Adata ASX900S3 review

The Adata ASX900S3-64GM-C R is a 64GB SSD I purchased on newegg.com back in March 2013.  I have to say I was fairly excited because it was my first SSD and I was really looking forward to the upgraded speed I had been researching.  When it came, it was all fairly simple to setup.  There was a bracket mount for the SSD to fit in the drive bay for my desktop, and once screwed into place, it was almost like I could forget about it.  (no moving parts is another wonderful benefit of an SSD)  The drive worked flawlessly and the speed improvement was substantial over my old 5400 RPM HDD.  Gaming worked well on the drive, and it also boosted the performance of the Windows operating system as well.  I would highly recommend Adata SSD products as reliable and affordable.


http://www.adata.com/en/ssd/

        I finally got to spend some time finishing Assassin's Creed.  I must say that this is one of the more engrossing games I have played.  The story was somewhat predictable, but the way you play through it ensures that you won't be bored by it.  The game play mechanics are amazing even by the standards of today's games.  I'm glad I was able to give this game another shot after my first attempt in early 2008, and this is proof that taste in games can mature and change over time.
        The title of the game comes from the set of rules followed by the Brotherhood of Assassins.  The Creed is made of 3 rules.  Rule number one is, "Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent."  In other words, only kill your target or those who would try to stop you.  Rule number two, "Hide in plain sight."  The assassin can blend with any crowd so that he may silently kill his target and escape unnoticed.  Finally rule number three, "Never compromise the brotherhood."  No matter what happens, your actions are not to bring any harm to the brotherhood whether directly or indirectly.  The story of Assassins's Creed is a somewhat traditional tale of redemption.  Altaïr is a master assassin whose rank is only exceeded by his hubris. After breaking all 3 tenants of the Creed he is stripped of his rank and equipment. Altaïr is then given a mission that will give him a chance to restore his lost equipment and status among the Brotherhood.
        The overall feel of Assassin's Creed is fantastic.  The world that Ubisoft Montreal created feels very lifelike, especially for a game made back in 2007.  Although I have no idea how large the 3 main cities in the game really were in 1191, they feel quite large while still being manageable.  The graphics and detail in everything in this game is astounding.  I really feel that buildings are where the design team did their best work.  You can see every crack and flaw in the old walls of every building.  The characters look goos as well, but the buildings seem to have been the main point of focus.
        For anyone who has played either of the Batman: Arkham games, you are going to enjoy this game.  Throughout this game one thought kept going through my mind, "Why on earth haven't these people made a Spider-Man game?"  The flow of movement in Assassin's Creed is incredible.  It is very similar to both Arkham games but it feels as if you have an even better ability to move how you want.  You can run around the tops of the buildings or on the ground.  There is an amazing transition from low ground to high ground in certain areas, others you have to climb the face of a building to get to the top.  Climbing can seem a bit slow at times but you learn to spot the areas that will give you the quickest ascent.
        Admittedly the combat system felt a little dated, but I still enjoyed the simplicity of just using X for attacks.   The combo system is based on when you pressed the button and not which combination of buttons you used.  I really enjoyed this feature in that I could learn to time my attacks and have some small measure of skill involved instead of just repeatedly pressing X+B+X+B+Y.  Having to time when you press X in order to successfully follow up an attack was a great bit of foresight on the part of the developers.
        The many weapons are a source of endless entertainment.  I loved being able to sneak up behind people and perform a stealth assassination with my hidden blade.  I don't know if this game brought out the inner evil in me, but there was just something so satisfying about getting rid of a guard who continually got in the way of a mission and leaving him in the street for another guard to find.  I am normally a very nice person and in real life I would never hurt anyone, but at one point I even made a game out of this.  I would assassinate one guard and wait for another one to come over and investigate.  Right around the time he would start to say, "Who did thi-"  He would have a blade in his back as well.  This became a cycle that I would repeat until I would get caught by one of the guards who came in groups.  There was also the fun of throwing knives.  First of all, I thought throwing knives would take several to kill a person.  This is not the case, but rather one knife is enough to kill anyone except for a Templar (There are 60 of these around the world to kill for an achievement) or your main assassination target.  Throwing knives are great for taking out a rooftop guard who may see you before you can close the distance and silently take him out.  An unexpected bonus comes in the form of them falling off of the roof occasionally after being struck.  They would then cause screams of terror to rise from the street where they fell.  For some reason this always gave me a perverse sense of joy followed by an evil chuckle.
        The story was fairly good.  The ending was no real surprise to me, but it can be hard to come up with a truly surprising ending anymore.  It was still a well executed story.  No pun intended.  I wasn't driven to continue focusing on the story the whole time but I actually found that refreshing.  It gave me time to move around the city helping people that were being harassed by the city guards, and finding the high places for scouting.  These little side missions made it easier to get the achievements and I can see why they were implemented but they really didn't help the progression of the game.  The only bonus you gain from saving people is the help of the local vigilantes but I didn't find them to be very helpful, but once again, it was useful for fleshing out the game.  The only side section I did not like at all was collecting flags.  I do not like pointless collecting in games.  There is no point in collecting flags but there are over 300 of them to collect in the game.  It's a bit excessive, but I'm sure that there are people in it for the challenge.
        I really enjoyed this game, and I am really looking forward to starting the second installment.  The game looked beautiful and the movement was amazing, but the combat system could have been just a little more involved than it was.  In a game like this, combat is one of the biggest parts of the game so it is very important.  I feel comfortable giving this game an 8.5/10.  If you have any suggestions for games you would like me to review or if you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know.

