Season of Spooks Has Begun!

The morning autumnal chill that we have recently awoken to makes most want to stay within the warm, cuddly, safe embrace of their bed quilts and pillows. But, for others of us, we know that there is far more to it than that.

We know that true safety only comes once the sun rises. During these longer nights, we know that there are things that dwell within the darkened shadows, lurking, waiting, whispering and moaning. They come from netherworlds and forgotten dimensions.

For most people these mythical monstrosities are things of legends and campfire stories. But, for others of us that know better, they are the unspeakable horrors that feast off of the living's fears and flesh.

FOR THIS IS THE HALLOWEEN SEASON!!!

And right on into the season we go here on my Blog of Geekdom! I've finished my annual alterations on my blog so that they are more suitable for this wonderful, spooky season.

So lets get right into it, shall we?

What creepy activities have I jumped into to start the celebrating of the spook season? Well, I've been playing....

Red Dead Redemption: UNDEAD NIGHTMARE - This is neither a sequel or prequel to the old west, open world, shoot 'em up, Red Dead Redemption. This is more of a "What If" story that ponders the notion, "What if the old west suffered from a sudden outbreak of a zombie plague?"

Lead protagonist, John Marston finds his safe and sweet, rancher lifestyle torn to shreds as the nearby township of Blackwater is infested with the flesh-eating undead. This sets him on a open world journey throughout the old west to try and find a cure as well as survive.

The game features the same map and locations that the original Red Dead did, but most townships and ranches are zombie filled and burning to the ground. You have to guide Marston through the countryside and either avoid or kill off hordes of zombies while taking on a whole slew of missions. You'll be expected to cleanse graveyards, hunt sasquatch, capture the four horses of the apocalypse, clear towns of zombies as well as taking on the main story's quest missions.

The game play is pretty much the same with a slight survival horror twist. There are thousands of zombies in this game and ammunition is not as plentiful as it was in the last game. In fact, one of the only places you'll find it is off of the bodies of zombies that you have dispatched. Not all zombies carry ammo. Just the ones who have gun belts on them. Sometimes you get rewarded with ammo after completing a mini-mission, but there are no working stores to exchange items for money. So whatever ammo you get, consider yourself lucky. Sometimes you have to decide if it's going to be fight or flight when confronted with a brood of zombies on the road in front of you when you're low on ammo.

There's also a little more strategy involve when taking out oncoming zombies. In grand zombie folklore tradition, the only way you can completely kill a zombie is a good, solid head shot! This can be made a little easier when you use the "quick shot" feature which slows down the scene and lets you set well aimed shots. However this only lasts for so long and has to recharge after its use. This can be detrimental when more zombies are coming at you. You have to figure out if you want to run from them as you quick-shot meter builds back up or if you want to aim out the shots on your own, real time. You can also shoot them in the legs and lower extremities to slow them down and allow you to take better aim. Either way, there's a distinct possibility that you will become zombie chow.

Some of the frustrating control issues have not been fixed from the last game. You'll find yourself circling a dead zombie carcass over and over again until you find the right angle where the game lets you search the body for ammo. And of course there are times when you are running from zombies and you easily make the mistake to put your character into the crouch position rather than continue running which is always a ton of fun when you have a few zombies on your back.

Despite these control issues, the game is a ton of wicked, spooktacular fun! The creepy atmosphere, gallows humor and zombie hunting more than make up for the slight frustrations. The game is also priced pretty frackin' nicely for the amount of content that's there.

If you are a zombie fan and like tales of the old west as well as open world game play, this is a must buy!

I'll keep this introductory Halloween season post short. I have to start plotting on what poor souls I'm going to try and drag to a Haunted Attraction this year. I hope you all get to take on some fun autumn and Halloween activities this season!

Zangz.

"I'm a loner, Dottie."

- Pee Wee Herman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

In the wild world of video gaming, multiplayer and co-op seem to be the big main draw to bringing in common folk who wouldn't usually be into the video game scene. These functions have popularized the gaming industry by leaps and bounds as well as making it a lucrative competitor to the likes of Hollywood film studios. In many ways it has helped catapult the geek cultural renaissance we've been having over the last few years.

Being able to get online and shoot it up with a bunch of people from all over the world seems like it would be an entertainment draw for the likes of myself. But, to tell you the truth, online gaming with others takes away from many aspects of why I love video gaming to begin with.

For example.....

A. Gaming with a bunch of kids is, simply put, a colossal pain in the arse. Immaturity seems to run rampant throughout online gaming. Whether it be silly, vulgar insults or cheating during competitive game play, it kills the joy of pure competition.

