Fatman's Gaming Tips COMPETITION

So here we go! The video that kicks it off!
You have from now till December 15th to apply!
Good luck to all of you and remember, GAME ON!
Al Fatman

Fatman's Gaming Tips

I shall post the video of the competition rules and junk tomorrow so yeah!
Thanks so much for all the support and once again, game on!
Al Fatman

Al Fatman's Paintball War Experience!

Hey there folks!

I just wanted to say that about a week ago, I had my first taste of real battle. Paintball War but still, closest thing I'm gonna get to the army. A very dear friend of mine, Marjorie, was celebrating her 19th birthday, and how does she celebrate it? By getting shot by paint pallets. She wishes to join the army, so we all agreed, no mercy!
I still have some bruises on me, but it was terrific fun and I loved every moment of it.
Plus, I was the only guy not to wear a cup. I was one of the only guys not to get shot in the genitals, so I think thats a pretty good victory for me.
I wish I had more photo's but I guess memories last longer anyway.

This fresh new experience of battle has opened my eyes in the Gaming world as well. Being hit with paintballs sting, so your objective is to shoot others without getting shot yourself. Simple.

It was a load of fun and I cant wait to do it again!

And to those who have been thinking about having a go yourselves, go do it!

If you can stand a small sting and a bit of blood, then I definately recommend it. Cause the payoff for achieving a headshot and a nutshot on your best friend is very satisfying.

Its not satisfying when he get's payback, but still! Fun.

Thanks for reading this non-gaming entry!

Al Fatman

Review: Battlefield 3

G'day folks!


Known as one the only games to rival the largely successful Call of Duty franchise, Battlefield 3 has just been released for the entire world to enjoy.


Firstly, this being my very first game experience with Battlefield, I did not know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of realism and great fun in the game. Graphics of this quality were quite fantastic, showing off not only the great beauty of the surrounding world, but the chaos around it too as you fight to survive.
Not to give too much away, the game begins with you as Staff Sergeant Henry Blackburn, a man who is put before two Federal Agents, questioning him about recent events, and also, to his exclaimation that a man named Solomun was going to destroy New York with a Nuclear bomb. Through the different topics, Blackburn thinks back to those days and you take control of him. There are three other playable characters; One being an Air Force pilot Leutenant Jennifer Hawkins another being a tank driver Sergeant John Miller and the last, Dimitri Makayovsky, a GRU operative trying to stop the nuclear threat.


Not only is the voice acting of this game of quite high quality as well, but the sound effects too. Both delivering a certain realism to the game, making me even duck under fire (The reason to that shall be explained soon!)
With this only being the Campaign side, I couldn't wait to dive right into the Multiplayer.
Mostly being a COD Multiplayer gamer, I have never experienced this sight before: gamers playing together to achieve a goal. It was quite a fun sight to see. The controls did take a while for me to get used to, but after my first match of TDM, my result being 2/13 KD ratio, I decided to try my best. With the large maps and the different tactics and routes to take, the game's multiplayer really is a great experience for all types of gamers.
However, it supports friendly, positive and team player gamers. Run and Gunners will definately not survive long.


With this in mind, I had to put some annoying features into this review, beginning with the first.
As soon as I put in the disc, my Xbox completely froze due to the updates. On the first day, a 167MB update was required. While this is small in size, it completely froze my console, forcing me to turn off the Xbox, leave it for 10 minutes and repeat the update. Off to a bad start, but still looking forward to it.
A small annoyance was also having to switch discs, before I even got to the menu. Campaign requires the HD upgrade from the Multiplayer disc, this wasting another 10 minutes.
I also highly recommend to gamers to install both discs, if you have the space. During the first runthrough without installment, the game jolts when moving from area to area, when installed, the jolts are reduced and small, hardly noticable. However, once seen, you begin to notice it every single time.


With these small problems, its easy to see the forest through the trees. It seems since the Beta, EA and Dice have stepped up to the plate and gone to resolve the problems seen by the public. With this possibly being the last in the series, and hopefully not, the Battlefield is quiet but the war rages on!


