The types of ships available through the C-Store are mostly redresses and refits, but some features are exclusive and cannot be obtained in any other way, such as the ability to replace "NCC" with "NX" on your ship's hull. Another interesting feature I noticed is the ability to change the ship's pattern (the design that is visible from the bird's eye view, on the saucer section). It is also possible to use parts from other ships in the same category, such as using a Constitution-class hull, but Vesper-class nacelles and Excalibur-class struts.
Star Trek Online uses multiple types of currency, but the most widely used are Energy Credits. The other types are: Dilithium Crystals, Gold Pressed Latinum and Cryptic Points. Cryptic Points aren't required, but they do make things easier on you. In order to obtain Cryptic Points, you either need to trade for them using Dilithium Crystals, or purchase them with a credit card. From what I've found out through the game's forum, things aren't terribly expensive. Many things in the game that are purchasable with Cryptic Points (CP) are 400-600 points, which is roughly 2-4 dollars, depending on your currency. Energy Credits (EC), are what you get when you sell weapons/equipment. You can also use your replicator to recycle items to free up inventory space or earn EC. Dilithium Crystals (DC) are refined from Dilithium Ore, obtainable through some missions. You are limited to refining 8,000 DC per day (24hrs), which sucks, but the DC you are allowed to refine can be exchanged for CP, which are roughly 250-60 DC.
Overall, the game is worth it, if you are willing to invest a lot of time (I mean, A LOT) into it.
Graphics - 90/100 (on max. setting)
Story - 85/100
Personality (custom settings, ships, characteres) - 100/100
Overall - 92/100
*Download link is here*
Friday, January 27, 2012
Star Trek Online Review: Part I
Last week (1/18/12) was, as you should know, the Wikipedia blackout. However, a lesser known fact is that Star Trek Online went free-to-play the day before. Although STO is nothing new, (their 2-year anniversary is next month) I thought it would be interesting to give it a try. So I downloaded it, hoping it would provide me some entertainment to make up for the time I would usually spend looking up random astronomical phenomena on Wikipedia. Little did I know, it was going to be more than just a little entertainment...
The graphics are dependent on your hardware, but other than that, you are able to run free. You can choose your character's appearance, gender (I would hope so...) and career (Tactical/Command, Sciences/Medical, and Operations/Engineering), and later on in the game, you are able to choose to be a Klingon character. The game's leveling system is fairly simple. There are 7/8 ranks (I'm not quite sure how many Admiral ranks there are), and you gain skill points by completing missions. Each rank has 10 grades, and each rank grants you an additional ship, and a new officer. Your ship is set by default to a Centaur-class, a Miranda-class or a Shi'Kar-class vessel. After advancing to the rank of Lt. Commander, you are able to switch to a Light Escort, Cruiser or Light Science Vessel, and are able to choose between:
Cruisers:
Constitution refit-class (like the movie version of the Enterprise)
Constitution-class (like the Original Series, but this requires Cryptic Points, but I'll get to that later)
Excalibur-class (viewable in the background on the main STO website)
Vesper-class (like a mix between Excelsior and Constitution-refit)
Exeter-class (requires Cryptic Points, a refit of the refit Constitution)
Light Science:
Nova-class (like the USS Equinox, for those who watch Star Trek: Voyager)
Nova refit-class (essentially the same, except for a bit of added armour)
That's pretty much it for Part I, I'll either get Archaen to do Part II, or finish it when I don't have to leave for exams.
The graphics are dependent on your hardware, but other than that, you are able to run free. You can choose your character's appearance, gender (I would hope so...) and career (Tactical/Command, Sciences/Medical, and Operations/Engineering), and later on in the game, you are able to choose to be a Klingon character. The game's leveling system is fairly simple. There are 7/8 ranks (I'm not quite sure how many Admiral ranks there are), and you gain skill points by completing missions. Each rank has 10 grades, and each rank grants you an additional ship, and a new officer. Your ship is set by default to a Centaur-class, a Miranda-class or a Shi'Kar-class vessel. After advancing to the rank of Lt. Commander, you are able to switch to a Light Escort, Cruiser or Light Science Vessel, and are able to choose between:
Cruisers:
Constitution refit-class (like the movie version of the Enterprise)
Constitution-class (like the Original Series, but this requires Cryptic Points, but I'll get to that later)
Excalibur-class (viewable in the background on the main STO website)
Vesper-class (like a mix between Excelsior and Constitution-refit)
Exeter-class (requires Cryptic Points, a refit of the refit Constitution)
Light Science:
Nova-class (like the USS Equinox, for those who watch Star Trek: Voyager)
Nova refit-class (essentially the same, except for a bit of added armour)
That's pretty much it for Part I, I'll either get Archaen to do Part II, or finish it when I don't have to leave for exams.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Australia Day
Today is Australia day or something along the lines. It is a little know holiday so I thought I'll give a shout out to all the Australians that visit our site. You guys are our third country with the most views. Also, the sniper in Team Fortress Two is from Australia. Sorry for that somewhat random fact.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Review
I promised to review some games so here is a start. (reminder, lazy readers should read last paragraph) I'll start with the pros before the cons. The first pro I see the title itself. Anyone who knows the Half-Life series should be delighted to play another one of their, crow bar bashing games. The "2" part of the title isn't unusual since there is about, six games that start with "Half-Life 2:" The "Lost Coast" part is a bit odd but with reading you find out it is an alternate path that you can take which gets you pumped. A Half-Life 2 alternate path, which means there must be so much to do.
