Weekend Non Gym Session 29/08/2010

Weekend Non Gym Session 29/08/2010

Frankly, I thought that Little Foot would be too exhausted from the walk / jog yesterday. Weirdly though, he was still bug me to bring him for a walk today. Therefore, I decided to once again torture him by making him jog / walk the park.

I brought him to the park around 6:30 pm and the entire walk took around 45 minutes yet again.

Here are the stats of the said walk:

Sunday, 29/08/2010, heavy cardio session
45 mins walking and jogging with Little Foot around the park for 9 times
* Resulted in 350 calories burned and about 6km walked and jogged(estimated)

Also, I have recently completed Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which I purchased recently from a Lowyat net forumer. Here is a short review of the game. The game length was quite decent for a real time strategy ("RTS") game as I have spent about 20 hours playing thru entire game (singleplayer portion).

Here are some screenshots of the game:

1. Start menu loading screen


2. Sample loading screen


3. Mission briefing screen, supposed to save some colonies


4. Playing the entire campaign thru as Jim Raynor


5. The campaign starts in a bar / pub


6. Always meet familiar people in the bar /pub. In this case, your old friend, Tygus.


7. Jim Raynor's badge in the bar / pub


8. A top down shooter in Starcraft 2, nice touch


9. Inside an armory with a dwarf, wait.....Little people


10. Viking, there are still Goliath though


11. Jukebox in a bar and on Jim Raynor's battleship


12. Protoss's final showdown in the prophecy


13. Building terran base to engage the enemy later


14. Getting ready to assault a factory


15. Hiring mercenaries in game, can be quite powerful in game


16. Mission successful screen


17. Watching TV in the bar


18. Jim Raynor's old friend, Zeratul


19. Getting ready to assault planet Char, Zerg's stronghold


20. Ground assault on Char with Tygus manning the dual gatling guns


21. The powerful weapon to use against Kerrigan


22. Who is he gonna shoot?


23. Queen of blades to be human again?


24. The ending for Wings of Liberty, Jim Raynor carrying Kerrigan while walking towards the sun set


25. My favourite in game parody, iPistol

*I played this game using a keyboard and mouse combo as intended for Real Time Strategy ("RTS") games.

I completed all three campaigns within 20 hours of heavy gaming session. After many years of waiting for this, I would say that this is a decent game though to some extent dated in terms of interface and the graphics. The gameplay and in game movies exceeds my expectations while the story was mediocre, more like a B-grade movie. From my point of view, this game is should be played by people who enjoyed Starcraft 1 and to those who enjoys a fast paced RTS.

Pros:
1. Easy to use interface, more or less a classic interface
2. Good graphics, great sound effects and excellent voice over.
3. The game length decent for RTS around 20 hours
4. The Battlenet experience was so much better compared to Beta
5. Superb multiplayer option (unfortunately, I don't have the time nor patience for this)
6. Not taxing to my PC at all. Unless I switch 8xAA on.

Cons:
1. Mediocre story compared to its predecessors
2. Quite blocky without AA on
3. Need to click everything to find out or watch certain in-game movies
4. Unhelpful tech support during Beta

My verdict for this game is 9.0 out of 10. I definitely would recommend anybody who is a fan of the RTS who yearns for a classic RTS. This is definitely an entertaining game to play. However, the price of the game was quite steep when it was released, ie. RM248 which is much more expensive than most games I have bought thus far (be it retail or Steam or Impulse). Furthermore, the Collector's edition was going for RM500 to RM800 depending on region. I am quite glad I didn't go with the collector's edition as I would be able to spend the underlying savings on other things / stuff that I am interested in.

Weekend Non Gym Session 28/08/2010

Weekend Non Gym Session 28/08/2010

Due to the fact that I was too lazy to hit the gym today, I decided to walk Little Foot by jogging in the park before going to my friend's BBQ party. Little Foot was really excited to go to the park. However, I did not share his sentiments.

Here are the stats of the said walk:

Saturday, 28/08/2010, heavy cardio session
45 mins walking and jogging with Little Foot around the park for 10 times
* Resulted in 350 calories burned and about 6km walked and jogged(estimated)

Fortunately, I was still able to make it to my friend's BBQ party located in Rawang. I came home from Rawang about 12 midnight as I was quite tired from exercising as well as socializing. Also, I have recently completed Alien Breed: Impact, which I purchased recently during a sale on Steam. Here is a short review of the game. The game length was quite short for a shooter these days as I have spent about 5 hours playing thru entire game.

