Gears of war 3 is one of those games that is a personal favourite of ours. This is one of those games that we still play to this day. Gears of war 3 was released in September 2011. That is many years ago when you think about it but what’s still on fire today is the multiplayer. Many are still on and hooked to the feel of gears of war 3. If you started up your game now and checked out king of the hill, you will find multiple matches with serious gamers going on. X7 Earthenvessel, N63 Prodigy and X35 Earthwalker himself have been going back to king of the hill to destroy some gamers and have fun. If you aren’t prepared for what these matches hold then you won’t be able to destroy anyone or have fun.

Now it isn’t a huge amount of players but large enough that multiple matches are always going on but small enough so that you can recognise the gamer tags of players in the matches. X35 Earthwalker has frequently now seen many gamers who he has fought before. Also these gamers remember him as well. This poses a problem but in a good way. This causes intense matches where you must constantly watch your back because there is now intense rivalry with many players and big dislike for some others. So if you keep destroying certain people, well then they want nothing more than to down you and then execute you with style. Meaning that they throughout the entire match are looking for you and opportunities to kill you, whether from behind or in a duel. That’s right tea bagging and shooting dead bodies to rub salt in the wounds is here in abundance. 

This makes every match intense to the point where you are constantly watching out for that one of two players who are sneaking around and looking out for you. There are some gamer tags that when we the game announce in text that they have joined the match we say, “Oh I remember you. Looks like it;s going to be a rematch!” It doesn’t help that most of the players are good by now and will give you nasty shotgun battles and heavy cross fire from all directions. There has been many rage quits, camping and saltiness. All in the name of gears of war 3. Don’t get us wrong, these matches are a blast. We have had times when we would burst out laughing at what goes on in the matches and we have had our salty moments but who hasn’t. It’s actually great to see those familiar names again in matches. I remember a match from two nights ago where X7 Earthenvessel got a triple kill with the gnasher shotgun. N63 Prodigy was tea bagging everyone and X35 Earthwalker got 71 kills. It was awesome. 

Just a few tips to help some gamers out. Make sure to be skilled in all the starting weapons: lancer, hammerburst, retro lancer, gnasher and sawed off. This is because situation always changes and therefore a different strategy requires different weapons at times. Don’t be like those players who only use the gnasher and expect everyone else to as well, so when someone comes around the corner with a sawed off and kills them, they start complaining and send hate mail. Instead of being salty, just adapt. If you know someone is using sawed off all the time them stop going around corners tightly. Instead go around as far as you can so they can’t get the drop on you and splatter you. Then lancer them down and rub it in with a well deserved execution. If all someone does is stay back and use rifles then lay a trap for them and wait for a appropriate power weapon that can be used to deal with them. Think about the lay out of the map as some maps are small and close range, so shotguns will rule the place. You have to adapt to what’s going on. Also always get the power weapons. If you control them, you almost always control the map. Lastly don’t be afraid to die because you will, a lot. 

It’s all good fun at the end of the day, (however some take it too seriously) so start up your game, jump into a match, blow someone up with some frag grenades and ignore all the hate mails. X35 Earthwalker has gotten a lot of those. Seriously the matches are better than ever before and you will always a get a chance to settle the score with certain gamers. Gears of war 3 has still got it.

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Gears of war 4 horde 3.0 is known now for being incredibly hard to complete. Getting from wave 1 to 50 is proving to be a problem. Some have had problems with casual. Many are struggling with normal. Pretty much everyone is finding hardcore too hard. Insane is just plain insane (Forget about it). X35 Earthwalker has done hardcore difficulty and said that it was really hard and was glad he had awesome team mates. We decided to give some advice on how to tackle hardcore and insane difficulty.

First things first you yourself has to be ready. Please don’t join a team knowing that you are far too weak or haven’t got the skills yet. It will sabotage the team and ruin the whole thing for everyone. How do you know if you are ready? Well how frequently do you die in easier difficulties? Do you know when to stay back? Do you stay in cover. Do you fulfill the role of your class? In hardcore and insane you can’t be messing around as enemies will become so strong that they will punish all your mistakes and destroy your team. Do you need your own team? X35 Earthwalker said that he did hardcore with random online players and no mics. It just comes down to having a good team. Normally at hardcore the players are serious and actually want to complete it so trolling is less likely. So just search for a map and get into the action.

Next. What about your class skills? Your class must have at least 3 skill card slots but preferably four (The more the better). At least one of your skill cards should be level 5 and all the others should be level 4 (except epic skills). Now it does come down to what classes are in your team. Going all soldier will work very well for most of the game until you suffer from a lack of energy so variety is the secret here. The best combination of classes are: 2 soldiers, 1 engineer, 1 scout and 1 heavy. The reasons for this is because firstly soldiers are overall the most useful and versatile class. hey have good defence, dish out high damage constantly and can end the enemy push with one move. Off course over variations work well too like have 1 soldier and 2 heavies instead, which by the way is very strong but ammo may become a problem. At the end of the day do the combination that works best for you. Never have two snipers or two engineers as that is never a good thing. You never need two of them but you must always have an engineer and a scout. When a high level scout and engineer work together, they end up being the reason why you beat hardcore and insane in the end.

