HTC makes you The One.

This is the first review I have ever done for something other than a video game. I would appreciate any feedback in the form of comments below. Also, if you enjoyed reading this review and you know others who might enjoy it too please share it via the panel on the right --->

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I can blog from my phone! It's pretty crazy when you think about it. The piece of technology that I am holding in my hand is more than 1000 times more powerful than my first real PC! In ten short years computer's have gone from huge towers that sit under your desk to a thin piece of metal resting in your palm with the power to do everything and more.

I must admit I am biased; I love smartphones. They interest me like no other piece of technology. They provide a portable gateway to the rest of the world, hold a suite of impressive tools and they are fast becoming capable of some pretty amazing things. No longer do you need to carry a phone, mp3 player, GPS, torch, camera etc and as technology progresses they will begin replacing things like car keys, credit cards and soon will even be diagnosing diseases like cancer! HTC has long been a favourite brand of mine and their latest offering firmly cements them on the top of the smartphone pack.

Introducing the HTC One X:

For the tech heads, the HTC One X features a 1.5 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor, 1GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce ULP graphics and 32 GB of internal memory which puts it on the top shelf when discussing current generation smartphones. All the standard features (Wi-Fi, portable hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, Micro USB 2.0) make an appearance. The One X is basically a small tablet computer. Weighing in at only 130g it is also surprisingly light for it's size. Full specifications can be found here. What all that means in layman terms is that this phone is a beast and at the time of writing boasts probably the most impressive hardware specifications on the market.

It has minimal buttons on the outside, featuring only a power/lock button on top and a volume rocker on the right side of the phone. The left side has the Micro USB connector while the top of the phone also has the 3.5mm headphone jack and the SIM card tray. HTC have gone the way of the iPhone with this handset, making it impossible to remove the battery or add memory and have changed the SIM to a MicroSIM.

Some people may find this a problem but overall I think it's a necessary change.

I have had a few days to play with the handset now and the first thing that stuck out for me is that the speed is incredible. Streaming HD video and running a graphically intensive game (Dead Trigger) at the same time caused barely any slowdown and the main cause was switching between CPU intensive processes. The quad core processor spreads the load remarkably well and I am glad I decided to go with this version rather than Telstra's dual core 4g XL version.

The second thing I noticed about the One X was the sound quality. The HTC Desire HD (my previous phone) was notoriously bad on loud speaker and when playing music and HTC have obviously paid attention in this area. Music sounds crisp and clean and is as loud as my laptop when the phone is placed face down. The addition of Beats Audio enhancements across all applications is a welcome feature, meaning that regardless of what you're doing it's going to sound great.

The free Beats Audio headphones HTC throw in don't go astray either!

Similarly, browsing the Internet is a joy with the 720x1280 312 ppi display providing a huge amount of screen real estate for a phone. A 4.7" screen might be off putting for some people but if you are looking for a device to handle Internet/e-mails comfortably, it is a fantastic size. It's also very snappy, even on a 3G connection. I haven't found any 'squaring' issues while scrolling through web pages with a decent HSDPA connection.

The One X is shipped with a Super LCD2 screen, covered in scratch resistant Gorilla Glass and it rivals S-AMOLED for quality. Put this phone next to a Samsung Galaxy SIII (one of which I have had the pleasure of playing with recently) and you will see that they are both visually excellent. The slightly convex screen on the One X also gives the handset a wide range of viewing angles and even from 45 degrees it looks great.

Even from the side the screen performs admirably.*

Samsung's flagship is another great phone but the One X's power is hard to beat.

Obviously all of this draws a lot of energy and HTC have included a non-removable 1800 mAh battery. Unfortunately this seems to be the only drawback with the phone as it sucks power very quickly when using the full features. I manage about 5 - 6 hours of solid use including Wi-Fi/3G Internet, video, light gaming, calls and texts. The One X will last all day with moderate usage however and power saving techniques (turn off Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, dim screen etc) will make sure you get home before the battery dies. It's really only those instances when you can't get to a power point where you'll have a problem.

HTC have made a number of fundamental changes with their new flagship. Most noticeable are the missing 'Menu' and 'Search' buttons featured on most Android handsets. These buttons have been integrated into Sense 4.0 and replaced with a 'Recent Apps' button, which brings up your last few applications and allows you seamless switching between them. It's as easy and flawless as Alt+Tab on a computer and probably my favourite new feature. What this does is tie your whole device together and allow you to very simply switch tasks on the fly. From playing a game to taking a call, it's just a simple matter of hitting the Recent Apps button to get back into the action.

This feature streamlines the whole feeling of the phone. I love it.

