I am not a man who would normally play a shooter game. I am not a man who would play Modern Warfare or Gears of War like most college frat boys that would say they are gamers because they play those games (they are not), and I am not a man who would buy an Xbox just to play Call of Duty or any other dime-a-dozen shooters that happen to be in the market now a days.

That was, until my friend Daniel told me about a rather popular game in the market: Team Fortress 2. I didn’t care as much, until he told me that the game was free to play now. Yeah, a game like that would definitely work on my Mac.

Until I realized that Team fortress 2 was on Steam, a digital game retailer. When I looked it up, I noticed that it was also Mac compatible. Then a word, a single word, rang in my mind, a soft specter of my subconscious, echoed into my cerebellum. A single word: WANT.

And now we are here. I got the game and it is awesome. Let me tell you why good sir!

Team Fortress 2 is a Steam-based game for PC and Mac (hooray!) that was developed by Valve. Y’know, the game company that created the Counter Strike, Half Life, and Portal series of games. The basic gist of the game is that there are nine different classes to choose to fight in various challenges between a Red team and a Blue team. And, best of all, it’s free, and what better price is there than free?

As to the story, well, there isn’t much. I think it has something to do with two brothers fighting over their father’s land after he dies, and they make opposing companies to fight the other for their father’s riches, but story isn’t very important in this game. It just means that there is a R.E.D. team (Reliable Excavation Demolition) and a B.L.U. team (Builders League United), and they have to kill each other. There are several modes to play in that pit these teams against each other, like capture the flag (the flag is a brief case with enemy intelligence), king of the hill (capture and hold on to a certain point or points to win), push the cart (one team pushes a cart with a bomb into a certain area while the other team tries to stop you), with different variations of each kind of game. Maybe there are a certain number of points your team must obtain in a certain order? Or maybe both teams each have a cart and you must stop each other? That depends on the game you choose and the map you’re placed in, and that gives the game a certain amount of variety, which makes each game different from the others you might play.

The classes you can choose from in each game aren’t just classes, but they’re actual characters with their own personalities. The classes to choose from are the Soldier, Scout, Pyro, Heavy, Sniper, Demoman, Medic, Engineer, and Spy. The Soldier is a gun-crazed maniac who thinks himself to be a great general during World War 2 (despite being told the war was over), the Scout is a wise crackin’ Brooklyn boy with a knack for baseball and running fast, The Pyro is a mysterious, masked figure that uses a flamethrower as his offense (Considering that he is a “He”.), the Heavy is a large, Russian machine gunner who loves “Sanviches” and his large gun, whom he calls Sasha, the Sniper is a polite, Australian marksman who uses his sniper rifle and his “Jarate”, a jar filled with a certain yellow liquid, the Demoman is a drunken African Scottish explosives expert with an eye patch (“Imma black Scottish Cyclops!”), the Medic is a German doctor who lacks in any medical education, but makes up in his hunger to plunge large needles into exposed flesh, the Engineer is a Texas country boy with the technological skill to make turrets and teleporters, and the Spy is a French espionage expert with the finesse to kill silently without anyone the wiser. Each character has their own set of weapons, being a primary, secondary, and melee weapon for each., with a few exceptions.

Of course, with each class, they come with their own skills, strengths and weaknesses; The Scout is much faster than the other classes, but is much weaker in health, the Heavy can take much more abuse and can mow down enemies with his minigun, but he is much slower while firing, the spy can turn invisible and disguise as opposing players, but they can be reveled from being blasted with the Pyro’s flamethrower, the Medic can heal allies, and so on. Depending on the character you choose, and what that character is equipped with, will decide on how you will perform in battle, as well as the obligations you can make for your team. Let’s say you chose an Engineer for a game of capture the flag. The other players are expecting you to build your sentry to defend the point, a dispenser (a construction that provides health and ammo) to give you a steady source of metal to maintain your turret, and a teleporter system to provide your allies a quick way to the intel, should you need any help. But what if you don’t want to do that? Then choose a different class. But what if you want to defend the intel with a turrent but you don’t want to be the Engineer? Well, then you have a choice to make. Go out there and have fun (and naturally die from being mowed down by a Heavy or shot in the head by a sniper), or get to work on that turrent and tough it out back there. It isn’t so much that you choose a class and stick with it forever, but choosing a class, die, and having the option to be a different class is a defining feature for TF2, because maybe you want to be a Scout or a Spy for a while, as long as you can use that class with skill.