The one class that isn’t necessary is sniper. Snipers kill enemies at a much slower rate than other classes, they don’t do the most damage, they have no extra abilities and their epic skill is the weakest of the 3 strike skills. The soldier needs maxed out rifle damage (50%), at least level 4 grenade damage, ammo capacity and must always have the hammer of dawn skill. The hammer is the secret weapon that will save you and the whole team. The soldier must plant grenades to seal of areas from attacks and kill everything small and big. Heavies should have at least a level 4 explosive ammo capacity and damage. Mark damage is a good and can add that extra damage needed to kill bosses quick. Heavy weapons damage is up to you. The heavy must simply blow up everything that walks. Normally they ought to save some explosives for bigger enemies and destroy the bosses. Scouts must have maxed energy deposit, no questions asked. Other skills like maxed out movement speed and maxed out starting health truly comes in handy as time and low health can be an issue but when you combine those two you can be the main person to revive downed team mates. 50% energy deposit + the scouts natural ability to collect double energy is the best way to get energy. Engineers must have the repair tool efficiency skill maxed out and have at least a level 4 fortification health boost (which is a general skill). Those two are a must. Equipping the turret health boost and cost reduction will save you lots of energy as turrets are the most expensive things and always get targeted to be destroyed.

In the first ten waves you can take it easy and stay in cover. Only let the scout collect the energy. Only let the engineer to all the building. Try your best to safely complete all the objectives that appear in the waves as you need the energy they give. Do not buy weapons from the fabricator as you can scavenge many great weapons from dead enemies, everything from drop shots to grenades; however the only exception to this rule is if a soldier wants a retro lancer which doesn’t cost much. Think about how much damage a soldier could do with the rifle damage boost plus the power of a retro lancer. It becomes like a mulcher, seriously. If low on ammo for the whole team then open up an bonus creates you got from completing objective during waves as some instantly grants big ammo to all team mates. Make sure you have a line of turrets for the bosses as they are the only things that can kill the bosses before they reach you. Once bosses like the carrier and especially the snatcher enter your base, it’s almost all over. A heavy who has the increased turret damage skill can easily be the highest damaging thing in the game and will defeat any boss.  Level 4 turrets are a must have. X35 Earthwalker once had two other team mates and himself focus their level 4 turrets at a kestrel and that boss went down really fast… both kestrels. 

Never forget this one thing. Hardcore and insane are completely different from normal and casual. The enemies take less damage and give out much more. In casual you could run in the middle of them and beat them all with your shotgun but it is not so in hardcore. When playing the harder difficulties and reaching waves 30 and above you start to understand how important cover truly is. If not in cover even a ‘Deebee’ robot is easily capable of downing you very fast. At waves 40 and above the enemies will punish you for being in the open for a couple of seconds. Sentinels with tri shots will down you in less than a second if they catch you in the open. Juvies are have said that they are the worst enemies in insane as they are capable of ruining your entire day. They can sneak up on your team and in two swings can down you and then head for your team mates. Never forget to mark certain enemies who could pose a threat like Scion boomers and Pouncers. Enemies like that deserve attention, so let your team know and deal with them safely.

The carrier and snatcher boss will follow you relentlessly, if you don’t have the line of turrets and powerful weapons then you have to do the ‘leading strategy’, invented by X35 Earthwalker himself. First of all, the chances of this strategy succeeding once dealing with the higher level waves is lower than normal. By wave 40 you should have a fortified base with powerful turrets by then. Basically your whole team moves together as a team and leave the base. moving around the border of the map while killing everything in your path. You must be together as that’s the only way to save each other easily and beat strong enemies fast. This way the boss won’t destroy your base but instead keep trying to get you, saving you energy. It’s best that you have your heavies in the front so that they can blow stuff up without obstruction. Have the engineer and scout as a distraction and let your soldiers kill everything and plant grenades behind your team to stop any enemies from making a sandwich out of you guys. 

What is probably one of the most important factors is location. Where you place your fabricator and build your base are immensely important. If you build in the wrong place, you will find that you get attacked from too many angles. if this happens then you won’t get far at all. Next is the location of your team mates. Your engineer has no business being at the front lines. The engineer must stay behind the others but top priority is the base and repairs. The soldier must be at the front line. The scout must be assisting everyone and be the first to help with revives. the speed increase skill is very useful and versatile. The heavy must be second to the soldier. Deciding who gets the ammo boxes is important. Heavies run out of explosive ammo fast and so should be a higher priority for ammo. Make sure that everyone gets ammo. special loot you get for completing challenges should be saved up until later waves and only opened when fighting bosses. if you need ammo then just scavenge from the dead enemies. Always stay nearby and never separate from the group do whatever you want after the wave is done. If your team is getting overrun and all hope is lost then have your soldier use the hammer of dawn ability to destroy absolutely everything because it will.

The last to remember when taking on the hordes is to gain experience. Get playing and give it a go. Don’t be afraid to fail at a wave. Try your best and have fun.

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World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap is a tower-defense action RPG game that deserves to be played. This game was developed by ‘Neocoregames’. If you like RPG games and quite a strategic gamer then this game is for you. This game is just like dungeon defenders but less cartoony and more monsters and ghouls and stuff. X35 Earthwalker has recently been playing this game and so far he has mainly good things to say about it.

You start the game with a lengthy video explaining pretty much everything you initially need to know about the game. Then you get to select the type of character you want to play as: sorcerer, mercenary or marksman. Basically do you want to be a spell caster, close range fighter or a long range marksman. The spell caster can do very effective magic attacks and damage at mid range but weak up close due to low health. The mercenary gets right up in the fight and stands toe to toe with the hordes themselves. The marksman strikes from a distance away and inflicts poison damage. It comes down to your style of play. The good thing is that you can have multiple characters and play them whenever you want.

