Pokémon Fire Red

Is there anything better than playing with the original 151?
To me?
No.
I've tried so hard with newer generations to love and play the newer versions, but for me it's never the same.
I'll always stay true to the originals, and continue to admire playing Fire Red and Leaf Green.
Right now I'm at the Safari zone and just caught myself a Dratini! Damn proud :)

What's you're favourite Pokémon game and why?
Let me know!
-KirreeH

My latest addiction

So I recently found this: http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/how-many-countries-can-you-name.php
Goddamn, it's nearly as addictive as 2048 was for me.
So I'm now sharing my time between this and Pokémon... Fire red ofcourse. My favourite
:D
-KirreeH

Oculus Rift

This is beautiful...

I won't ruin, just read and see for yourself :)

Kotaku

-KirreeH

Age of Empires II + The Forgotten Expansion

Age of Empires II is yet another game I have grown up with, and I truly enjoy the HD edition and new expansion as much as the originals. The Forgotten expansion is the newest release for the franchise (released November 2013) and has been a breath of fresh air for the revival of this older game.
The Forgotten not only adds new and exciting campaigns for the player to work their way through, it also adds new civilisations into the game and new game modes not seen in the original version 1999 version.

Part of the new Britons tech tree

I have always enjoyed the gameplay of Age of Empires II, and that same enjoyable gameplay is shown in their latest expansion. It keeps to its simplistic routes with an easy layout, simple rules and great ingame action. The aim of the game is to rule and conquer. You collect up your resources, build your army and attack/defend. You also have the bonus of technology meaning you can research to upgrade skills, weapons, armour, etc. When playing a standard game, you also get the choice of whether you want allies to start off with, or all enemies. If you do decide to change your mind, you can choose to give them whatever they want (normally gold) and buy them out to be your buddy. 
What gives the game more depth to me is the vast choice of civilisations you can choose from. Each civilisation comes with its own research tree and unique special unit, meaning that every fight you have is different. I do like playing this game with friends quite a lot, and it’s nice that even if we keep to the same civilisations (Britons, yay!), if you set the enemy to random, you never know what you’re going to face until you’re in the action. And even if it is a civilisation you’re familiar with? There’s still 100s of different ways you can use their abilities to your advantage. The whole experience has been upgraded with the addition of The Forgotten as the possibilities for gameplay just seem endless, especially with the new game modes as well which to me are a much welcomed feature.

Graphics wise, apart from the HD upgrade, it all looks the same as the original did back in the day. It’s just nice playing the game without purple water and yellow grass now there is a better colour scheme. The layout as well is the same, the nice simplicity has been kept in there which I’m so happy about as I always liked it. Unlike Banished, you don’t have to route around to find out what resources you currently have, and things are clearly labelled which I definately prefer.

Soundscape, again, same as the original release of this game. Lovely ambient background music, villager speech when selected and given a task to do and alerts when you’re being attacked. Apart from that, not much else to it, apart from the ingame speech. Number 38 is my favourite, give it a try!

So all in all I love this game. I have done since the start and I’m sure for me it shall remain my favourite, despite any other releases there may be in the future. I’ve grown up with it, and this makeover has done wonders and if you haven’t played it before, I’d highly recommend it.
Definately a 9/10 for me. Yeah ok it’s not perfect, but there’s certainly nothing bad to it and I will love it for years to come.
-KirreeH

Look ma, I did it!

I have no idea how many attempts this took... but I did it.

Hells yeah.

That is all :)

-KirreeH

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

It's been confirmed! 2K Games and Gearbox Software have confirmed that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be released in autumn this year.

It is a standalone set between Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2, and will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. NOT for next gen consoles.
Along with a new standalone, comes 4 brand new characters. There is Athena the Gladiator, Wilhelm the Enforcer, Nisha the Lawbringer and for the first time, Claptrap the Fragtrap!

For the long version and for more details, head over to Eurogamer.
Link is here: Eurogamer
-KirreeH

Oculus Rift and Pokémon?!

Read here for more info: Pokémon
For me personally? If I can save up that kind of money, hell yeah I want that! Especially if I could have a Pikachu following me around so I could feel like a female Ash.
But first I need to save up for a new laptop which I desperately need want.
And save up to move back to England.
I wish I was rich...
-KirreeH

2048

WARNING: Game is highly addictive.