There is a certain detail I want to point out within the game, and this is where I have a bit of a beef with the game. There is a crafting system in the game, not like it hasn’t been done before, and it isn’t bad, you would never say that. The system actually really well-built. To craft certain items, such as hats, which many people make jokes of on the internet, you have to scrap your weapons to make scrap metal, which you would use three of to make reclaimed metal, and using three of those to make refined metal. I you want a certain weapon or hat, then you have to make a class token or a slot token. A class token is made from the weapons of a certain class to make an item for that class, and a slot token is made from the parts of any weapons from a certain weapon slot (primary, secondary, or melee) to make a certain weapon for any class in that slot. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but during my crafting experience, I hit a wall. I was only allowed only a few item slots to hold items, and I couldn’t make certain items. You know why? Because I have to spend actual money in Steam first to make my account premium. It’s one thing to charge people to get certain items in the game, most of us can do without, but when the system is pressing you to buy stuff to access basic functions of any game software, like inviting friends and such, that becomes a bit aggravating. Sure, many of you can ask a parent to help you with that, but as of now, this has been a little difficult for me.

Team Fortress 2 isn’t all serious like Call of Duty or Halo and such. It’s a great change of pace from the more traditional shooters in the market, mainly because the game doesn’t take itself too seriously to begin with, with the crazy characters, interesting weapons, and fun game mechanics that will keep you coming back for more. But if you really want the full experience, you might have to sink about five bucks minimum to go premium, but it would be money well spent. Besides, Steam is a reliable, safe downloadable game system, and it won’t save your credit card number unless you want them to.

Try telling my mother that.

The Competition, It is Fierce...

Gaining the Edge

Serious Stuff!

Now onto the real purpose of this article, the importance of a good headset and how it will help you get a leg up on your fellow gamers. Now like all competitions, people always try to get a hands-up on their competitors, gaming in this aspect is no different, however cheaters should be shunned (i.e Auto-fire controllers, hackers, glitchers etc…)! Now in terms of PC gaming the advantage that one gamer can hold is huge from the performance of their machine, to their monitor, mouse, keyboard and their sound set-up, all can be modified to your heart’s content and your wallets. However I don’t have a great deal of experience with online gamer bar the occasional bout of Team Fortress 2, so I shall stick to the more straight-forward console gaming, which I am more familiar with.

Fortunately console gaming is a much fairer platform to play on, everyone essentially has the same basic machine whether it be PS3 or 360 (Wii Doesn’t count for obvious reasons). The majority of people also have HD T.V’s to play them on, and with little visual advantages between different T.V’s this isn’t a real problem. The main area where gamers can take advantage on consoles is sound. Now the speakers of most telly’s are adequate, Surround sound systems are about are the next step up, but if you want the best advantage a good quality Gaming Headset is the best way. And when I say headset I don’t mean a little Blue tooth dongle that only carries your voice, I mean a proper one, that takes all the sound direct from your console to your ears and vice-versa with your own voice, something like these bad boys.

The Advantages

Headsets offer several advantages over sound systems, one is that sweet FA exterior noise can be heard, this leads to less distracting noises such as flat mates music or animals outside creating a choir of confusion, fewer distractions allow more focus to be allocated to the task at hand whether it be pillaging cities or conquering land. Another is that all the sound is focused solely towards your ears, so essentially no interference can be heard, this also allows the smaller details in sound to be heard such as footsteps of enemy players and trust me, from my own experience this is a virtual life saver! The sound quality is pretty immense, everything sounds better with a good headset on, there also great for just sitting back and listening to some Epic Explosions or some great music scores. Adjustable controls are another great aspect, with a flick of your thumb being able to reduce the game volume, to heighten the sound of your teammates frustration or to simply mute yourself if anyone walks in for a chat. A good headset will be able to be used on most consoles and your PC, hell if their in close proximity to each other there are enough wires supplied with most to connect to all simultaneously and there’s usually a switch that allows the connection to be transferred from console to PC and vice-versa without changing any wires around. The Mic quality is also a key component of any good headset, most mic pieces are adjustable and can be taken out with ease too. In those down times when you’re not playing games you can use your headset to listen to music on your PC/Laptop, the sound quality is still top-notch too! And lets face it, most headsets just look awesome.