The HTC Sense platform has also undergone a strip down. Gone are a lot of the frivolous features and animations, replaced with sleek user friendly options that are more akin to stock Android than Sense's previous iterations. Widgets and apps can be placed via the same menu, resized and even grouped into easily re-nameable folders. It's a welcome change as some of the HTC Sense platform on previous handsets could be intrusive and annoying at times.  

Finally, I am not much of a photographer but I will mention that the One X boasts a pretty impressive 8MP camera, capable of recording video in full 1080p HD. It is the first smartphone camera to be able to record and take still pictures at the same time, a feature that will undoubtedly be very welcome to some. The camera interface has been stripped back to bare bones, making it simple and easy to use and quick to load at 0.7 of a second and it boasts the fastest capture time of current gen smartphones at 0.2 sec delay between shots.

To state things quite simply, HTC have hit the nail on the head with this handset. It's a beautiful piece of technology that works as it should; flawlessly. It's nice to use a device that feels so seamless that you forget you're on a phone and not your PC or Laptop. If you are looking for a new phone, the HTC One X will not disappoint.

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This post was typed using the Blogger app on my HTC One X. Formatting and pictures were added afterwards.

Credits go to www.anandtech.com www.engadget.com www.gsmarena.com and www.htc.com for pictures and information.

* Not actually a picture of my phone!

The Wrath of the Space Marines

This review was originally posted on my Facebook page. I have a few more I will be moving over here in the next few days. I added the trailer to the bottom which I will be doing with all my reviews from now on. Apologies if you've read this before.

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In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. For more than ten thousand years the Emperor of Mankind has sat in His deathless state upon the Golden Throne. Not alive, but never truly dead, He is master of man by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium to whom a thousand souls are sacrificed each day so that He may never truly die. Billions give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, His Space Marines. Bio-engineered super warriors formed from the genetic material of His sons, the Primarchs. 

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine puts you into the Power Armoured boots of one of the Emperor's finest as you battle to save the Forge World Graia from a deadly Ork invasion. The planet is a main production hub of one of the Imperium's most important and powerful weapons, Warlord battle class Titans, monstrous humanoid machines capable of leveling entire cities. The beginning of the game centres around Captain Titus and his squad mates, the grizzled veteran Sergeant Sidonus and the recently promoted initiate Leandros as they drop to the surface of Graia and move to secure the Titan production facility. Millions of Orks have swarmed across the world, decimating the planet's defense forces and burning and looting everything in their path. Your squad must cut a hole through their ranks and move to take the production facility before the counter-invasion can begin. 

Typically, someone lost the keys to the giant murderbot.

Combat is bloody and ferociously fast passed, seamlessly slipping from dealing death with your boltgun to slicing greenskins into bloody chunks with your chainsword. Enemies range from sniveling, shrieking Grots right through to huge, hulking Nobz who take a fearsome amount of punishment before being put down. Your Power Armour will give you protection in the form of a rechargeable armour bar but your health can only be replenished by performing executions; special power moves you can perform on a stunned opponent which will cause a gory, satisfying kill animation. There is a slight problem here however, as enemies can still hurt you while the animation plays out, leaving you vulnerable for a few moments. Luckily your health bar will almost totally recharge after every execution, meaning that you're only in trouble if you have really low health.

The games controls are well done, making it easy to pick off targets and maneuver Titus across the battlefield. Your character has an appropriately heavy feel, being the power armoured super-human that he is. Surprisingly cover is a no show in this game. The Space Marines of the Warhammer universe are typically described as being able to shrug off all but the highest powered attacks, your power armour and the lack of a cover system gives you that slight feeling of invincibility as you stride through a storm of gunfire. As you slaughter your way through wave after wave of Orks you will slowly build your Fury meter. When activated Fury acts as a kind of bullet-time mechanic, slowing time and making your attacks much more powerful. Entire waves of enemies can be mowed down with your bolter or chopped into pieces with your chainsword in a few short moments, making Fury a useful when you're almost down and out. Fans of 40k will be happy to know that the game pays homage to a sizable portion of the Adeptus Astartes arsenal. Your main weapons are of course a bolter and chainsword, but plenty more make an appearance including Plasma Cannons and the Thunder Hammer.

