Top Ten games of the year

you may read this and wonder "wheres the list". well this is where after waiting forever we announce the very long awaited return of the most prestigious, sometimes talked about in a conversation somehow including biscuts or slicers its the true return of the exile nation podcast. unlike duke nukem we will be recording on saturday and posting it on saturday or sunday. see you then.

-Tycho Bob

Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack

1.Foundry: this is the first map i tried out and the options are endless i made probably one of the most beast levels ever ("7th Parallel" shameless promotion i know) but the forging is the one good thing about this map because the default setting almost seems like they just threw a bunch of boxes in a room. i can seepotential if they made a playlist for user created content but other than that the forge is the best option for this map the rest is just decent

2.standoff: great team map with the only problem being that the brighter side of the map has a slight uphill advantage in team games. this is the most visually beautifull map to date in my mind. this map would have been better if bungie had made a couple terrain changes(for example being able to manually raise the giant pads, and acctually adding an incineration room (if there is one tell me)).

3.Rats Nest: when i first heard of this map as an "indoor vehicle paradise" i was thinking giant racetrack level, but to discover that it was a level with a outher rim track that has turns from hell i was dissapointed. then i discoverd that you couldnt even play around the pelican and i was even more pissed off. i can see this level being forged into one of the best infection maps arond.

The bottom line: Make your own decision, if you like any of the previously stated opinion go get them if not wait.

-Tycho Bob

to the annonimous

Ok this would have to be the first person to comment on the blog that is not a spambot or someone allready an admin so whomever you are please sign up for the forums tell your friends and get this site to run with the full potential it deserves.

oh, and coming up later this week "Exile Nations top 10 games of the year"

Repo! The Genetic Opera!

• for fans of unique ideas this one is one of my favorites. this is a story of disease and filth who cant pay their debts. in a time of an epidemic where organs are failing one shining light is there to save the day. GeneCo is a is a company who offers organs to those in need, at a price and don't worry if you cant pay they will help you out financially. but please pay or they will have to repossess those blood pumping, life giving organs by any means possible
  
• now there is more of a reason for me to be excited than a really cool idea. musician Nivek Ogre of skinny puppy a popular industrial band will be starring as Pavi Largo who or what that character is i don't know but i cant wait to see it. - Tycho Bob

Yaris - review

I am sorry but when you try to feed us a shit game such as this one and pass it off as free we will revolt and tell you how much of a shit pot it actually is you cant go around and hope we like what feels like a bad sonic bonus level made entirely in a sewer pipe. the only people playing this game are reviewers and gamerscore whores that is all i have to say. -Tycho Bob

Review - Portal

I'm reviewing this now before Talon gets to play it because by that time the sequel will already be out. this game takes one of the most innovative ideas thought of ever and runs with it.this game makes me want to go play Narbacular Drop, but being a Macintosh guy once again restricts me from doing so. what does Narbacular Drop even mean. let me Google it real quick....... OK ill type this verbatim from wiki "The word "Narbacular", not existing in any dictionary, was chosen primarily to aid in Internet search engine results" irony of irony it doesn't even register in the blogger dictionary giving me options such as nebular and barnacle.

• the basis:

portal starts you in a room with a radio and a notepad now from here you get told that a portal will open giving you tour first glimpse of how these things work. its pretty self explanatory, just look at it as those portable holes in looney toons, but there is another hole of which you exit. make sense, well at first its hard to wrap your head around but then you get used to it. the most satisfaction comes from when you have to think out how you are going to execute a chain of portals and then finish the chain of portals flawlessly.

• the plot and environment:

It has a strong feeling of the movie cube or saw and not that oh shit not another one feeling but the waking up in an unknown place and having to think your way out of it feeling. with the surreal feminine computerized omnipresent narrator gives it the wit and sarcasm it needs to be a fully fleshed out character led environment

playability: though it might hurt your brain it is fun and you wont want to put it down until you've reached a aesthetically pleasing stopping point, which isn't until the end of the game. they've also packed in a lot of alternate versions of levels such as advanced versions of certain levels, and versions that challenge you to complete it in the least amount of steps, portals, and time. the amount this game can be played over and over again is un-countable.

• The only proplem:

Once you start you wont want to stop, and the pure frustration when you cant figure a puzzle out or frustration of just wanting to get past that damn loading screen.

• Complex Score = 97 Out of 100
• Simple Score = 5 out of 5
  
• Tycho Bob

Civil Rant - Bungie

When bungie was an infant they gave us a game that was the cornerstone of macintosh gaming. In thier future of the company, unknown to them they would come to create the cornerstone of Xbox gaming. Everything in between... decent, but being a marathon fan making the switch to more action less puzzle was a bit jarring, but i adapted to the change and prayed for some puzzles in halo 2 or 3. To no avail the games were pure badass action and no thought provoking puzzles. now dont sway "hey, you like shooters with puzzles maybee Youll like half-life" i know its cool and all but marathon had a different feel to it which isnt present in H-L. what that feeling is in is bioshock, now theres a game a mix between bioshock and half-life minus head crabs. all this comes down to is me shouuting to bungie "HEY, make us have to think through next game" marathon pulled off having a fleshed out storyline without any cinematics. -Tycho Bob

Looking at -- Bioshock!

Never have i looked at a game that has instilled such beauty into its undersea environments that it took me 12 hours just to get to the mid point of level 3 . When I first started asking people "should i buy it" I kept getting hit with a mix of "just rent it" and "just buy it". And from what I've played this game is automatically on the top 5 list of games i don't regret buying this year.

when I first saw a big daddy my first instinct was just let it go but then i thought why the hell not. It cant be too harmful... I was wrong not only are the big daddies quick but they pack a punch and without the right strategy you will die! the first of the big daddies will probably be equal to, or harder than the first boss to a player who just picked up the game (ME).

scavenging is a must to find necessities such as bullets, first aid kits, eve, and money. To conserve money is a must, so hacking to lower prices helps, and I'm hoping that the tubes mini-game gets hardercause im currently hacking everything with ease. Overall i love it so far and if i find anything worth saying later it will be in the official review soon. - Tycho Bob

It's back, with a vengance

so after some problems with the Co-Host DJ Lardass he has decided to leave and now after a year i have searched and found a new Co-host DJ Talon so in about a week or two we will have the new cast.
youu may ask what you are going to expect:

• coverage of the halo 3 release
• interviews
• kick ass music
• and a new theme song
• oh and segments (rants, game & tech updates, and 5 minutes of dedicated rambling)

so keep your pants on for now and wait for the new and improved Exile Nation