Nate Meyer's Weblog

Recently picked up the above netbook.  So far I love it.  1.6ghz processor, 1.5gb memory, 160 GB HD, and for only $300 bones!.  As soon as I got it home, I installed Windows Vista on it, and couldn’t be happier.  It runs everything I need it to, and it plenty fast for a netbook.   Battery only lasts 2.5 hours or so, which is why I have a 7800mah battery on order, which will make it last for 6-7 hours!

Proper review will come after I use it for a couple months.

LIKES:

- Graphics were good, very crisp, lots to look at, very pleasing
- Same as GRAW, hiding around corners is awesome, and popping out when your ready.  Very ‘war-like’
- The sounds within the game (shooting, talking, etc) and weapon detail is good
- The AI are very smart.  They would pop out from behind boxes just like we do, and they would pop out from one side, then the second time they would do it from the other side.

DISLIKES:

- LLLLLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGG.  I was so sick of this game after the 56th hour of playing.  There must have been 5 times where I thought the game was going to end, but no, there was more.  It was kind of like watching a 10 hour movie.  Your always hoping for the movie to end!
- My teammates are so stupid.  They would never find cover when i told them to go somewhere, they would just shoot from out in the open.  Then they would die, then i would have to rescue them, and most times die myself.  There needs tobe more work done on my teammates AI.  Hiding behind boxes when shooting, etc.
- Did i mention the game was way to long?
- Some parts of the game are very hard. So many enemies to kill
- The game got pretty repetitive. Every mission was about going into a building, and finding someone, or killing more terrorists. When playing COD4, there were 10 different mission types, and 10 different settings. Vegas was fighting in casino’s only. Except the dam at the end of course.

CONCLUSION:

I won’t play Vegas 2. I just didn’t like the game length of the first one, and the repetitive nature of the levels. And Vegas 2 will probably be the same thing. I enjoyed the game play aspect, hiding around corners, shooting, etc. But the game was way too long, and got REAL sick of it at the end. If the game was shorter, it would be a 8.5 / 10. Maybe i just have a very short attention span.

SCORE:

6.7 / 10

LIKES:

- Graphics are awesome. Car model detail is fabulous. Environment is filled with other cars, etc.
- Finding the billboards, and the shortcuts is a nice touch. Gives u something to do other then just race around.
- Car handling is superb, even for an arcade game. The sportier cars handle a lot better then the bigger cars. Rear wheel cars actually handle like a rear wheel car, same for front wheel. Using a tad of break makes the car start a nice drift around corners.
- There are a variety of ways to get your points, not JUST racing. There’s take-downs, stunt runs, etc. It would probably get repetitive if it was JUST racing.
- I liked the open world. The races are initiated at each intersection. If your bored of racing, or getting points, just drive around and find bill-boards or gates to smash. Or just get to know the city

DISLIKES:

- When going into the junkyard to pick your car, it’s slow. It gives a slow-mo of the car selected, and the selection (Press A), doesn’t pop-up for like 5 seconds. To scroll through your cars, would take 1-2 minutes.
- Doesn’t work very well with a wheel, of course that’s expected as it’s more of an arcade type game
- The stunt-runs are too hard to get your points. Well, it’s probably just that i suck.

CONCLUSION:

When i got this game, i shut it off within 2 minutes. I don’t think i gave it the time it needed to get used to the driving, etc. I tried it again a couple weeks later and got familiar with it. The driving is awesome, even for an arcade type game. Some people would say it’s too long, and repetitive, but i didn’t think so. There are a variety of ways to get your license points etc, etc. Crashing through the billboards and crashing through the gates was another way to pass some time. Overall, i really liked this game.