In this game the main and only way to win this game is by the towers and traps you build; however the towers are 70% because the rest comes down to how you play your character thus the combination of tower and RPG. Each level will have red lines showing you where the enemies will be coming from for that wave and the path they will take. How you build and when you build is important here because there are different types of enemies like: horde, armour, giant and more. Certain enemy types are weaker against certain types of towers and this does matter. Certain enemies are close range attackers while others are long range and the player needs to take note of this for future encounters when the levels start to challenge you way more.

The type of traps there are: Mystical ground, Mechanical ground, Mystical tower, Mechanical tower and Summoning. Ground traps are placed on the… well… ground and trigger when an enemy steps on it. Towers can only be built on the altar looking things and summons can also be built on the ground. The game has we believe 25 different traps in this game which is really large for a tower game. So far none of these towers come off as useless. Each one is definitely situational and the player must know when to build each one. Mystical ground like the lava grill are incredibly effective when you can keep the enemies piling up and staying on top of it. Mech ground traps like the spear trap are best to heavily weakened that one enemy that take time to die. Honestly X35 Earthwalker isn’t a fan of the mystical lightning tower but it’s good for helping your character in focusing on that one annoying enemy. The mech gun sentry tower is the trap that you must always have as that all round one that you can rely on. Summon traps like the monster cage are perfect for stalling for time and holding up the enemy allowing you to be in two places at once.

Each level has a boss in the last wave who deserves your attention. Make sure you know what boss is coming your way or you WILL get a nasty surprise. Some bosses can summon the monsters while some spam monster summoning. Other bosses shield enemies and more effects. What we so like about this game is the variety. So many different enemies, so many different traps and so many different bosses. It gets better, the game has even a monster encyclopedia so you can know everything about each one and the encyclopedia is available during levels so no nasty surprises for players. Some levels have enemies which are marked on the map and stay in ghost form. They stop being ghosts only during a wave and that’s your only chance to fight them. When you beat them, some drop keys that you use at the end of the level to unlock extra rewards and items so they are worth beating but since it’s during a wave the enemies may sneak past  and destroy your gate so timing is everything.

The best thing about this came is that there is co-op. X35 Earthwalker has played with Diamondz L45 and it’s literally just a better experience. This game was meant for team work though as you can have 3 of your friends join in the action to help you defend the gates from the hordes of monstrosities. The game has a simple to understand but good equipment system where you can equip armour, helmets, weapons and other items to improve your character. There are multiple different items and even a goblin like creature that other s’great offers’ that’s available for a limited amount of time. Those great offer items are normally good and always worth checking out. You can tell you need to spend time of this game because the upgrade section has so many upgrades available with passive upgrades and active upgrades for your traps and your character. You get points to upgrade from completing levels and more with better performances.

The graphics, design and attention to details on characters, levels and effects are done very well. The animations of the characters and monsters are constant and flow very well. A lot of effort went into this game and we appreciate that. X35 Earthwalker gave this game a chance because he knows how hard it is and how much is spent into making games and so he tries them out. This game is really good and we will get into it. ‘Neocoregames’ you did a great job with this game and we hope to see more for this game.

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Halo wars 2 is coming out on the 21st of February of 2017. Now almost every Xbox gamer knows about this game and most are looking forward to this. Especially since the beta came out last year. Halo wars 2 is a real time strategy (RTS) game where you get to control the forces of the UNSC and covenant. The events of halo wars 2 is set 28 years we believe after the the events of the prequel game. Captain Cutter and his crew are found over an ancient Forerunner haven called the ‘Ark’. Here they encounter probably the greatest threat to humanity… The Banished. The Banished are a dangerously powerful Brute faction lead by intelligent and fieerce warrior called ‘Atriox’. Can Captian Cutter survive against this new enemy?

X35 Earthwalker participated in the beta himself and says that he likes everything about the game but it does have some issues though but glad that they will be corrected in the real game. The graphics are a complete step up from the prequel game. The details to the units and structures are greater, showing great attention to design and detail. Even the way the units move now have been approved. If you paid attention to how the marines run and traverse through the battlefield you will see what we mean. The game had new units, which one of we and many other gamers have been wanting since the prequel. There is now a sniper infantry unit which has long range (obviously), high damage and their shots stun enemy infantry units for round about half a second maybe. they are perfect anti-infantry but swarms will easily destroy them. They also are cloaked meaning they can’t be detected by enemy units until they come into range and directed to attack snipers. There is also a flying heavy bombarding air unit call “Blisterbacks” which look like armoured beetles. They do single energy blasts from the air but have the ability to land on the ground and become an artillery unit, bombarding units and bases. X35 Earthwalker does want them to have increased damage as they currently are too weak and don’t have that much impact at all. There are more units for both the UNSC and Banished.

The two leaders that we know of so far is Captain Cutter and Atriox. Both don’t take non-sense from anyone. Captain feels very similar to the prequel and allows similar strategies. Most strategies revolve around the infantry and with there being more infantry units, and the fact that the marines actually are a threat now, this will work well. Snipers are great at neutralising enemy infantry from afar and delivering great pain to hero units. As Cutter you can pump out infantry fast and do pretty good rushes on the enemy, forcing them to panic and expel their resources quickly. Atriox is no slouch in the infantry department either but most strategies with Atriox revolve around the vehicles. The Banished vehicles are quite diverse and are solid for holding down a certain area and then making the push. The units with the banished seem more diverse and thus allowing more options and ideas for strategies and combinations. Once corrected, the Blisterbacks will be a nightmare for many players.

