The Total Complete Mega Awesome Incredible Fallout 3 Soundtrack!

Behold! I have scoured the netz to find the complete Fallout 3 soundtrack, and after much toil I have completed my task. Links you may find on warez-bb and the like do not give the full deal so I have created it myself. These include:

GNR Tracks

Explore Tracks (using names made up by www.youtube.com/CabooseBE)

Battle Tracks

Enclave Radio Tracks

Vault 101 Radio Tracks

Tranquillity Lane

Death, Level Up and Exit the Vault

Dear Hearts and Gentle People

In total it is 2.1 hours and is 161.07mb in total. You have to have a program like WinRAR.

Enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ERY0X2BC

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A95BX1M2

Would also like to say.

A big RIP to Avenged Sevenfold's drummer Jimmy 'The Rev' who died yesterday. He was really incredible. I might be listening to them all today.

Back, with thunderous/non-existent applause

Here, internet, have a Christmas present from me. A picture of myself in the Centre of Operations in the 70 year old chair pulling a weird expression whilst being almost physically blown away by Half-Life 2. Which I should have played years ago.

So IGN, MY LIFEBLOOD, decided to take a Christmas break, so I did too from all forms of bloggin', and even if I did want to write any material I was seeing relatives and other stuff so couldn't. During the festive season of love and giving I was using the Gravity Gun to slice zombies in half with buzzsaw blades in Half Life 2 and getting back into Bad Company (with a vengeance I must say), having given back Brutal Legend as a result of it being unbearably bad. I do have a rental copy of Modern Warfare 2 on the way, which I'm dreading cos I know it'll be as bad as CoD4, but feel the need to play and review it so as to have an unbiased opinion on the bastard of a game.

In relatively unexciting news, I have played demos for Army of Two Two/Tutu (or for all you boring people, Army of Two: the 40th Day) and it's not looking two (get it?) bad at all. Brilliantly based on co-op to the point where you are really experiencing half the game's potential by playing it alone - like Left 4 Dead - as it should be, and absolutely brilliant weapon customisation. The first Army of Two was... pretty good but this one looks like it's heading for a strong 8/10 kinda game. In an even more optimistic look for one of 2010's games, I played the Dante's Inferno demo too and it's a lot of fun. Considering this didn't even include any bosses (apart from Death, which is pretty brief) and wasn't even in hell, it was awesome. This game has a lot of potential and definitely one to look out for in the new year. Put it this way, I hate the genre, love what I've played.

I hope you enjoyed the celebration of Jesus' birth, the event which caused Fred Phelps, the Crusades and Jehovah's Witnesses tracking mud on the carpet of your hallways. I did spend an early morning church service constantly shoving awake a drunk and jetlagged sister every ten seconds...

Giving up the Ghoul

I've had some great times with this fella. 'Gob get me a drink' *takes Stimpaks* 'So... how does Moriarty treat ya Gob?'. Fantastic convos.

So yeah, if there are any absolute freaks out there that NOTICED I haven't posted anything in ages, let alone what I was meant to post... thanks. I'm genuinely honoured. In my defence before you pitchfork me with your unkind words of mild impatience, I have had to say a long goodbye to an old friend. I'd decided it was finally time to let go of the masterpiece that is Fallout 3 by playing it through for the 5th time to level 30, finishing off the 300 hours of incredibly immersing gaming I have spent on it so I have no need to pick it up again and play it to the point it's not fun. 

So I did, I played it from start to finish (and by finish I mean including Broken Steel, the normal ending was dreadful) not including any other expansions because I couldn't bear how adequate they are, for my first time as a Sneak-based character. However, being irresponsible ol' me, I was playing for roughly 10 hours a day, usually non-stop. And being weak ol' me, this often drove me to insanity or depression at the end of each bout of gameplay. I barely ate, I was pissed off with most people, I had headaches and began contemplating how much Exp I would gain from killing my family, or if my cat's meat would be irradiated. One day I felt so bad after a 12 hour session I had to buy a Fallout lunchbox on eBay to make myself feel better. I know I'll feel a lot worse when it arrives and I realise what I shelled out £13 on.