Out of 10, I gave Battlefield an 8.5/10


Good points: Fantastic vocal acting.
                    Realism brings you into the world of BF3
                    Storyline is quite intriguing, very unpredictable


Bad points:   Some lag problems on/off Online gameplay
                    Disc downloads before playing? Sad face...
                    The end of the competition for COD....no!


Battlefield 3 is available now for $75

A word from Al Fatman

Howdy folks!

Just a quick update on my reviews, once again. I know you must be bored with me doing these by now, but I'm just clearing things up for me and for you.
Okay, I literally just finished the Dead Island review, I hope you enjoy it and I tried to be fair. I love the game, but it can get frustrating...
Also, I bought Battlefield 3 today and Im about halfway through the Campaign, and I still need to try out some Multiplayer. I didn't get a chance to play the Beta and, as ashamed as I am to admit this, this is my first experience with a Battlefield game. They never interested me, until now.
And I have to admit, I really do love it!
Yes, I am still getting MW3 and I will be fair with both. I'm not a fanboy of either series.
AC Revelations is still in the cards, as is Saints Row 3. Goldeneye Reloaded still hasn't released a date for Australia yet, and I possibly might be getting Sonic Generations, if budget allows.

So yeah, thats pretty much all on my plate.

Thanks for reading and staying on my plate.
Al Fatman.

PS: Up to 1975 views now, looks like Im gonna be doing another competition, aren't I? Hahahaha!

Review: Dead Island

Hey there folks!

A horror game with a sunny island twist and a shocking and now quite famous reveal trailer, Dead Island is the newest addition to the Zombie Killer genre. The one question many gamers had on their mind, would it be successful?

There is very little storyline to the game, other than the one objective: Survival.
The island of Banoi is overrun with zombies, but why is the main question only answered near the end of the game. You can play as one of four players, Xai Mei, Logan, Sam B or Purna, each a survivor of the first attack and somehow immune to both the illness and after being bitten.
The character you control takes charge in leading a group of people who saved you from being killed in your hotel from their hiding hole on the beach, up to the Lifeguard station and further beyond, meeting more infected and more stranded people along the way.

Each character has their own weapon preference, the weapon that they excell at the best. Xai is a sharp weapon expert (Eg: Knives, swords etc), while Sam B is the opposite with blunt weapons (Eg: baseball bats, pipes etc). Purna is a weapon expert (Eg: pistol, rifle etc) and Logan a Throwing Expert (He is hard to define but he is a cross of blunt and sharp weaponry, as both can be thrown)
I decided to play through as Sam B, as he has the most health to begin with.

Firstly, while storyline is slightly delayed, it becomes much more dramatic as time goes on, with the plot starting to unwind till a climax, very simular to Drama expert Bertolt Brecht's Climbing Mountain theory.
The musical score is quite lovely, both dramatic when needed and sweet when overlooking the horror below. Acting is where the game faultls, many of the characters sounding jolty and many gamers displeased with the, quote, "Fake and put on Australian/New Zealand accents". Graphics, while ingame, are quite interesting and stick to a good point, however its the cutscenes that are quite dissapointing, the voice acting not matching the AI's movements or facial expressions.

Many gamers, while enjoying the game, can find it quite frustrating, at the repetitive missionry at main storyline points, some missions very difficult to defeat with the game failing to give pointers or teach how to modify weaponry. However, the game does suggest to look at the "hints" option quite early if you become stuck or travel to the same places, also, each time you accept a mission, there is an indicator telling you how easy or difficult the mission shall be.
Multiplayer is quite fun, but finding a match is a problem, quite simular to the original styling's of Gears of War 2, not showing how the connection is going.

With this in mind, Dead Island is still quite the enjoyable game to play. While not having many truly frightening moments, the game does sneak up on you with its gorgeous sound effects and the howls of the undead coming to eat you!