The game now has a ability upgrade screen that you access while on the field. Here you can spend points that you gather over time in the match to upgrade unit or character abilities which can really change the tide of the battle. Trust us on that. For example you can choose to have the ability to create a area of healing for your units and structures. You could get the ability as Cutter to place a turret where you want in a battle. Maybe to attack the enemy from behind or at an angle. You can unlock the famous mac blast which brings death to whatever it hits. In the beta though, the mac blast was far too weak and couldn’t even destroy a tank. Even the blast radius was pretty much a zero. They must change this. There is an upgrade on Atriox’s side where you can make all your units literally invulnerable for a period of time. We used this once and survived a mac blast and a pelican sweep special ability and still destroyed all enemy units and then the base but timing is everything with these abilities. The gameplay mechanics in this game make it so that every decision is more important than ever before. The game has become even more strategic. So you must keep track of your resource spending, what abilities you upgrade or unlock and when and how to use your unit abilities.

We must say though that the leader characters you select all have devastating abilities. Captain Cutter after following certain upgrade paths can have the ability to hell jump in veteran (have stars) units such as the cyclops, Odsts and more. It’s basically instant strong reinforcements that deal all kinds of damage. The other major ability is the pelican sweep that brings three pelicans that completely demolish everything with rockets blasts and heavy machine guns. Everything will die in a matter of moments. This can save your life. Atriox on the other hand have the  invulnerable ability that we mentioned earlier. This makes all your units invulnerable and take zero damage from everything while still being able to fight. The next major ability and by far our favourite in the annihilator which truly lives up to its name. It basically calls down 6 beams that slowly join together in the middle and explodes annihilating everything that was under, around or near the beam. This has even been used to wipe out an entire army leaving the enemy completely open to attack. It’s absolutely crazy. If only you could see our faces when we first used it and saw what it could do. These abilities aren’t to be messed with due to all having the ability to change the battle in your favour but once again, timing is everything. 

The is literally an improvement from the prequel is every way. The controls are still easy to learn and use. The graphics and sounds are wonderful even though this was all beta and not the released real thing. The story is definitely interesting and we want to know more. No unit in the game is useless or feels useless. The abilities are so diverse and very effective, like you would be crazy to not use them. The main problem about the game is having your brute champion unit trying to reach enemies to smash when all of a sudden you get hit by a sniper and he is stunned for a second and when he can move again, there are two more snipers who stun him. This repeats and your champion can’t do anything, Literally. It’s frustrating because it makes him useless. we hope they make the stun only effect regular units and not champion infantry. That what we think. The Blisterback needs damage increase, the mac blast needs increased damage and blast radius. Snipers should require players to be one tech level higher before allowed to create them in the match as all a captain Cutter player needed to win against Atriox is rush quickly with many marines and many snipers and they win. Atriox can’t do anything. Off course we found a way to counter this but it wasn’t easy and many don’t know the strategy we have created for this.

Fun fact. Did you know that X35 Earthwalker on the 20th of June 2016 at 14:05pm was in a match where his team mate left the match and it became a 1v2. He won the match as captain Cutter. We made a record of the match and know the names of all the players.

We are all looking forward to this game and what it will bring. We want to see the scarab, the other leader characters, the story and more. So far ‘343 Industries’ are doing an awesome job. Keep it up you guys. This game is definitely worth checking out.

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If you don’t know Outland then shame on you for missing out on an awesome game with beautiful graphics and well composed music that sets the atmosphere very well. Outland was originally on the PC, Xbox and PS. It’s a 2D dynamic platformer game. Read our previous blog to learn everything you need to know concerning this game.

Recently X35 Earthwalker and Diamondz L45 played Outland in co-op mode online. At first we expected it to be only the co-op challenges that you find through out the single player story but we were wrong. Co-op is actually the full story but with two people. You discover secrets together, fight together, get power ups together and best of all, take down bosses together. The whole exciting experience but with a friend to help you.

The only difficult thing about co-op is that you don’t share the money. This means when you come across power ups, at times maybe only one of you can afford the power up. This is annoying as they could have made the game share the money but this just adds some factors to the game. Taking on the huge bosses together is like the most exciting part of co-op. It feels like a rematch. Bosses don’t take as much damage as in single player though, so the both of you have to really mess them up and strike together.

As you do come across the co-op portals you can accept the co-op challenges. These are unique to co-op only. These challenges vary and we assume get more difficult. The first one was to see how well you and your partner handles splitting up to grab coins, fight weak enemies and make it to the end together. So basically communication. It was honestly a lot of fun. X35 Earthwalker took the top path while Diamondz L45 took the bottom path. It turned into a race half way through, until we got to the part with the switches where one must open a section for the other to then reach another switch. Then both must make it to the end together. Off course you get a score for your performance at the end to brag about. 

