Poseidon's Lair

Hey guys, my new puzzle map is out, so I thought I'd put some handy links up here to help you all get started on this watery adventure.

To check out the full map post, which includes pictures, the backstory, and important information on the map, you can just click either of the two links below:

Paradox Forums Post

Forgehub Post

It was also recently featured on Forgehub, which is pretty damn awesome, so you can check out that post here:

Forgehub Feature

The map's doing way better than I could've predicted, and I'd like to thank all of those who are downloading and spreading the map- it's really cool of you. Unfortunately there was a break found within the first day of the map's release. I had quickly fixed it, and put up the new version on my fileshare, while taking down the old. The problem was that the old version already had 500 downloads, and the tags weren't removed from it, making it still relatively easy to find eventhough I had updated all my links to the map. On Halo 3, removing a file from your fileshare would automatically strip it of all its tags, but perhaps someone on Reach had already copied this map to their own fileshare. Either way, I found out a couple days later that the old version was on the front page of "Most Downloaded Maps" in Bungie's file browser. It was getting over 200 downloads an hour, which was pretty rediculous, and cool, but it just sucked that it was the old version. It ended up rounding out at about 12,000 downloads, before the list was updated for a new week. Then my map got featured on Forgehub, with the links to the new version, causing it to appear on the front page of Bungie's most downloaded as well. Since the old version had just been up there, the new one didn't receive quite as much attention, but still garnered over 6,000 downloads in just a week. All in all, I'm pretty blown away with its success.

Of course, with all these downloads, came many pleas for a walkthrough. So I have several options for those wishing to take the easy way out to choose from:

Youtube Walkthrough with Music

Youtube Walkthrough with Commentary

Bungie.net File (to download to your Halo: Reach game)

And of course, here's the link to download the map itself:

Poseidon's Lair File Set

So that's about it for now, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more reviews and updates, coming soon!

Undead Nightmare Review

After many requests from their community, Rockstar has finally brought zombies into one of their games. It comes in the form of DLC for Red Dead Redemption, and includes both a single-player campaign and an online mode. The campaign takes about six hours to beat, is loaded with side quests, and is separate from the Red Dead campaign, easily accessible as its own option on the main menu. The fact that it separates itself from the Red Dead campaign really allows for some fun. It still uses many of the main characters from the original storyline, but they can be killed off unexpectedly at any moment. This keeps you on your toes, keeping the adventure fresh and exciting rather than boring and predictable. There is also quit a bit of humour thrown into the mix, where the story often mocks B horror movies, and the characters themselves react the to ridiculous happenings in hilarious ways.

I'm quite a big zombie fan myself, so I thoroughly enjoyed romping through the undead wild west, clearing towns of the hordes, rescuing survivors, and encountering mystical beasts. I also enjoyed the fact that zombies would deal damage to you by clawing, and attempting to grapple you, which makes a lot more sense instead of having them bite you, and somehow not infect you like a lot of other zombie games do. But I did feel that it was a bit too easy to survive since the zombies were pretty under-powered, and that they would've been a lot more intimidating if they could kill you in a couple of hits instead of a dozen. Another zombie-fanatic feature that I appreciated was how whenever an NPC was attacked, they'd actually come back alive as one of the undead, again something that many other zombie games should take note of. Some of the missions lack a bit of luster (one has you collecting those damned little flowers yet again), but some really take advantage of the scenario, and it overall leads to quite an enjoyable experience. All of the cut scenes are well-done, and the voice acting is yet again top-notch.

The Undead Nightmare pack came with two new online modes, one not having anything to do with the zombie theme. It's called Land Grab, and changes the regular free roam mode of Red Dead so that players can take control of certain areas, and defend them from enemies. It makes for nice territorial gameplay, where gangs can wage "turf wars" against each other, and overall weighs in as a great bonus to the DLC. The more anticipated mode of the two is titled "Undead Overrun" and faces players off against never-ending waves of the undead horde, much like a certain mode in another popular game franchise. Rockstar fortunately put enough of a twist on this mode to make it feel unique. Seeing as how you're able to just climb up building structures to avoid being mauled by the zombies (except for the spitters), there is a time limit in which you have to kill all of the zombies for the round. If the timer runs out you enter a "Sudden Death" mode where the rounds come to and end, and zombies continuously spawn until all players are dead. Since ammo is very scarce, and you only get refills when a new round begins, it's never long before everyone dies in Sudden Death. The game mode is quite well-designed and very fun once you get used to it, although some of the maps are a bit bland. My problem with it was that I found it to be a bit too competitive for my tastes. I was hoping they'd have a more casual game mode for multiplayer zombies, where players could freely roam the entire map, clearing towns and just surviving together, but unfortunately there wasn't anything of the sort.

Overall, Undead Nightmare is a very satisfying and awesomely gruesome experience. Throw in the fact that it's all bundled as a ten dollar DLC, and you got some serious bang for your buck. Whether you're a fan of the undead or not I'd recommend checking this out, and I can only hope that it'll generate enough success to prompt Rockstar into looking at revisiting this idea in their future games. I give Undead Nightmare a 9.5/10.