SCORE:

9 / 10

LIKES:

- The story in the game was great, and {unlike Advanced Warfighter}, i actually understood it.
- The story made me want to continue the game too find out what happens, etc, etc
- The graphics are awesome, crisp, clear.
- Gameplay was extremely fun. Climbing on buildings, pickpocketing for knives, quietely assassinating people to draw attention to guards so you can get into the spot they were guarding.
- Interacting with the environment / scenary is incredible. You can climb any building, interact with any person (interact meaning punch / assassinate of course), break pottery, etc.
- I love assassinating people. Sneaking up behind a guard, or someone that annoys you, and assassinate them, then run away. It’s a thrill to try and be quiet, and annonymous, then strike.

DISLIKES:

- The game is called Assassins Creed. You are supposed to “assassinate’ your targets. But right before you get to your targets, it turns to a cut scene, then the target runs, you have to chase him and fight him with 5-6 other guards at the same time. I wish i was able to SNEAK into the building, hide behind pillars, then strike and he dies.
- Especially at the end, you have to fight 10-15 guards AT ONCE in order to get to your targets, which is really annoying, as they will always slash you from behind, when your fighting someone else. I think it took me 2 hours JUST to kill the second last target. I ended up running in circles for 5 minutes, while the enemy chases me, just to regenerate my health. It almost turns into a Hack ‘n Slash type game.
- The colors seem a bit dull, i guess this isn’t really a dislike, and it’s not going to detour anyone from buying the game, but it just seems like alot of greys and darker colors are in some of the cities. Almost like black and white?
- Sometimes i find i’ll be running close to a wall, and the character will randomly grab a the wall, like it’s trying to climb it. Then I have to press A to drop, which wastes alot of time. This gets real annoying when trying to run from guards.
- Repetitive? I think this is everyones main dislike. For me i didn’t really find it too Repetitive. The ‘goal’ was the same everytime, ‘assassinate a target’. But the story behind the assassinations were different, and your plan to assassinate was different as well. There were definitly some variety in your missions.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, I liked this game and definitly had fun while playing it. There were times where i HAD to take a break, as running away from guards was getting a litle annoying. And the lack of assassinating your target was a little annoying, as the game turned into a hack and slash when your killing your target. Toward the end of the game got very frustrating for me, as my character turned into RAMBO fighting 15 guards at once. Took me WELL over 2 hours to finish one stage. But, i will definitly play any sequals that come out, as the game had more fun parts then not.

SCORE:

8 / 10

LIKES:

- The training was awesome. Took about 10 minutes, and it gave you a complete rundown on the tactical abilities, button controls, communications options, etc, etc. After it was over, i felt i was completely ready to take on the game, and use all the options it provided.
- I really liked how you can walk up to a wall, or corner, and your character will ‘hug’ the wall. You then move your thumbstick to ‘look’ around the wall and shoot if nessesary. It has a great combat feel.
- The graphics look great. Lots of reflections, and play on the sunlight. Everything looks crisp, and framerate is never a problem
- Selection of guns is good, range from sniper rifles, pistols, machine guns, etc, etc

DISLIKES:

- There have been a few times where he doesn’t ‘hug’ the wall when i command him to, which gets a little annoying after a while. Or sometimes when he is hugging the wall, i’ll go to look around it, and he dislodges from the wall.
- Shooting was a little tricky for me, as i’m not use to the thumbstick yet. I started to get the hang of it a couple levels in. You can press the left trigger to bring the sites up to your eyess, which zooms slightly, and slows the character down, which helps. By pressing the right thumbstick down, you can zoom in on the enemy, if your gun has a scobe sight. The crosshairs have a circular pattern, with a small dot in the middle, which helps pinpoint exactly where your shooting. The guns do have recoil, so when shooting, you’ve got to use burst fire, or the gun will be off target.
- One other annoying thing of the game is the automatic saving. There are certain sections where it doesn’t save for the longest time. When you die, you’ve gotta go back to the very beginning again. I guess it makes you want to go alot slower, and more “steathy” through the game which is cool.
- I couldn’t seem to understand the storyline. I didn’t really feel like a character in the game, which definitly makes it less exciting. Most times your riding in a helicoptor when they are going through the storyline, and sometimes there’s so much background noise, i can’t hear what they are saying. Of course, it’s probably just me, as i have a hard time understanding complicated movies also. I’ve played games in the past where the storyline is awesome, and you want to keep playing to find out what happens, just like a movie. But i couldn’t seem to get into the story with this game. I’ve even had to go to the wiki article to read the storyline to understand whats happening.
- Your teammates get annoying real quickly. Sometimes they will go right out into the line of fire, and they get injured, and the rest just stand around waiting for me to command them to heal them. Kinda feels like im baby sitting them.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, i liked this game, even tho it had some annoying quirks. It wasn’t too short, and not too long. Graphics were good, and gameplay was good. Storyline was a little complicated. I will continue to play Tom Clany games.