Maybe the best part of co-op is that fact that both characters don’t look the same. The second player (or client player) controls a man who wears 3/4 shorts which are quite baggy. Then when you get the light spirit your character looks exactly like the man from 20,000 years ago. The tribal skirt thing, the head band feathers and everything. This was X35 Earthwalkers favourite part. The man also folds his arms just like that man as well. You feel like an absolute boss playing that guy. It shows the developers went through extra effort to create another character and not just a clone. Also the character you control glows to signify which one is yours at all times.

Overall co-op is so far extremely great. X35 Earthwalker looks forward to going through the whole thing in co-op now. It’s like a new experience instead of a repeat. If you have the game then you have to try co-op after doing the single player because you won’t regret it. Just when we thought Outland couldn’t get any better. Once again the developers ‘Housemarque’ did an outstanding job and we encourage you guys to continue making awesome games like this. Hopefully a sequel to this comes out soon as well. This game has to be checked out.

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Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy is an awesome game developed by ‘Square Enix’ and was released in 2013 for Xbox 360 and PS3. X35 Earthwalker himself loves this game but like with other great games there is also some weak spots in the game. We have been playing the game again recently and we made some huge progress. About to face Caius in an ultimate swordsman battle. If you want to play this game then make sure you can do the following things: good reflexes, good multi tasking, good memory and persistent. If you don’t then you can still play but things will be a bit harder. 

Lightning truly returns and boy does she know how to make an entrance. Basically you play Lightning who has been chosen by Bhunivelze to be the saviour who is tasked with bringing souls from the world to the next life. As the saviour she has the power to take people’s souls and immense strength and other powers. This is because the end of the world is here. The world has only 6 days left and time doesn’t wait for you making this a game where you can’t stay still. You must work fast and act fast. Use your days awisely and ecide what order to complete quests and anything else. The story in this game is very well done and it all adds up nicely together. Within this time you must save as many souls as you can. This can be done by completing quests for them. Some people need to gain hope again. Some need a certain item returned to them to inspire them. Some have unfinished business and it’s all up to you to help them out. Each soul you collect increases your stats: hp, strength and magic. There is numerous quests to complete and you better complete them for several reasons. First, you need to complete the game. Second, you need to boost your stats otherwise you won’t be able to beat any boss. Third because if you complete main quests you can extend the amount of days you have till the end of the world. We heard it can be extended up to by 7 more days. The many quests is why you need to be good and remembering and multi tasking as the quests can all pile on meaning, many things to do.

The graphics in this game are wonderful. The characters look so well designed. The details that went into the levels and areas are so great. The special effects look real good as well. The developers did really good for the time it was released. The sounds are on time and appropriate all contributing to the setting and mood of the game. The music isn’t the best from the franchise but still well done. It does help set the atmosphere in the area you are in. The A.I in this game are good, we can say. They are all doing their own things and look different from each other (we expect that from games as great as final fantasy). There are 4 different areas for the player to explore: Luxerion, Yusnaan, The wildlands and the dead dunes. What we love at X35 Earthwalker is always variety. Each of those areas are so different from each other. Luxerion is a peaceful city where entire groups wait patiently for the end with prayers and hope. A nice simple place. Yusnaan is the exact opposite. Here, it’s parties, shows and celebrations all the time. They don’t seem to care. The wildlands is pure nature, fields and hunters. It’s like a small safari and looks lovely but danger is lurking around. The dead dunes is actually dead. Lots of sand, rocks, bones and runes. Only thing to do here is explore really. Different enemies but we wish for them to be more distinctly different from each other.

The combat is the main thing here. Like with final fantasy 13 and 13-2, the enemy appears and you get the chance to strike it first before fighting it. If you do then the enemy will start with 10% less health and 25% if you strike them without them knowing you were there. The actual fight is where the good reflexes come in handy. You have 3 schemata, basically battle sets. Each set you design and can have different abilities, stats, weapons and accessories. So for example you could design a schemata which focuses on heavy defense so you may equip the heavy guard ability and give a shield that has really high guard resistance to make enemy attacks do practically nothing. Recommend having a defensive, magic based and attack based schematas to make things easier. With one button you can switch between them at any time to suit the situation. So switch to your defensive for when you want to block a series or powerful attacks then switch back to your offensive ones. On top of that you must handle staggering enemies, exploiting their weaknesses and giving enemies ailments or removing your own. Things get tricky but mastering this part of the game will set you up nicely for everything else. Lastly if you block at the same time as an attack hits you, you greatly reduce the damage you receive and most of time take no damage at all.

The bosses in this game are definitely epic battles. When you face off against the likes of Noel, Snow, powerful monsters and off course Caius the guardian, it feels so epic especially with the music going trough your head. These guys no a thing or two about how to kill their enemies. When facing a boss, you can’t just rush your enemies and win. Nope, not at all. The difficulty is almost like final fantasy 13 where every fight is hard, long and strategic. You will need to not only use your 3 schematas but also create the right ones for the boss. You must block the attacks perfectly as much as possible to survive, you must exploit their weaknesses and do it all quick. If you need help then use your recovery items to add buffs or just regain health. Last of all use your EP abilities to your advantage. EP abilities range from completely healing you (curaga), damage all enemies and launch them into the air (quake) and over cloak which is the signature ability which slows down time for everything and everyone but lightning. Collect EP from completing big quests and replenish it from defeating enemies.