      It's only right that I start things off with one of the last games I was really excited for.  As a warning ahead of time there will be some story spoilers from Gears 2 and 3 here.  Gears of War 3 was supposed to be the epic finale to the Delta Squad story of Marcus Fenix and his team.  A revamped graphics engine, new weapons, heaps of improved multiplayer content and a whole host of enemies awaits in this long awaited title.  What could go wrong?
        When I first began playing I was beyond excited.  Gears of War was one of the original games I picked up for the Xbox 360 after being a late adopter of "next gen" consoles.  Gears of War 2 was Delivered to me on release day from the nearly extinct Circuit City (along with 1600 MSP) and I skipped classes that day so I could immerse myself once again in the world of Sera.  Gears of War 3 nearly caught me by surprise because I hadn't heard anything about the franchise in some time.  A friends feed on Facebook walked me through his adventures in Cedar City, UT as we waited for the midnight release.  The next day I was bombarded with requests for me to get it so I could join him and finish of the Locust once and for all.  Once I was able to get my hands on it I went home and put it right in.  The recap done by Anya was a very useful refresher on what had happened in the first two games, and got me excited to see what was happening after the sinking of Jacinto. Now I had been reading the books written by Karen Traviss and I have to admit I wasn't terribly impressed with her writing.  She did a great job of keeping elements of the world in place, but she never really made any characters I felt anything for, and I honestly started to care less about the original cast.  I did not know that the story for Gears 3 had been written by this same author, if I had known I may have been a bit more apprehensive going into the campaign or maybe I would have lowered my expectations a bit.  As it was, I had high hopes for this campaign because of the wonderful ending of Gears of War 2.
        Right away the campaign didn't feel the same.  Perhaps it was being on a brightly lit ship in what can only be compared to the Pacific Ocean.  Perhaps it was the Lambent popping on deck like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.  Perhaps it was that some great characters had seemingly been neutered and turned into whiny tomato growers.  Perhaps, just perhaps, it was the addition of characters I had never heard of, and honestly annoyed me through the entire game just to make the 4 player arcade campaign possible.  I liked the idea of a 4 player campaign, but this just didn't seem to be working.  More on that later.  I enjoyed the new enemies that were being presented to me right from the get go, and I was genuinely surprised to see my first mutated Drudge.  The game play was holding its own, but the story was getting left behind.  I kept on playing hoping that the story would catch up and leave me dumbfounded like the others did.  There were the quirky moments that have been in all of the games that usually involve stealing a locust animal for transport or being on a mounted turret on a moving vehicle, but there was no real enjoyment in these like there was before.  This did lead to one of the shining moments of the campaign though.  The defense of Anvil Gate.
        Now I had given up on the books by the time Anvil Gate had come out, so I didn't know a thing about the fort, and the constant references to the authors books only made me more frustrated because I hadn't read them nor did I want to.  She had just succeeded in making me feel like the guy who walks in on a conversation where everyone is conversing using inside jokes that I just didn't understand.  Sorry Sam's dad, I have no idea what happened but it was something involving food rations.  Aside from making me care even less about the story, Anvil Gate was amazing.  I loved that the enemies just poured out of the trees at you and you just got to kill as many as you could before having to go for more ammo.  I also enjoyed the fact that choosing your path in this game was an extremely different experience as opposed to choose right and it's the same thing as on the left, but on the right!  In Gears of War 3 you had the choice to go out in the truck and eventually fight your way back, or stay on the walls and guard your friends as they struggle in the open.  This was a great move on the part of the design team.  Lambent Berserker is one of my least favorite terms after a run on Insane.  I loved the fight, it just frustrated me to no end the first time through.
        The end of the story was a tease that never satisfied your needs.  It was the evil high school girlfriend from hell. They started to go into why Queen Myrrah looked and sounded human, they started to cover where she came from and how she was talking to Adam Fenix, but then it all ends.  The story smiled an evil grin and said, "Sorry but I have to go home now."  The story had completed its journey to the dark side, and not in the impressive "I am Darth Vader, the epitome of cool evil" but rather the "I'm Anakin and  I will whine my way to evil" sort of way.  In short, some great characters died needlessly while annoying add on characters live to annoy another day, and the key components of the wrap up are still missing.  What can you do?