SCORE:

7.5/10

Here is a quick review of my Benelli SuperNova Shotgun.

First, here’s the feature list:

• Standard screw-In chokes: IC, M, F
• Vented Recoil Pad for shock absorption
• Comfort-Tech Shim Kit
• Overly large trigger guard
• Push-button shell stop

 

I purchased this shotgun in 2006 as my first firearm.  I was looking at Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 mostly.  They were well with-in my price range, but I wasn’t sure of the quality, and hesitated a little bit.  I then saw the Benelli SuperNova.  The price was higher then any other shotgun I was looking at, but I knew the quality would be that much better also.

The firearm fits like a glove.  I do a lot of trap shooting, and when bringing the gun up from a carrying position, it come up NICE, right to my eye.  Of course every body type is different, so this will vary whomever uses it.  It has a red sight, and a raised barrel sight, with middle bead.   I shoot left handed, and do not have any problems with the shell exit, or the safety switch, etc.  The firearm comes with extra Shims, so you can change both the drop, and the cast of the butt.  I’ve shimmed mine over to better suit my left handedness

The firearm will cycle 2 3/4” shells through to 3.5” shells.  I usually use 3.5” shells, and have never had a problem with jams, or anything similar.

Durability:

• My firearm has been dropped, rained on, touched with muddy gloves and have never had a problem with it.  After using it once or twice, i’ll take it apart and clean it
• It hasn’t rusted, or discolored at all, even after leaving it dirty/muddy for a week because I was too busy to clean it

Disassembly / Cleaning:

• Disassembling this gun is a synch.  Just take out 2 pins that hold in the trigger assembly with the supplied tool (the end cap to the shell holder),  and the trigger assembly falls right out.  The forearm then pulls right out the front.  The bolt falls right out the bottom, and that’s about it.
• The bolt rides on rails which are very easy to lubricate.
• Once the gun is broken down, your left with 3-4 seperate pieces, which makes it very easy to clean everything. 
• Putting it back together is just as simple as taking it apart
• The manual has great instruction on how to do it.  I don’t even think I read them and did it my first try
• Disassembling is so easy, IF you get dirt in the chamber, or something happens where you need to take it apart in the field, it’s so simple, and only takes 2-3 minutes.

CONS:

• The weight.  At 7.9 – 8.0 lbs, it can get a little heavy, especially when walking 5-10kms when pheasant hunting.  I have purchased a sling for mine, and that helps alleviate most of the weight.
• Barrel Length /  buying new barrel.  The barrel length is great for goose / duck hunting, etc, but it would be nice to find a smaller barrel for it.  The problem is, a new barrel is almost the same cost of the whole gun.
• Being all black, the gun looks like it came from a star wars movie, , but it doesn’t bother me much.

The difference between this gun and the NOVA, is the comfort tech stock, which compresses and helps with the recoil, the hardened barrel, and larger trigger guard. I don’t have much to compare the recoil to, but a friend says it ‘kicks’ a whole lot less then his gun.

I am 100% happy with this gun.  It will last a lifetime for me!

