Heavy update (TF2)

The heavy update was released last night, conveniently just as I got home from work. The update focuses on the heavy class, giving him 35 achievements and 3 new weapons/items. There is the sandvich, which is basically a glorified first aid kit and fun to see in action. The sandwiches heal 120 health and leave the heavy vulnerable to attack in the few seconds it takes for them to munch it down. There is a new mini gun called Natascha which slows enemies down but deals less damage. The last item which most people know about is the KGB (Killing Gloves of Boxing), these gloves give 5 seconds of critical hits when used in exchange for a slower hit speed.

As well as the updates to the heavy there is a new payload map (badwater basin) and a new gamemode called arena. Arena has 5 maps, two new and three converted old ones. Arena is played in rounds where teams face off in a one life battle. There are few health packs around so you need to be careful. The round ends when a central point is captured or one team is knocked out.

There is a new “meet the” video out about the sandvich, you can watch it here

As per usual the class update has turned the game on its head with 90% of all players being heavy. Its a site to see given the heavies large size, watch them lumber around with their miniguns in the masses.

Team Fortress 2: Heavy Update and new map coming next week

Next week Valve are adding a new control point map and giving the heavy class some love by updating it with new weapons and achievements. The names of the new achievements are available but there is no indication on how they are gained. As far as new weapons and adjustments go, the only confirmed weapons are a pair of boxing gloves which apparently increase the heavies critical melee damage. Who knows what the other weapons are, but I hope they are something to make the heavy more of a viable stand alone class.

Valve have put a little teaser site up here with the boxing gloves and some of the achievements being added. If anyone has any clues on the other guns let me know in the comments!

Braid Review (Xbox Live Arcade) Essential purchase!

Braid is a time travelling puzzle platformer that was recently released on Xbox live arcade. I heard nothing about this title before its release but check out the trial after reading about the game being highly anticipated. The game is structured into worlds like mario, you start the game outside a house where each room holds a different world. When you have traversed one world the next room opens up. Each world offers a different time travel challenge. For example in one world time only flows when you move, another world gives you a ring that when dropped slows the time of everything in its radius. There are basically two tasks in each world. The first task is to get through the world, which in most cases you have to to very little to accomplish. The main goal is to collect all of the puzzle pieces in a world and build its puzzle. Each puzzle you complete adds a bit to a ladder that will take you to the final area of the game.

Red Alert 3 Beta: Empire Unit Showcase

Here is a collection of screenshots from the final team in the Red Alert 3 Beta. This team being the newcomer to the series is likely to interest a lot of people. The Empires units mainly consist of robotic vehicles, some of which transform. There is also a telekentic school girl and sword wielding/smoke popping infantry. Check out the cool screenshot of the psychic school girl sending an engineer up in the air before being left to fall to his doom.

The Empires buildings are trained as units then unpacked.

The Empires air units consist of land and sea units that have transformed into aircraft.

The Empires naval fleet

The school girls way of killing people

The empires infantry, some wield swords as well as guns.

The Empires land units consist of mainly transformer like robots.

Red Alert 3 Beta: Sandbox mode

You may have read that I have been getting all my screenshots using the sandbox bug in the beta. A moderator on the C&C forum actually explains how to do this, but its pretty hard to find in between all the other information on there so here is how its done.

As posted by TheMystic (C&C forum moderator)

Thanks to a bug it is possible to play a game without an opponent, this is called Sandbox mode and is great for just experimenting with things:

Go to automatch, after it’s searched for a bit you’ll notice the stars freeze for a second, at that exact point click create game and (don’t enter a game name) and you’ll be in sandbox mode.

Every time I try it my stars never freeze. Instead I alt and tab out of the game and leave it for 5 minutes before going to create game and it usually works. Let me know if you have any luck, or problems getting it working. Hope this helps some people out there wanting to play with the beta without getting rushed in 5 minutes.

Red Alert 3 Beta: Soviet Unit Showcase

Here is as promised the soviet teams units from the beta. The soviets are my favorite team so far, mainly because I love the kirov airships. The soviets also have alot of vehicles with legs, their telsa boats have legs so they can come out of the water. This teams most impressive land unit is the apocolypse tank which is very powerful, and has a beam to drag in and crush units. The soviet commando has a sniper rifle and can call in airstrikes.

Copters tow vehicle ability

bullfrogs launch infantry ability

Kirovs bombing, and exploding

Conscript molotov ability

Soviet air power

Soviet infantry army

Soviet Land Units

Soviet Naval Power

Red Alert 3 Beta: Allied Units Showcase!

Thanks to the command and conquer forums someone has informed me of a bug in the beta that allows you to play in sandbox mode on your own. This means I was able to build at my own pace and play with all of the units. I have captured screenshots of every allied unit in the beta (probably the full game too) and uploaded them for you to see. If you want to know what any of the units do then leave a comment. You will also notice some other changes in the screenshots, such as ore being in mines rarther than patches on the ground. You can also now build on water, and gather ore at sea. Some of you will be very pleased to see that walls are back in C&C. To make walls you build two pillars and the wall appears inbetween. The two largest land and sea vehicles are mobile construction vehicles. In RA3 MCVs are amphibious so you can deploy them at sea or take them to other landmasses. The collection of vehicles for the other two teams will be up soon, enjoy!

Allied air unit collection

Allied land unit collection

Allied sea unit collection

Chronosphere super weapon

New ore miner at work

Secondary ability of the bomber

Shield ability from artillary unit

Airstrike ability

Tanya goes for a swim

NOTE : The soviet gallery is now up. Check out the next post up on the blog.

Classic Flag Capturing Coming to Bad Company Thursday

Anyone who has the game will probably know that Dice have been working on a free conquest mode update to the game. This adds the flag capturing conquest mode from the previous battlefield titles. It should freshen the game up somewhat and hopefully introduce some new tactics because of the difference in objective. The new mode is out this thursday according to Xbox Live insider, which is a nice suprise fo those who forgot about it.

Red Alert 3 Beta: Impressions

I received my eagerly awaited Red Alert 3 beta invitation at the weekend and could not wait to start playing it. The beta is very generous, giving you the choice of all 3 teams with what looks like most of the units as well. There are 2 maps, a two player and a four. It is multiplayer (online) only so you will need a key to join in. I got my key from Kanes Wrath but I am not sure if there are other ways to get one.

So how is the game shaping up? Well after the disastrous Kanes Wrath, it seems EALA may have something promising to offer for forgiveness.

1942 Joint Strike Review (Xbox Live Arcade)

I have been looking forward to this game for a while. Actually it was the first time I downloaded a trailer for a game on Live it interested me so much. The game is inspired by the old arcade 1940’s series and is pretty much the same type of game but with visual, sound and game play tweaks.