The sound and graphic quality is at it's peak. This is what you expect from Valve and more, complete with scenic views and calm open water to gaze at, but not to swim in (learned by experience). The colors are a bit soft but it fits. I want to explain more but it's just good to look at but not in a way that it stops you from killing the enemies so you can stop and view the ocean and get shot tons of times. This game takes advantage of your graphic and sound card in a very intense game.
Now for the cons, game play is a minor one since it confuses you with different weapons from the story that normally are there at that point. The enemies are the same as the story, combine overwatch and a hunter chopper. There is no new enemy so don't expect much, but since this is a separate game they should have made at least one new enemy. Besides the weapon thing, there isn't anything new. The biggest issue to me is the game length. Even though I tried exploring every corner I still finish the game in about 45 minutes. It's not a quite a full game nor a demo. The puzzles are way too easy, which I found by mistake and the end is a let down.
The quality is nice, it displays nice visuals and audios. There aren't any surprises so don't expect any. The game length is enough to satisfy most people so don't delete too many things to download it. It's a good demo of the physics engine which shows Half-Life without any bugs.
Overall 80/100 crowbars
The sound and graphic quality is at it's peak. This is what you expect from Valve and more, complete with scenic views and calm open water to gaze at, but not to swim in (learned by experience). The colors are a bit soft but it fits. I want to explain more but it's just good to look at but not in a way that it stops you from killing the enemies so you can stop and view the ocean and get shot tons of times. This game takes advantage of your graphic and sound card in a very intense game.
Now for the cons, game play is a minor one since it confuses you with different weapons from the story that normally are there at that point. The enemies are the same as the story, combine overwatch and a hunter chopper. There is no new enemy so don't expect much, but since this is a separate game they should have made at least one new enemy. Besides the weapon thing, there isn't anything new. The biggest issue to me is the game length. Even though I tried exploring every corner I still finish the game in about 45 minutes. It's not a quite a full game nor a demo. The puzzles are way too easy, which I found by mistake and the end is a let down.
The quality is nice, it displays nice visuals and audios. There aren't any surprises so don't expect any. The game length is enough to satisfy most people so don't delete too many things to download it. It's a good demo of the physics engine which shows Half-Life without any bugs.
Overall 80/100 crowbars
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Emulators
Over the Christmas holidays when I wasn't playing Cave Story 3D or watching Star Trek movies, I found myself playing Pokemon Crystal on my phone. I downloaded an emulator from the Android Market, link is here:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bslapps.gbc&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5ic2xhcHBzLmdiYyJd
Anyway, emulators work well on most computers with a decent amount of RAM and most Android devices running 2.2+.
If you don't have an Android phone, you're pretty much out of luck. But if you have a Mac or PC, you can go to http://www.coolrom.com/ and download most emulators and ROM files there. If you want to play Pokemon Diamond or Pearl, you need to tweak the emulator a bit, but it works if you know how to do it. Sadly, there is no app to download ROM files on the Market, so you have to use the above website, or another source to transfer them to your device. Anyway, that's all for now, thanks for reading and remember to follow us on Twitter and Google+.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bslapps.gbc&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5ic2xhcHBzLmdiYyJd
Anyway, emulators work well on most computers with a decent amount of RAM and most Android devices running 2.2+.
If you don't have an Android phone, you're pretty much out of luck. But if you have a Mac or PC, you can go to http://www.coolrom.com/ and download most emulators and ROM files there. If you want to play Pokemon Diamond or Pearl, you need to tweak the emulator a bit, but it works if you know how to do it. Sadly, there is no app to download ROM files on the Market, so you have to use the above website, or another source to transfer them to your device. Anyway, that's all for now, thanks for reading and remember to follow us on Twitter and Google+.
A New Year
This is a new year and a fresh start. First of all I'll like to congratulate you viewers for giving us 1,029 viewers in the month of December. 2012 will be filled with many good games hopefully if not, well, we won't talk about the ones that aren't good. The Mayan calendar is a good topic to talk about too. First of all, I probably live in a different time zone than you so if you live west of me, you'll meet your possible doom first. Now that's out of the way, I want to announce that I have a boat load of PC games from steam great gift pile. Look forward to many reviews.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Admin Account
Hello there Mortals. This is actually just Archaen, but I'm on the Admin Account, which also happens to be the blog email address... yes, it does exist, and yes, someone does monitor it, so feel free to drop a question our way via email...
Uh... That's it.
Halo 2 Review
Hey, its Thor here again, and I know I said I would post more regularly, and i haven't been doing that due to lots of work, and other things(Okay, I was Watching Stargate and Flashpoint). i have finished a new logo for (null) and will get it up soon (well, not really...) but now into what game i will be reviewing today.
Halo 2, the Sequel to the game featured in my first review, Halo: Combat Evolved {which is being re-released in remastered HD with Xbox Live, available November 15, 2011, w00t[And now that is last year :P]} I never got to play the Xbox live online feature before the servers went down last year, probably my only video game related regret, as I hear it was very fun.
Anyways, on to the review. The graphics have obviously advanced, with environments that are even more seamless than the original. the campaign story line is short, but good, continued on from the last game. I'd like to tell you a play by play of the first level, since that seemed to be my thing based on my one review, but I haven't played it recently, and completely forget what happens.
Some new features and weapons were introduced in this game. The original magnum pistol was replaced with an insanely crappy new one... and Duel Wielding was added! (and or course the Assault Rifle was removed and replaced with the 3 round burst Battle Rifle, and the 60 round full auto, dual wield-able SMG) Dual wielding basically made it possible to carry two weapons, one in each hand, as well as a back up. when you switch weapons though, you drop one of the guns. One gun is fired with the left trigger, the other with the right, making grenade throwing while dual wielding impossible.
Story-line wise though, It continued the story just slightly after you destroy Installation 04 in Halo: CE, and John117 is back on earth (more accurately, above it). Oh, and completely on topic, I just remembered the first level! ya!
You are standing in the armory of the Earth Defense Station 'Cairo', basically a giant MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) Platform that float in orbit above Earth. the MAC Platforms are placed 3 in one area, in a all in a giant grid; with the Cairo's Sister Platforms, the 'Athens' and the 'Malta'. you are talking to the Master Sargent who is working in the armory (Okay, you are standing there, and he is talking to you). he is complaining about the amount of damage that you did to your MJOLNIR MK5 armor. Lucky for you, he just got the MK6 model for you, so you have to do the Standard Inversion "Better this way, or This Way" test again. Right after you finish the test, Sargent Johnson comes out of an elevator to pick you up for an awards ceremony aboard the 'Cairo'. you follow him and the elevator goes down and sideways, while Johnson gives you a brief history of the MAC Platforms. As they get out of the elevator Johnson says to you "You told me you were gonna wear something nice." As you two walk over to the next set of doors a floating Press camera follows you. Chief looks at, and then replies "You told me there weren't going to be any cameras..." Blah blah blah, more story stuff you'll have to find out about yourself, Some bits with The Arbiter, being branded and what not. Back on the MAC platform, you are receiving a medal, and Miranda Keyes (Captain Jacob Keyes Daughter) is receiving a medal for her father. The Covenant attack, laying waste to one of the MAC platforms using a bomb. You know there is a bomb somewhere aboard 'Cairo', and you set out to find it, killing everything that isn't human on your way. you get to the bomb, Cortana stops the detonation... but then you decided to use the Covenants own bomb against them. You open the airlock doors and jump out, pushing the bomb out with you. You fly through a hole in a Covenant Battle Cruiser that was opened up by a Longsword, and set the bomb in the power core of the ship, and then push of, hurtling away where you are picked up by the Frigate In Amber Clad.
That's basically a not so quick synopses of the first level...
Overall I'd have to give this game a 85/100. I had a lot of fun with this game, and I hear the online multi-player was very fun, but I only got to play the offline multi-player (still, really fun), but they replaced the Magnum and the Assault Rifle. I do like the Battle Rifle and SMG, but I really liked the 60 round MA5b. They also added the dual wielding capability, so that is a plus.
Halo 2, the Sequel to the game featured in my first review, Halo: Combat Evolved {which is being re-released in remastered HD with Xbox Live, available November 15, 2011, w00t[And now that is last year :P]} I never got to play the Xbox live online feature before the servers went down last year, probably my only video game related regret, as I hear it was very fun.
Anyways, on to the review. The graphics have obviously advanced, with environments that are even more seamless than the original. the campaign story line is short, but good, continued on from the last game. I'd like to tell you a play by play of the first level, since that seemed to be my thing based on my one review, but I haven't played it recently, and completely forget what happens.
Some new features and weapons were introduced in this game. The original magnum pistol was replaced with an insanely crappy new one... and Duel Wielding was added! (and or course the Assault Rifle was removed and replaced with the 3 round burst Battle Rifle, and the 60 round full auto, dual wield-able SMG) Dual wielding basically made it possible to carry two weapons, one in each hand, as well as a back up. when you switch weapons though, you drop one of the guns. One gun is fired with the left trigger, the other with the right, making grenade throwing while dual wielding impossible.
Story-line wise though, It continued the story just slightly after you destroy Installation 04 in Halo: CE, and John117 is back on earth (more accurately, above it). Oh, and completely on topic, I just remembered the first level! ya!
You are standing in the armory of the Earth Defense Station 'Cairo', basically a giant MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) Platform that float in orbit above Earth. the MAC Platforms are placed 3 in one area, in a all in a giant grid; with the Cairo's Sister Platforms, the 'Athens' and the 'Malta'. you are talking to the Master Sargent who is working in the armory (Okay, you are standing there, and he is talking to you). he is complaining about the amount of damage that you did to your MJOLNIR MK5 armor. Lucky for you, he just got the MK6 model for you, so you have to do the Standard Inversion "Better this way, or This Way" test again. Right after you finish the test, Sargent Johnson comes out of an elevator to pick you up for an awards ceremony aboard the 'Cairo'. you follow him and the elevator goes down and sideways, while Johnson gives you a brief history of the MAC Platforms. As they get out of the elevator Johnson says to you "You told me you were gonna wear something nice." As you two walk over to the next set of doors a floating Press camera follows you. Chief looks at, and then replies "You told me there weren't going to be any cameras..." Blah blah blah, more story stuff you'll have to find out about yourself, Some bits with The Arbiter, being branded and what not. Back on the MAC platform, you are receiving a medal, and Miranda Keyes (Captain Jacob Keyes Daughter) is receiving a medal for her father. The Covenant attack, laying waste to one of the MAC platforms using a bomb. You know there is a bomb somewhere aboard 'Cairo', and you set out to find it, killing everything that isn't human on your way. you get to the bomb, Cortana stops the detonation... but then you decided to use the Covenants own bomb against them. You open the airlock doors and jump out, pushing the bomb out with you. You fly through a hole in a Covenant Battle Cruiser that was opened up by a Longsword, and set the bomb in the power core of the ship, and then push of, hurtling away where you are picked up by the Frigate In Amber Clad.
That's basically a not so quick synopses of the first level...
Overall I'd have to give this game a 85/100. I had a lot of fun with this game, and I hear the online multi-player was very fun, but I only got to play the offline multi-player (still, really fun), but they replaced the Magnum and the Assault Rifle. I do like the Battle Rifle and SMG, but I really liked the 60 round MA5b. They also added the dual wielding capability, so that is a plus.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Cave Story Three-Dee
I celebrate Christmas, as I'm sure some of you do, so It is logical to assume that I got something for Christmas. And, in doing so, you would be correct. I got 200$ from my uncle, who lives in Montreal. 100$ was for Christmas, and the other half was from my birthday, which was in October (the 9th, to be exact). I decided I would go out and get a 3DS game. At the time, I didn't really know what I wanted, but when I saw that Gamestop only had one copy of Cave Story 3D left, I decided to buy it.
Anyhow, this is my review of the game.
The game has a nice classic feel to it, while adding the new effects nicely. You have two options for graphics. You can choose to play with the new 3D characters and objects (such as Life Capsules and Save Points), or you could play with a 3D world, but with the original 2D sprites, and thankfully, both are amazing.
The gameplay is just what I had expected it to be. The characters have exactly the same lines, and unfortunately, Balrog doesn't say "HUZZAH!!!" when he appears in the shack. Other than that let down, the game is a good amuser, at least until I feel like hauling my lazy ass out to buy another iTunes gift card.
I give Cave Story 3D 89 Huzzah's or lacktherof out of 100 Huzzah's or lacktherof.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Club Nintendo 2011 Platinum Reward Unboxing!
So, two reviewers here on Null (Rinzler and myself!) recently got their hands on the latest Club Nintendo elite status reward! Platinum, no less. There's really not much more to say, so check out our unboxing videos down below! Just click a link and have a good four minutes of your life. It's time well wasted, folks.
My Unboxing (Fiftybottles):
Rinzler's Unboxing:
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sorry for the Last Post
As you can see, the title is what I mean. I have deepest regrets for doing something so childish. I'm just expresses my inner emotions through pictures that I created. Like a poet with his or her poems. Like an artist with paint or an author with words. I am just a follower of these great people. I may have missed some of the great people who express their feelings. If you thought I would make more of those, well too bad. I'll only give you one more though.
888 .d888
888 d88P"
888 888
.d8888b 8888b. .d88888 888888 8888b. .d8888b .d88b.
88K "88b d88" 888 888 "88b d88P" d8P Y8b
"Y8888b. .d888888 888 888 888 .d888888 888 88888888
X88 888 888 Y88b 888 888 888 888 Y88b. Y8b.
88888P' "Y888888 "Y88888 888 "Y888888 "Y8888P "Y8888
Sad Face
A picture I drew, technically typed. Hope you like it. Sad face.
#####-----------#####
---O--MMMMM---O----
-O--///--------\\\--O--
--///-------------\\\---
It's me with emotions and depression. Sad face.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Just Some Stuff...
Okay, so recently a few things have happened... Thor has recently retrieved the password for our YouTube/Gmail/Blogger account, so I took the liberty to upload a video review, which is kind of crappy, for the Club Nintendo Platinum Reward... Which is being uploaded as I type this on my phone.
The other info I had to inform you about, is that our fellow blogger, Chi You has been temporarily demoted to an author for posting a poll asking who was right, me or him. Not to worry, he has been informed and will be fully reinstated as a full admin before the turn of 2012.
Another quick note, I will also be making a video review for Mario Kart 7 as well as Super Mario 3D Land.
Thanks for reading,
~Captain Picard
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Minecraft Requests
I am taking Minecraft creation requests if you don't know. It has to be something you won't censor or look like something you will censor. So, I will be able to make a lot of thing. I would prefer if you gave Minecraft city ideas. Sad face.
I have an emergency station, if you don't know, I have a visual tour of it. I have a church, inn, observatory, indoor shooting/bomb range, therapist, a brewer stand, a vendor, a well, a soup kitchen/homeless shelter, hunting store, cafe, a lighting shop and a color wool store.
Well, if you want to tell me a request either e mail me with the e mails at the side or post a comment.
Sad face.
I have an emergency station, if you don't know, I have a visual tour of it. I have a church, inn, observatory, indoor shooting/bomb range, therapist, a brewer stand, a vendor, a well, a soup kitchen/homeless shelter, hunting store, cafe, a lighting shop and a color wool store.
Well, if you want to tell me a request either e mail me with the e mails at the side or post a comment.
Sad face.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Lucky Number 7
Overal, the game has its many ups and downs (literally, with that damn hanglider), and one strong point the game has is something I have admired about Mario Kart since I used to play my N64, which is probably collecting dust somewhere in my basement, was the music used in Rainbow Road. The developers and composers that helped with this game gave it a unique feel, but the classic fanfare kicked in about halfway through the first "section" (longer courses, such as Wuhu Loop, Maka Wuhu and Rainbow Road have you complete three segments of the course, but only one lap). The way the music blended with the graphics almost made me cry myself to the finish line.
The gamplay that Mario Kart 7 has to offer is truly one-of-a-kind, in the sense that is has the virtue that it hasn't been done before. The 3D effects really add depth (pardon the pun) to the game, and the first-person-racer mode allows you to use the gyro controls to race. I still can't forgive Nintendo for putting Mushroom Gorge in this game...
The only area I think that this game lacked in was the characters. The game has some new characters, and the ability to customize your kart, but the characters you'd expect to be there have been replaced by some useless characters from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64. Otherwise, this game was among the stars (literally, again with the hanglider), and is bound to be like it's predecessor, which has only dropped in price by 5$ in almost 4 years.
I give this game 99.5 hangliders out of 100.
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