Any questions?  Send me an email – mrnatemeyer [@ ] gmail.com

UPDATE (December 1, 2009):

Still no problems with the firearm.  Still no jams, rust, or discoloring.  Everything is working perfectly, and am still VERY happy with this firearm.

I’ve forever been a COD fan. It started with the original COD, then moved to COD United Offensive (add-on for COD), then 2 years after that came COD2. Shortly after that COD3 was released for console only, but it wasn’t made by IW. Then 2 years after COD2, came COD4. They changed the style of game to be a Modern Warfare type game, instead of a World War 2 game.

The game was pretty taxing on my PC, so i decided to upgrade. Purchased a 2.4ghz Intel Dual-core, and a MB to support it. Got 2gb of PC-5200 ram, and a new power supply. I also purchased a used ATI x1950 pro, which isn’t top of the line, but fast enough for what I need. I usally get about 60-65 FPS and my texture levels, etc are on HIGH and EXTRA.

New in COD4 came rankings, which gives you different weapons, textures for you guns, etc. It gives you something to work towards as you play. There doesn’t seem to be many weapons to start out, and each team that your on have the exact same weapons. Seems that COD1 and 2 had more choice of weapons, but maybe that will change as I get into the higher rankings. I’m currently using the M4 Carbine, with red dot site.

Also new in COD4 came perks. It allows you to give your character 3 perks to use as ‘add-ons’. For example, you can choose to increase your bullet penetration, and add more grenades, and last stand (pulls out your pistol after you die for a ‘last’ effort to kill the enemy). Or you can have increased health, run fast, and drop a grenade when u die.

There is also a game mode called hardcore.  It essentially turned off your hud (at the bottom) and increases the power of your weapons.  So instead of shooting someone 5-6 times before they die, it makes it more realistic and kills them within 1-2 good placed shots.  It seems to slow the game down a bit, people aren’t running around all crazy like.

So this has been taken most of my time lately!

It was a long process for me to decide weather or not to buy a gps.  I didn’t know much about them at all.  I didn’t want one that just showed me my coordinates, or showed me which direction I was heading, or showing the line i’ve travelled on, on a blank looking map.  Those options seemed useless to me. 

I wanted a GPS that had EVERY road on it, small or large, and showed me driving on the road, and displayed when to turn, and how far the turn was away.  I Also wanted it to display my speed, tripometer, distance till destination, time till destination.  Using it for the motorcycle would be awesome as well, as I could use the computer and complete a route that I want to take, then upload it to the GPS.  I would use it for hunting to mark good huntspots, and use the topographical maps to see elvation and lakes and streams.  But would there be a unit that does all this, and in my pricerange?  

I started researching Garmin GPS units on their website, and searching on Google for any reviews of specific models I was interested in.  I realized that all the options that I was hoping for, are available in a handheld unit, at a decent cost.  The first unit I bought was the Garmin eTrex Legend cx. It was a great unit, and exactly the same as the 60cx that I bought after, except the legend had the standard GPS receiver on it and it didn’t work so well under the canopy of the forest.  I returned it and decided to spend the extra money on the 60cx.  This unit has the “High Sensitivity-Receiver”, and found that it received it’s sat signal alot quicker, and worked alot better under the forest canopy.  I walked through the forest, under large trees, and the unit never lost it’s signal, and was never interrupted, it even gets a signal in the basement of my house, which has only 1 window. 

Instead of going through each and every feature, and screen, i’ll list below some of the ways that I used this unit.  I think this will give you a better understanding of what it’s capable of, and wheather it’s good for you.

