HERO ACADEMY is a turn by turn strategy game, in which you select your team and battle it out on a map with a 5 by 9 grid. Depending on the team you select you will have certain strengths and weaknesses, so be wary when facing an opponent from a different race. Each member of your team can be upgraded with items, moved around and can of course attack the enemy team. You can also cast some spells around the battlefield, but during a game you will only get a few chances to do so, so plan accordingly!
The goal is to either defeat all the heroes of the opposing team or destroy their crystals. When you submit your turn, you can just put down your phone and go on with your (social? / online?) life. The moment your opponent submits his/her move, you will get a message one your phone, telling you it is your turn. This principle isn’t new, we have seen it with other games like the popular WORDFEUD, but WORDFEUD always has been a game not meant for me. Not to mention, nowadays even my little nephews and nieces use cheating programs to beat others. (I mean c’mon, have you ever seen your 11 year old nephew put down words like “quizzify” or “whizbang”?)

One step down, two steps left now zap that b*tch

So why write about a game, which is based on a relatively simple principle? Well the game brings back nostalgia. Back in college we all used to play HEROES OF MIGHT & MAGIC, also a turn based strategy game. You entered your move, hit alt+tab and continued with your college work or lecture. The moment your classmate was done with his move, you just jumped back into the game and followed with your moves. If I compare HOMM with HERO ACADEMY, I’m seeing similarities especially looking at how combat works. For me this is the main reason to play this game. Combine it with the fact it is Free 2 Play, you really cannot go wrong here. I however payed €0,79 to unlock the Elven race and remove the ads, but this is optional and when I look back at the many many and I mean many hours I have put in this game already, €0,79 equals to pretty much nothing.

The developers are trying to steal your money with avatars, color schemes or the ability to taunt. These are all aesthetic and not required to enjoy the game. So as is with any other F2P game, play the game, only spend money on the things really worth it and ignore all the rest. And if you really do not want to spend money, the game by itself is great fun already.

The developers are planning to release the game for the iPad and eventually for Android and Windows Mobile devices. I can’t wait for the latter to happen so I can expand my domination towards some of my other friends. So got an iOS device? Install now and feel free to hit me up. My nickname is (you could have guessed) NrFive.

With 2012 I personally doubt more postings will be done, though we will try to aim to post more than 2011. In the years of 2012 and early 2013 I’ll be focusing on my studies, trying to be the best I can, and being the best you can means sacrificing a lot of time to write.

But to not let 2011 go out with a sizzle, I’ll try to summarize the most important things in media, gaming and events worth mentioning. And no I will not be talking about the Arabian Wars or the Economic Crisis, expect to read things about Steve Jobs, DOTA 2, DRIVE and perhaps a little Harry Potter.

We’ll start with cinema:
Looking at a list I found on internet I must say that 2011 has been quite a decent year for moviegoers. Some great flicks like CAPTAIN AMERICA, DRIVE, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, WINNIE THE POOH, X-MEN FIRST CLASS, CRAZY STUPID LOVE, PAUL, HORRIBLE BOSSES, PAUL, PUSS IN BOOTS and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL. (That’s quite a list already isn’t it?)

The titles I mentioned here are those I all saw and thought were worth my time. Some of these movies I even watched several times even though they will probably not win any awards. I will not go through them all, but will mention a couple which you should definitely watch if you ever come around to it. I’m quite sure many of them will be on TV in the coming year.

First movie I want to mention is DRIVE. This movie already won many awards, but I want to tell you why I think this movie is so great. Nowadays when an action movie is made it has lots of special effects and they tend to show you a lot in very few seconds. Like cars exploding, some briefcase being grabbed and the main character shooting down a dozens of bad guys. This is your average action sequence in a random action movie. With DRIVE you are looking at an action sequence in which nothing happens, really nothing, but you are on the edge of your seat waiting, watching and wondering what will happen. Ryan Gosling does an excellent job in playing the dark and mysterious guy, fighting for a righteous cause.

Yeah I'm a serious driver

Second movie worth your time is HORRIBLE BOSSES. I have seen this movie two times and during the first screening I really did not like the movie to be honest. But during a flight back from my vacation I decided to watch it again. Looking at the movie again I could understand why people like it so much. Everything which happens to the three employees most of us will recognise in their own work. If you have experienced similar situations, you will love this movie, if not you will probably see it as a cliche comedy offering nothing special.

Last movie I want to mention is CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Looking at the trailer and movie description most of you will judge this movie as your average standard romantic comedy. And yes this movie is just that, but the story being told is a good one. In CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE we follow Steve Carrel while his life goes down the drain, losing his wife, house and connection with his kids. He then is given a choice, start a new live as a playboy (with the help of Ryan Gosling) or fight for the love of his wife. The reason I would recommend this movie is because of the truth it contains. I often hear couples ending their relationship saying “yeah the love was gone”, but remember you always have a choice to fight for it instead of just starting over (or being unfaithful).