But it's still been great playing the mighty Fallout. I ended it in the way I really wanted to; blowing up a Deathclaw with a Fat Man, giving me just enough Exp to get me to a level 30. I'd like to issue a thanks to Ryan for making me get it in the first place and teaching me that VATS and Fast Travel ACTUALLY EXIST, Jerry for having exactly the same opinions as me on everything inside the game, Ian for being awful at it so I can look down on him, and Omid for being someone I can teach about it and feel like a pro. 

Obsidian, if you make New Vegas as addictive as FO3, I will actually be annoyed. 

Upcoming Reviews 19/12/2009

Ok a few days ago I got a LOVEFiLM subscription for games, so I will be renting, playing and reviewing a lot more form here on out. 

At the moment, I'm playing Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend. I'm not gonna lie, it's a big disappointment. I was kinda hoping it would be ultra-ridiculous, like Metalocalypse, slightly taking the piss out of metal, but really it degenerates into constantly driving round quite a plain game world and bashing A and X. The fact that Jack Black really fancies himself a Metal God doesn't help. Boss fights aren't bad though, and a good soundtrack.

Left 4 Dead's been played a lot and a review of that is coming, probably tonight or tomorrow.

After that I'll probably start reviewing the Orange Box, but as separate games instead of one. Portal and Team Fortress 2 can be reviewed, but I have yet to finish the Half-Life 2 games.

And yes Rob, if you're reading this, I WILL do a review of Nazi Zombies for iPod Touch. It won't be long, but I'll do it soon, ok?

Once I've done the above lot, I'll be reviewing ODST, Arkham Asylum and Dead Rising in some order or another. 

EDIT 3/1/2010: The above statement is a lie. Arkham Asylum isn't going to be reviewed, probably ever. Dead Rising and ODST are pretty far in the future.

Reviews: http://failboatskippersgamereviews.blogspot.com/

Fallout New Vegas: Hopes and Dreads

So while Bethesda hack away at Elder Scrolls V despite them denying working on it, or an Elder Scrolls MMO, or the existence of themselves and their families, Obsidian are hopefully by now stuck into Fallout: New Vegas. Seeing as Fallout 3 is definitely top of my list of this generation's games, New Vegas is both my most anticipated and most dreaded game. Sure I want a follow up to the game I've spent 250 hours enjoying, but putting faith in a completely different developing company, especially one which hasn't got a great reputation for sequels, isn't easy. 

Things I hope are added/improved:

• Animations. It didn't hinder the game much, but it was sometimes hard to take a guy seriously when he's virtually moonwalking around. Some good running animations would be a good addition.
• Technical problems solved. I understand it isn't easy with a huge map and generally a big game to worry about the little things, but things like radroaches being stuck in walls, and radscorpions, dogs and mole rats disappearing into the floor got irritating at times.
• A few cutscenes? The ones at the beginning and end of Fallout 3 were brilliantly artistic and grim, it would be good to have these at the significant storyline twists.
• Try to make the game a little darker. I liked the humour as it did add a good touch, but there are perhaps a few too many light-hearted characters, unlike the old Fallouts in which everyone was pissed off. Two ends of the extreme here, so maybe something in between?
• Seediness in Vegas. This might make me seem like an average teenager wanted a cheap boob shot, but let's face it, we were ALL disappointed in Nova. 'You can rent a room, and sleep in it. When you wake up, she's there.' Oh great. Vegas is Sin City, so jack it up a little, give us something to keep our minds off the apocalypse.
• Don't take away the Hunting Rifle. Obsidian might think of it as just another weapon, but that thing WAS Fallout in my opinion.
• Have another Dogmeat! There was one in FO2...
• Have a lot more voice actors. There were about 20 in Fallout 3 for about 150 different NPCs. Every old man sounded the same. So despite being able to get Liam Neeson to voice Dad they could only get another 19? Let's have a lot more.
• Keep some Wasteland. Vegas will be an interesting city, but there's gotta be some more open ground to explore. Have 2/3 of the map as Wasteland, like Fallout 3.
• Don't have as many useless weapons. Lead Pipe, Police Baton, Baseball Bat, there were loads like that, but there was no use for them past Level 4.

Obsidian, just don't get cocky. Bethesda knew how to do it, don't try to be better.

Turning to the dark side... sort of.

Ok, the first iconic moments of the Console War are over, with many dead but more wounded forever, cursed to mutter about their regrettable purchase or continually hate upon the other console for all eternity until they descend into inevitable insanity and nightmares of Xboxes shitting ethernet cables on copies of Metal Gear Solid 4, or Master Chief being blown up on Little Big Planet levels. Minor skirmishes still continue on the vast plains of Youtube, but are usually quickly neutralized by the all-powerful video poster who swoops in and says 'OMG GUYZ TAKE YOUR NERDY ARGUMENT ELSEWHERE'. So I think it at this time, where we all emerge from our Microsoft-endorsed bomb shelters, that we start admitting stuff we were previously unable to say without being spammed into implosion.

I've been playing on my Xbox 360, with Live, for a year and a half, and it's been incredible. Gaming really turned around for me, cos with the PS1 and PS2 days it was just occasional thing, but now it's more of a hobby, something I look forward to, something I think about a lot, something I can write about. So I'm very thankful, and I still love it. But I also want a PS3.

I wouldn't trade Xbox Live for the world, and I still think the controllers are the best around as I don't think much of having them the size of a baby's fist so I have to play with my fingertips, but let's face it, the PS3 does what the Xbox doesn't. If you're not hugely into online, you can still get it for free. This isn't what I'd buy it for, but I'll credit it for that use. If you're really into the hi-def movies or brilliant graphics, then this is also the console you want. I don't want those either, but many will. What I want is the exclusives. The Xbox ones are far from inadequate, Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect, Forza, Alan Wake and Halo still has its moments but the PS3s are just as good. MGS4, which is pretty much THE game of this generation along with Fallout 3 and GTA IV, Little Big Planet for the kid in you, Killzone for the kind of multiplayer Call of Duty could have been but failed to be, the amazing God of War series... must I go on? It's also going to have Alan Wake biggest rival game, Heavy Rain, which I am painfully interested in for its completely original take on gaming, making a much more in-depth storytelling experience and not relying on the same old GUNZ GUNZ MULTIPLAEYIR GRENAYDEZ HEDSH0T to make something entertaining. 

I could play all those for hours. Not at the expense of my Xbox Live and its games, but DAMN I so want one as well. Not to mention an HD TV. And some decent speakers. And a decent chair. I need some money.

Embarrassing Evangelism Strikes Back

I'd like to start off by saying that yes, there is a possibility that these were paid guys as part of a publicity stunt as rumours have said, however in America, this sort of thing happens. A lot. Remember Westboro Baptist Church? They also have some videos that might convince you otherwise at www.youtube.com/wearesavedgroup .

Dante's Inferno is looking good. One of the first well-made games to be based on classic writings (I'm sure there were a lot of god-awful Odyssey games on the NES or something) and despite it being written by a Christian from a Christian perspective, we still have the over-confident evangelical Christians in America who seem to think banning a game doesn't contradict something called 'freedom of speech' and 'freedom of expression'. Look, if we're damned to an eternal burning fest because we played a game in which we fought for God against his enemies, then I think we were screwed the moment we dared to breath his air. You're quite right, freaky obsessively-chewing Christian with Parkinsons, in Dante's Inferno he does kill someone with a crucifix. Though of course, not only are they already dead as they are in HELL, surely they also deserve it, because THEY'RE IN HELL. And don't say the crucifix 'isn't a weapon'. What was it originally used for? Look it up.

