The Gamer Gazette (www.TazerCG.com)

Contents:

The Gamer Gazette:

Battlefield 4 Review – CANCELLED! 

Batman Arkham Origins Game Review



Acer Aspire One 533 Netbook Review



Dead Space 3 Game Tips



Movie Reviews: Monsters University and White House Down



The Walking Dead Season 4 “So Far”

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Announced

Game

Releases

for

Christmas and January

E:GOR the Exobyte Says: “Welcome to our first edition of The Gamer Gazette!”

Welcome to the very first edition...and hopefully not the last of The Gamer Gazette!We thought that this would be a really cool way to get more vital gaming information to all you devoted gamers out there.This first edition is comprised of some great reviews and game tips, as well as all of the announced game releases for Christmas and after in January.We hope to eventually start having some exclusive Gamer Gazette Giveaways and offers which will ONLY be available to readers of the Gazette.But that will all have to wait for now and in the meantime please enjoy reading this very first edition of The Gamer Gazette, and if you have any feedback at all please go to the website (www.tazercg.com) and feel free to leave your comments on the Community Page Chat or Shout Boxes.

Enjoy!

Battlefield 4 Apology: Hey Guys! Some of you may have noticed that we promised you a Battlefield 4 Review, unfortunately due to personal reasons and other commitments, Torin, who was meant to be doing the review has not had time to play the game through and therefore is not happy writing the review until he can make a proper informed decision on it. So please accept our apologies and we will try and release a review for Battlefield 4 on the website sometime this month.

game was gonna be awesome! And if it wasn’t...well someone is going to pay for it!

Story and Characters

Batman Arkham Origins Review Kim Gustafsson Me and Batman I’ve liked Batman for a long time, be it the old comics or the animated series, there is always a place in my heart for Batman. And when the game Batman: Arkham Asylum was announced, let’s just say, there were high expectations. And if memory serves it was a good friend of mine that got the game for me as a gift, and many hours went down in to it. But due to other hobbies I never got Arkham City, and totally missed out. So when getting the game Batman: Arkham Origins it was kind of special. And I hoped the game would be just as good as I thought the first one was.

And having enemies as Deadshot and Deathstroke as well, that are well known villains. Deathstroke being a big name in the DC universe, I was hoping this

So as you would figure with a name like “Origins” this is where the game series really begins story-wise. And as such we get to play as Batman during one of his first encounters with villains such as Copperhead, Deadshot and maybe more importantly the Joker. And here’s the thing, before going any further then the Joker, who many think is just a clown with bad colour taste, and following the old Batman cartoon, he’s not that dangerous, even if many people are terrorized by him. So keep in mind that was a kid’s show, this game is not. Just as in the movie, and probably more so, here you get to see him as the crazy mass murderer he actually is. A maniac that’s constantly laughing on his way to cause even more death and destruction. But somewhere inside the madness lies a mind intelligent enough to create the entire scenario of the Batman games. He is dangerous and will kill anyone if he sees a laugh in it. And he sees laughs in practically anything. And he will prove this to you. Needless to say, I like this Joker very much so I will leave him for now before I get to repetitive. There are many more famous faces in Batman: Arkham Origins, going all the way from Alfred, Commissioner Gordon to people like the Joker, Black Mask and the Penguin. I'm not going to go into all of them in detail but I will say a short few words about some of the characters that struck me as kind of weird or good. First off Deathstorke, now this is a big name for DC to drop in and is one of their top selling names, and to have him in the game was a huge thing for me. There is one fight not too far into the game and I thought he would make a return, but no, that’s it, he’s gone. What the

hell!? Why would you not use him more, he is the most dangerous assassin out there and you take him out so early and so easy and your done with it!? I was very disappointed, granted you can play as him in some of the challenges but I wanted more of him in the story. Now I can understand why they did not. He is not the normal Batman villain as for example Bane or Copperhead, and using him more would have turned the game from Batman to a Deathstroke game, so I can sort of forgive them, but I still feel cheated on a good fight with Deathstroke.

Next up would be the Penguin again I like what they did with him but I still miss a real ending.