Relic and THQ have done a good job capturing the grandiose scale of the Warhammer universe in the scenery and locations throughout the game. Towering manufactories dominate the landscape and your first target on landing is a huge orbital defense gun. Dark, gothic architecture features heavily and is rendered expertly. Warhammer aficionado’s will recognize the many and varied symbols dotted throughout the world such as the Aquila and the Cog symbol of the Cult Mechanicus as well as the haphazard Ork banners and towers. Warhammer has always been about scale. Everything is bigger in this universe, from the super human Space Marines and the mighty ape like Orks to the planet-wide cityscape you battle in and the game delivers no less on this scale. It is a pity however that the graphics occasionally give everything a cartoony look that feels out of place amidst the blood and gore. 

Ha har! Jokez on you space marine. Oi ate me muthaa!

Unfortunately there are some problems with this game that drag it from being a truly epic struggle, worthy of a place in the Imperial Archives, down to a standard battle that threatens to be lost to antiquity. Space Marine is a very linear game, forcing you along tight corridors and throwing wave after wave of cannon fodder onto your guns. Exploration is occasionally rewarded with pickups like extra ammo or a Servo-Skull (which provide some back story in the form of audio clips) but these are rarely a challenge to find. Melee fights become repetitive as you only have a small repertoire of melee moves which are all activated by the same button combo regardless of weapon and after the thousandth time you hear an Ork scream, "Waaaaaaaargh!" you'll want to tear your ears off. As mentioned the graphics are sometimes a bit on the cartoony side, detracting from the overall feel of the game. The lack of a co-op mode, either online or split-screen is also a glaring omission in a game that should be about squad based combat. It's also disappointing that such a small amount of unit classes made it into this game. There are unfortunately no controllable vehicles and only standard Space Marines make an appearance. No Terminators or Dreadnaughts or Killa Kans this time around.

However none of that should stop you playing this game. Space Marine delivers in the fun department and that's what it's really all about in the end. It has an engaging story that will hook old veterans and new recruits alike and the combat is appropriately gory and fast paced. The multi-player modes are also a great way to kill some time with friends. Classic team deathmatch makes an appearance as well as a 'horde' mode called Exterminatus where four friends can battle wave after wave of Orks for experience to unlock upgrades. This is a fun addition to the game and the ability to use the fantastic Assault Marine jetpack more (it is fairly limited in the campaign) is very welcome.

"Hey Bob, you hear a whining noise?" "Nah, it's prob'ly your imagination."

The enemies of the Emperor fear many things.
They fear discovery, defeat, despair and death.
Yet there is one thing they fear, above all others.
The wrath of the Space Marines.

This gamer gives Space Marine a 7.5/10

FTL: Faster Than Light

FTL: Faster Than Light is a game from new start up Subset Studios. It is a graphical roguelike game focusing heavily on space combat and micromanagement of your star ship's crew and systems. 

Unlike most space games FTL puts you in direct control of your crew, which you will use to man systems aboard your ship such as Helm, Weapons, Shields and Engines. Each crew member is capable of gaining experience depending on how they're used and more experience translates to more proficiency at any given task. Man the weapons system for long enough and your weapons will charge faster etc.

FTL focuses on controlling your ships systems through power allocation. Your ship has a reactor, which provides a number of 'power bars' which can be allocated to power up a system. Systems without power cease to function and at half power will only function at half capacity. The reactor and systems can be upgraded, providing and requiring more power respectively. The exception to this rule are the subsystems Helm (piloting), Sensors and Doors. These subsystems do not draw power from the reactor.

Divert all power to FUN.

The objective of the game is to reach the final sector. Your ship is carrying information vital to the success of your political faction (The Federation) in your war against your opponents (The Rebellion) and you must explore and fight through 7 randomly generated sectors to get to the 8th and final goal.

As with most Roguelike games FTL features random map and loot generation. This can make for some very frustrating play throughs if the RNG doesn't throw up a good weapon or forces you to face off against too many tough enemies early. All in all though in my many runs through this game I have found the randomness to be very consistent and well implemented. 

Each dot represents an FTL beacon. All of them have events of some type.

FTL has two difficulty modes. Easy will be accessible to most players, even those who are not familiar with the roguelike genre. Increased resource gathering and decreased enemy strength really make Easy feel quite breezy (sorry but The Robot Overlords demanded I work one rhyme into this post) while Normal ups the difficulty quite sharply. You will die and die often in FTL.

She's breakin' up Cap'n! I cannae hold 'er together!

FTL will set you back a measly $10 which is an awesome price for a game with this much 
replay value. There is a lot more that I could write on this game and I will probably do up a tips/game-play guide sometime in the near future, so keep your eyes open for that. 

How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?

Note originally posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 1:23am

  So it was inevitable that I would eventually get around to playing Heavy Rain. Anyone that knows me at all knows I would have to write at least a few word on this game.