Personal Experience

Now I wouldn’t be able to write or justify this article if I hadn’t my own headset to base my opinions on. The headset I’m currently using is a Tritton AX 180,  an analog stereo headset, and is considered a low-end headset,  even though it set me back €70. Even with it considered a budget headset, I think its brilliant. All the advantages listed above, have I experienced them all? Hell Yeah, playing Battlefield:BC2 with them on is immense, the sound of the building your holed up in being torn to shreds by enemy tanks or the clinking sound heard after getting a direct headshot, it simply puts shame to the sound coming from the Bravia to shame and lets not forget the sound of footsteps, it’s saved my ass on numerous occasions from people trying to shank me, that extra second or two is all you need! The Build quality is great, it’s all leather padded so its  very comfortable and even after long gaming sessions they begin to feel like an extension of my head rather than a pain in the ass. Its one of few headsets that boasts the ability of being a universal headset, allowing it to be connected to all home consoles. They’ve stood me well so far, my KD ratio has risen in both BF:BC2 and KZ3 and once again being able to torture my fellow gamers with my unwarranted frustration and tactical advice is great. They are also great for blocking out noise, people literally have to stand beside me and shout for me to even take notice of them, and they double up as great replacements for my speaker set on my laptop and the music sounds all the better for it. One of my best purchases this year, Hands Down!

Now while Headsets are largely great pieces of kit they do have some small disadvantages. They are expensive, even my headset which is considered a low-end set cost €70, the high-end models can be in the midst of €300, depending on whether you want stereo, 5.1 or even 7.1 digital sound

Hardcore!

to adorn your ears, wireless connections are also an option. They require a power source, so most will always occupy a USB port, the higher end models often need a wall socket all to themselves. Most headsets are a maze of wires, not that I’ve had a real problem with it, but it may be an annoyance and unsightly for some. These are small annoyances more than anything else, for me the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a considerable margin.

So do you need one?

Well the answer is completely down to you. You need to see  how competitive you are in terms of gaming and how much you care about the quality of sound you’re getting from your games, films and music, but a home theater set is an option for the sound. Do I recommend purchasing a headset? Yes, hell if you’re as keen on gaming as I am, then I insist you buy one. My original Sony head-piece broke and I decided to take the jump to the next level and I haven’t looked back since, hopefully my Trittons last a long time, then I may even step up to the higher end, permitting funds of course. So Yeah, if you want one or are on the fence about buying one, just go for it, you wont regret it.

And this is it, hopefully this has helped some of you out there and I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading it. One day we shall all bask in our headset assisted victories together as Brothers!

Forward to Glory Brothers!

Everyone can drive fast when on a straight piece of track, the fastest person in this section is usually in the fastest car. So if you’re out gunned you’ll have to beat them in the corners with more precise, cleaner driving. The techniques for cornering at broken into three different sections, before, at and after, each of which I’ll outline in this guide. It takes a lot of effort to even master a single corner and each corner is different depending on the car you’re using, and the track conditions but by using the relatively simple techniques I mention in this guide you ‘ll quickly pick up those extra seconds each lap.

Despite the apparent logic. You’re wrong. But I’ll not cut corners, skipping the important reason why this simply doesn’t work – it’s all down to physics. When you’re going through each corner tyres screaming, the force need by you turning to go around the corner is being taken away from your stopping power.

How to enter the corner

This is the main secret to good driving, once you master the braking of each corner, you’re well set for good lap times. Though it sounds easy there is a lot of work required to find the optimum speed for each corner. And you need to know what that speed is before the corner, once you have to brake a second time during a corner you know you’ve made a mistake.