The schemata system is easy to understand and build. You can build up to 8 schematas (excluding the 3 active ones) we believe and keep them stored so you can just swap out your schematas whenever you want. Garbs are the main body of your schemata, not only are they different outfits but some come with their own abilities (like ‘flood’) and effects like increased damage resistance. Some are better than others concerning stat boosts and abilities but when others are better in terms of style and looks. Seriously they really range from fancy to warrior looking clothes. Go with your own style. The game has a save wherever you want feature which is very good and most gamers love that feature. Also there is a lot of accessories (adornments) to collect and wear. You could have an awesome looking ton berry lantern attached to lightnings cloths or get a tiara or crown and bunch of other stuff. There is a lot of options. 

Overall this game is awesome and we love it. Some may find it difficult and we agree as it is, due to having a time limit and having multiple things to focus on at once. This final fantasy game is definitely different from the others and if any fans haven’t played it yet, we encourage you to play it. Lightning is still herself, strong and powerful. ‘Square Enix’ did a very great job. There is so much to say about this but we will leave it here. 

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Warzone and Warzone assault in Halo 5 Guardians is pretty much the most popular multiplayer mode in the game. So far everyone we know likes it and plays it quite frequently. It’s like big team battle but with much more. Two teams of 12 battle it out on a constantly active battlefield. There are A.I enemies that cause trouble but grant points when defeated. There are 3 locations to capture. A big main one that usually is the center of the match and two smaller ones for red and blue team. Capturing these bases will get your team points and it’s an additional place where you can use your reqs (Requesitions).   

Reqs are the main features of Warzone. There are reqs for your armour (power ups), weapons and vehicles. Each one has to some extent the ability to even things up or turn the tide of a battle once used correctly. The reqs are ranged from common to legendary. The reqs also have levels signifying what level you have to be in order to use them. As you kill enemy spartans, A.I and complete objectives you gain points which will allow you to level up. Starting from req 1 which ends at req 9. Also most req cards have tiers as well with tier 3 cards being more powerful than the lower level tiers. Higher level tiers normally have extra abilities. The efforts of your team will contribute to your level as well. For example if anyone kills a boss then, you get points as well. This all adds up. So keep working together, keep slaying and doing well and you’ll get access to the most powerful reqs fast.

Vehicle reqs are most likely considered the most powerful as first of all, they are vehicles meaning, tougher to kill and unlimited firepower. There are so many vehicles to choose from and the choices only get more difficult as the match continues to change and depending on what your enemy has got on their side. You have fast traveling vehicles like warthogs, ghosts and gungooses. Warthogs have a driver, passenger and a gunner. That’s just a regular warthog, higher tier warthogs have a needler gun and shields while the oni warthog has explosive rounds. Heavy killing machines like tanks just straight up kill everything. Higher tier tanks have stronger armour, faster rate of fire and even an experimental laser firing tank. Flying vehicles have the clear elevation advantage combined with mobility. All flying vehicles are pretty much fast, hit hard and leaves quickly. Banshees swoop in bombs and then runs. Wasps are more like support vehicles for foot soldiers laying down light damage. All vehicles instantly gain all players attention (well they should). Make sure to take them out first.

Weapon reqs range from being completely annoying to down right dangerous. Everything from powerful pistols to rockets to sniper rifles. This means that weapons are the most versatile and can there fore change situations the most. For example if you need to clear out a small base owned by some spartans then a plasma caster is create as it can bounce around corners and explode very well. Higher tier plasma casters like the ‘White scar’ can turn shots into mines making some areas unavailable. Rocket launchers can do the job as well. Higher tier rockets can home in on vehicles, fire multiple shots and more. The sniper rifle can one shot spartans from anywhere as long as it hits the head. Req weapons get even better as their are some mythic reqs which are clearly in a league of it’s own. For example the ‘Nornfang’ is a sniper rifle that instantly kills any spartan it hits, even if you hit the toe, that spartan will die. Tartarus’s gavel is a gravity hammer that release shockwaves with each swing extending the range of devastation. Spank prime is a Rocket launcher is the ‘Spanker prime’ which increases jump height, movement speed and shield strength while equipped. There are more and they are all truly worthy of the name mythic.

Power up reqs are personal upgrades to your armour but are temporary. These are speed boost, over shields, active camo and damage boost. Speed boost increase your movement speed, reload speed and weapon switch speed. Over shields adds an extra layer of shields just like in previous halo games making you harder to kill. Active camo, camouflages your spartan making them near invisible but the fast you move the more visible you become. Damage boost increases the damage of your weapons, melee and vehicles. The scariest part is that each of these can stack to make them more effective, except for active camo and over shields. If you combine three speed boosts, you become super fast. your slide ability is drastically enhanced. You literally become lightning. Damage boost combined will really increase damage to the point where things just kill too fast. So imagine combining certain vehicle and weapon reqs with these armour upgrades. A sniper rifle with damage boost can become like a home made nornfang, able to one shot anyone it hits. An energy sword combined with speed boost makes a lightning fast swordsman. It’s up to you to create new combinations. 

Some reqs are outshined by others. For example there is no need to use a supressor when you could have a plasma pistol to take down shields or a open hand or closed fist bolt shot. They all kill faster than a supressor, even the higher tier one. You don’t A whip lash railgun almost always trumps any other req card in most situations at level 4. Who get a sentinel beam when the blood of suban kills faster and better. A rocket almost always wins. A appetite for destruction saw gun can’t stand up to any of the rockets, even at mid range. Some higher tiers of weapons are not that better at all. For example the hail storm (tier two needler) is better than the tier 3 needler (talon of the lost) in pretty much every way. The hail storm fires faster moving needles at a faster rate which track and home in better than talon of the lost. Most players we have asked can’t even figure out why talon of the lost is the tier 3. Even to this day even X35 Earthwalker doesn’t know why. This is something that needs to be sorted out though. Some req items aren’t that useful at all but that’s just some. We at X35 Earthwalker encourage all gamers to try them all and see what works best for them.

