The Rusted Musket

Let me start this review stating the kind of video gamer I am. I mainly game on the PC and I play a range of games, from RPGs (The Witcher anyone?) to all types of strategy (Turn based, real time, hybrids), the occasional MMO (Rift and EVE Online ATM) and lastly I play the occastional FPS preferring multiplayer oriented ones. My current FPS of choice is Battlefield Bad Company 2. I’m not a fan of COD, though it is a decently put together game the selfish and frantic gameplay is not my cup of tea. I like team based complex FPSs that reward good teamwork (since I like to play with friends).

That leads me to this game. My friends and I are losing interest in BF:BC2 since we’ve all put 200+ hours into it and have been playing it since beta. So I heard about Brink and the teamwork based gameplay and thought that I would try it out and let my pals know how it is. Well I played for several hours yesterday and have to say that while the premise is good, the game is overall just blah. It has a few cool ideas and the setting is fun, but there is just nothing about it that really stands out so it just ends up feeling like another run of the mill shooter. Personally I think it has similar gameplay to say a Unreal Tournament game.

So nitty gritty. The graphics are good, character models and levels aren’t bad. I think the guy’s heads look funny but anyway… The customization aspect is nice, but to be honest not anything revolutionary. The most basic of RPGs allowed this level of customization for years. The weapons, which are arguably one of the most important parts of a FPS, are rather blah. There isn’t a lot of differentiation between them. One SMG feels very much like another. The ARs are very similar as well and the grenades are very underwhelming.

For those singleplayer people, you can play by yourself and get a decent storyline, but lets be honest, this is really just a multiplayer game. Even the singleplayer is meant to be played online. The story is decent, I haven’t finished it, but it is basically just do objectives with teammates, not much different than playing the multiplayer component. The only real difference is the videos before and after.

One of my bigger complaints is the lack of in game stats and the ease that everything is unlocked. There is no staying power in the game. I still play BF:BC2 because its fun, but also because I get cool stats to look at and there are still guns to platinum. With Brink, everything is unlocked within 10 hours and while there is a decent amount of experimenting to try after it is all unlocked, since there is no in game stats and no crazy high levels to get there is less incentive to play. For instance, in BF:BC2 I have played well over 200 hours and I still have about 5 levels to go to get to 50. It isn’t my only incentive to play, but it gives me a little something to work towards.

Anywho, its not a bad game, but I doubt I’ll be playing it that much and I really don’t expect the online community to stick around.

A lot of people conceal carry (CCW) in the USA, and I think that in some areas the general public is okay with that, but many times people ask if the CCW should carry their gun loaded. Please read the following post and watch the accompanying video.

Why you carry a loaded gun

If you notice in the video the man tried to rack the slide on his gun at least 3 times. That took enough time to get shot. It is a very tragic video as I believe the man died and most likely would still be alive had he carried a loaded gun. When you are in a flight or fight situation you are as good as your worst day at the range, so you can’t afford to screw up, meaning that it needs to be as simple as possible.

I’m not a fan of the UN and never have been. I think the organization was founded with good intentions but is now little more than a worthless political organization. So with that in mind I find it laughible that the President of the most powerful country (military wise at the very least) is “requesting” UN support for a no fly zone over Libya… Think about that for a second… Now here is the kicker according to this Fox News article
the Obama administration will not do take action unless the UN passes the no fly zone resolution… What!?!?! Really? Does Obama have no spine? Whether the no fly zone action is right or wrong do we really need the UN’s approval?

PS. Just realized Ben wrote on a similar subject. Sorry Ben. Hopefully this post adds to your thoughts.

I just read this awesome quote from President Reagan:

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

When there is a shooting, instead of putting all the blame on the criminal shooter, we instead blame the failure of our laws or our society not the person who broke those laws. Isn’t that a oxymoron? The shooter broke the law, how would more laws have stopped him? It is not society’s fault that he went out and shot people, it is his fault. Stricter gun laws won’t stop him from getting a gun. He can steal one (from police, legal gun owners, the military, the FBI) or buy one illegally (ala blackmarket).

The Arizona shooting is tragic, but it wasn’t a failure of society or our laws. It was solely the fault of the shooter.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Looks like more basic freedoms are being infringed on in the UK. Basically the government wants to put a law into place that will allow them to monitor all internet, email traffic and telephone conversations, in the name of fighting terrorism.

There is a disturbing trend among governments to add more invasive “security” measures all in the name of national security. For instance, airports adding the full body scanners, completely disregarding privacy concerns and the potential health risks from the radiation dose you get. The scanners are totally unnecessary. Airport security right now is very good and there hasn’t been any hijacked or terrorist acts for years (other than a few “scares”). So why add more?

Don’t let your hard earned freedom be taken away so easily. Refuse to submit to full body scans and campaign against this invasive UK law.

Just ran across this quote and found it thought provoking…

It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.
Harry S Truman (1884 – 1972), in Observer, April 13, 1958

Since Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell won their primaries there has been quite a few articles about how the Tea Party is going to push the GOP to the right and how this will make it harder for them to win since it will alienate the “non-ideological” voters.

I find that these authors are missing a very key point that is staring them right in the face… Just to preface my next point, a lot of people just plain don’t vote. While the last Presidential election had a 63% turnout other elections, especially congressional ones, often have much lower turnouts. So with that in mind, I’m guessing that a portion of those non-voters are people who are conservative but don’t vote for the GOP candidates because they don’t agree on key issues.

I’m not saying that all 37% of those people who didn’t vote will come out and vote because there are actual conservative candidates. But this election could be close enough that if even 5% choose to vote it could make a very big difference…

Just found this must read article: http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/09/10/public-sector-workers-are-the-new-privileged-elite-class.html?PageNr=1

All the private sector workers are paying more and more to cover the cost of millions of public sector workers, who despite generally poor performance, get pay raises and basically can’t be fired. They have great pensions, short hours and can retire earlier then the rest of this hard working nation. Why should we be paying higher and higher taxes for these people when our pay is being cut and we are losing jobs? There really needs to be a independent group/commission that determines their wages. Instead we have the same people that benefit from wage increases determine these things. Total conflict of interest!

We have a important election before us, please think about who you vote for and really look at the issues that they are promising to take on. The candidates who will reduce public sector spending are worth our votes!

This was too good to pass up…

Large cities are constantly adding more and more cameras. Most of the time they go in intersections to “reduce” traffic violations by allowing the police to remotely send you tickets. Lovely… There is a lot of controversy over cameras like that because of invasion of privacy concerns. Chicago has a very large network of cameras and is always looking to expand them. Funny thing is that despite the city having 10k+ cameras all networked together, Chicago is still a country leader in murders… Lot of good those cameras are doing…

My beef with them though is the privacy thing. Who really wants all their actions caught on video whether sketchy or not? It is just a disturbing trend if you ask me. More and more technology and methods are being utilized to assist in catching a few criminals all while the law abiding citizen is treated more and more like a criminal, with more and more freedoms reduced. The full body scans at airports for instance. Airplane security is important, but there is a time to draw the line and that scanner is it. Don’t let the local, state and federal government take your freedoms away! It may not seem like much but little by little it is being whittled away.