        The multiplayer was not a let down in this game.  I know there are still the gnasher purists who abhor all things sawed-off, but I don't mind it.  I don't use it, but I don't mind it, it adds a new element to the game.  The "Gears of War" game types have made themselves known once again.  Having the traditional Team Death Match at the head, and of course King of the Hill and Capture the Leader making triumphant returns. There have also been several weekend events such as "Torquebow Tag" which have really added a bit of spice to what would normally a typical game of TDM.  These weekend events are usually entertaining and provide a sense of a good time to be had by all.
        Horde 2.0 was a diamond among sapphires.  The enhancements that were inspired from making walls out of boom shields are incredible.  I still get online just to play horde mode.  A more structured boss level was also a good addition just to remind us that no matter how good your fortifications are, a berserker can still ruin your day.  Just be careful and watch for rage quits.
        Beast mode was another great innovation for multiplayer.  If people loved horde mode, why wouldn't they like to be on the other side?  Also it gives me no end of satisfaction to get to kill some characters, and a sense of pride at being able to kill some of the more impressive members of the COG like the mighty Cole Train and Marcus Fenix.  A great idea was to use the money you earned not to build a better base, but rather unlock more ferocious enemies while still making the lower level units useful as you progress.  Smashing Prescott as a berserker is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
        The arcade mode of the campaign was not my favorite part of the game.  As previously noted I didn't much care for the campaign, and now having to wait forever to find a group of people to play with so I can get the achievements by playing through it again is not my idea of a good time.  I am sure there are people who enjoy it, I am just not one of them.
        Epic has been amazing about providing loads of downloadable content for this game, and it does not look like it will end any time soon.  There have been 5 pieces of content made available for download.  they are the "Horde Command Pack" which introduced a new level of upgrade for the Silverback and the new command center fortification which allows for sniper, mortar and Hammer of Dawn strikes as you level it up.   Next was the "Versus Booster Map pack" which was just additional maps and skins for use in multiplayer.  Arguably the best DLC for the game so far is "RAAM's Shadow" Which adds additional campaign play that takes place before Gears of War where you get to play as General RAAM and also the forces of Zeta Squad. "The Fenix Rising" addition was again just maps and multiplayer skins once again, but some very good skins that I enjoy using. The final DLC released so far is the "Forces of Nature pack" which adds more levels and skins, but also a few surprises as far as unlockable easter eggs in Horde mode.  Given all of this I would say my investment in a Season Pass has proven to be a very wise one indeed.
        Overall I would rate my experience with Gears of War 3 to be a mixed cocktail of emotions.  The graphics and sounds were amazing, but playing on an older Xbox 360 would cause tremendous lag spikes even when playing offline and it was loading something.  I tried to install it on the hard drive but it didn't go away.  When played on a 360 Slim, the problem was not there.  I greatly enjoy the multiplayer aspect of the game, but my hope of largely fulfilling story mode was dashed by not using the same writer that gave us the greatness that was Gears of War 2.  There were some problems, but it is still a game I can go back and enjoy several months later.  I give it a 7.5/10

This is a new blog I decided I wanted to start writing.  It has no affiliation with Hip Fire the game publisher and is not just a review of shooter games.  The title comes from the fact that I will be reviewing whatever game I am playing at the time and not just the latest and greatest.  For instance, I finally decided to give Assassin's Creed another shot after losing interest back in 2008.  So far I am loving it and I look forward to the second one.  A full review will be available once I finish it.  I welcome dissenting opinions and I would love to discuss games with anyone who is interested in posting on here, but please no rage posts or blatant hatred.  You have the right to disagree with anything I write but that doesn't mean we can't discuss it without slurs and bringing my mom into this.  She happens to be a very lovely lady thank you very much.  Here's to what I can only hope will be a good time.

-Nate