Metal Reviews

The AI in Medieval 2 Total War makes no sense.

it's like dogpile on England over here, I have fantastic relations with everyone and then suddenly poof! France declares war, Spain declares war, Portugal declares war, Pope warns me against killing more catholics despite my constant piety and defensive warfare.

I generally like other factions declaring war on me, it stops me from doing it myself and taking 'reliability' hits. Wait for them to be excommunicated then launch a Crusade on their lands. Playing as England is fairly simple really, you can wipe out Scotland in one turn - they're generally not doing anything, so you can attack Edinburgh straight away with the majority of your troops, take it and destroy the faction leaving Scottish armies outside to defect to Rebels. After that, take the rest of the British Isles and switch most to cities (increased income) except Caernarvon. Portugal has a pesky penchant for attacking that by boat. Then hop ships to mainland Europe and start steamrolling down France.

If you want to incur the minimum of papal friction, always take siege engines with your armies. You can bust into a settlement on the same turn you lay siege, so when the pope warns you against attacking the faction you already have what you wanted.

I'm having better luck with the Danes; consolidated Norway and Sweden under my rule, currently at 'I love you man' relations with the Pope. Since the HRE shares a border I figure they'll eventually attack me regardless of our alliances; when they do I have no doubt that the Pope will excommunicate them and then I'll get him to declare a crusade and take them out from all sides.

You've got Hamburg to consolidate your mainland presence, I hope? What you can also do is capture the Baltic area next, lots of rebel settlements there. But the Russians might start dicking around. Make sure you ally with the Polish, preferably with marriages, as they can take on both the Russians and the HRE together with you.

Nah, didn't think to get hamburg. Instead I converted the capital to a castle and my other settlements to towns so there's a nice barrier; currently training big armies to down the HRE with when they succumb to temptation and assault.

edit- Ha, HRE excommunicated. Snatched hamburg and Frankfurt, fortified, Pope dies, reconciliation. curses!

Dragon Age is so fucking awesome. The dialogues make you feel like part of a film. More game developers need to start telling stories the way that Bioware did it with Mass Effect and are doing it with Dragon Age.

Started Far Cry 2. So far, Crysis meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R with random desktop crashes. + .

That's why I played on 360.

Finished my second playthrough of Uncharted 2 and im about to start my third one on crushing, i know everyone has said how awesome this game is but im gonna say it again: This game is fucking awesome!, seriously i cant belive how much they improved over the first game and Drake's fortune was outstanding, i havent played the multiplayer yet but im gonna give it a go as soon as i finish it on crushing.

My copy of Demon's souls arrived yesterday, im not sure if im gonna play it right after Uncharted because it will probably take a lot of my time and i stil have some older games that i havent played: Heavenly Sword, Folklore, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Assassin's Creed and The Darkness, i will probably finish those first since some of them have sequels that i also want to play.

I travelled to my parents house for the weekend to spend "Día de muertos" with my family, so being away from my PS3 it was a good chance to replay some NES classics on my PSP: Strider, Duck Tales and Zelda mostly, i also played Syberia on my laptop, a point and click aventure with a very good and intriguing story, it felt kind of unfished in the end but overall it was a great game.

Awesome! I'm picking up my copy on my lunch break. Can't wait, Bioware FTW.

that's what I like to hear, I should be getting the game hopefully this week.

got 3 games to play this month, Dragon Age, Modern Warfare 2 and Assassins Creed 2.

What I love about Mass Effect and Dragon Age is that I want to talk to everyone I see. I usually get tired of talking to NPCs in other games and I only go for the important dialogue choices. But the way the characters interact in Dragon Age I never get tired of listening to everything they have to say.

The codex is another thing that makes these games epic and unforgettable. Baldur's Gate had a lot of books scattered around the world. I just never cared much for the lore and I hated carrying those damned books around in case I wanted to read them later.

What surprises me the most is how great the game is on the PC. Nothing about it feels like a console port and it's supposedly much harder than the console version. Awesome.

as I said, I'm getting it later this week. Will post thoughts then.

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1428 ... 10409.html

6 friggin days

who is getting it on the 360 and who of those has Live?

I'm getting it day one and I have Live, but you knew that.

I've been playing final Fantasy V recently, and kingdom hearts DS on-and-off.

Is the Kingdom Hearts on the DS any good? I've been eyeing it up but I'm still not too sure about going for it.

You didn't get CoD4 did you? I never saw you play it.

Hopefully with MW2 we can actually play together. Unlike that horribly failed attempt at playing Gears 2 together.

I totally agree dude. DA is fucking incredible, great game. I too got it on PC, and it looks fantastic and runs easily enough. The dialogue choices and story are very good I am pleased to say. I love the outcomes and suprises in store for the player depending on what they discover and decide. BTW what are you playing as? I went female elven mage, though I want to try a fighter as well and I will probably play a dwarf next playthrough. Is this game made by the team who did Jade Empire? Maybe not but it sure feels high quality.

Nice impressions on Uncharted and the like guys, thanks. I'm torn for picking up either it or Rachet, since I can only get one. They both are fun and AAA games, but I'm leaning towards Rachet cause of the length and depth...... erm..... wow. Multiplayer is not a major concern right now as I'm burnt out on it and got to level 40 this last time on Uncharted and the first got to 20 something.

Bioware made KOTOR, KOTOR2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and the upcoming Mass Effect 2.

I know they have made more, but those are the ones they have made that I own/will own.