Out of 10, I gave Dead Island an 7.5/10

Good points: Inventive and fun gameplay
                    Mix of beautiful island and death all around = genious!
                    Sound effects extremely effective

Bad points:   Cutscene graphics could have been tuned up...
                    Voice acting too...
                    Escourt missions are a huuuge pain

Al Fatman's Top 5 Easiest Cheevs

Hey there folks!

Some people have been asking for some easy achievements. Well, I went searching, experienced a few of them myself, and heres my Top Five choices!

5: Galaga - Originally called Galaxian back in its first release in 1979, this 8 bit game is now available for purchase on the Xbox 360 Arcade titles. Pretty simple gameplay, pretty simple achievements, leading up to 200. Just play your best all the way through the game and you'll get them.

4: The Simpsons Movie - Seriously, to get a 5 pointer achievement, just press Start. Thats it. Start. Other achievements mostly involve the main storyline, being able to finish it gives you 100 Gamerscore. But there are other mock achievements such as "Pwned" which gives you 0 Gamerscore. So be careful!

3: Assassins Creed - Yes, while some of the achievements are bloody hard to get, its the storyline achievements you should aim for. Killing the 9 Templars will give you 20 - 25 Gamerscore with each death and finishing the game will give you 150 total, right before the credits. Of course, there are other easy achievements, just for throwing people or pushing them or simply killing your target without being seen at first.

2: Bloodstone 007 - As some people may know, I'm not that much of an achievement hunter, but these achievements are quite simple for a bit pay off. Playing though the Campaign will give you a decent amount of Gamerscore, but its multiple playthroughs that are the money maker. Many involve killing enemies in a particular way, sneaking through places unseen or heard, finding particular objects and so on. While these are easy, the two secret achievements "Five A Day" and "Greek Tradgedy" are quite simple, but can give you an easy 30 point Gamerscore.

1: Avatar The Burning Earth - Seriously, who designed this? You can have 1000 Gamerscore in less than five minutes. Just wait for the opening gameplay tutorial to begin, start beating up the baddies and there you go. Achievement after achievement after achievement and you're done. Go outside and play.

Thanks for reading, game on and remember to have fun!
Al Fatman

Fatman's Gaming Tips - Assassins Creed MOVIE?

Something I whipped up this afternoon!
Thanks for watching!
Al Fatman
(Note: During my MW3 bit, I say "Gears 3 had over 3 mil preorders". It sounds like I said thirty. Sorry for the confusion!)

Review: RAGE

Hey there folks!

From the creators of Doom and Quake comes the new gaming hit, RAGE. Based in a world which has been driven to dog eat dog due to a meteorite smashing into the earth, you awaken as a member of The Ark, a protective sphere full of chosen people with the necessary skills to rebuld society. However, since their long sleep, many of the people inside their Arks have died, the survivors taken and executed by a goverment that rules the Wastelands and surrounding communities, only know as The Authority.
You play as one of these Ark survivors, with all your crewmen dead, you leave with a barrel of a gun pointed in your face.

Gameplay is what has shot this game into popularity. With the familiar style of both Doom and Quake but with new tricks up your sleeve. Insanely powerful weapons (in the classic Quake style) and a mixture of powerful and frightening enemies (in classic Doom style), RAGE has an awesomely powerful gameplay title, along with its mysterious storyline that will keep you guessing where its going right till the very end.
Not only with a beautiful musical score that sets the mood and style of the gameplay, what has really surprised many gamers is the stunningly beautiful graphic works, as iD isn't know for its groundbreaking artwork. However, travelling from place to place is facinating to stare at the destruction and what civilisation has done to try and rebuild their lives the best they can.
A quick mention, the voice acting was of a sublime level, two of the biggest names being John Goodman and Steven Blum, the King of Voice Acting.

And as I write the bad points of this game, the ad of RAGE just came on the telly!
Glitches, while thankfully are not frequent, are unfortunately stick to you. For example, in Subway Town, taking the evelator down into *REDACTED* caused me to fall into a black pit looking up over the entire map, unable to die or do anything but eject the disc, and due to the poor quality of auto saves (Again, in classic Doom and Quake style) the game punishes those who do not save frequently and set me back two missions, two longs ones I might add!
One other small problem was the discs. Yes, the 360 requires the 3 discs, they themselves were a slight pain and can take you out of the mood to play the game. This can be easily overlooked, to those who fall in love with the game. For those who have not completed the game just yet, the third disc is just for multiplayer and is not needed for the storyline.

And while many veteran gamers miss the old classics, RAGE is just the game to bring back many ageing gamers into the fight, to return to their playing field. RAGE may possibly be the Doom of my generation.
Out of 10, I gave RAGE an 8/10

Good points: Gorgeous graphics
                    Fun, inventive and "OMG, WTF IS THAT? KILL IT!" gameplay moments
                    Creative and mysterious storyline

Bad points    Heaps of discs for the sake of side missions?
                    Glitches = "NOOO!" moments.
                    Bad auto save...

(RAGE is now available for the average price of $65) 

Review: Deus Ex HR - The Missing Link

G'day folks!

With a great game comes demand for more content, and now with the third piece of DLC, The Missing Link, the Deus Ex HR team have finally delivered to a willing audience to step back into the shoes of Adam Jensen.

***WARNING - SPOILERS***

The opening scenes shows Adam being beaten furiously, blood seeping from his mouth as he cracks wise to those who interogate him. But as you finally try to escape, you fail, only to have your bars released and a man, only known as "The Hacker" or "???????????" talks to you and helps you escape the ship.

The DLC's highpoints are the excellent musical score, a few new bars being added to the DLC. Gameplay and the cutscenes, of course, are of excellent quality and forever changing, never staying in one point. Each gamer has a different playing style and with this DLC, it gives you many different choices. Run and Gun (Which is probably harder to do seeing as your limitations of ammunition), Sneak and Stab (Which will make the gameplay drag but more exciting or even a mixture of both. A slight warning to all, pick three weapons and hunt down for every scrap of ammo for them. You'll definately need it.
Overall, this DLC took me a decent five hours to complete, including side missions (Yes, there are side missions) and hunting for passwords and ammuniton. While these can be a bit dull, be on your toes, as enemies are closer than you think, and taking one quick step while standing will alert your enemies and most likely set the alarm off on you.

This, sadly, brings us to the bad points.
Firstly, even before I could start the game, my console continuously froze and wouldn't allow me to access the main menu. After asking the public, some people have experienced this problem and the simple fix is to redownload the DLC (Just press "Download again", deleting the entire DLC will just cause it to happen again and again) but this was slightly frustrating at first. Also, some of the open choice scenes with characters jolt without warning, at the end of each sentence. This makes the game feel unnatural and disturbs the flow of the game.

But this DLC is just the beginning for the Deus Ex HR crew. This gamer was overjoyed to finally has his hands on this new installment in the world of the series, but in the words of the creators, "We hope you stick around, cause we're just getting started...."

Out of 10, I gave The Missing Link DLC an 8/10

Good Points: 5 hours of Jensen goodness!
                     Great use of gameplay, power stripped
                     Fasinating ending...

Bad Points:   Freezing Xbox makes me a sad panda...
                    Jolty scenes...
                    Lack of ammunition

(The Missing Link is available for download now for 1200 Microsoft Points at 1.93 GB)

Review: Sonic Generations Demo 2!

G'day folks!

Seeing as its nearly 1am here, I'm gonna keep this nice, sweet and short. Sonic Generations has released an extended form of the demo they released earlier this year, and I must admit, I am highly impressed.

Now without a run-out date time for the demo, this time around, you can control both Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic in the Green Hill Zone Act 1 & 2. Both undertake the average enemies in the beginning of the game and work, of course, to an ending point.

Other than the ability to play as Modern Sonic as well, Generations includes Omochao, a friendly little flying robot with a pip squeak of a voice telling you how to control Sonic as you play (Only in Classic Mode as far as I know) through the game. Sadly, while this is greatly helpful at first, this can become slightly annoying, but you can avoid him by jumping over him at the beginning, leaving him behind and leaving you alone to enjoy the game.

What surprised me the most was the tune up of the graphic and game quality. Gameplay has been smoothed dramatically and graphics also have had another touch up, making the game even more gorgeous to look at. What also pleased me deeply was the musical score. While Classic Sonic's original soundtrack has only had an upgrade, which was a delightful plus to a veteran gamer, Modern Sonic surprised me more. With guitar cords, drum and bass line, the music adds a great and playful touch to the game.

So far, I have found no problems and or worries with this demo and it seems, as the Sonic Generations team has been saying for months, that this final hurrah for our blue friend is the best Sonic game yet.

Deep kudos to the team for producing this Demo before the game release in November, as this has definately enticed me more back into the fight against Dr Robotnic!

Out of 10, I gave Sonic Generations Demo an 9.5/10

Sonic Generations Demo 2 is available now, for free, on Xbox Live.

Deus Ex Human Revolution: The Missing Link

Howdy folks!

For the DX:HR fans, the third DLC for the game, The Missing Link, is now available for download on Xbox Live. Literally, I'm looking at the download right now!

The DLC will cost you 1200 Microsoft Points but from what we've seen, it looks completely worth it!

I am downloading it and I'll get through it as soon as I possible can. Seeing as its 10pm, I think I might catch some sleep before playing it full out.

So, fans of Deus Ex, go and grab it while its hot!

Game on and have fun!
Al Fatman

Fatman's Gaming Tips Ep 5

Me blabbing on about whats coming up on the site, so please feel free to watch and enjoy my lame puns!

Thanks so much for watching!

Al Fatman

Review: Driver San Francisco

Hey there guys and gals!

A sequal to a game that was released 7 years ago, Driver San Francisco follows "The Driver" Tanner once again against the bad and evil, a new city, so new rules are made.

As we follow Tanner, Jericho has escaped captivity and caused Tanner to crash, making him slip into a world in which he can "Shift" out of his own body and control anyone else in any type of vehicle. Frankly, this game has little to no great points, but we shall focus on them first. While there is no real freeroam action ingame, it forces you to only play the side missions to advance in the actual storyline, which some of them can be quite a pain to control. Musical score is of decent quality and some of the tunes are quite chatty, but none of your own can be played unless all the audio will be removed. The storyline is continued from the previous games, with different voice actors but still of great quality.
Graphics ingame and especially in cutscenes are of great quality.

Unfortunately, this comes to the bad points of the game.

Multiplayer is very sticky; no matter what your settings, racing jars and freezes often (playing with a friend 7kms down the road doesn't even stick) and unfortunately becomes very frustrating.
Shifting can also be a pain while ingame; for example, some side missions will require you to use anothers car to distract the cops so you can escape, the only problem is, each car moves differently, whether to speed, weight, size and handling, and while you are out of your body, your own car slows and becomes more susestible to being caught. Completing sidestories to advance in the main storyline can be confusing, loosing track of what is really happening as several different stories are thrusted upon you and you must remember each one for to truly understand the end result in the storyline.

A final annoyance, Driver 3 had a free roam and had a slight nod in the direction of GTA, while slightly less insane and more appropriate for the younger audience. With the return of Driver San Fran, I was excited to finally find out if Tanner survived in the prequal of the game. Its to my dissapointment to jump through so many hoops to get to an unsatisfying ending.

Out of 10, I gave Driver San Francisco an 4/10

Good Points: Continued storyline
                     Beautiful cutscenes & acting

Bad Points:   Loss of Free Roam
                    Annoying Sidemissions
                    Jarring Multiplayer
                    Frustrating mission requirements
                    Sadly dissapointing (and predictable) storyline

Review: Sniper Ghost Warrior

Howdy folks!

An all out sneaking and eliminating game, Sniper Ghost Warrior will see you rethinking the way you play a First Person Shooter both in gaming wise and also how you fight!

First of all, graphics are of decent quality but are nothing to completely shake a stick at. What this game brings in is great quality gameplay and dramatic scenes. Whether stalking your way through the thick jungle shrub or making your way through a heavily guarded prison camp, the game makes you move your way through any area with quiet, stealthy kills, or avoiding a fight by slowly making a trek through the bush.

The game not only has a great gameplay and decent storyline, but also with the dramatic cut scenes and the musical score, also the lack of it too. Usually, as enemies approach, the musical score quietens or finishes completely and wont resume until the enemy has left, been killed or you engage the man openly and reveil your position. This scenes and actions create not only a tension but nerves do kick in, putting you in the moment directly.

The only bad points I was able to find was the multiplayer barely worked (As hardly anyone worked and AI's cannot be in a match for long) but this is only a slight error by the developers. Graphics can tend to glitch at some points and Campaign enemies can take no damage unless killed in the direct way (example: shooting a barrel, killing in a specific order etc) and not only wastes ammunition but also reveils your position, which in some missions, can be an instant fail or a quick death if you do not hide quick, including the AI's amazing eye sight to see you atop a mountain.

For those who favour the sniper rifle in any FPS, Sniper: Ghost Warrior is the game for you. A dear friend of mine is a Sniper Sergeant for the Australian Defence Force and this game gave me a small window into the world he has been in for the past 10 years. Kudos to Microsoft for the fantastic game, but possibly a few more months in the oven would have perfected it.

Out of 10, I gave Sniper: Ghost Warrior an 6.5/10

Good Points: Interesting POV of a military sniper
                    Gorgeous gameplay
                    Sneak and stab - brilliant mechanic

Bad Points:  AI's are a bit ridiculous
                   Game does not allow easy kills
                   Levels do get a bit repetitive
                   Sad multiplayer issues...

Pageview counter explosion!

Hey there guys and gals!

I've been gone for mostly the two weeks or so and Im so glad to come back and see I've passed the 1500 marker! A fantastic achievement and all the credit rests with you, the reader. Thank you so much for reading these words and my reviews. It is truly appreciated.
Tell you what, if I can make it to 2000 by December 10th, I'll have another Microsoft Point Competition.

Unfortunately, my health has slightly declined. I won't lie, I have torn a Muscle Skeleton (A muscle more directly fused to the bones) between my heart and lungs. I've been having trouble breathing, so work has been a no go. So hopefully I can finish my Driver San Fran review later this week, as well as my Sniper one too. Unfortunately, it will be slim picking from there on out. I'll try to put in the new Deus Ex HR DLC (If they'll tell us when the release date is) and maybe I'll download an older title and see what that does.
Until MW3, its gonna be a waiting game.
But I cant wait for November....its going to be one awesome month.

Well, to end this, thank you all for the support over the past year (Yeah, its nearly been a year already) and I look foward to the next game.
Keep it up! Your support is the fire for my fuel!
Thanks so much.
Al Fatman

Review: Portal 2 DLC

Hey there folks!

A free to download DLC, Portal 2 has recently released new content in two differents forms, video and 9 new challenges in the co-op attack. This review will be a short one as is the DLC.
Waking up with GLaDos speaking of being in the future after being asleep for over 10'000 years, you partake in a "museum" of old testing areas. A warning to those who have not completed the co-op storyline, there are very much spoilers awaiting you around, both hidden and straight told to you.
A short, spoiler free storyline is as such: you tackle these historic tests while GLaDos encourages (I'm serious, she's nice about it) you to move through the tests as fast as you possibly can, her witty and clever humour not far behind. The further you go, the harder and more tricky the tests become and will test any player or veteran of the series. Gameplay is what you'd expect, same with graphics and audio. For a full recap on said items, please look over my Portal 2 review, link below.

Portal 2 developers have delivered their promise many moons ago of a free DLC and they have certainly given us a fun and great way to pass the time with a friend, just make sure its a good friend or else fire will erupt from your ears!
I gave Portal 2 DLC an 8/10

Good points: Its free!
                    Great challenges
                    Hilarious video shorts

Bad Points:  Much too short
                   No single player?