Poseidon's Lair Preview

Well, I was going to post a copy of the full preview thread I did up for my new puzzle map Poseidon's Lair, but all the pictures would be sure to make a mess of things here. So I came up with a much easier solution and made a preview video of it, the first video I've done in over a year I believe. I purchased a few new cables to make the capturing process much easier, so you may notice an extra layer of quality this time, such as smoother panoramic shots and more precise camera navigation. So without further ado, here is the link to the video:

Poseidon's Lair- A Halo: Reach Puzzle

The map will be released in just a couple days, I'm just running a few more tests on it to make sure there's no breaks.

I also have a couple of reviews on the way that should be up soon, and will do one for Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare DLC, so keep an eye out for those.

-Mander

Renovated

General Info

So you may have noticed many things have changed around here. I'm giving the blog a face-lift, and many more changes are still on the way, but this is a good start for now. First off, one of the more obvious changes is the new header (aka "picture at the top") which is much sexier than the previous one, and denotes the four main things I'll be posting: updates, reviews, videos, and maps. This site is also now serving as my online portfolio, a place where I can gather all of my work that may showcase talents relevant to careers I'm interested in. So now when I'm writing reviews, articles and what not, I'm doing them to show that I'm capable of professional writing, as well as building my experience in that field. Whether any of it gets views or not is irrelevant. Anyways, now you can expect to get updates here on a consistent basis. Here's some of the things you'll likely see:
-Halo: Reach review
-Regular reviews of TV's The Office
-Regular reviews of TV's South Park
-Halo: Reach content, such as games and maps

And that's just to start. Speaking of Halo: Reach, let's get some info about what exactly I'm doing on it, shall we?

Halo: Reach

So Bungie released Halo Reach on September 14th, and the world hasn't been the same since. Okay, well it kinda has, but my personal one hasn't. I first burned through the campaign, and then hit up matchmaking, loving every bit of it, except for the fact that Bungie clearly needs to tone down the grenades, or have players only start with one. But that is neither here nor there, and so I'll begin on my plans for the game.

Right now I'm working on the first puzzle map of a new series I'm doing. No more "Mind" maps, I've now incorporated a large backstory into the maps, hoping to make it feel more like an actual campaign this time around. The stories a bit too intricate to sum up here, but basically it revolves around Greek Mythology. The first map will be called "Poseidon's Lair" and will be primarily water-based (get it?). This time around I'm focusing much more on the gameplay factor. I want the map to be fun, and possible for beginners to puzzles to do. I'm providing a clear sense of direction throughout the entire map, so that you always know where you need to go, and just need to use the tools available to get there. There will be no hidden items either, so you don't need to worry about hidden fusion coils, or random turrets and what not. Also, my primary focus with this new map was the layout. I wanted to make one that would feel epic and satisfying. Level-design is a huge part of what makes maps fun to play, and it's often under-valued, so I'm really trying to take advantage of that. It's currently about 80% done and should be out within a week or two.

In the meantime, if you still need those pesky firefight achievements on Reach, then you can use this handy gametype I've crafted for it:
Fastest FireFight Achievments
I did some testing around with some friends, and this gametype carefully set up to be your ticket to the fastest possible way of grabbing all that gamerscore.

Now back to my plans for Reach. Shifting our attention from maps to the video department, I'm actually planning to do a large amount of Reach machinimas. Right now I'm looking into buying some supplies to make capturing easier (thankfully they're dirt-cheap), and may also get some new sound-recording equipment as my current collection is pretty lousy. I've already got lots of ideas, and will be doing a variety of different videos. I have a new series planned, some random stand-alone videos (which I'll probably be doing on a regular basis), and then videos that will showcase any maps I make. This is currently one of the easiest ways to get recognized in today's society, and while I see a lot of people attempting this, I rarely find any truly dedicated efforts that capitilize on the potential of starting a career that way.

Anyways, that's about all I wanted to talk about for now. Keep an eye out for those reviews, which will be coming soon, and maybe even a preview of Poseidon's Lair.
Thanks,
-Mander

Mega Update

So I'm well aware I haven't updated this thing in ages. I've been busy with the website http://www.paradoxforums.com/, which is the perfect place for Halo 3 puzzle players, and has become extremely active. But here are some important things for viewers to know:

The Paradox Forgers have finally released Paradox Origins, the prequel to Paratroxity. It's awesome but don't take my word. Check it out for yourself.

I am currently working on two more forge projects- an insanely inventive basketball map with BuddhaCrane, that should be finished in a couple of weeks, and another collaborative puzzle titled Encore, with a number of Paradox Forgers.

I will be making about 4 videos within the month see stay alert for those.
-Mind Crypt Guide
-Necrubis showcase
-Origins Preview
-Basketball map preview

This blog will be completely torn down and redone this summer, as I'm turning it into my online portfolio. It will be neatly organized into sections with showcase my different talents. There will be my maps, my artwork, my stories/scripts (to be uploaded in future), and reviews on games and movies which I will start doing on a regular basis. So things are going to get sweet around here soon.


So yeah, that's about it. I'm just finishing up a semester at the university, and then I can concentrate on sprucing this place up and getting more projects done. Thanks for tuning in!
-Mander