Finally Halo

So way back in November of 2001 a game released called Halo Combat Evolved, an FPS game for the Xbox. Now being young, and recently discovering my girlfriend was pregnant I could never afford and Xbox, much less Halo. Plus I was a bit of a Sony fan boy back in the day and so over the years via various means I have attempted to play Halo. Just never quite getting into the swing.

Now in the here and now, having Game Pass Ultimate is a wonderful thing and totally worth £10.99 per month I might add. I finally installed The Master Chief Collection, and a couple of days ago sat down to finally begin my Halo play through. I played through the Anniversary edition, which features updated graphics, music and sound effects but the core game is the same as it was 20 years ago. Seeing as I’m playing for the story as always there was no harm in playing an updated version so far as I’m concerned.

So I found the enemies to be a little comical, almost silly in some ways, hard to find the covenant threatening. The flood on the other hand those guys are nasty at times. Having said that, the game is largely a lot of fun, most of the game I played with the start weapon and a shotgun, which makes light work of just about everything thrown your way. I tell you this though playing a game 20 years back is confusing to say the least, wandering around it made me wonder how we ever got along without in game maps, some portions of the game are massive and it rarely gives you a directional marker. The Warthog vehicle is a nightmare and seemingly has a mind of its, physics wise a lot of this game is pre-motion capture. But the game itself is fun and the story while simple was enough to keep me engaged and entertained.

The ragdoll graphics as ever are amusing and it does lead several times to areas of frustration as I was stuck with my shield and 1 bar of health, I like to play dangerously but little by little and with a little dumb luck I was able to push through. Definitely a fun game. Of course I shall continue next up will be Halo 2, lets see how much has changed since the original and of course how the story unfolds next.

PS5 vs XBOX Series X : A Less Biased Gamers View

So we all know on the horizon is the next gen battle, which console will take the ultimate crown of most successful. Sony has reigned supreme for the most part, always having the right answer to the shifts made by Microsoft. Truthfully I’ve been one for the console war, irked by certain games being on certain platforms but inevitably end up with both anyway.

But this generation I think Microsoft and their commitment to the gamers will ultimately win them this crown. If you think about we know the price tags now, and they are hefty. With the XBox being £449 and the PS5 being £449, of course both have digital only counterparts with a £100 of so off the price tags.

But the hardware ultimately isn’t going to win the war. Value for a gamers time will, and this is where in my opinion Sony have lost this fight. Not only can you get the XBOX Series X with game pass for I think £39.99 a moth, but look at the incredible line of games Game Pass alone has, not to mention the addition short of xCloud and of course EA Play and in theory you’d never need to buy a game again. In essence I can play my Xbox games anywhere I like, on my PC, on my console or eventually on the go on my mobile! One subscription and I can play however I want.

Now Sony too have their streaming service PSNow and I’ve been critical of this before, but to play I need to shell another £12.99 a month out, and has a much smaller catalogue of games, some of which quite frankly I already own so why am I having to pay to play them. Oh right backwards compatibility, which may I remind you the XBox supports. No seriously I’m no XBox fan boy, Infact I;vve been loyal to Sony through every generation of console, my decision for next gen has been made and will be the PS5, sorry but Final Fantasy XIV makes that decision. Which lets face it Xbox shot themselves in the foot with hence why its taken so long to come, and will so we are told. The fact is Sony may have some amazing third and first party studios, Horizon for example another game I cannot wait to play, but when it comes to value for money in their streaming tech a lot is to be desired. I don’t mind paying for PS+ but considering I already pay for my Final Fantasy XIV sub ontop of that, again something I don’t mind XIV is probably one of the best MMO’s out if not the best in my opinion. I do draw the line at a secondary sub to let me play games I either own or could play by picking up second hand if my console supported it. PSNow is basically an emulator anyway so the PS5 is more than capable of running older games. Sony sit on “Its a feature not widely used” I don’t care I’d like the option, if its not used why is it so widely requested? Maybe so we can keep our libraries in check and now have to have tonnes of hardware floating around.

Ultimately as I said my decision is made, but Sony need to look at their strategy for keeping their fan base happy. Fold PS+ and PSNow I’ll pay £13 a month for that luxury, or just let me play older games I own and have paid for under the PSNow system without having to fork out for a full PSNow Sub. Give me something that reminds me you value as a loyal Sony Customer for so many years. Yes the PS5 hardware is impressive the SSD capabilities get me very excited, the potential for future games is incredible. But right now the value for money gamer in me is seriously impressed by how XBox are making sure their gamers are happy however and wherever they want to play.

Mass Effect 3 – Kai Leng Insanity

This is just a note for those struggling with Kai Leng on Insanity, first up I found Insanity mode MUCH easier with level VIII weapons or above. Many will say you need a fully upgrade character I found this to be untrue and did this battle with a level 56 Sentinel character.

So once you make your through the Cerberus base and meet Kai Leng it’s hard to survive cos he immediately rushes you, I found the best way to counter this was to roll back then retreat quickly to the perimeter of the room, this is key to my strategy.

Hate This Guy!!

Truth be told this battle is more about surviving than fighting, next you need an near fully upgraded Edi (Which you’re forced to take anyway but her Shield break and distraction skills are very helpful in this battle, I used Tali because of her drones, they will be like a 4th person on the field for you, make sure you have a good supply of incendiary grenades and 8 health kits.

Now while you’re dealing with Leng simply skirt the room taking shots when you can, if he gets too close you can hit him with melee and force him away giving you chance to run, when he retreats to recharge, retreat into the hole and prepare an incendiary, drop this amongst the troopers and hide til they fall. Hop out of the hole and return to skirting the room.

Rinse and repeat for the second wave of enemies but be sure to try and deal with the sniper. The again return to skirting the room all the while keeping Talis combat and shield drones in play. These will help whittle down Lengs shields. Once the third wave appears be aware they are Phantoms, use your team as the distraxtion and set bout picking them off at range with a sniper rifle. I sued a level X Widow. I used the widow pretty much from the moment I picked it up on my first run through.

This battle is tough but if your patient it’s not too hard. Once you deal with one of the Phantoms, Leng will come back into play so be aware of him while you put down the second Phantom, Talis drone should have hammered Lengs shields allowing you to concentrate on finishing him off.

As soon as a team member falls revive them you cant afford Leng or the Phantoms to come after you or the battle gets hard in a hurry. I found skirting the room is the est way and dropping into the hole during waves of enemies, I would advise Warp grenades against the Phantoms as the incendiary ones don’t seem to have any effect. If your fast you can pop em into the air and put then down quite quickly this way too.