Maybe they had one for him in Arkham City, I would not know as I have not played the game, but I still felt like I could have done more to him when I had done the missions concerning him. But overall I like the characters in the game, I think they are well made and keep to the Batman that I know and recognize. It looks like they kept to the stereotype of them, the only one I would have some problems with would have been Bane, he’s a good Bane don't get me wrong, but in the comic and everywhere else he is not just the brute, he is also a tactical genius, and this game series seems to have forgotten that and it bugs me a bit. But for the most part it stays true to the lore. And if you don't think so, then keep in mind that Batman is old, and has gone through many changes along the line, such as; the many comic-related characters have come and gone, along with them many versions of Robin. So for being in the start of his career, I think they did a great job on this. I could talk about all the characters in this game in length but there are so many and it would take ages for me to write it all down. So overall the story of the game is simple and in my opinion way too short. The game starts you out hunting down Black Mask, and in time you will learn everything is not what is seems, however I'm not a fan of how the

game builds itself up. There are eight assassins out for Batman's head each chasing the 50 million dollar reward put up for him, but none of them seem to cause you many problems and just result in a slight irritation rather than a fully fledge spanner in the works. You can go through the story relatively fast without having to worry too much about the plot twist that you did already see coming. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is great, but it feels like they had a time frame on how long the main story was allowed to be and just tried to make it all fit inside it instead of making a good story and then putting the frame up around it. It feels stressed in some way. As you go though the game you are forced to jump between different villains, as one might have information that leads to the next one and so forth. Although some of them can be taken on at your own will, but they are the smaller ones, like Enigma and Anarchy. Enigma being the longest one to play to100%, as oppose to Anarchy's story which can be played in a few short minutes, if that. Also the encounters with the assassins are not what I had expected, I wanted to fight them and you get to, but not in the normal way you fight in the game. Deathstrokes’ battle is a bunch of counters and stuns and I must say, for me, it was very boring, I wanted a normal fight. I can understand why they did it in some respects, it’s a more close up and personal experience then the normal fighting system, but they also removed the flow of combat with a bunch of good looking quick events in combination with some limited gameplay, not to my taste I'm sorry to say. Then again I guess it could be nice to have some alternative to fighting as by this point, you have probably already taken down your fair share of street criminals. And most Assassin battles have their own twist on them, except for one that is simply defeated but I'm not going to give away too much more then I already have on this. As I

want you to see it for yourself and make up your own opinion on it and not just taking my word for it. This is from my point of seeing it so you might see things differently after all. And I think that even if the main story feels too short it did still have some very good points in it too.

But I have to say that the worst part of it is the assassin battles, all but Banes feels like they are either too short or forced. I would rather have had several encounters with all of them in order to bring them down, just the one battle felt too little and left me wanting more out of every encounter. But there was no more to be had until I completed the game and made my first rerun of the entire story mode. I did enjoy Deadshot's battle though. A bit too simple but I just liked it a lot. And it allowed you to use all those unlocks in the silent take down skill tree you had in a boss fight made the game, and my day, just that much brighter. But it’s still not enough, following the main story is fun and all, but as I sad its way too short and the assassin encounters just seem like they were added as an afterthought in some cases. But overall it’s fun, just wished for more surprises, although one could argue that the reason why it’s not would be cause I have already played Batman: Arkham Asylum and read/seen so much of Batman that most of his battles and stories are known to the hardcore fans. And if the developers had gone too far from this I guess I would not have been happy either, I guess I just had so high expectations on the game I wanted more from it. But in order to move on in this, I'm going to leave it here for now, but to conclude. I love the characters in the story and most of the voice acting is good and doesn't disappoint. I only wish I had had the time to see and hear more of the assassins.

Especially Deadshot and Deathstroke, and a side note, I believe that the voice of Deathstroke is the same one as in Injustice: Gods Among Us. I have not looked this up, but they sounded

similar and for me that is a big plus! I love it when there are consistencies in voices and when companies are not afraid to reuse voice actors that do their jobs well. The story is good but I feel should have been longer. The game is still long if you do all side missions, but the main bit should be longer.

Gameplay So moving on to the actual gameplay. And as far as I have seen it runs very well. There are a few bugs though, for example, enemies getting stuck in weird poses after they have been taken care of or knocked out, and in other cases they fly off like a rocket when the last punch is landed instead of falling to the ground. But it’s to be expected; you do a ton of fighting in this game and for it to sometimes bug out, especially the very few times it happened I think it’s forgivable. And I'm more concerned about things that hinder your progress in the game, such as disappearing Enigma packs and vents that you are not allowed to climb into. The Enigma pack is a side mission, but getting them all will unlock a new skin for Batman and for me is a must. But one of them seems to be gone.

Maybe it’s underground where I can’t find it but according to the map, it should be on a rooftop and it’s just not there. I’ve had the same problem with one of Enigma data handlers, as the map says he’s there, and he simply is not.

Eventually I found him after a couple of restarts and so on, but the data pack still eludes me. And the vent thing, I don't know if one is not supposed to be able to climb certain vents before a certain point in the story mode, but usually the game tells you that. But sometimes you just end up hanging from the vent and not being allowed to pull yourself up and over the edge and into the actual vent. And that pisses me off to no end. If I'm not supposed to be there at this time, then tell me so and I can leave, but to just do that is stupid. So bug or time locked area, I don't care, it pisses me off. I have to say though I have not seen any buildings disappearing or streets becoming transparent.

The game holds the bigger things together really well. And no game with that type of detail gets to be bug free. But the ones there are are small and in my case few and far between. As I said I'm more worried about the things that keep me from progressing (darn Enigma pack). And I'm happy to see that they have now upgraded the counter system to allow you to double counter as well, a big difference to the gameplay. And it seems to be working really great. There’s not much more to say about the thing, it runs great on the PC and the auto save really does work, and your life will be a whole bunch easier by saving after every encounter. If anything I wish there was more levels, I was fully levelled long before I got halfway through the story, mainly due to the side missions and the constant fighting, and I must say I love the fighting, it feels great, granted at some points Batman flies between bad guys like there was no tomorrow, but he does that in the series as well so I'm OK whit that. The hits feel meaty and is rewarding...so are the breaking of bones in the takedowns as well. Batman might not kill, but he can be brutal, and he is in this game. As well as the challenges in game, not just the practice challenges but the ones used to unlock your gear are in some instances easy but in the same way rewarding. Like the glider challenge, how much can I learn from that, but as it turns out...quite a lot. Not to mention I unlocked new gear to use as well. The system is great, the only one I have problem with is the “takedown 3 or more enemies with a single explosive” and I only ever get the one as it explodes when someone comes near. So if you’re playing the game, don't unlock that upgrade till after you have done that challenge, just saying. OK, to wrap this part up. The game does have some bugs, but an open world game like this doesn't get to be just that without a few bugs in them.

They are few and far between as far as I have seen and I can live with that. I’m just hoping I will get that Enigma pack soon. The voices are great even though they can become rather repetitive when it comes down to the ordinary riff-raff, but just deal with it. And if you’re doing your job properly, they won’t be talking for long

anyway. If you like Batman, get this game, just get it. There might be parts you don't like, but on the whole...it's a great game!

Monsters University: Review Scullard

By

Nathan

I have to admit then when this movie was first announced I wasn’t all that interested or excited as I hadn’t been a fan of the original Monsters Inc. Movie despite its obvious popularity. So when I first watched this movie it wasn’t really because I wanted to but actually because my kid’s did. And those of you out there who are parents yourselves will know that you have to endure watching a lot of rubbish that your kids want to watch. Something that I think Pixar and Dreamworks etc. have started to realise and implement adult jokes and plotlines into their movies, which I like the idea of, as long as it goes over the heads of the kids.

The plot for this movie is a prequel to the last showing how much-loved characters Mike and Sulley found their way into the scare business.

Mike who has always dreamed of becoming a scaring major and attending Monster’s University finally gets his dream and is looking

forward to his first semester when his wellplanned little world is shaken up by fellow Scaring Major James P. Sullivan, who is only interested in having a good time, getting into the top fraternity on campus (Roar Omega Roar) and living off his family name.

But after the pair have an accident while competing with each other at the end of term scare examinations which ends in a priceless souvenir of Dean Hardscrabble’s, the campus head, getting broken, she kicks both of them off of the scare program.

The pair are distraught and each see it as the others fault, but when the annual Scare Games comes around Mike sees it as the perfect opportunity to prove to Dean Hardscrabble that he deserves a spot in the Scaring Program. He joins a fraternity of cast offs called Oozma Kappa and signs them up to the scare games, but still a man short of a full team, reluctantly, Mike agrees to let Sulley join the team forcing the two to work together and win their way back into the scaring program.

The plot itself is rather predictable for an adult watching it but at the end the day it’s designed for kids so I’ll let that go. Otherwise, it was entertaining enough to keep me interested, and I have now seen it about five times, and not always with my children. The comedic parts were genuinely funny even for an adult and the characters were diverse and engaging, which for a kid’s film is a must. My two year-old daughter won’t sit and watch a film for the full two hours if it doesn’t keep her engaged with what’s going on.

Overall, I thought that this film was a lot better than the first one and deservedly makes it to the list of my favourite animated movies. Not quite in the top 3, but just about in the top 10.

My Rating: 8/10 My 3 Top Animated Movies: 1. Wreck it Ralph (2012) 2. Toy Story (1995) 3. Ratatouille (2007)

White House Down Review -By Nathan Scullard Now, the first thing I will say is “White House Movies Suck!” You guys over in the US of A need to realise that actually no one in the rest of the world cares whether someone comes in and blows up your so-called ancient monuments...500 years is not ancient!!!

