Hamst3r.com is the blog of Jamez "Hamst3r" Gillman. While The Hamster Alliance website is a showcase for all of Hamst3r's music, Hamst3r.com is a showcase for everything else. All rants, rambles and reviews will be found here.
I’ve added a Let’s Play section to Hamst3r.com. Check it out.
It’s a collection of all the commentated game playthrough videos I’ve made and there are quite a few up already. Stuff like VVVVVV, Serious Sam HD, I’m Not Alone and Metro 2033. I’ll be adding stuff to that page every time I record some new game footage, so I’ve included it’s updates to the RSS feed for this site.
You can also subscribe to me on Youtube to get these videos as well. I have all the videos organized into playlists on my Youtube Channel.
I’m not interested in racing as a sport. I also have no desire to ever race a vehicle in real life. The components of a car are equally uninteresting to me. Does the car go fast? Yes? Great. That’s all I need to know.
When I play a racing game, what I want is white-knuckle craziness, which is what appeals to me about rally racing. Rally is insane.
The best kind of rally is the basic point to point time trial through wildly varying environments. You start off on a dusty mountain cliff and the next thing you know you’ve gone through a forest and are now ripping up the roads along the beach. The terrain is uneven and unforgiving. The roads widen and thin. Hairpin turns appear unexpectedly, keeping you on high alert the entire time. It’s you versus the road.
That said, I’m really looking forward to DiRT 2, which is coming out in September 2009. I played through the career mode in DiRT 1 and enjoyed it immensely. I have a few concerns about DiRT 2 though. I’ve heard that they have included more closed-circuit races. That’s not what I want, as stated above. The first DiRT game would have been perfect if it completely got rid of all the closed-circuit and endurance races.
Anyways, I hope DiRT 2 delivers and I guess I’ll be reinstalling the original DiRT until DiRT 2 comes out!
Spectraball is a marble platformer with some puzzle elements. Basically, you’re a marble and you have to roll around to get to the finish line. There are plenty of moving platforms, bridges, falling rocks, giant leaps and narrow ledges between you and victory. The game also touts PhysX technology, meaning some of the obstacles must be overcome by breaking through them or pushing them over.
Ultimately, if you like playing games for points, high scores and achievements, then Spectraball is a good choice. The game controls well and looks beautiful. The soundtrack is also very enjoyable.
Perseus Mandate is not as good as the original installment of F.E.A.R., though it has it’s moments. The fourth chapter and certain parts of the following chapters are the best that F.E.A.R. has ever been. The ending does bring a bit of closure to the storyline of the series, but ultimately I found the ending to be underwhelming. The two or three boss-like encounters are tense and visceral experiences that should please any fan of the F.E.A.R. series.
While its good parts outweigh its bad parts, the problem is that all the bad stuff is right up front, starting with the opening in-game cinematic. Ultimately, if you can find Perseus Mandate for around $10, then it’s certainly worth your time. If budget thrills aren’t your style and you’d like a bit more substance with your scares, then perhaps you should skip Perseus Mandate and wait for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, which is coming out in 2009.
Spectraball
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