This is possibly one of the most unique and coolest games I have ever played. I really, really hope that another one comes out. Not Heavy Rain 2 because it would kind of ruin things, but just another game in the same vein. The fight scenes are some of the most interesting, exhilerating things I have ever experienced in a video game. I really felt like I was there.

I'm not going to spoil this one by revealing anything except a plot synopsis. It's too good to give away, like a good detective novel. The only thing I'll give away is that the title is not a misnomer. It rains... a fuckload... for the whole game.

Basically the story goes thus: A serial killer is on the loose in the city, kidnapping kids and killing them by drowning them and dumping their bodies in the wasteland with nothing but an Orchid on their chest and a small Origami figure clenched in their hand. He's quickly dubbed The Origami Killer (stupid americans pronounce it Ori-gamy). A father's son is kidnapped and you take on the roles of four people whos stories intertwine on the way to solving the case. Incase you've noticed, this game is not for children. It features sex, drugs, nudity, violence, torture, almost rape and of course... MURDER!

Ethan Mars is the desperate father who's son has been kidnapped by The Origami Killer. He will do anything to save his son.

Ethan Mars - Loving father.

Madison Paige is the savvy female journalist who accidently stumbles on the story of the decade.

Madison Paige - Did I mention nudity? Oooh Yeah!

Norman Jayden is the FBI agent (with the coolest set of sunglasses I've ever seen) who is drafted to the local PD and partnered with a psychotic Lieutenant to help catch the killer.

Norman Jayden - or as I like to call him, NEO!

Scott Shelby is the ex-cop turned private eye who is hired by the families of the victems to track down the murderer.

Scott Shelby - Fat ex-cop with a drinking problem.

The game switches between these four characters at regular intervals and the descisions you make with each affect the eventual outcome of the game.

That's really all I want to say on this game other than if you play it, I recommend playing it from start to finish without stopping. It took me approximately 12 hours. But it was one of the best 12 hours I've ever spent infront of a screen, movies, games, porn included. It feels like you're watching a really good movie.

9 out of 10 because sometimes the camera/controls can get fucking annoying. If the game wasn't as spectaular as it is this would be a major problem... but the story is so good that I couldn't put it down and more than overrides the camera problems.

Play it... now.

Massive Effect

Note originally posted: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 11:50pm

I couldnt be arsed thinking of an original name for this one so anyone who's familiar with my notes should know what I am about to write...




Yes this one is going to be about Mass Effect 2. I've written briefly about Mass Effect 1 in one of my very early notes and commented on how much I loved the game and couldnt wait to see what number two had to offer. Well, I'm here to tell you that it offers a whole heap.

Geth. Ugly suckers.

Mass Effect 2 continues a few weeks on from Mass Effect 1. Shepherd and the crew of the SSV Normandy are on patrol in an outlying system looking for any remaining Geth. The ship is attacked by an unknown cruiser of gigantic proportions and, outclassed in every aspect, the Normandy is annihilated. Shepherd being the ever honourable hero that he is sacrifices himself to save Joker and we're treated to a fantastic scene of Shepherd slowly drifting through the vacuum of space above an unknown planet as his suit is compromised and he suffocates to death.

What!? The protagonist is dead? Wait a minute back up a bit here... Isn't he supposed to save the galaxy from the Reavers? How can he do that if it's dead? Enter Cerberus, the secretive human organisation dedicated to advancing the human species at any cost. You might remeber Cerberus from the first game. A certain mission on Luna perhaps? Anyway suffice to say that Cerberus works some magic to bring Shepherd back and the game starts from here.

Mass Effect 2 really builds on the original adding more characters, bigger guns and a much more polished feel. The combat has been overhauled to make it easier, the weapons are much better and feel more realistic and the classes are now each given a unique superpower which makes deciding on class a much harder option.

Gears anyone?

I went with a soldier this time because I wanted to check out the weapons systems and honestly, biotics arent really my style. Blasting through hordes of enemies in this game is definetly more fun than the first. It feels a lot more Gear'sish this time rather than an underdone attempt at a third person shooter and your comrades actually seem to be able to use their powers to your advantage rather than your detriment. However it really is the typical Bioware attention to detail and story that make this game shine. It's something that you'll wish you could play again for the first time.

If you played Mass Effect 1 and even remotely enjoyed it then it's a given that you need to play Mass Effect 2; if you haven't played either then you need to go out to your local game store, give the nice man behind the counter some money and then go home and play until you can't possibly play anymore.

9/10

Cheerio.

Thane. Best assassin ever. Ezio can suck it.

Mordin. Possibly the funniest/most badassed doctor since Doctor Who.