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Skylar & Plus: Adventure on clover island is new 3D action platformer coming out on Xbox, PC and PS4 in January 2017. This game was developed by ‘Right Nice Games’. You play ‘Skylar Lynxe’ who is the hero of this game who is a reluctant about it. She was captured by the villainous CRT who modified her and gave her that mechanical arm. Fighting against CRT and his henchmen will be quite the feat. Good thing she isn’t alone. She has an unlikely sidekick (who’s a owl by the way) called ‘Plux Owlsley’ and their aim is to save their newfound home from being turned into a wasteland by CRT.

Straight away you can tell that this game’s strong point is the characters. Kind of like with crash bandicoot. You don’t mind how wacky everything is, you just like the character and want to know more about them. If they appeared on a can of drink, you would think about buying the drink just because of them. This games graphic style is very good and looks less digital and more art like. The artistic side comes out especially when you look at the waterfalls and rocks it looks like it was drawn while other things like mechanical enemies look definitely digital. Knowing when to use one or the other is very important. The sceneries and settings of the levels all look like they are full of life and maybe theirs a squirrel nearby in the jungle area. You will travel across multiple areas in this game from beaches and volcanoes to mountains and deserts. We at X35 Earthwalker always love variety in games. It’s always more exciting to travel across completely different areas so good job developers.

Off course you must collect gadgets to traverse the world and help you overcome CRT. We knew it would be gadgets as the main character is mostly mechanical. We imagine the gadgets will merge with the suit and mechanical arm. Some of the gadgets are the jet pack, time orb and magnetic glove to help you progress and fight against CRT’s henchmen. The game is only single player. The game has quite a bit of comedy and does it quite well. The kind of comedy that shows just how silly some of the characters can be. It makes you chuckle whether the jokes are bad or not. So far we am liking the look of the game and want to see what becomes of it.

This game is worth checking out.

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The UIR pack for gears of war 4 was released on the 22nd of December 2016 and boy did it bring a lot of disappointment and complaints. The problem isn’t what the pack contains as there are some cool looking stuff. The epic characters look really cool in fact. The UIR elite especially looks like some elite forces for sure and that he alone could blow some stuff up. The problem is the price. One pack costs 4400 coins! That’s outrageous, even for those characters. That’s more than the golden elite packs which costs 3500. It’s basically the price of 11 horde booster packs. X35 Earthwalker even said that he would rather buy the 11 horde booster packs every time. The fact that you get the gold coins very slowly in the game doesn’t help at all. One social match earns you around 70-80 coins so you will need to play at least 55 matches to get there. That’s ridiculous by anyone’s standards. Even playing horde wave 1 through to 50 would even get you half of the amount you need to get the UIR pack. You will have to do 50 waves three times and we all know just how hard that is. It’s such a shame.

Many season pass players are upset that they don’t get this stuff for free or even a a discount and are questioning why they even bought the season pass. However the price is a big problem but not the biggest problem at all. The biggest problem is that the pack doesn’t guarantee you the 3 characters and the skins. Nope!! It’s all random. This means that you will have to spend over 10000 coins to try and get everything and 3 attempts will not get you everything at all. This means that you can’t rely on your coins to get them. The only other option is to buy them using real money. That’s right. The price is £8.39 per pack. That’s more than 4 one leg and chips at a chicken shop. That’s more than games on the Xbox store. That’s travel money right there. Now some will say that that’s not much but that depends on your situation. Many players feel excluded from UIR pack and many aren’t able to get it at all. It’s like letting only a few children in on the new toys while the rest can’t play with them. It’s not fair. All this stuff just have to stop. If you go online, you will see the responses and experience of other gamers concerning the UIR pack.

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Gears of war 4 is going on strong and most gamers seem to be happy so far with only a few complaints. X35 Earthwalker himself is very vocal about this. What many consider to be the hardest thing about this game is completing horde mode. Normal difficulty is too hard for just your standard gamer. Hardcore difficulty is is impossible for most gamers while ‘insane’ difficulty is impossible unless you have a fully organised team who communicate and has some moves on them (skills). Our favourite part of horde is the class skill system. This must have been carried over from gears of war Judgement but improved. You can be any class you want with any character you want. For example if you select ‘Hoffman’, you can make him any class you want.

There are five classes in horde. They are: Soldier, Engineer, Heavy, Sniper and Scout. Each one has their own strengths (obviously). To complete or stand a chance against normal, hardcore and insane, you will need to have high skills for the class you want to be and in order to do that, you must play as that class to level up to unlock extra skill slots (max = 5) and collect horde skill cards from booster packs. The skills for your class add small extras that add up like reduced reloading time,  increased weapon damage, more ammo or even fabricator abilities. We must say though that the fabricator abilities can really be game changers. If you choose to master all classes then that’s up to you. We truly prefer to have at least two or three classes and focus on building them up instead.