Nor will I go into their comment of 'this makes people think they can just go into hell and shoot people up', I think I adequately described my feelings of that kind of bullshit in my 'Where to look for the meaning of life...' post. If ya want freedom of speech, prepare to be offended if you're going to take it serioulsy. It's that or boring, mandatory religion and no good games.

Watch the video of their protest here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJgCh_eQ6NI&feature=fvw . Think it's a hoax? You make up your mind.

EDIT: It was revealed a few days after that it was a hoax. Cheeky EA.

The VGA Awards 2009

Unfortunately, despite this being the main thing I wanted to watch this year as it's about the only event/award show I can bear to watch, we don't have SPIKE in the UK, so I couldn't. I got the results on the site, though, and damn am I pleased.

Hoo-bloody-ray. It appears the gaming experts haven't completely lost their coconuts. Modern Warfare 2, the most overrated game ever to be spoken of, was not awarded Game of the Year for Xbox 360, or PS-Triple, or Overall GOTY. It also didn't win best graphics, and Infinity Ward didn't win Studio of the Year (rightly seeing as there are sooo many Studios who work harder and more efficiently, dare I say it BUNGIE), so I'm definitely happy with that. They DID win Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer, but it really doesn't bother me too much as: Best Shooter basically means yet another generic FPS bent to entertain the mindless kids, and Best Multiplayer didn't have great nominess, except Left 4 Dead 2 which utilises co op, in my opinion the best kind of multiplayer as it forces you to work as a team, not for selfish reasons.

Game of the Year - Xbox 360: Left 4 Dead 2

Game of the Year - PC: Dragon Age: Origins

Game of the Year - PS3: Uncharted 2

Game of the Year - Overall: Uncharted 2

Not much more I can say for those winners apart from congrats. Left 4 Dead 2 is a definite improvement on a fantastic formula - arguably the best co op experience of all time - and I haven't played Uncharted 2 but it looks like a brilliantly original and a great addition to the Adventure genre. Dragon Age: Origins, well done, but I really can say nothing for it as the Fantasy RPG genre doesn't appeal to me one bit.

Looking forward to next year's VGA, I hope to see Bad Company 2 winning Best Multiplayer, Heavy Rain for PS3' GOTY and hooopefully Fallout New Vegas for Xbox 360's, but I can't rely on Obsidian making it amazing. Best RPG FFXIII? Maybe...

Find all the info here: http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009/page/vote/category/34723

The Games of 2010

Ok it turns out 2010 is going to be a monster of a year, and my article on 'a great year to disappoint' had only a fraction of the stuff coming out that I'm at least interested in. Now I'm not great at remembering lists so I'm really using this as a place to jot them all down before I forget.

These are all games I will be buying/renting/looking into, in no particular order.

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Just Cause 2
3. BAD COMPANY 2
4. Max Payne 3
5. Red Dead Redemption
6. Alan Wake
7. Halo Reach, maybe
8. FALLOUT NEW VEGAS
9. Dante's Inferno
10. Dead Rising 2
11. Gears of War 3?
12. Crysis 2
13. Mafia II
14. Project Natal
15. Final Fantasy XIII
16. I Am Alive
17. Aliens VS Predator

That's more than one game for every month. Happy gaming/money draining...

It's official: Assassin's Creed II is trying to kill me and take my non-existent kids.

Anyone who's played the frankly brilliant Assassin's Creed II will know there is definitely one annoying thing. It's not mission repetitiveness, not the lack of ability to swim, not awful cutscenes; they fixed those faults of the first game. It's those bloody feathers. 

Yes, Ubisoft were kind enough to free us of the God-forsaken flag collectibles of Assassin's Creed, but couldn't resist twisted the knife as they took it out of the wound by giving us a different type of collectible: FEATHERS. Ooh, cos like, Assassins and eagles and stuff... yeah, makes sense. Problem is, although these tend to actually exist unlike many of the flags in the first game which just wouldn't be there at all, it's still almost impossible to get all of them. They're a lot smaller and all 100 of them are scattered widely over the whole game. But that isn't my big deal. My big deal is that I have 99 of them.

