CHAVette hits far east!!

I apologise on behalf of the UK for creating suce beings....

 

Gears of War 3

I've completed all 3 Gears of War campaigns, and played a little online with Gears 2, I'm not a big online player so this only covers the campaigns.
First thing I noticed with GoW3 is the characters are no longer inhumanely large and muscular, now they are just great dirty beasts of men within human realms, and the addition of a couple new characters who are all allot slimmer. 

Maybe this was done to add to the far smoother and swifter feel to the game compared to the previous 2 titles. The environments played in are, as with the previous titles, dark and destruction filled, but there is far less underground action. I think player would have gotten fed up of the underground stuff if it continued with the GoW3. The movement feels far smoother and fluent, which I feel was needed in this game but not too much. GoW1 and 2, I feel, where massively let down by the sluggish movement, I know it pushes you to use the cover system much more, but titles such as Army of Two use a pretty much exactly the same cover system and also have fluent game play out of cover and it works fine. The cover system doesn't feel or act any different from the previous titles, but this is definitely not a bad thing as it’s the best cover system I have used on any game on any console! There is a bit more out of cover game play in 3 than the previous titles, and your AI teammates are often seen gunning it out of cover which is fun to watch at the least, sometimes they can get a little manic! This also allows you to sit back and pick off enemies whilst they take the attention, similar to Army of Two. The AI for your team needs a few minor tweaks, they seem to charge ahead of you sometimes, and don't come back to revive you if they have, resulting in a game over. On occasion they will get in the line of fire blocking your shots to the enemy, and will try to revive you when it would be smarter to clear enemies first. These issues often leave you very frustrated with the game but they are occasional problems. Enemy doesn't seem to have changed too much, just more aggressive, which causes the player to take more desperate actions, for the first time in any GoW game I have HAD to blind fire over cover to prevent enemies from getting too close whilst I recover. There are a few surprising twists in the story, but nothing that you wouldn't have seen coming if you had paid attention in the previous games. With Dom's death and confirmation that Marcus' father is alive there is enough to keep you in the game though. In GoW3 you get a better feel for the political side of things in the Gears universe, it wasn't until 3 I realised that immulsion is almost as oil is today, the most used fuel, controlled by corrupt governments and causing war! With added emphasis on this you feel more empathy for the Gears and the remaining civilians which is always a good thing in a game.
It’s not often you come across a game with game play and cinematic appeal. Gears of War 3 had plenty of both done very well. The ending was very simple, 'all the bad guys are gone so now we live happily ever after', but as you feel like you have been one of the gears from start to finish, you don't feel let down by this, almost relieved it’s over, which is odd for a video game of any type, probably due to the subtle changes in the characters from GoW1, not that the characters were clean cut then, but you can see they have grown and bonded. Such as arguments with Baird are much shorter as the team understand he's just pessimistic and Carmine having far larger balls rushing into action and speaking up when needed. I can’t see it a game I will be revisiting over and over, but can see myself replaying with a friends online. Over all definitely one for the keepsies pile!

Life with my Goldring NS1000s

They are still awesome! But since getting my babies I have come across a reoccurring issue. The detachable audio cable.... At first I thought that detachable cables are something that should be fitted on all headphones, but now I may re consider.
The NS1000s come standard with a chunky, gold plated, anti-oxygen cable manufactured by QED, one of if not the best quality cable manufacturer, but as neither end of the cable has a right angled grip fitting, they are susceptible for the connections becoming loose when used with mp3 players/mobiles due to all the moving about the ends have to go through. 'Just get a replacement' I hear you say, not that simple... The headphones have an about 1 cm deep recess before the jack port starts, meaning the replacement cable needs to have narrow/thin grips otherwise the jack will not even begin to connect, and an exact replacement cables start at around £20 and balls to paying that!
I'm currently waiting for my 3rd cable to arrive and this time I've opted for a right-angled cable.
So when purchasing headphones with a detachable cable remember to consider; the recess it needs to fit not just the jack size!