ArmA 2: Reinforcements

First off, if you don't know what the ArmA series is, I would totally understand. Its a game with very niche appeal. Produced by Bohemia Interactive, a developer based out of the Czech Republic, the game is, in essence, a civilian version of VBS2, a military sim used by several major armed forces, including the Australian Army and the Canadian Army, and the US Marine Corp. The ArmA series is a follow up to the popular Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Rearmed series released in 2001. Featuring massive maps, players take up several roles in combat, from the lowly infantryman, to tank commander, even helicopter and jet fighter pilots. The sheer variety of choice and mission types shames most other military games. The latest in the series, ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead, was released in June 2010, and features the fictional country of Takistan, which resembles Iraq and Afghanistan's bastard child.

ArmA 2: Private Military Company, included in ArmA 2: Reinforcements.

ArmA 2: Reinforcements, set to release April 1st, is a combination of two Operation Arrowhead expansions, featuring the British Army and Private Military Companies, respectively. For those who already own the expansions, there is little reason to purchase this new set. It has no new features. However, for those yet to pick up the series, this offers new players unique and engaging storylines, far superior to the ArmA 2 original. New players be warned: This is not Call of Duty, or Bad Company 2. Mistakes are punished in almost instant death, and while failing a mission does not automatically end the campaign, it does effect your ending. Often, engagements are realistic, and you may not even see the enemy who kills you. However, good use of the controls( easier said then done, I'm afraid) and available cover will see you through most fights. Flying a helicopter or airplane is a blast, and while difficult to pick up at first, are rewarding once figured out. I'd recommend a joystick, or 360 controller, which makes flying easier. Firing a hellfire rocket at an enemy tank miles away using an unmanned drone controlled from an Apache, is quite simply put, something literally no other game has.

ArmA 2: British Armed Forces, included in ArmA 2: Reinforcements.

Multiplayer is also rewarding, and well worth the effort. Clans and groups of players, vary from hyper realistic, enforcing ranks and rewarding good team work, to much more casual pick up and play games. The PC Gamer server is one of the most popular, with its more lax and less elitist approach to new players. Missions range from Co-Op games featuring at least 10+ human teammates, and straight up PvP games on the massive maps. A mic is recommended, it just doesn't feel the same without one.

The editor, easy to understand, but hard to master, allows players to make their own missions on large maps. The community has many talented mission makers, and you can download whole campaigns made by players.
They also make third party "addons", with everything from atomic bombs to zombies covered. Trust me, a military sim game with zombies is actually pretty awesome. 

ArmA 2, and the whole series, does have its faults. Until recently, the AI has been mixed. They make hilariously bad decisions, and a drunk driver can drive better then they can. This has been fixed in a recent patch. The ingame missions and campaigns are complex, and if one bug happens, the entire mission can be totally screwed. This also has been fixed in patches. The patches are prepackaged with ArmA 2: Reinforcements.

Final word? I'm not going to give this a score out of ten. I'm not even going to say your going to like it. Your either going to love it or hate it. It fills its niche wonderfully.

Why Hello There Banner

Looks pretty nice eh? It kind of looks like that comic/gaming look. Like Tron or something.

If anyone was wondering where the name Serizzid came from, it's actually Res and Dizzi backwards. We made it up a while ago and kept it for gaming doubles ever since.

I also noticed Harrison posted some of his movie reviews. If you haven't seen them already, they're definitely viral material. Go ahead and take a look, especially the Zombie Land one.

Well that's all for now. See ya later.

- Res

Harrison Laine's Due Date review

Harrison Laine's All About Steve review

Harrison Laine's Zombieland review

Introduction

Hello world. My name is Harrison Laine. I am an actor (hopefully) and I like to review movies. I make mini videos about movies that I recently watch. As you can tell, I am a movie nerd and like to point out what the Hell is wrong with the movies, even if I love them. So sit back, slap your head in stupidity, and realize....just realize.

If there's any movie you'd like me to review,

merrick_cool@hotmail.com

Site Update

Why hello there.

Yes I promised a lot more posts by now but we're trying to get a lot of things done behind the scenes and setting up new accounts. I assure you, April will be a big month for the site.

What else do I say...oh right. Teh Lulz Pare and Tenacious are both promising a post for this weekend I believe. Another poster is also promising something. Dizzi will get to something eventually as well. I will also be posting something about the Juno's this weekend if I have time to.

Well...that's all for now. Once again, thanks for reading.

Another one joins the group

I am also a writer for this blog, where we will talk about all things interesting. At least to me.

Whenever I can make the time, I'll be here to talk about whatever I feel like. It can be my take on the hottest gadgets or a review on a movie or game. Who knows... the moon's the limit!

Anyway, that's all for now. Drop me a comment on whatever you feel like. Until next time, I'll be in touch.

- Tenacious

What the Hell is This? (It's Dizzi)

Another gaming blog? Ehh...possibly.

Oh come on. Just because I said that you're going to... Wait... Wait no, this has been done.

Anyways, I know from the other two posts, your all very excited to see me. Anyways, from the first post, I think you all know whats going on in this blog, so I'll save you a repeat introduction. I just talk about interesting happenings and such.

I'm also playing Final Fantasy IX right now, so if you want me to talk about that, just drop a comment or two. Anyways, that's all for now.