How to drive through the corner

When traveling through the corner you should drive at a constant speed. Don’t worry too much about accelerating/decelerating by a few kmph during the corner though, it wont make much of a difference. Though if you’re really pushing for a faster lap time and know the track, and indeed each corner well enough then you can push the car that extra bit and accelerate ever so slightly. If you hear a lot of tyre screech, you’re doing it wrong, there may be exceptions to this rule though.

Exiting the corner

On your way our of the corner put your foot the floor and accelerate as fast as you can, planning where you should be for the oncoming corner. If you’ve entered and exited the corner properly you should be clipping the apex on the way out. Now start to line yourself up for the next corner.

Taking full control

Most drivers feel more at ease using the automatic option for their gearbox, and rightly so. Its easier. But if you want to really take control of your car, deciding what gear to enter a corner in is vital on when shaving those last few seconds off your lap times. Gran Turismo can suggest gears for each corner so you’re not left totally on your own too!

Tyres, suspension, the weight of your car, the length and the width of it,  all aspects of your car affect how it’ll corner! It’s really a matter of learning the dynamics of your cars handling and indeed the track your racing on. Any effort put into learning these aspects should pay off once you’ve semi mastered the previously mentioned techniques. What are your top tips for cornering? Not limited to GT5 of course!

How to Download and install the Dokucraft texture pack

To install the texture pack, the file must first be downloaded by simply googling it and obtaining it in a ZIP format. Without decompressing the file, then place the ZIP file in:

• Windows XP/Vista/7: %AppData%\.mincraft\texturepacks
• Linux: ~/.minecraft/texturepacks
• Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/texturepacks

This folder can be found a lot easier by using the Open Texture Pack Folder button in the game itself. Once the texture pack is installed, it can then be selected in the Mods and Texture Packs screen accessible from the main menu.

On installing Dokucraft one problem is evident. As soon as you load up a world  the water block is missing and instead there is a labelled block saying “use the patcher noob”.  At first I felt let down by this message but if you just do as it says its curable. You must download the latest version of the mcpatcher Once downloaded run the patcher, hit the patch button and your good to go!

The pack comes with three different settings. High, Light and Dark which are basically the same apart from a few colour changes.  The one that I used for these pics was high, which is the healthy median of the two.

Quick Comparisons

As you can see from the above image Dokucraft is very different to the default texture. What struck me the most was its water block animation . It’s not as bright as the default but it does add a sense of reality I suppose..The clearer cobble and darker wood makes your creations look instantly better and in the case of this picture a bit more creepy (:P) . The inclusion of a new sign also makes the writing more legible.

Note the glass in each photo. In Dokucraft it is clear with a gold rim while the original is not clear with the glare graphic at the centre of the block which does obstruct the player’s view. The slight changes to the sword are also a nice touch adding to its overall rpg-esk theme.Other tools are also changed to suit this theme. It’s the little changes here that make all the difference to your own playing experience. They can either make or break a game but however minecraft being that what it is, I doubt that any graphic could even make a slight dent in sales.

Now this for me was a very noticeable change from the default. It’s easy to see here that the foliage is significantly better in Dokucraft. There is a lot of attention to detail in each item and this absolutely brings this texture pack to life.

Yet again a lot of detail is added to items such as doors, chests, workbenches and beds, with gold designs and a rich blue. Paintings however remain the same as default. Perhaps they will be changed in the future

Overall this texture pack is very professional looking and it is a refreshing face lift for the entire game, changing the main menu, crafting interface and various object blocks in the world. If you’re a fan of rpg’s then try Dokucraft out.

Do you know of any other minecraft textures that rock? Suggest some in the comments

Now, before I start let me answer your very first question: this IS a blatant rip-off of the Dynasty Warriors games. Why? I’ll get to that in a sec, but let’s just focus on the core game. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes is actually the third game in the Sengoku Basara series, with the second one only being released in Japan (Why does Japan get all of the cool stuff?). So there are a lot of references to the previous game, but it doesn’t mean you should import them from Japan and start translating every bit of dialogue since the game is subtle about those references. But where did the Second game go, since the first one was released on the PS2? Well, since Capcom removed all of the Japanese history from the first Sengoku Basara, or Devil Kings in the states, the game was a failure for not including the references and the second one was never released, leaving a gaping hole in the Sengoku Basara series in America. Luckily, they kept those references in the third one. The game takes place during the Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan (But also has some references of the Edo period as well), as the East action, led by Tokugawa Ieyatsu, is fighting for complete control of Japan against the West faction, led by Ishida Mitsunari. Apparently Mitsunari is angry at Ieyatsu because Ieyatsu killed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Mitsunari’s mentor and role model, and now Mitsunari wants his revenge, which results in the split between East and West. And yes, those are the names of real historical figures in Japanese history, I looked it up.