This is all I shall say. See for yourself: 2048

-KirreeH

GameSpy

So in-case any of you hadn't heard yet, it's official, GameSpy multiplayer servers will be shutting down next month on May 31st.
For more information see here: IGN website

For me personally, it's kind of sad as a game I've played online since my mid-teens will no longer be available for multiplayer. So, rest in peace Deus Ex multiplayer. I shall still enjoy the single player, but it won't be the same knowing the community will be well and truly gone.
Alas, most good things come to an end and I've enjoyed the time I had online with that game.
Until next time guys,
-KirreeH

Thief

Another new(ish) game, hurrah! Now the Thief series I’ll admit was one I had never heard of before, and only started looking into it once I had watched a few YouTube videos of people playing Thief pre-release. So, I had to try it out for myself and here’s what I thought about the latest edition to the series.

Thief, as you can probably tell from the title, is a stealth video game in where your character, Garrett, is a master thief stealing from the rich. Gameplay revolves around the choices you make as there are numerous paths you can take when reaching a goal, and how you use the environment and NPC’s are entirely up to you. At the end of each chapter you get a rating on a pie chart showing you how you played your game with the classes Ghost, Opportunist and Combat. It also lets you know how many looted items you collected and how many were missed. Handy if you decide to redo the level. Throughout the game you also have the ability to upgrade certain skills in order to help if you want to focus on a certain class such as increasing your stealth if you wish to be Ghost rather than Combat, and so on.
During the game you notice and come across more obstacles, making you re-think how to defuse the situation or whether to take another route. I liked this aspect in the game as you’re constantly thinking about your next move. And even if you do have everything planned, you can still run into a new challenge you didn’t foresee earlier. It’s really nice having a game where you really do need to think through your strategy and make sure you use everything you’ve learned to play the game you want.
Regarding gameplay, one notable feature I found to be rather annoying was the constant cutscenes. Obviously the cutscenes including dialogue with other characters are interesting and very helpful to the progression of the story, but a few cutscenes were literally just showing you the surrounding area to where you where stood. Handy in a sense that you can use it to pre-plan your route, but the constant use comes irritating to me. When I’m playing a game and I’m really into it, I don’t need constant breaks from gameplay, but I don’t want to skip them incase I miss anything important!

The graphics in this game are outstanding, and just what you’d expect from a newly released game. All settings are dark, but it’s to be expected from a game where your focus is remaining stealthy. Characters are very lifelike, and the scenery is incredible and a joy to explore, which is what you spend most of the game doing. Another touch in the game I enjoyed was the lightening that appears periodically throughout the game. It adds a nice lifelike feel to the gameplay, and it adds a challenge when trying to sneak past guards.
One problem I had with the game, and has been noted by others too is that character’s mouths don’t move in time with the dialogue. It really takes something away from the game in my eyes and just ruins the look of the game when you’re interacting with a character and their mouth just looks like a cow chewing cud. Not nice. Other than that, characters are lifelike and the attention to detail (apart from their mouths) are amazing. The main character in particular who has separately coloured eyes is very noticeable when looked at in 3rd person. I do like when in games, characters do have something that sets them apart from the rest, rather than just walking past a crowd of clones.

Now for the soundscape. Nothing particularly outstanding in this sense, just what I would of expected from a stealth game. Some may see that as boring, but for me it fits in perfectly with the stealth game type. I don’t want to be sneaking around to a loud background music as it can be distracting when you’re trying to hide, or sneak over/past objects that can cause a lot of sound such as broken glass. So in this sense I was pleased it wasn’t over done.
This being said, the sound effects were really good and true to life. I noticed it more so with the thunder and lightening as it’s a sound I don’t like in real life, so hearing it did put me on edge throughout the game too (and a little more jumpy when seeing someone appear in front of me). Although it sounds like a nasty experience, it was nice in the sense it got me more involved with the game, and I felt more like I was actually there in that moment.
Character interaction was great as it’s always nice for me being able to hear the differences in voices when characters are talking to each other. Again as said with the looks, I don’t like hearing or seeing clones everywhere I turn in a game as it feels a bit lazy to me.

Thief has been a great experience for me. I’m not normally a stealth game player, but I did enjoy this game and will definitely be continuing my storyline to see how the game progresses later on. I personally think stealth games aren’t for everyone, but if this is your sort of game then definitely give it a try.
For me, I’d give this game a 7/10. Really great in places, will continue playing, but still has some work to do to make it an excellent game for me.

Until next time!
-KirreeH