Scout is basically the one who never stays still. They are in charge of collecting fabricator energy as they can have the skill to get extra energy everytime they drop it off at the fabricator. So a high level Scout can change a 1000 energy drop off into a 1500 energy drop off. That extra amount can make a difference. The Scout has power skills that when combined are destructive that you may mistake the Scout for the main assaulter. They also have other skills that, makes your health regenerate faster, increase movement speed, increase shotgun damage, increase your health and more. There are two epic skills for the Scout: Rage and X-Ray. Rage allows you to gain health whenever you deal melee or shotgun damage while X-Ray allows you to see enemies through walls while in Tac-Com. When you combine 5 different skills together you can make an invincible Scout. You could combine Rage, health regeneration, health boost, brawler and shotgun damage to make a near impossible to kill, close range monster. 

Heavy is the one that dishes out heavy damage with big guns and explosives for days. If there’s a big monster that needs taking out (and not to dinner) the call in the heavy. Heavys have skills that boost there explosive and heavy weapons damage making them even stronger than before. At a high enough level your boom shot will be able to to pretty much one shot everything. Don’t get me started on what happens when you give a high level heavy a salvo. They also have skills that, increase explosive weapon capacity, increase turret damage, increase turret capacity, increase your damage dealt to marked targets and more. There are two epic skills for the heavy: Mortar strike and Pistol Expert. Mortar strike is a fabricator ability that calls down mortars to strike and harm numerous enemies all at once. Pistol Expert increases the damage dealt with the pistol per bullet. When you combine 5 different skills together you can make an endless explosive Heavy. You could combine explosive launcher capacity, explosive launcher damage, Explosive launcher reload, marked damage and mortar strike to make a grim reaper who constantly keeps blowing things up regardless of where they are.

Sniper is obviously the sniper who relies on the headshots bring things down real quick or finish them off. When there is something at a distance that has a head, a sniper will be able to one shot it. Snipers have skills that boost the damage of sniper weapons like markza and sniper rifle and the damage that headshots do. A high level sniper can help thin out the horde before they get to the team. They also have skills that, reduce the reload time of precision, increase the number of enemies you can mark, fabricator ability to mark all enemies at once and a bit more. There are two epic skills for the sniper: Explosive headshot and Sniper strike. Explosive headshot makes any kill by headshot explode damaging anything nearby. Sniper strike is a fabricator ability that allows you to hit numerous enemies with sniper shots to the head. When you combine 5 different skills together you make a one shot one kill marksman. You could combine precision rifle damage, headshot damage, precision rifle capacity, precision rifle reload and sniper strike to make the sounds on shattering skulls a constant tune for your team to listen to.

Engineer is the one who is in charge of building and maintaining the base and it’s fortifications. When you want a turret, barricade or to repair then the engineer is hands down the best at it. Engineers have skills that increase the health of fortifications that he/she builds (it has to be the engineer), reduces the cost of fortifications that he/she builds and some more. A high level Engineer can prevent anything from being destroyed and make the base defend its self. They also have skills that increase sentry capacity, reduce sentry cost, increase sentry firing rate and efficiency of the repair tool. There are no epic skills for the Engineer. When you combine 5 different skills together you can become the best building/repair man ever known. You could combine the repair boost, two turret skills and two sentry skills to make machines of mass destruction which will be hard to kill if you are nearby.

Soldiers are the ones who fight main combat force of your team. There job is to fight, fight and fight some more. They lay down heavy fire and protect your team. Soldiers have skills that enhance the traditional fighting style of gears of war. There are skills that increase the damage bonus you get for getting an active reload, reduce the amount of damage they take when in cover making you harder to kill while giving out more damage. A high level soldier can take down anything with ease become the wall you need between your team and the horde. They have skills that increase rifle ammo capacity, increase rifle magazine size, increases the damage of grenades, increases the amount of grenades you can carry and more. The soldier has one epic skill and it’s the most epic of them all:. It’s called ‘Hammer strike’. Hammer strike is a fabricator ability that allows you to call in a hammer of dawn on numerous enemies, destroying them all like a boss. When you start combining the different skills you can make a true slayer of every kind of monster. You could combine rifle damage with rifle ammo capacity and grenade damage with grande capacity and finally with hammer strike to make it so that little enemies and big enemies can be taken out in an instance and save your team when surrounded.

The soldier is by far our favourite class and is also the favourite of N63 Prodigy and X35 Earthwalker himself. Diamondz L45’s favourite is the ‘heavy’. Each class is useful and serve their own purpose; however we feel that the one class that a team can do without is the sniper. Don’t get us wrong they can be destructive but we feel that heaves and soldiers could kill better. Put a sniper in a soldiers hand who has the active reload skill card can do more damage than normal anyway. You only need one scout to collect fabricator energy and doesn’t need another in their way. Have at a least two soldiers, one engineer to hold down the fort at least one heavy to blow stuff up. The combinations are plentiful and what makes hide even more fun. Lastly there are general skills that can be equipped to any class. They are: Build cost which reduces the cost of everything you build with the fabricator, Carry speed which increases your speed while carrying the fabricator or heavy weapons, Execution bonus which increases the amount of energy executed enemies drop, Fortification health which increases the health of all fortifications you built (this stacks with other skills) and Team revive which is a fabricator ability that instantly brings back all downed and dead allies. So many combinations.  

So take it easy with horde and don’t get discouraged if you fail a few times, I am sure everyone has. Keep playing to get the coins to get booster packs and get much stronger. For more information check out the link below: