Bioshock II CE

This is my first post here on the man corps blog site. I am vbearsays (or as this site has me, my online alias pcq stevenson). I've never used this blogsite before, and have a somewhat established blog at vbearsays.tumblr.com I'll most likely be rebloging my stuff from there onto here as if it fits.




So I beat Bioshock II, and it only took me the weekend. I couldn't have played it for more than 16 hours (if that), and I didn't come close to dying once. I'm not trying to sound cocky or anything, but come on.

**Caution: May contain subtle spoilers. Not intended**

As far as plot goes, it sort of seemed like they were trying to justify a second by all the audiotapes you find in the beginning, so the sequel made sense. After that however, the plot was pretty bad ass. I kind of hoped that when you met your buddy Sinclair, that you'd actually be able to do stuff with him, and he wouldn't just be chilling out of frame talking to you every once in a while, but at least they didn't make him like Frank Fontaine from the first. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending however. Nonetheless, I'll have to replay the first (most likely on difficult, when I'm bored) in order to be 100% on how the plot flowed from the first to the second.

Gameplay was definitely par from the first. Like I said in the beginning, I didn't come close to dying once on Medium difficulty, and although the epic battle/boss fights were a bit difficult, they weren't as nearly challenging for me as the first. Definitely should've started on Hard so the game would've lasted longer than the weekend consisting of two-three solid 3+ hour sittings. What made the gameplay par was the updated plasmids are pretty fucking sweet, although I didn't use them all; and the sheer amount of tonics that you can not only buy but can use (I believe you can use like 20 or 30 at once).

I haven't tried the online expirience yet, and I'm a bit curious on how that whole thing is. To be honest I was thrown off when I heard that it was going to have an online multiplayer aspect as well.

Anyways, for the Collecter's/Special Edition. The box itself is pretty fucking sweet; feels and smells sexy. The score for the first on vinyl is amazing (i'm a sucker for vinyl, it's my preferred medium of music/comedy. fuck itunes), and the composer's little story on the back is pretty neat. The posters I'm definitely going to hang up and frame, those posters and the vinyl is the main reason i paid the extra $40 for the CE. I was shocked for how much effort they put into the art book; I'm not one to go to museums and look at art pieces for more than 5 minutes, but some of the art in there is pretty nice. 168 pages of bioshock art will satisfy me anytime, even if i look at it only once or twice.

Other than that if you enjoyed the Original Bioshock, I would recommend buying the sequel. If not now, in a month or two or whenever you can get it for $50. I personally don't regret buying the CE at all, but I could see how some people would, especially when i beat it in two days.

Stand-up Comedy: Aziz Ansari

Aziz Ansari's Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening is one of the more hilarious Comedy Central specials in the past few months. While I loved Nick Swardson's Who Farted? a lot, Ansari manages to top it in both hilarity, stage presence, and original content. Every joke he makes is instantly relatable, whether he jokes about abusing his cousin over facebook or any other number of incredibly funny instances in his routine.

Here's a taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd90oqIvtXs

The first, and second, time I watched the special I found myself laughing my ass off. Normally when I'm watching stand-up by myself... the most I do is smirk or let out a brief chuckle. With Aziz, I laughed my balls off multiple times. In addition to Aziz's normal routine he adds a solid 5-10 minutes of RAAAAAAAANDY (from Funny People, which everyone loves. Overall, I highly recommend Aziz Ansari in any capacity, he's a funny fuckin' dude.

Web Site/Ice Cream Review

Double post for my first set of reviews. The first review will be on a website that loot linked me to a while back. I figured this is the most interesting/useful link I've been given all week so it is worthy for review.

Website: http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

This website is awesome. It's designed in a way to help your "noooooooooooo" become epic. Now this is boring if you just play it during late hours at home. So, I decided to test run it several times to see how it'll make people react. My first test point was in anthropology class. My teacher is pretty chill chick, but gives out an assload of homework. So I decided to bring in my laptop on Wednesday to "take notes" aka browse LUElinks and talk to the Corps via AIM. It was a good 10 minutes before class was over and she assigned ~5 pages of homework to do for Monday. I was furious, and then remembered I bookmark'd the Vadar nooo page. I rushed and opened up the page and slammed on my left click to receive a load blast of NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Needless to say she was shocked and asked where that came from. Half the class was silent and the other half was just looking at my general direction (I sit in the back near the door). I think they thought it came from outside because CLC has fucking weird people like that, but I got away with it.

8/10 on the funnies IMO



FUCK YEAH ICE CREAM REVIEW: Chunky Monkey

This ice cream is amazing. I really don't like Ben & Jerry's but this is an exception. The combination with Banana Ice Cream, chocolate bars and walnuts is glorious. Every bite is a bit of a foodgasm. My mom usually has to buy two of these for me because I can't stop eating once I've taken my first bite. This is definitely chubbs worthy and will satisfy any man's ice cream craving.

10/10

DLC Review: Mass Effect 2: Zaeed Masani

As part of the Mass Effect 2 launch day free DLC, I rather enjoyed everything thing that came with Zaeed's package. Zaeed Masani is essentially the Boba Fett of the Mass Effect universe; the top mercenary on the market and willing to do anything to get the job necessary. Think of him as a renegade Shepard, but about thirty years older. Zaeed's recruitment entails receiving a message from the Illusive Man to visit the Omega, as he's arranged for Zaeed and Shepard to meet. After a quick conversation and a first glimpse into Zaeed's ruthlessness, he joins your crew.

Starting off with the Concussion Blast and Incendiary Ammo, as well as skill in both the Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle, Zaeed is pretty handy in a firefight if you need a badass gladiator-type guy to tear it up. I prefer him over Grunt both as a character and a party member, as Grunt seemed a little too shallow for me as a personality. Zaeed's deep history with the Blue Suns plays into some major plot points of Mass Effect 2, and I highly recommend trying him out on missions involved with the mercenary group.

Zaeed's loyalty mission, to my astonishment, was actually one of the most enjoyable to play from a combat situation as well as one of the more morally ambiguous decisions the player has to make within the game. The premise of the mission revolves around Zaeed having his revenge on the Blue Suns leader, Vido Santiago. After fighting through some Blue Sun mercs into their base, Shepard and his team face a tough decision. Without spoiling too much, Shepard is faced with either aiding Zaeed's revenge on Vido or in saving many lives. There is no gray area in this decision. However, as with any loyalty mission, a high paragon percentage is able to save the day.

During the mission Shepard acquires a flamethrower, one of the more useful of the heavy weapons in the game. I used it for a majority of my standard campaign with no regrets, so it's a nice little addition to your inventory.

BREAKDOWN:

Cost: A -- It's free! Why wouldn't you get it?

Longevity: A -- I've played the mission each time I've done a Mass Effect 2 campaign, and I don't plan on stopping. Zaeed is an interesting party member and his story is well-worth exploring.

Gameplay: B -- The mission feels shorter compared to other loyalty missions, but it's fun nonetheless.

Overall: A- -- There's no reason why every owner of ME2 should not try this out at least once. Simple.

About this Blog

This blog was created by group of friends from suburban Illinois, who eloquently title ourselves the Man Corps. The blog is dedicated to our favorite things in life and our thoughts on them, most notably sci-fi, women, video games, beer, food, movies and other little tid-bits that fill up our day. While every member very rarely share the same opinions as the rest of the other members, it is this diversity which makes us awesome.

Feel free to comment and let us know what you think.