Now, to the core game. The game allows you to choose a Story Mode and a Freeplay mode. Story Mode is a story-driven series of battles concerning the character you have chosen, and Free-play is fighting a battle without any story influence. Story mode is very interesting to play through, mainly because this mode contains well done cutscenes throughout the battles, unlike some games in the Dynasty Warriors franchise, where you just watch some text boxes and listen to some half-hearted dialogue, so that’s a plus for Capcom’s iteration. But other than that, Story Mode and Freeplay mode aren’t very different. Like any hack and slash, like Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Ninety Nine Knights II, you take control as one character and flat out destroy entire armies of enemies. Seriously, you can take out a few hundred people at one time if you’re skilled enough. You can string together multiple attacks on enemies using different attacks by pressing certain buttons at the same time, and these moves are different for each character. And during these fights, the characters talk the entire time, and not just the main characters, but everyone talks during the battle. It may seem grating at first, but if you remember that Dynasty Warriors had the characters say the exact same thing over and over, it seems a lot more tolerable.

Speaking of the characters, the characters may have the names of historic Japanese figures, and their motives and personal histories are similar in the game as well as in actual history, however these people look and act very differently than in history. I mean, did you read in the history books that say that Saika Magoichi, famous for arming his troops with arquebuses (guns), was actually a woman with a rocket launcher and a rotating gun belt on her thigh? Or that Date Masamune, an iconic tactician known for his missing eye, which gave him he name “The One-eyed Dragon”, used six samurai swords, three in each hand, like cat claws? (And they said that the Date in the game lost his eye from battle, even though he lost it from smallpox during childhood in history.) The goal of each battle is to take over specific points and control the landscape. Very simple and quite similar to Dynasty warriors, but it also throws in a few specific goals to each stage, like taking out a certain weapon that hinders your army, lift a floodgate so a boat can pass through to open up a certain gate, or to dispense the fog around the area so tigers stop attacking you. It really takes out the monotony you would otherwise feel if it was just hacking and slashing, so it’s also a bit better than Dynasty Warriors in that regard.

There are two very notable things to talk about in regards to this game: The mounts and the accessories. The mounts (horses) allow you to ride across the battlefield much faster and attack enemies in rapid succession. Given these advantages, you become a god on the battlefield, as enemies won’t be able to hit you if you’re going so fast, which also makes it useful for a particularly tough boss battle. If you find a mount, hop on for a delightful rampage. And then there are the accessories. Throughout the battle, you get different kinds of weapons and materials. In each area, you get materials like coal, but you also get materials specific to the area, like wood, gems, and metals. You can use these materials to make accessories using multiple combinations of materials. These accessories can give you stat increases, like higher defense and higher attack when you health is down. It doesn’t add much to the gameplay, but considering that the materials and accessories transfer to each character when you play each story, it’s much easier to move to another character’s story that way.

There are very few things to be peeved about with this game. The bosses can be a bit cheap, sometimes, doling out long-ranged attacks on a consistent basis. I remember fighting Date and his buddy Katakura Kojūrō at the same time. Luckily I had a mount, but it took forever to take these guys down, as they kept attacking me with consecutive attacks in turns whenever they knocked me off my horse. It got pretty frustrating at times. And other times the game wants you to do things that can be very difficult to do as certain characters. In one story, I had to unavoidably go into battle with a Xavist nation (I have no idea), and through most of the battle, you’re being chased by a guy with electric hand saws. If he catches up to you, he attacks you, which takes off a good chunk of your health bar. The only problem is that the character I’m playing at this point is too slow, and the saw guy always seems to tail me everywhere I go and kill me. I think there is a way to get the guy to leave, but I haven’t found any way to do it yet. I got this game out of pure reflex. I spent probably 12, 13 minutes thinking about buying this game. I considered it, and just went out and bought it. And, honestly, I’m glad I did. The game is well balanced, the environments are colorful and consistent with the Japanese theme (even though most of the characters aren’t). And the dialogue is delightfully cheesy to the point where it’s mostly just laughable (“One Eyed Dragon Party Time!” or “Ōtomo Sōrin Truly Believes!”). This game can give Dynasty Warriors a run for its money, and I would expect nothing less from the makers of Megaman. If you have a PS3 or a Wii, then this game is worth picking up. And by the way, I heard that there is also a complete anime movie based upon this exact game. But that’s another story… *Conan the Barbarian theme.*