I'll admit it, I'm an Achievement whore. I have 960g from Assassin's Creed II, leaving the 30g achievement for all 100 feathers, and the 10g for wearing the Auditore Cape WHICH CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED FROM GETTING ALL 100 FEATHERS. I've used maps from the internet to scour beautiful Florenzia and bella Venezia, and all the smaller towns. 99. 1 feather is out there. I've missed it, and I don't know where. On Friday 11th December I was feather hunting for 6 hours. On the 12th, feather hunting for another 4. By the end I was near hallucinating, dreaming of 'if the feather would give us a feast when we found it' and wondering 'what the feather would taste like'. I ate my dinner but all I saw was a pile of feathers were steak and chips should have been. It's one of the most maddening experiences gaming has shat on me. I feel betrayed. 

One day Ubisoft might make collectible hunting at least possible by adding them as dots on the map, and just having more of them or putting them in tough places to keep the challenge. Until then, I'll just drool over Google Image's results on feathers.

The situation with the 'to be played' games. 10/12/2009

Old ass meme from a terrible place, but dammit every time I think of Louis from L4D I just think of P-P-P-P-P-PA PILLZ HERE!

So yeah I had said that list of 7 games would be over the course of 3 months. However it's magically happened a lot faster.

1. Left 4 Dead - bought, completed, testing multiplayer.
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum - borrowed, but yet to be played.
3. The Orange Box - Borrowed, played a bit, but somewhat pushed aside for Left 4 Dead and completing the shit out Assassin's Creed II.
4. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - fuck it. I don't care what happens in those last two missions, it's not going to make the game suddenly good. I went ahead and reviewed it.
5. Mass Effect - getting one way or another very soon, either Christmas or soon after.
6. Shadow of the Collossus - the only one which isn't going to be gained particularly soon, getting the X360 games done and played first.
7. Borderlands - when I'm done with most of the above lot, I'll be buying it.

Reviews will be coming in for the top 3 soonish.

Reviews: http://failboatskippersgamereviews.blogspot.com/

At this rate, we'll be lucky to see the Locust finally wiped out by Christmas... 2097.

Whipped this up in a couple of minutes...

Apparently (though a million miles from MY ears) there has been rumours circulating these bunch of wires and 'series of tubes' known as the internet that Gears of War 3 would only be released on the next generation of gaming, the Xbox 720 as the whole idiot population assumes it will be called (yes, DOUBLING 360 makes sense, because doubling the previous number is what ALL consoles do, PS1, PS2, PS4, PS8). My reaction apart from 'damn, that'll be ages away' was really disgust. Next generation? So we can't have more than two in a series in one generation anymore?

I understand the reason for EPIC's President's claim that it would be next-gen would be that it would likely be on the Unreal 4 Engine which is still in development. But has it really come to the point that a) you can't have one part of the dev company working on the engine and the other on the actual product b) technology for games is now so complex we have to wait a lifetime for every sequel. If any of you played the Army Men games on PS1, you might remember they churned out completely original and fun (despite being horrible graphically) games every couple of months. Yes, it is going to be different in this generation, but 2 years should be a maximum. If better graphics and better engines really take that long, the ends aren't justifying the means.

Keep in the mind the next Xbox is going to be bloody miles away. We're talking at least 4 years away. 4 years for a sequel? That is simply a joke. It is turned out that way they'd probably try to keep the fans happy with some spin-off in the meantime, and we all know what spin-offs turn out like... 'Oh you get to play as Anya, pressing buttons and telling the squad where to go. It's a squad-based RTS'. Can you imagine?

I don't care if the storyline turns into a mess, or if the whole squad die by tripping up on their laces, just finish it, EPIC. There's no sense making it this long if Gears 1 came out in 2006, and Gears 2 in late 2008.