Hey, everybody!

Most of my friends here in GS know that I love First-Person Shooters and, as a secondary favorite genre, slow-paced Adventures. When I like a game, not only I want to explore every bit of it, but also try quality custom content from the on-line communities. I played mods and total conversions for DOOM 3, Jedi Knight: Academy, Half-Life and so, but I never got anything as amazing as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 2009. This is the best mod I ever played in my life, and not only greatly improves the graphics on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, but also adds weapons, sounds, special effects (scary night and breathtaking sunrises, for instance) and a lot of gameplay tweaks. It improves the game in a way that definitely makes it flawless. I ain't kidding about that, really.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 2009, when unpacked, adds more than 1GB of custom content that improves the original game to unbelievable levels. I'm playing it again on "Master" difficulty, finishing the game for the third time. My closest friends know well that I love S.T.A.L.K.E.R., so it isn't a big surprise that I gave this one a solid 9.5 out of 10. If the game was released with this amazing and huge mod applied, I would have given it 10 out of 10 without a doubt. The graphics and gameplay are even better than in Clear Sky, which is, even with its problems, an excellent game.

If you added S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat in your "Wish list" but can't wait any longer for its release, you should consider installing Shadow of Chernobyl again and play it with the Complete 2009 mod applied. If you're a newcomer to the series, you should install the mod as well, since it only improves the game without staying far from the original feel. In truth, Complete 2009 even corrects bugs and AI issues that the official patches didn't fix. After beating the game, the mod allows the player to keep wandering in the Zone freely, accomplishing random missions and exploring dangerous areas that he/she avoided before.

Finally, let me give you guys a little update: I'm still playing Penumbra: Black Plague and totally enjoying it. This is a very immersive Adventure game, although it better fits in the Survival Horror genre. I stopped with Torchlight after ten hours of gameplay, since the game was incredibly easy even at the hardest level... and I played with a type of character that I totally sucks playing with in every RPG game (Destroyer, the melee tank of Torchlight). I can't stick with easy games for too long, so I decided to uninstall Torchlight; I'm not sure if I'll play this game again, especially after a horrible crash that made me lose a few hours of progress.

My next activities will be: upload screenshots and videos from Penumbra: Collection and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 2009; review the following titles: HeXen: Death Kings of the Dark Citadel, Wheel of Time, Zombie Shooter, One Must Fall 2097 and Fate.

Keep gaming!

Hey, everyone!

So, I got tagged by topsemag55, and below are ten random facts about me:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. I'm a Brazilian gamer since I was four years old;

2. I live in Teresopolis (Rio de Janeiro), a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains;

3. After an unsuccessful relationship, I'm single right now, but I do wish to have kids someday (it will take as much time as possible, trust me);

4. I love to take a ride with my bike during the mornings;

5. Instead of going to a gym, I work out in my own house;

6. I don't drink alcohol and sodas alike;

7. I love to play casual games on the PC, being World of Goo my favorite so far;

8. My favorite movie genre is Horror, followed by Drama/Romance and War;

9. I work as a teacher and study System Development and Analysis;

10. I'll probably migrate to Linux if I'm forced to uninstall Windows XP to use Vista/Seven. =)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tag geoff-uk123!

So, after combining themes from a few games I like (The Neverhood, Left 4 Dead, Penumbra, Duke Nukem 3D, Myst etc.), I decided to let a creepy blog header's image from the Penumbra series. As for my profile's banner, I edited one of my favorite screenshots from Left 4 Dead, and also maintained a bad*** face as my avatar (can't help it, LoL). Although Clayman isn't bad, I thought the zombie apocalypse-survivor Francis would suit better. =) I like the way my profile is looking now.

About the games I'm playing, I finished Penumbra: Overture quite easily, except to a certain timed action sequence that made me reload the game a lot. I'm now playing Penumbra: Black Plague and it's as good as the first one. So far I recommend the Collection edition.

I played Loki: Heroes of Mythology (2007, Cyanide) and I must say that the game gave me a terrific first impression. If you don't know what this game is about, this is just a rip-off from Titan Quest, although with some nice concepts thrown in. The main menu screen looks amazing and you can feel the great atmosphere this game has to offer right away, even before creating your character. There're four characters and each one starts the game in a different set. Since I played with an Amazon-like Greek fighter, my first moments were in a small town, talking to my trainer Achilles and the goddess Athena. As you can see, unlike Titan Quest, you really meet with deity characters in Loki. After doing the first mission and enjoyed the lengthy killing sessions, along with the great musical score, the game crashed to my desktop after loading the next area. I was using the latest update available already, so there is nothing I could do to fix the bug. I've lost all my progress, so I uninstalled the game. Small bugs are tolerable, but I don't admit crashes. A shame, since I was really enjoying Loki.

Considering I didn't finish Loki, I'm not going to review it. However there're four reviews coming up, which I'm already working on (in this order): Zombie Shooter 2, Zombie Shooter, HeXen: Death Kings of the Dark Citadel and Wheel of Time. Hopefully, during the production of these reviews, I'll finish Penumbra: Collection and review it as well. No videos and screenshots to upload so far.

Keep gaming!