When you see a fallen teammate don’t run up and revive him without using a strategy.  If you want to take the risk of sprinting to your teammates body with the defibrillator in your hand or scan the surrounding area for enemies which takes time. By this time they may already be dead.

If you are capturing a flag or defending an A-Com Station, Be prepared for casualties, put down medic packs near where you are, your teammates will heal when engaged by an enemy, using the Spec:2 Medkit Radius will improve the range of the healing pack on the battlefield.

The Right Circumstances

However in different games online the medic may be more useful. I personally use the medic if I have encountered fallen teammates as a different class over five times. It is a good idea when playing Squad Rush, to use the Medic class to keep your deaths down,You only have a certain amount of lives as an Attacker, As your only a 4 man squad, your tickets can go down fast. This too is relevant to the Original Rush mode also, but usually bases will be taken easier than Squad Rush due to Teamwork in Squad Rush having a bigger outcome in SQ Rush to 4 players not strategically attacking/defending.

Being a good medic in smaller games like squad rush or squad teamdeath match can drastically change the whole game, if you sucessfuly revive someone without being seen the enemy team wont know how many of you there is, you can then use this to your advantage.

The Wrong Circumstances

If you’re playing on a map where nearly everyone is in tanks, it is best not to use the medic class, as when teammates are eliminated when in tanks, you cannot revive them. In this case going engineer might give you better results. Check out my guide on How to be a Team-player in Battlefield Bad Company 2 (as Engineer)

For example in Atacama Desert in Conquest, the medic wont be as effective towards success compared to an engineer and a sniper.

Never revive a teammate when in plain sight of an enemy. The amount of times I’ve seen players revived, only to be killed again seconds later is unreal. Kill all enemies in the nearby area, then revive your teammate. Stick around and help them too, allowing them to catch their bearing and reload.

When Defending against a AH-64 Apache or a MI-28 Havoc.

Taking down Attack Helicopters can be easy in some cases, some pilots use different tactics and some are really only fighting with the craft itself to keep it in the air, target practice you could say.

Unknown to many people the Medic can help a lot to take down a Helicopter. When a teammate is using the Anti Aircraft Gun, heal him when the helicopter is injuring him/she and revive him, usually it will be an engineer in the AA Gun so he will repair it. Hide somewhere when you are waiting for your teamate to need assistance,  or until the helicopter may be eliminated. You could also use your LMG  to distract the helicopter pilot.

When playing as Attackers or Defenders In Rush.

In the situation where your teammates are planting charges on a enemies A-Com station support them with your LMG also place healing kits near places were teammates will be defending at, Only run in if you think you have a chance at reviving your teammates! Going in trying to revive and dying is worse than not reviving them but defending the A-Com station from being destroyed/defended.

Right specializations to use

If you want to be able to heal teammates fast or able to throw healing kits further, I recommend to use these Guns & Specs:

Weapon: Type 88 LMG/MG3

Side Arm: MP-443 Grach/MP-412 Rex

Spec 1: Med-kit Heal

Spec 2: Med-kit Radius

If you want to Have more Accuracy and a better chance of getting kills use these Guns & Specs:

Weapon:MG36/MG3/M60 LMG

Spec 1:Light Weight or X4 Scope

Spec 2:Marksman LMG Training or Magnum Ammunition

What guns to use other than the LMG’s?