B. Even if you're playing with people you know and trust who are on an equal maturity level as you are, there's always going to be that one person, THAT ONE PERSON, who has traversed the game level over and over and over again before you've gotten acquainted with it. He or she knows every nook and cranny and has found several wonderful spots to hide and snipe at you so every time you get killed by them and regenerate, BLAMMO!!!, head shot. You're dead again.

C. You tend to lose out on the wonderful experience of exploration and discovery. I lean toward huge, epic, open world games. I like to experience a game that really puts you in a virtual world where discovering new places is a major feature of the game. When you're forced to rely on other people in the game, you're pulled away from you own quest of discovery.

D. Having to rely on other players and when or if they want to play or even finding the time for everybody you want to play with at a given moment can be just as intricate as transposing a Frank Zappa song.

E. I'm a selfish bastage when I play. I want to do things on my own time. Do I want to take path "A" or path "B"? It should be up to me and nobody else. If I make a mistake or choose unwisely, I should be the only player who suffers the consequences.

So there you have it. I'm a loner gamer and have no problem with it. And as a loner gamer, I'm looking forward to the onslaught of cool as frack releases that will be popping onto game shelves within a years time.

1. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: 11-11-11 is the release date for this open world, fantasy and action filled lovefest. It's predecessors, Morrowind and Oblivion, have proven themselves to be some of the greatest games ever released. Here's how geeked out I am over the game. I plan to pre-order it within the next few weeks, go to the midnight release and take the day off. I've NEVER done anything like that for a video game, ever! For Skyrim, I'M DOIN' IT!!! You can view a preview of the gameplay as demonstrated by game lead, Todd Howard if you click HERE.

2. Saints Row, The Third: The first Saints Row game was criticized for being another open world, crime sim, GTA clone. And it pretty much was. But, where the GTA series has a good dose of frustrating "throw the controller at the TV screen" moments, Saints Row leaned more toward fun. They took that feeling even further in Saints Row 2. This upcoming installment will push the fun factor to the limit with crazy weaponry that includes a vehicle that sucks up pedestrians and shoots them out of a cannon, a satellite from which you can call in missile aerial strikes on rival gangs and a hand held...um...well...this weapon has me going "WTF?" I tried to find a preview to link to that wasn't as controversial or adult orientated as the game is. I couldn't. So, if you really, really want to see some game play, search it out on YouTube yourselves. But be sure not to do so at work or where children are present. If you work at a day care facility, you're really screwed.

3. Borderlands 2: More of the same shoot 'em up, loot 'em up gameplay as the first Borderlands? YES, PLEASE!! A good mix of RPG looting and character building while shooting up baddies with a massive amount of weaponry to choose from on a desolate Road Warrior-esque planet can't go wrong. Can it? Methinks not! To see a way too quick first trailer of the game, click HERE.

4. Mass Effect 3: THE greatest sci-fi RPG to grace the video game world since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Not only is it a great RPG, the story line is incredibly captivating. This will be the last of the trilogy where we will see if our Commander Shepard can save both the Earth and universe. See the trailer HERE.

5. Dead Island: Upon hearing about yet another zombie shoot them up, survival game, I thought it would be a dull version of Dead Rising or Left 4 Dead. Well, I just went over a number of reviews and all of them were pretty impressed with the game. It turns out to be a RPG / open world / survival horror hybrid taking place on an island resort that goes to hell in a hand basket when a zombie outbreak takes place there. Zombie killin' and RPG mechanics?Me likey!! To watch a blood and gore soaked preview, click HERE, but don't do it at work or with kids around. I guess if you work at a day care facility, you'd be really screwed.

6. RAGE: More post-apocalyptic action and adventure in id Software's predecessor to it's other first person shooter games, DOOM and Quake. These guys are the originators of FPS gameplay and god knows they've had quite a while to work on this puppy. How can this go wrong? No Duke Nukem Forever jokes, please. There's a look at a preview of the game HERE.

That's a good cache of games coming out soon. This is the first time in a while where my wish list has been more than one or two games. I'd better start on that Xmas list pretty soon. Some of these titles are coming out this fall, if they haven't already.

And speaking of fall, my favorite, creeptastic holiday is right around the corner. I have already seen at least one Halloween store opening its doors. I'm already watching YouTube videos of Haunted Attractions around the country. More on that in a latter post closer to the season.

I think I'll end my latest entry here. Until next time, stay vertical!!!

Zangz.