•  I recently went up to Ten Mile Lake in northern Ontario for a vacation with my wife Michelle.  I used the computer and the software that came with the GPS to create a route to the destination.  I also used the software to add waypoints to specific spots that I needed to mark (the desired campspot, the lake, backup lake, closest gas station, closest grocery store, etc).  I also created a waypoint for a small lake that we could hike to while we were there if we wanted.  I created a second route that went from Ten Mile Lake up Nipissing road and into Magnetawan in case we wanted to go for a drive.  I uploaded all this information into the unit.  Going up highway 401 it would display the highway on the map, and a purple line showing me the way to go.  It would also display the ‘time-to-destination’, and ‘distance-to-next-turn’, etc.  It also leaves a ‘breadcrumb’ that shows me where i’ve been, in case i need to turn around and follow my steps.  When we got up to the lake, if i wanted to hike to that other lake, i would just create a route from where i am, to the waypoint that i create on the computer, same if i need a gas station.  I also used the GPS when i was canoeing, as the topographical maps show all lakes and streams, and i could draw a line that showed me the distance till the end of the stream lake.  It was VERY useful for this trip.  The below picture is a pic of the map, in the software that came with the GPS.  It just shows one of my routes, my ‘breadcrumbs’ on ten mile lake, and a waypoint that i makred called Ten Mile Lake.

• This summer a few friends of mine decided to take a long Motorcycle trip through-out northern Ontario.  It was about 1500 kms, and we did it in 3 days.  As you can imagine, that’s alot of turns.  We could’ve used a paper map, and draw on the route that we wanted to take, but we would then have to pull over every 10-15 minutes to make sure we’re on the right roads.  The GPS would work perfectly.  Again, I used the software that came with the unit to create route for the 3 days we would be travelling.  I seperated the routes into 3,  friday’s route, saturday’s and sundays.  On Friday morning I loaded Fridays route which ended in a Hotel in Huntsville.  I waypointed the hotel, and restaurants that were near and did the same thing for Sat and Sun.  The gps never failed the whole time, and if ever i got off-route, it would automatically create a route to get back to my original route.  Worked perfectly, and IMO, way better then paper maps.  It even rained on occasion and since the GPS is waterproof, I had no problems.  The below pic is the route that we took through ontario.  I created this route and uploaded it to the GPS.

• During the turkey hunting season I was especially glad to have the GPS.  A couple weeks before the season started, I walked into the forest to scout for signs of turkeys, and to find decent areas where they might exist.  Everytime I found an area that might hold turkey, I marked it on the GPS as a waypoint.  I also marked the exact tree that I would sit against when the season started.  I had the trackback feature turned on, so I could find my way out of the forest, and back to my Jeep at any time.  A friend also drove me around to a couple different areas where he thought there might be turkey, and again, I marked all these locations.  The 60cx worked great under the thick tree canopy, and never cut out.  The below, again, is a pic of the map inside mapsource.  It shows a walk I took through a bush, and along the way, i marked some key-spots.

Battery life on this unit is pretty good.  I have Panasonic rechargable batteries, and they will last for 2-3 days of driving 4-5 hours a day.  �
Mounting the unit turned out to be fairly simple as well.  I needed it to mount to the Jeep, Escort wagon, Motorcycle, and needed a carrying case for when im hunting / hiking.  I turned to gpscity.ca where I purchased all the mounts that i needed. 

• First you need the plastic craddle for the 60cx.  http://www.gpscity.ca/ramholga12
• Next I bought the 5.25″ aluminum arm. http://www.gpscity.ca/item-ram-mount-5.25-inch-long-arm-with-dual-1-inch-sockets/ramb201c.htm
• Then 3 of these.  1 to bolt onto the back of the craddle for the top of the arm, the other 2 to bolt to the dash of the Jeep and Escort. http://www.gpscity.ca/item-ram-mount-diamond-plate-with-1-inch-ball/ramb238.htm
• And last, I bought this to attach to the motorcycle handle bars. http://www.gpscity.ca/1.0-b-ball-parts/f=motorcycle+parts

Here are some pics of it mounted to the GPS, Bike, and general use.

That’s about it.  I love this GPS, and in my eyes, there’s nothing better.  Feel free to email me with any questions or comments.