If you don’t like spraying bullets all over the place decreasing your accuracy and you want to use a more accurate weapon which is smart too. The G3 and M14 are good examples of guns that can be used in all kits with a red dot and X4 Rifle Scope attached!

The gun I usually use as a medic is the MG36, its strong, accurate,  reliable, X4 default scope and doesn’t use a truck load of ammo in the proccess.

The G3 is one of my preferred Rifles for the Assault class if you like using C4 but that’s another post for another day.

When or if you are level 10, the Thompson (the US forces standard SMG for World War 2) It’s as powerful close up but its range is not so good, Shoot in small bursts as it will decrease its recoil.

The Shot-guns, I would recommend to use in close combat, All the Pump Action shot guns have the same stats, The USAS-12 Auto and  Saiga 20k Semi are the same also,I usually use the Pump action shot guns as they don’t use a lot of ammo per kills and reloading wouldn’t be an issue.

I would recommend these Guns & Specs for close combat:

Weapon: Neostead 2000 Combat/870 Combat/SPAS-12 Combat

Side Arm: MP-443 Grach

Spec 1: Light Weight

Spec 2: Magnum Ammunition

Choosing your Pistol that suits your playing style

Many of the hand-guns have their strength and weaknesses, If you’re looking for a high ammo clip pistol go for the  MP-443 Grach. MP-412 Rex is enormously powerful but its fire rate is rather slow.

If you want accuracy and efficiency choose the MP-412 Rex , but be warned that you need to be provisional at your kill. The  M93R Burst has fast rate of fire and will subdue the enemy fast, It requires more ammo per kill.

If regularly using a Pistol isn’t a part of your style use tracer darts to rack up some more XP, usually you will not ever get caught not being reloaded, as the LMGs hold over 100+ bullets.

Wrapping up

The aim of this medic guide is  to guide you in how to use the Medic to your full advantage and team playing skills. In Battlefield Bad: Company 2 every class can contribute to the outcome in the game. The medic is an important element to success and team playing. Recons, assault and the previoulsy covered  engineers are needed in the game to keep a balance and your teams side on top. Whats your experience with medics? Any tips I’ve missed out on?

Full PS3 Titles

Along with the PSN specific games and PS1 titles the Store also offers a selection of the ”Big ole’ Bad” retail games which are ready to tear your hard-drive a new one, so if you have an original PS3 you may want to slap in a new hard-drive especially if you plan on taking the Digital Revolution very literally. There’s not a huge list on at the minute, it only seems to consists of a select few from Sony’s own studios, EA and Ubisoft. But here is the Best 5 full Games, in no particular order on offer!

Burnout Paradise: The Complete Edition

Burnout is still one of the best racer despite coming out way back in ’08, sticking to its ‘Arcade racing and crashing into everything that moves’ gameplay that the series in known for and gives you Paradise City to play around in when you’re not racing or colliding with oncoming traffic, all whilst listening to a great soundtrack. The amount on offer was truly staggering, then Criterion pilled on the DLC as high as it could, adding the likes of motorbikes for the first time and Big Surf Island among many others. The on-line community is still going strong, playing just last night there were well over 100 free-burn games to join and there’s always the dedicated races for the more competitive gamers out there. For those who buy the complete edition on the store you will have the great benefit of all the DLC to use, which is an understated benefit as they cost a bomb to buy separately.  Anyone who buys this now wont regret it, the best sandbox racer on the PS3 hands-down!

Signs that just don't work...

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010 Edition)

NFS is generally considered to be Burnouts ‘Chavy older brother’ but Criterion brought it back into the racing foray with a vengance producing 2010′s best racing game. A full review of the game, by myself can be found Here.

 

Sackboy, the Ledge!

Little Big Planet 

LBP is one of those games anyone can make their own, a creative playground that anyone can essentially play,create and share in, all helped by the infinitely customisable and cute Sackboy. Only the original is on the store, the even better sequel is still only retail, but that shouldn’t put you off buying this, hopefully most of you downloaded it as part of the ‘Welcome Back’ program. The Story campaign levels are all made using the same tools you can use yourself and give a good idea of the amazing levels that can be made in the game, venture on-line to see your fellows gamers genius as some of the levels uploaded eclipse even the developers own. LBP is one of those games I believe everyone should play before they die, gamer or not, I could rabble on about it but reviews and public opinion, along with my own should give you all an idea of how great it really is.