But unlike every other movie of this type that I have seen this actually broke the stereotype. The only reason I was watching this movie in the first place was because of Channing Tatum...NO I don’t fancy him...but for the right price...just saying! I actually like most of the films that Channing Tatum has been in, maybe with one slight hiccup...”Fighting”. And I am pleased to say that it is another film he’s in that I like...so yay! But actually I thought Jamie Foxx was really good, maybe even slightly better than Channing.

The film is about a dad who is going for a job interview with the secret service and decides to take his daughter on a tour of the White House hoping that it will in some way help to fix their damaged relationship. Yes, I know not a great storyline, but I assure you the cast and funny one-liners do make up for it, and I have to admit that I do find the lack of depth to that kind of story very irritating too. Like what better ways are there to fix a broken relationship other then

go through a hostage situation...none obviously according to the Americans.

But anyway, rant aside. Like I said the movie starts with Channing’s character John Cale, taking his daughter to the White House for a tour, while he goes and fails miserably at his Secret Service interview. But while this is all going on, strange men have started infiltrating the White House with the intention of gaining access to the president so they can get their hands on his launch codes for the United States’ nuclear missiles. It seems that all of this is stemming from a controversial peace treaty which is at the time being proposed by the US President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) to withdraw all allied forces from the Middle East.

The Catalyst which starts everything of is when one of the mysterious men detonates a bomb in the United States Capitol Building causing a very impressive explosion where the dome of the building collapses. And It has to be said that the special effects in this movie were really good, which in my experience is usually quite hard to do in a daylight setting as is shows up all the imperfections, but I am happy to say that I did not see any.

From that point on it’s an adrenaline-fuelled rollercoaster. It starts off a little slow I suppose when to begin with they just hide from the bad guys, but it ends up getting to a point when they are driving across the White House lawn in an armoured limo firing rockets at pursuing cars, and when I say THEY I mean John and the President James Sawyer! Yes the president of the United States is driving

across his own lawn and firing rocket launchers at people...hell yeah! Think the Americans are starting to realise they can actually make the president funny too, he doesn’t just have to talk about taxes and foreign affairs all the time.

But anyway, the plot is really about John saving his daughter as they get separated when the terrorists first hit, and seeing as the place is full of incompetent Secret Services agents, then it’s up to him and the president to save his daughter and the world before the terrorists can get hold of the president’s launch codes and start world war 3.

As I have mentioned the story is a weak point, it is very predictable and doesn’t really throw up any surprises, but where this film excelled was the special effects and the chemistry the characters had, and I found myself laughing on more than one occasion at some of the lines.

And what the driving round on the lawn showed

to me was that even the Americans are starting to learn that it’s ok to take the piss out of yourself sometimes. You don’t always have to portray that that the president is always serious because he has his bigboy pants on. Or that people will get offended when you blow up a national monument. Films should be entertaining as well as realistic, that is a winning combination, something I think the likes of Air Force One and films like it have been lacking for some time.

My Rating: 7.5/10 (Not Perfect, but a step in the right direction!)

My Favourite Patriotic Film: 1. Independence Day 2. White House Down 3. (Honestly can’t think of anymore I liked)

I’m not going to go over too much of the back story as that was the point of my previous review, which by the way, if you would like to read it please go to www.tazercg.com and look on the “Movie Reviews” Page. We left the gang on their way back to the prison with the Woodbury suvivors and the Governor is no where to be found.

AMC’s The Walking Season 4 “So Far”

Dead:

Episodes 1-7 Well it’s nearly that time again...the Christmas gap in the walking dead season, in truth I was hoping to get this review done after the midseason finale, but due to the release date of the Gazette, I have had to do it one episode before the finale.

For those of you who read my Walking Dead Seasons 1-3 Rundown and Review, you will be fully aware that I am completely in love with the Walking Dead TV show, and for those of you who didn’t...well why the hell not!? I command you stop reading and go and read every word of that review and like it...go on LIKE IT... <cough>...sorry about that not sure what came over me... <cough>.

The Walking Dead is a series about faries and flowers and pretty things...if anyone of you read that without smelling a rat, now is the time to engage your brain. The Walking Dead is a series about dead people...who walk...and stuff. The show has followed roughly the same few suvivors since the show began, and put pure and simple it’s the story of how they cope and survive when the rest of the world has turned to shit.

In Season 4, we catch up with the survivors a few months later, when the new members to the group have had a chance to intergrate properly with the others.

Things appear to be good at first glance; the prison’s defense’s have been beefed up with a brand new heavy duty steel gate which guard the main entrance, Rick and Carl have be catching up on some ‘Father/Son’ activities and built themselves an allotment and pig farm, and Carol has started secretly teaching the children of the group how to maime and kill using knives. So all in all they are all pretty happy.

But when one of the group’s members is struck down ill and then dies suddenly during the night without anyone’s knowledge, he reanimates as a walking corpse and brings reality back crashing down around them. Several new members to the group are killed, but conviently none of the main cast are injured.

Very quickly, while clearing up the mess, it become apparent that some of the other members of the group are also becoming ill, and Hershel announces that flu’s from ‘Ye Olden Days’ (well he doesn’t say it quite like that) can be caught from pigs or birds and thrive in close

quarters, such as the prison. It’s quickly decided that any of the people involved in the attack or clearing it up could be infected and are segregated from the rest of the group to prevent any further infection.

Tyreese, one of the new members to the group from season 3 and has been courting Karen, another new member, goes to visit her on segregation, but instead finds her cell empty, and a trail of blood leading to an external door.

Upon opening the door he discovers the smoldering corpses of Karen and David another ill suvivor.

Some of the group go on a run to look for medical supplies to try and treat the ill, but enroute they hear a mysterious voice on the car radio, and then soon after is forced to abandon their car when they run into the very edge of a many thousands strong walker herd.

Meanwhile back at camp, Rick has to step in to save Carol from a group of walkers who surround her while she is trying to fix a water pipe outside the prison fences. Afterwards Rick comment on how what she did was extreamly reckless and stupid, and comments on how he has noticed recently how she will go to almost any lengths to keep the group safe. He the flatout asks he if she killed Karen and David, to which she simply replies “Yes” and walks off.

In the next episode Rick and Carol go on a run to a nearby neighbourhood tasked with raiding the house’s medicine cabinets for anything of use.

They run into a young couple called Sam and Ana who have been hiding out in one of the

houses, who ask if they can join the group. Both Carol and Rick are cautious of the couple but agree if they help them search the neighbourhood they can come back to the prison with them. They split up and agree to with the couple back in the house they met, but when Rick and Carol return they are no where to be seen. They later find the severed leg of Ana and see her remains be devoured by a group of walkers, but Sam is no where to be seen.

Rick and Carol then go to head back to the prison, but Rick explains to her that she is not welcome back. Unsure if he can trust her and fearing for her safety when the group find out the truth, he says she will be safer on her own.

He leaves her with supplies and helps her find a suitable car before leaving and returning to the prison.

The next episode was actually quite a good one and in case, I’ve lost you in all the rambling I’m up to about episode 5.

With the huge build up of ill people in segregation, Hershel has his had full trying to save them all, even going as far as inserting a cathiter in just to give them a couple more hours of life, desperatly hoping that Daryl’s group who went scavenging for medical supplies and then ran into the super-horde, come back in time to save them. But pretty quickly it becomes apparent that things are out of Hershel’s control, and it’s only a matter of time before one of them turns into a walker.

And this is exactly what happens, forcing Hershel to shoot some of the group who have turned into walkers. The shots attract the attention of Hershel’s daughter Maggie whohad been keeping guard in the watch tower, but abandons he post to rush to her father aid.

Unfortunetly, she is not the only one who hears the shots, and more and more walkers are attracted to the prison’s fence, eventually building up enough that the fence gives way under the weight and they breach the defences.

Rick and Carl, armed with assault rifles manage to take out the majority of the walker, and are shortly joined by Daryl’s group who are returning from their skirmish and help them out with the last few...which if I am totally honest would really piss me off if I was Rick. Yeah don’t worry Daryl, we only took out like a hundred walkers by ourselves before you guys swooped in and helped us with the last 2 and a half in an attempt to steal our glory!

The next two episodes, if I am totally honest, I did not like. They are the story of what has been happening with the Governor since Woodbury, and although I like the Governor, he is an epic bad guy, two whole episodes of just following him around and not seeing anything to do with the prison was actually kind of boring. He’s a great character but I fell in love with The Walking Dead because I liked seeing what happened to the group, and to have an hour and a half to two hours of just the Governor, I was screaming out for a bit of variety!

We see that quickly he is abandoned by the two remaining men he had left from the Season 3 raid on the prison. He then wanders the world looking for some sense of purpose and presumably an undead barber shop, because his new wilderness-man bushy beard really doesn’t suit.

Instead he finds a small group, a family who have been sheltering in their home since the world ended and he immediately forms a connection with the young daughter Meghan, as he continues to struggle with the loss of his own daughter from Season 3. While he is there, he soon realises that the family’s oldest family member David, Meghan’s grandfather, is on his last legs and will soon become a threat to the unaware family, and when it finally happens he unforgivingly bludgens the poor bloke to death with an oxygen tank in front of the entire family.

They are shocked and upset, but after he explains what would have happened they grudgingly forgive him, all except Meghan, who just misses her Grandfather.

The family decide to leave and try to start afresh somewhere new, they quickly run into trouble when their truck breaks down and they have to walk on foot, whch just lands them in even more trouble when they virtually walk into a huge crowd of walkers. As they flee, the walkers the Governor scoops up Meghan and runs as fast as he can away from the pursuing horde. In his haste, he fails to notice a huge hole in the ground, and he and Meghan tumble straight into it and join it’s current occupants...yeah you guesed it...more walkers!

Desperate and fearing for Meghan’s safety the Governor takes them on in hand to hand combat, and quickly dispatches them. Now turning to the problem of getting out of the hole, he turns to look up and see’s one of his men called Martinez, one of the two who abandoned him after the Woodbury Massacre.

Episode 7 is a little more interesting, and starts off with Martinez helping Meghan and the Governor (Brian, as he is better known to his new companions) out of the hole, to see that they are completely surrounded by people,

Martinez’s new group. Martinez agrees to let Brian and the others join the group as long as Brian follows HIS orders, and they go back to the nearby camp.

Although the Governor...sorry...Brian does not say much, he is obviously constantly thinking about how to get the best out of every situation, and in this case he wants leadership of the group, which seems to stem from some insanely-driven urge to keep Meghan safe, and unconvinced that Martinez is up to the job, he batters him with a golf club, when evryone is off getting cake or something, and then feeds him to a group of walkers.

Of course the group finds his body, but they just put it down to a drunken accident!? A temporary leader is then appointed, not the Governor you’ll be surprised to hear, so what does the ever so caring Brian do? Well simple, he stabs him to death and then weights his feet and drops him in a nearby river so he can occasionally look down and laugh at the wriggling reanimated corpse...this guy really has issues!

Episode 7 ends with the Governor driving into the woods and sneaking around. He peeks through the bushes and we catch glimpses of the prison on the other side.

Wow, that actually took a lot more explaining then I was expecting. While I do love the Walking Dead I have to be totally honest and say that so far this season has failed to ignite a fire in my soul, and has left me a little disapointed. It does have some good potential plot lines for the second half of the season including the huge super-horde, the mysterious voice on the radio and what will happen with the Governor and the prison again. But I think the introduction of new characters to the story

is happening far too fast, and it just confused things even more when at the beginning of the season we had all these new people from Woodbury to get used to, then they all died and then there was this Woodbury Mark II lot that we now have to get to know, and I have to admit the story sounds a little repeated.

The Governor and a group of completely gullible idiots seige the prison, with virtually the same people as last season in it. I do like the idea of a pathagen being passed around through the air, as it gives the reason these bodies are coming to lifes a more realistic spin. Its a well known fact that viruses in some cases can mutate, and I think it is very brave of the Walking Dead to start on this very complex path, lets just hope that the decision to break away from the more traditional zombie traits doesn’t come back to haunt them.

I would also like to make one suggestion though, your making the same mistake as season 2! Very repetative scenery! I am bored of seeing trees, trees and more trees, a bit of variation please.

Otherwise, the season is shaping up ok, if a little safe in terms of the plot, but I will keep you updated with future developments.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, don’t forget like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more reviews and other cool stuff!

-Nathan Scullard

Acer Aspire One 533 Netbook Review - By Nathan Scullard

into the computer, but I won’t whinge too much as there is always going to be somewhere that it collects it’s mostly unavoidable.

Just a little heads up for you guys who are expecting a well structured, highly detailed and informative product review...this will not be one. When I right product reviews which is not often to be honest I write from the point of view of a clueless consumer, mainly because I am one. I’m not very technically-minded nor do I know all the statistics for every bit of hardware ever made. So for all of the 3 and a half people left, I will explain why. The way I write product reviews is from YOUR point of view. Most people, not all people, but most people who buy stuff because it looks nice and it fits their needs. This for example is a very nice looking Netbook, and fits most of my needs so it has done its job...sort of.

Now let’s talk about how well equipped the 533 is. On the left side you can see the plug in for the power adapter; a VGA socket and two USB 2.0 sockets. On the right is; a network plug in a little square thingy-maggigy (told you it wasn’t going to be technical), another USB 2.0, two headphone/microphone sockets and an SD Card Reader, which by the way, on my particular machine, does not actually like reading SD cards! Something I discovered when I first went to plug my digital camera SD Card in. It told me it was reading the media and then nothing happened. I have tried it a few more time since and it has not even recognised that there is an SD card inserted???

Let me start at the beginning, so we will start with looks, and as I have already mentioned it is a nice looking Netbook in terms of styling. I love the black, grey and silver theme and I like the lack of a traditional touchpad, which has been replaced by a load of dots that you run you finger over. It looks better, and is flusher to the surface of the Netbook. The only bit it does fall on is the usage. While using the touchpad it works well when you trace you finger across it but it does tend to not work so well when you go to click something with it instead of using the button. I have found myself several times sitting and waiting believing that I’d click what I needed to only to find that I hadn’t.

The keyboard is a basic keyboard, but I did like the fact that underneath the keys is a sort of black tray or surface that hides the workings, but also provides a much more useful function...it prevents the build up of crap underneath the keys, something that used to annoy me sooooooooooo much when I had my old Samsung N150 Netbook. I also liked that the keys were all perfectly flat rather than having silly little curves for your fingers to fit in, like they ever made a difference in the first place.

The rest of the outer casing is styled very nicely and my only real concern is that you do tend to get dirt and fluff build up just above the keyboard where the battery clips

I think for a Netbook, 3 USB’s and all the usual stuff like headphone sockets etc. is quite good, even with the faulty SD card slot as I had not actually expected it to have an inbuilt one anyway, so how does that saying go, “Nothing lost, Nothing gained.”

Right, now the tricky stuff, the specs...well it has some and they are: An Intel Atom Processor N455 (1.66GHz, 512KB cache), 1GB DDR3 Memory, a 6-call Li-ion battery and 250GB of HDD capacity, and I know all this because...I read it on the sticker which is stuck next to the touchpad. It also has a 10.1” LED LCD Screen, SignalUp, WiFi Certification and something called Multi-Gesture, which I later found out was a similar system to when you use your phone and do that weird pinch thing on the screen to zoom in and out. Which I thought was pretty cool...but do you know ham many times I have used this feature in the 3-4 months I have owned this Netbook...none! Not once! So what a royal waste of time it was putting that on it!

The Netbook comes loaded with Windows 7 starter, which is a bit like making sure all the netbooks that leave the factory where there are built are sent out with a cracked screen, missing keys or some other kind of defect, as I honestly believe that windows products are slowly getting worse, but with not much else out there that allows you to play all the games you buy and use all the programs many of us grew up using so you kind of stuck with it. It’s like having a really embarrassing dad who

keeps getting drunk and tries to sleep with your wife, you want to get rid of him, but what can you do he’s your dad.

This also brings us to another major flaw with the Netbook, which has always annoyed me. The RAM is not enough at all! 1GB barely runs the desktop, heaven forbid you should ever actually want to use the machine for anything other than a pretty picture. Netbooks are supposed to be for surfing the net, hence the name, but it always seems to be their downfall. They’re like a bird that’s afraid to fly or a fish that’s afraid to swim. Manufacturers sell them knowing that 90% of people who buy them who aren’t teenagers who have been bought them by their parents, will use them for a bit and then either buy a 2GB RAM chip, which by the way is the maximum this Netbook will go to, or sell it on because it is completely useless! Why not just load them with a 2GB chip in the first place save people the hassle? Probably because all the manufacturers are all money-grabbing assholes! But wait there is more...this particular Netbook is virtually inaccessible, if you do decide to change out the RAM chip then good luck to you. As I have mentioned I used to have a Samsung N150 netbook, which also needed the RAM chip upgrade so I changed it, nice and easy. There is a little square of plastic under which is the RAM chip, just undo two screws and pop it off...EASY! But the Acer...whoever the hell thought up the design should retire and give someone else who actually has a brain a chance. When you turn the Netbook over there is a very obvious cut out which looks like you could quite easily pop it out with no screwdriver needed, but no there are screws that need undoing, but they are underneath the keyboard! Yes that’s right, you have to take the entire keyboard off which is not easy to undo a couple of screws to take the back off, but wait there is still more! Once you’ve done all that you then replace the chip, put everything back together and then turn it on, and what happens? Absolutely nothing!!!

Apparently although you can buy lots of different types of RAM chips for this Netbook which are supposed to work on it, only ONE of them actually does, so if you plan on upgrading it, either don’t or find out from Acer what exact chips work with the Acer Aspire One 533.

There isn’t really much else to say about it really, the performance is terrible because of the RAM chip, which kind of ruins everything else as it’s all so slow. It looks

great, but is that really enough as I like most people buy these because I want to use them to surf the web or write stuff or watch movies, which by the way this is supposed to run 720p movies, but don’t be fooled yes it will run them, but the jumping and unstable picture will make them unwatchable. I’d recommend stick to 480p as an absolute maximum.

My conclusion: I would not recommend this Netbook, there are other models out there that do so much more and they do it better. The Samsung N150 for an example is a great Netbook it does need the 2GB upgrade but once you’ve got that it is at least useable.

-

Nathan Scullard

usually have a good five seconds before they detonate. Not only will this save you lots of ammunitions it will also help you do damage to several enemies at the same time.

Remember, that’s not all you can do that with, there are other things you can pick up and throw/hurl at your opponent and it will do damage. Not to mention it’s kind of fun.