-Dizzi

Sucka Pawnch: Why do people hate it? (Spoilers)

So this Saturday I had the chance to go see Sucker Punch. My expectations going into this were low. I had already read my fair share of comments about it being mediocre, Hollywood turning garbage, etc. I think I actually have a quote like that...

Sucker Punch is such a bad movie that it raises the bar for what counts as terrible. That's because there's a horrific genius in it. This film will crystallize for you all those half-formed thoughts about what's wrong with Hollywood. - Annalee Newitz

That's actually the last thing I read before going to see the film. So now I'm sitting in the theater. Trailers go by and the movie eventually starts. In the first 10 minutes of the film I was already impressed with the cinematography. The first shot with the 'main character' (and those are in quotations for a reason but we'll talk about that later. Let's just call her Baby Doll from now on) really pulled me in. Sitting on the bed in a dark dismal room while the music played...it was just a beautiful shot overall. The scenes involving a struggle between Baby Doll and the step father that follow were also very well done. The whole opening act was brilliant. It was definitely getting the attention it deserved from others around me in the theater as well, to the point an older lady leaned over and asked me what movie this was; and yes, she was in the wrong theater anyway. That's not the point though. What matters is that the scenes really did their job. The film as a whole conveyed a lot of dismal situations which were perfect for the story itself.

Now this may seem a little confusing, but bare with me. This is my first time doing a movie review on a blog. The film branches into two different realities, one being the insane asylum introduced in the beginning and another where all the girls are instead dancers for a brothel. In this alternate reality where the girls are dancers, a dance instructor teaches them how to dance and break away from the horrible reality that they are faced with in order to help them be 'free'. In actual reality, the dance instructor is really a doctor who helps the girls deal with their emotional problems through the use of music and imagination. On top of this, in the alternate dancer reality, Baby Doll imagines different worlds when she dances where the girls and herself try to obtain the items they need in bizarre ways (for example, getting fire from a dragon or a map in a World War 2 setting). So simply, we can say that it's a dream within a dream. Oh god please no more Inception.

So the main conflict now is that Baby Doll needs to escape the brothel before the High Roller comes to see her dance (and do a little more than that *wink wink*). In reality, Baby Doll is planning to escape from the insane asylum in order to get away from the Lobotomist who will turn her into a drone. In order to escape Baby Doll requires five items: map, fire, knife, key, ???, PROFIT (uhhh disregard that last one). With the help of four other girls: Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie and Amber she plans to get these items and make her escape.

Anyway, the girls try to obtain the four items they need in order to escape from the brothel (in actual reality, the insane asylum) while the curator continues to get more and more suspicious. In the process of obtaining the items they need, some of the girls are killed (two by the curator and one by a chef in the kitchen). Eventually Baby Doll and Sweet Pea use the four items they need in order to get outside the brothel and toward the exit but the exit is guarded by a few men. This is where Baby Doll finally realizes the fifth item they needed was her own sacrifice. She stays behind in order to allow Sweet Pea to escape and live the life she wanted instead of being a dancer in the brothel.

Actual reality sets into place now as the fifth day rolls around. The viewer is shown that Baby Doll was the one who ended up killing the three girls as well as causing problems in the asylum. The Lobotomist finally shows up and does his work on Baby Doll. Eventually we see the doctor that was helping the girls find out that the curator was in fact admitting sane girls to the asylum in order to make a profit (hey, maybe I was right about the whole profit thing). The curator is taken away by the police and we zoom to a scene with Sweet Pea finally escaping to her home.

Overall, I loved the story. The whole theme of wanting to be free and using the brothel as a way to depict this was perfect. The idea that the film wasn't even about Baby Doll to begin with was also interesting and that the whole story was really about Sweet Pea and the struggles she and her sister had. The more action packed scenes were also entertaining to watch and kept the film interesting. I would say that it's a dark movie with an amazing story and message. What I didn't understand was the hate towards it. Maybe it was the eye candy that bothered people? Maybe it was the corny action scenes? I have no clue how it shows what's 'wrong with Hollywood'. For those who did watch the movie I wanted to know, when the train is heading towards the city didn't that remind you of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII? I hope it wasn't just me.

Well that's all I have to say about Sucker Punch. Sorry if I was a little confusing at times...this is my first movie review and real blog post. Ever. So yeah my writing may need a little more work. Maybe a lot...I guess I'll find out eventually. As always, thanks for reading!

- Res

Updates about Serizzid

Still haven't told Dizzi about this place...I will eventually. I have two other writers that may be interested in this blog so keep checking back whenever you can!

The Hell Is This?

Another gaming blog? Ehh...possibly.

Oh come on. Just because I said that you're going to close the tab huh? Gonna pull the 'ol ctrl + w? Well you sir (or ma'am but I doubt that very much) are going to miss out on a lot of fun. I think. I dunno I'm just pulling stuff out of my ass. Anyway, welcome to the Serizzid Blog. My name is...not Res. But that's the only thing I prefer to be called on here. This blog will also belong to Dizzi but I haven't broken the news to him yet. I expect him to like the idea and show up sometime this week.

But enough about him. This shit is about me. Err more like it's about the blog in general. What I want to do here is write about everything gaming, tech, comic, fun, etc. Basically everything that you'd find at some sort of game specialty store. This blog will contain posts about new games, old games, comics, movies, consoles, gaming accessories...maybe even food. Who knows? I don't.

So whatever this blog may contain, hope that it's readers enjoy it as much as it's writers will writing for it. That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading and hope to see some comments.

- Res