Here are some screenshots of the game:

1. Title screen shot


2. Menu screenshot


3. Venting gas, will be doing a lot of those throughout the game


4. Narration of Alien Breed's story


5. In game animation


6. There is always a distress signal


7. Sentry guns, my favourite weapon in game


8. Crossing a bridge


9. The whole game revolved inside two spaceships


10. Entering to an old space ship


11. Final boss


12. The ending

*I played this game using a keyboard and mouse combo most of the time. Sometimes, I played this game using my Xbox 360 controller. However, do note that I am more familiar with the keyboard and mouse combo

I completed all missions within 5 hours of casual playing. This was a decent game in terms of the gameplay. Unfortunately, the story was full of crap. From my point of view, this game is should be played by people who enjoy a top down shooter (since there are not many alternatives save for Alien Swarm).

Pros:
1. Easy to use interface
2. Decent graphics, great sound effects and excellent voice over.

Cons:
1. Uninspiring story, I could have written a better one
2. Missions were to repetitive
3. Same environment throughout the entire game

My verdict for this game is 6.5 out of 10. I definitely would recommend anybody who is a fan of the top down view shooter. This is a mildly entertaining game to play. However, I would not recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a decent story.

Work Day Gym Session 24/08/2010

Work Day Gym Session 24/08/2010

I got off work around 6:45 pm today which was very quite alright. I got into the gym around 7:00 pm and got off the gym around 8:30pm. As usual, I tried to do a full blast gym session today but was unable to do so as my body was aching and I felt somewhat sick. Nonetheless, I managed to do one weight exercise before moving on to an hour cardiovascular session.

Total time spent in gym = 1 hour 30 mins

My workout routine as follows:

Barbell shoulder press:
2x10 @ 20kg for warm-up and cool-down
1x10 @ 30kg
2x10 @ 40kg
*Upon completing this weight training, I felt something was not right as 40kg barbell shoulder press won't not have taxed my strength that much. As such, I decided to switch to jogging on the treadmill for an hour instead.

60 mins on the treadmill @ speed = 8.0kmph and gradient = 0%
5 mins on the treadmill @ speed = 6.0 kmph and gradient = 0% for cool-down
* Resulted in 8.49km jogged, around 760 calories burned.

I ran out breath after 30 minutes of jogging on the treadmill. I suspect that I maybe falling sick. Nevertheless, I hope to pull another gym session on this coming Thursday or Friday.

Weekend Non Gym Session 21/08/2010

Weekend Non Gym Session 21/08/2010

I woke up quite early today which was around 8:30 am. I had no time to walk Little Foot this morning as I had to send my parents to Subang airport for their flight to Medan, Indonesia. As such, I decided to give Little Foot a walk in the park around 6:30 pm today.

Here are the stats of the said walk:

Saturday, 21/07/2010, light cardio session
30 mins walking with Little Foot around the park for 4 times
* Resulted in 80 calories burned and about 2.4km walked and jogged(estimated)

Also, I have recently completed Supreme Commander 2, which I purchased quite awhile ago during a sale on Steam. Here is a short review of the game. The game length was quite decent as I have spent about 10 hours playing thru all three factions' campaigns.

Here are some screenshots of the game:

1. Supreme Commander 2 title screen


2. Some guy you will play as for the UEF campaign


3. Sample loading screen


4. Nuclear explosion?


5. UEF Gunships heading toward to shielded ground units


6. Building more sea units


7. Ship destroyed


8. Close up short of UEF's commander unit


9. Blockade against Cybran's navy


10. Assaulting a huge city with funny platforms


11. The real bad guy who is a bit quirky


12. Total annihilation of the city


13. Final showdown


14. No more orbital platform for nut-job


15. Sad ending, can't remember who died.

*I played this game using a keyboard and mouse combo as intended for Real Time Strategy ("RTS") games.

I completed all three campaigns within 10 hours of casual playing. This is one of the rare gems where the gameplay exceeds my expectations while the story was full of crap. From my point of view, this game is should be played by people who enjoy a deep RTS and has no love for single player experience.

Pros:
1. Easy to use interface, particularly the 100% zoom out option
2. Setting patrols, queuing up orders and full zoom out view are necessary for any RTS these days.
3. Decent graphics, great sound effects and excellent voice over.
4. The game length decent for RTS around 10 hours

Cons:
1. Terrible story, I could have written a better one
2. At times, taxing on my PC which is pretty high end to begin with
3. Too many blocks and squares for units

My verdict for this game is 7.0 out of 10. I definitely would recommend anybody who is a fan of the RTS who yearns for a better interface and deep gameplay. This is definitely an entertaining game to play. However, I would not recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a decent story.