 

Assassins Creed 1 + 2 

Both of the games are based around a modern-day man named Desmond who has genetic links to ancient Assassins and by going into the Animus he can re-live these ‘Memories’ to gain a better understanding of himself and how to become a modern master assassin and defeat the modern establishments of the evil ‘Templar’s’. In AC1 you play Altair, during the crusades in the ‘Holy land’ , for me this one had the superior setting as the Crusades were a far more interesting period in History than the Renaissance in Italy where AC2 is set, even though AC2 was as a whole is a far more polished and enjoyable game. Hopefully Ubisoft hurry up and release a full sequel to AC2 soon as I refuse to buy these weak ‘Glorified expansions’ like Brotherhood or Revelations, that they seem to be releasing in the mean time, just hurry up with the real deal, save all the little ideas and give us one amazing send off for the series. However you cant really go wrong with either of them, but like most series its best to start at the beginning and progress forward through them in chronological order.

Honourable Mentions

• Infamous 1+ 2
• God of War 1 + 2 HD remake pack
• Dante’s Inferno
• Warhawk

One to Watch:

Well as far as one to watch I can’t really say I have any, maybe it’s because I’m still very much a ‘Brick & Mortar’ Man who enjoys buying his games down at the local Game store, but there are a lot of gamers who prefer to have all their games on their hard-drive. The only game I can think of that I would guess will be available to download from the PSN store on launch would be Starhawk the sequel to Warhawk which is looking great from a multiplayer perspective with some unique additions to spice up the usual Frag’em up game-play.

Conclusion

And that ties up these posts, its easy to see PSN is offering some great content on the store and it only looks set to get better over the coming years. I hope that you’ve all enjoyed reading these posts or found some useful information/recommendations from them, of course feel free to throw in your own 2 cents in the common section but keep it clean!

For this battle I took command of the Prussian army and was allied with the British and the
Cherokee. We were pitched against the French and another two native American tribes. In the case of this battle, I used the default deployment and on beginning the battle I adopted a half hexagonal shaped formation as shown in the image above. The three forward facing sides should be fortified by using the line infantry’s spiked poles. The men should then stay behind these poles at all times! (the red unit at the bottom of the pic was one that disobeyed this rule). Also note that I did not move at the beginning of the battle. I let my allies do the dirty work at the centre of the battlefield and I stayed back to sort out my men.

Each of these sides should then be backed up by a further line of either line infantry or militia. This is a very important step for the tactic to work efficiently. Like the first rule that no man should leave this fortress, the commander must be kept at the centre of the shape to boost morale and to rally any routing troops. Now in the case of a 3 vs 3 battle there shouldn’t be a major problem of being flanked, however that is what the two remaining units of men at the back of the shape are for. Although in this battle I used them to reinforce the men at the front.

I created this formation as more of an endurance one. For example this battle raged on for a good hour and a half and unless this next step is carried out then it could go on even longer than that again. As the battle commences keep swapping the men on the front line to the back line of infantry. This ensures that not one unit is bombarded too much and it gives the men a rest and the enemy problems. Facing fresh units every turn about will surely lead to their demise and they will be fatigued greatly from the journey that they will have to make to your fort.

If your allies have fallen and the enemy has discovered that your ranged attack is picking them off they will attempt to rush your fort. The spiked poles will only hold them off for so long. The one thing that you have to think about in this situation is ammo, so the best thing to do here is only have your back line firing. Prepare your forward line for a bloody melee battle and do not let the enemy get past the poles. From then on in, do not swap this front line once they have begun the fight as a swap in units will result in turning your back to the enemy’s approaching charge.

If you have carried out roughly the steps previously mentioned then you too can witness the enemy fleeing from the battlefield. Even though both my allies fell early on in this battle it is evident that smart tactics can hold off a force of three enemy armies. I hope you found this guide interesting and I wish you many victories on your military campaigns.

Notice the missing units in the pics? I sent some units at the beginning of the fight to help my
allies…..that was a mistake

Thanks to donncha for spotting this