AOE attack, while the crew end up with their guns mostly critical hit or stun enemies. Each character also had an ability of his class, was the technical nature of lay mines, while weakening the schientific crew members were able to shield or heal the team. The Tactical added an additional melee attack or Damage Buff.
The extremely similar to a blaster champion team in "City of ...": All fired wildly, Flash effects everywhere and in the end we had won. Great tactical gabs not claim, the artificial intelligence of the team arbteitete surprisingly well. Only the diseases, such as Getting stuck in objects when running after the El Capitan! were things that we have from "City of ..." knew.
Here the red man and his crew (Klingon base):


An extremely useful feature is the scanner for soil emissions. Once activated, it indicates the direction of the next "interesting" article. This may be a case for looting or quest objectives. That's right, the search for the last annoying Blinki is not available, simply scan the area and the dachshunds Engergiezeiger afterwards. Here is a pic of the scanning Capitan:


bad, very bad: sky map and the instanced space, server performance
The Head Start is characterized by many server failures, lag and disconnects. So the usual for a stress test before the launch. Interestingly, all play (also EU!) On a server. It is instantiated very much, each mission, whether space or ground combat is (City of ... you can greet) opened as an instance. I once a solar system near the second sector examined how many were in exactly this system: 48 instances of the same zone (in this solar system), each zone had 50 people. Wow, they make money. No wonder that crashing the server in the evening, where the Americans are awake.
was also the German translation as incomplete and flawed, that after a few Surrounded minutes in English.

The star map where you can set course for various sectors and their systems, looks disappointing. A boring map, where you can see then how travels at a snail's pace several light years to be allowed zones in the desired system. There will not a large open space where you can fly through a sector and move closer to places of interest may. A system is a zone that is an "edge" has. If you wil get out, you go to warp speed and is found on the map browser again, where you have to drive the next target and then load in that zone.


There was but what with MMOs ... Teams!
The team is finding funny enough, hidden in a small symbol that "other" is, where you can plant "social" to choose to get into the team search. Very confusing the whole thing. In addition, all via the standard "automated team" set as soon as one enters by chance in the same instance quest with other players, a team is formed with them. The quest then scaled automatically and you must address the priority task in the group. I had to contest several times the pleasure of space battles with 2-3 other players. Unfortunately they were not at all communicative, and made only "their job". In the team were the space battles more dynamic, and also went quickly, unfortunately, left now all the team, as the quest was over.
The maximum team size seems to be 6 people. There are war zones, where you can fight up to 40 people in a kind of raid together against the Borg and Klingons. The only time I attended there in such a zone, I just saw a lot of explosions and a message after a minute, that the Federation has won. What do my presence can do ...


Currently, my red devil on LV9 and awaits his promotion to Lieutenant Commander with the next stage. All 10 levels you will get a new ship and advanced skills. LV50 is the maximum.
The game currently has some quirks, but somehow it feels like "City of ..." without that one CoH2 has ever played. Fascinating.