Saturday 25 February 2012

Star Wars: Knight Errant - Deluge


















The new series of Knight Errant is a great continuation of the series, seen in both comics and novels. This series sees Kerra Holt return to her homeworld of Aquilaris on a rescue mission, but as ever things are not so simple for the young Jedi as she tried to do some good behind enemy lines.

New Characters

New Sith









A collection of new Sith Lords appear only in hologram at this point, but hopefully we'll get to know a few more of them as we go on. Prominently seen are Arkadia (left) who featured in the novel and Odion (right) who is a key villain in the series.

Zodoh the Hutt
Species: Hutt
Sex: Hermaphrodite (male personality)
Position: Crime Lord








An unusual Hutt with a taste for personal combat, he enjoys leading his forces into battle personally whether using his jetpack and Mandalorian war axe or his specialy designed starfighter force! A major player in Hutt space Zodoh planned to use his weapons to cow the Sith into partnering with him.

Jenn Devaad
Species: Human
Sex: Female
Position: Squadron Leader





Jenn leads Devil Squadron a fighting force connected to the mercy organisation Grace Command, they cleared the way for relief and supplies to be flown in. But they also have secret plans to weaken the Sith. Jenn was formerly Zodoh's slave and has a score to settle with him too...

New Ships

A lot of cool ships in this story arc!!

Intruder-class Starfighter









These starfighters were incredibly unusualy in that they were designed to carry a Hutt into direct conflict with the enemy. As such any humanoid pilots had to work from the unusual position of lying down. The fighters came in two models a one and two-seater type fighter.


Stormdriver








More of a weapon than a vehicle, like with Odion's Kinetic corruptors these are industrial tools converted into weapons of mass destruction! An enormous moisture vaporator, capable of absorbing all the moisture from an atmosphere and using it to flood a planet - Zodoh planned to use these to threaten the Sith into working for him!!

Voracious









Zodoh's mobile command centre, from here he directs his forces and launches raids on planets of his choice. It houses a massive data centre from which he controls the Stormdrivers.

Fire-Lotus class starfighter









These are the pretty stinkin' cool starfighters used by Devil Squadron, brand new off the lines, the squadron got them ahead of the Republic Navy due to their wealthy backers. I absolutely love the design of these things, good that something in the past can look so cool!!

Mother Grace





The base ship of Grace Command, this ship delivered supplies to areas liberated by Devil Squadron's forces.

Map














Story

Kerra returns home to rescue her people, only to find they are stupefied by a drug called deluge and can't even help themselves. Worse still her arrival is followed by that of Zodoh, a powerful Hutt wanting to carve himself a piec of Sith territory. Kerra joins Devil Squadron and fights back against the Hutt and the Sith but discovers that the Devils are responsible for the districution of deluge in an attempt to weaken the Sith labour force. Kerra returns to save as many aquilarians as she can but the Devils are captured by Zodoh apart from Jenn who escapes, disrupting the Stormdrivers long enough to save the Aquilarians. They then take the fight to Darkknell, Daiman's capital and save that world from it's fate.

Another great story - what with Dawn of the Jedi out it seems pre-trilogy is where it's at these days!!

Monday 20 February 2012

SF at the Movies - February '12

Yes that's right - on time for a special February edition...cough...hem, let's see what's on at the cinema.

Chronicle



Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D



Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengance




More next month!

Saturday 18 February 2012

Blogga's Video Game Diary - 18/2/12














OK so I'm carrying on with Gears of War 3 and what I came across in the first act of the game. There'll be at least one more post after this to cover everything, but it'll feel good to get it all out - it is such an exiting game!!

Diary

Well what I've been up to video game wise recently is playing the demo for Mass Effect 3. It has been amazing and I can't wait to have the full game. The Kinect gameplay was awesome, especially for controlling conversations and the storyline is awesome chucking you in with a fight against the Reapers and also introducing some old friends to the story. Recently the multiplayer option was unlocked and that is great fun to play too, very engaging - well worth checking out folks - it's going to be an incredible ride come March!

New Vehicles

Ok, back to Gears. There are always a few cool vehicle moments on the games and this one hasn't disappointed, with a nice vehicle fight scene early on in the main game - so anyway this is what was in the game at this stage - in addition to the usual King Raven choppers.

Raven's Nest-class carrier











This was a cool element to the game - the bulk of the first act takes place on this ship, with the majority of the COG's land bases being unsafe they take to the seas, but even there there is danger. It was nice to see touching elements of life at sea, such as Dom being focused on growing food as much as fighting back because 'if we don't grow it, we don't eat it.' This is an enormous carrier designed to support Raven's Nest gunships, which the Gears (includeing Cole's team) use for forrays onto land for food and supplies.

Silverback











The Silverback was great fun to play, it is a powerful mech suit stored by gears as an offensive strategy, combining powerful armour with heavy guns. It was great fun stomping around in these to defend the ship from a Lambent attack.


And that's it vehicles-wise. The next post will be on new enemies, which I think will be a bit longer!!!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Blogga's Video Game Diary - 15/2/12














I'm making a radical move (for me!) - I'm jumping from Arkham City because it's gonna take too long to catch up with my current game playing, so if you want the lowdown on the game's characters gadgets and more - do check out the Arkham Wiki (here) for all the info - it's a great site!

Now at the moment I'm actually playing Assassin's Creed: Revelations but as you've guessed from the picture I'm gonna discuss another game - so expect a slew of Video Game posts as I try to catch up and make this diary slightly less farcical!

Diary

Well I've been playing a bit of Gears of War 3. I've been playing it with a friend who's away so don't expect regular updates on this game. We've also decided that there's only one way to play Gears, after midnight, in the dark - it makes for a better experience!! I really enjoyed playing this game - I'd forgotten how good the storytelling is in this series.

Story

I'll give a rough overview of what takes place in Act 1 - it's far too late to worry about spoiler warnings so I'll just go for it!

It's been about two years since the last game. Locust and Lambent attacks have been reduced since the sinking of Jacinto but the COG has fallen into disarray since Chairman Prescott abandoned them for no clear reason. As the game starts Marcus and co are at sea with the bulk of the remaining armed forces. Prescott suddenly arrives, with news of Marcus's father - long thought dead by all. Suddenly the lambent attack and Marcus and Dom struggle to stop the mostrous beings atacking them until they meet up with Cole and his squad back from their shopping trip with an explosive solution...

In the second half of the act you play as Cole and his team out trading for food with the Stranded, non-military groups that hide out in camps and aren't too fond of the government. There's a touching moment as Cole goes to the thrashball stadium where he was once a star player. Then the story brings them to meet up with Marcus and co, completing the story - just great!!

New Characters

Jace Stratton












Jace joined the COG at an early age and has been a Gear since before the invasion. He's cool under fire and still has hope for humanity even after all they've been through. He's a former member of Delta Squad that has been transferred back with the dissarray of the COG. He works with Marcus and Dom to fight off the Lambent at sea.

Samantha Byrne











Sam is a tough-nut soldier who enoys wise-cracking and is almost capable of shutting up Baird's whining. She is on Cole's team on a food hunt and tries to negotiate with the Stranded, the only offer she gets is to let the group trade her for bacon...which some of the Gears almost consider!

Clayton Carmine












There's been a Carmine in every game in the trilogy, the two previoius ones have died. It was fun to see another Carmine and already the game is teasing me as to whether he makes it with several near deaths for the character in the first Act! I'm trying to stay spoiler free, but I really hope he makes it!!

And that's pretty much it - apart from the Stranded leaders and of course Adam Fenix's return, but I won't go into too much detail here. More Gears soon!