Deadspace 3 – Game Tips:

By Kim Gustafsson I took it upon myself to come up with some Deadspace 3 game tips. I really liked the third one even if I think the first one was the best in the series. It was far more jumpy and frightening than the other two, I think partially because it was more unexpected. But that aside I did not want to give you the walkthrough on how to kill bosses or how to find the stuff for a specific gun, I'm sure that you can find that some other place if you wanted to, but I think knowing all that from the start kind of takes away from the whole exploring thing. Nor will I tell you how to kill the boss events either or clear a certain stage in the game, that’s all for you to figure out. But what I will give you are 5 pointers to help you along the way. They are short and kind of self explanatory, but I will tell you about what I thought about them and why I think they are good tips even if they are quite simple.

1. The first one is something I myself did not take seriously in the first couple of hours of gaming. Cause it did not really matter that much in the beginning. But then when it came down to it I did not understand fully how it worked.

I'm talking about the Work Bench. Here you can customize your weapons and invent new ones as well, it’s a big deal.

So go through the tutorial, for some people it will be obvious what one can do, but to me it was not, and I had problems getting the desired effect on my weapons. And being a man I was not much for tutorials or instruction manuals in general, one of my many flaws I admit. But it caused me a lot of frustration in the early game. Not getting the power nodes or gun frames right caused the guns to be less effective. Some of you are by this point frowning at me but that’s the way it was, but I learned and after some tinkering, and finding some more materials, I eventually got the hang of it and got my guns working. Not only did it help my gameplay, it also helped with my temper a lot too!

2. Humans are now a common enemy in Deadspace and it gives you a unique way of killing them. Many of them will throw grenades at you, learn to throw them back, just keep in mind to release them before they explode. And you

3. Remember that you have a stasis pack. It’s really good.

You will at times be asked to use it to go across something dangerous or fast moving. But you can also use it to slow down enemies. Enemies are really fast moving and they do a ton of damage to you so do what you can to keep them at arm’s length (unless you’re doing tip number 4 that is…read on). But don’t forget to stasis one enemy and shoot at the other one. There are many places where they will swarm you, and there is no point in shooting a slowed enemy, aim for the ones running for you and put some distance between yourself and the one you just put into stasis.

4. As I said, your enemies will do a ton of damage to you if you let them get too close. But so do you. If you need to you can stasis an enemy and then beat the crap out of it!

It’s a good way of killing single enemies if you’re short on bullets and have more stasis power then you need. Just remember that if it’s not dead by the time the stasis wears off, you need to be somewhere else with your finger firmly on the trigger.

5. The game is highly flexible when it comes to your styles of play. Not only the guns but also your suit can be altered.

So try to find a play style you like and can work with. It’s not necessary for you to use an SMG (or the equivalent weapon) if you are more of a “blow everything into tiny ity-bity pieces” type of player like me.

There are guns for you as well, not to mention other fun stuff.

All you need to do is to find the recourses to build them.

Last but not least I will tell you this. STOMP! Don't forget that, always stomp EVERYTHING. You find a lot of stuff just by stomping. And most of those enemies will give you some sort of loot if you stomp em. It’s the thing you have to remember. Stomp Stomp Stomp. It’s not dead until you have stomped it at least once.

So as I said, it’s not a walk through, and I leave a lot of the game to you, the player. But I hope that those few tips will make your gaming a bit easier. Oh and by the way, keep

calm!

Star Wars : The old Republic Galactic Star Fighter 3rd December.

The Wolf Among us: Episode 3, A Crocked Mile. December 2013.

Soul Saga: Episode 1.

31 December 2013.

Hunters Trophy 2: America.

2013.

The TaZeR Xmas Bundle Giveaway!

Assassins Creed Liberation HD: January 15 2014.

- The Sims 3 (Origin Key) -The Sims 3: High End Loft Stuff (Origin Key)

Spellfocre 2: Daemons of the past.

January 16 2014.

Wolf Among Us: Episode 4, In sheep's clothing. January 2014.

Broken Age: January 2014.

-The Sims 3: Late Night & Date Night (Origin Keys) -Europa Universilis 3 (Steam Key) -Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Origin Key) -Populous (Origin Key) -Dead Space (Steam Key) -Burnout Paradise (Steam Key) ALL TO ONE LUCKY WINNER!

Moebius: January 14 2014.

CALL IT A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM FATHER-TAZER! To enter please go to

Life Goes On: January 2014.

www.tazercg.com/contests-and-giveaways and follow the on-screen instructions.

(Closing Date: 23rd December 2013 - 23:59pm)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Now sod off the lot of ya and get steaming drunk!

Cheers!