My penis is indeed in your face

Next up games:
Even though I play my fair amount of games, when it comes to 2011 I hardly played any new games. The ones I can recommend are SKYRIM, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, PORTAL 2, L.A. NOIRE and BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY.

Other games worth checking out are of course MODERN WARFARE 3 and/or BATTLEFIELD 3 if you are into those kind of games. STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC – the new MMO of EA – is my honorable mention for this year, since pretty much everyone I know and their dog is currently playing and enjoying it.
You might ask then “but NrFive what do you play then?”, well good that you asked. Some of you might know that Hi-Rez Studios bought the Tribes IP from GarageGames and have released a beta of TRIBES: ASCEND. My other site (www.gameshrine.org) focuses on Tribes: Ascend and leading a community requires you to play the game and since we know and love the Tribes franchise since 1999 we are forced to play this game and give the developers our feedback. With the little time I have left to even play games, this time is divided between STARCRAFT 2 and random single player games like PORTAL 2 and BATMAN.

Discover if the cake still is a lie in Portal 2

Last but not least, major events:
One of the biggest events this year was the gaming convention in Leipzig, GamesCom. The reason I want to mention this event was the tournament hosted by Valve for their upcoming game DOTA 2. Even though the game was still in an alpha stage and buggy as hell, the amount of attention it gained was enormous. Everyone was talking about it and everyone wanted to see how the game looked during real competitive play. In my honest opinion Valve dropped the bomb on us and the entire gaming community by staging such a tournament, kudos to them.

Hackers are among us, yes it felt like the movie HACKERS with Angeline Jolie all over again this year, but 2011 will go down as the start of an online war. The fall of many regimes in the Middle-East also contributed in the uprising of many hacker-groups, but the hack of PlayStation Network was the most noticeable one, leaving the network down for months. Now I do not approve what hackers do, but the reasons behind their doings are (mostly) the right ones. The problem with society as it is now, is that nobody can really stand up against the greedy corporations who think they can pretty much do anything they please. Like LinkedIn suddenly using pictures without your permission, or Sony stating that they cannot be sued even if they are wrong. I know many people will say “ you are not forced to use their products”, but remind yourself that as time goes on you are eventually forced to use their products since alternatives do not properly exist. Yes we are still talking about luxury products here, but this does not mean that companies (and even governments) can do as they please. As a consumer you should always be aware for what you are signing up, what information you are putting online and with what products you want to work with. As time goes by we can only hope for proper alternatives so consumers have a choice.

Power to the People (or something like that)

This also brings us to the last big thing I want to write a little about, which is the death of Steve Jobs. Many of us suspected his demise for months / years, since he was on and off again, showing up thinner each time a keynote presentation was held. Though many will like the way he did things, nobody will deny the impact he had on the technology sector. He inspired new generations of hardware and even though the only thing of Apple I own is the iPhone, holding any of their products really is a joy. Going through his biography and following the rumors, Apple is on the verge of causing another stir in the tech-world. First it was the MP3, then the Phone followed shortly after with tablets, the next step… the TV?
All I can say about Steve Jobs is that he really pushed the boundaries of technology development, even though the way Apple work isn’t always nice, the enormous drive to keep improving is always a good one.

2011 was a year in which a lot has happened and 2012 is looking like it will continue the way 2011 is ending. I hope everyone will be able to withstand the crisis, survive the several ongoing wars and try to stay positive whenever possible.

On behalf of criticasm.com we all wish you a Happy New Year and try to be safe when shooting them fireworks.

As some of you might know, I have been a true RPG fan since the early days. I think my first RPGs were BALDUR’S GATE, PLANESCAPE TORMENT and FALLOUT. Even with these great titles I also played pen & paper RPGs like AD&D en D&D 3rd. Some time later a great game called NEVERWINTER NIGHTS came and it got me hooked. With a big community and easy modifications, it was easy to get lost in this world.
One of the popular mods this game had, was BATTLE OF THE DRAGONS. A game in which there are two teams, each of them have a base with a big ass dragon, some elite guards, some normal guards and troops. The dragon and the guards were stationary NPCs which fired their magic or arrows at you if you got too close. The troops were spawned every so often and followed 3 paths towards the enemy base.
So the principle was simple, you level up, you kill enemy troops, normal guards, elite guards and finally you kill the enemy dragon and win the round. (O and not to forget, you could upgrade troops and buy stuff at shops to improve your awesomeness)

Now some people will yell out loud: “Hey that sounds a lot like DEFENSE OF THE ANCIENTS!” and I’ll say: “Really?”. Because fact was, I never heard of it until recently when I started playing DIABLO 2 again. Some blokes were talking about a free mod of WARCRAFT III which was fast leveling, action and great short fun. With my current living style, it sounded too good to be true. So I Googled up DOTA, installed WARCRAFT III and played a few rounds.

My conclusion? Well it’s actually quite addictive, but somehow it was missing something for me and then it hit me. I was missing out on some more character development and the “feel” of being really über.

During my Googling session for DOTA I stumbled upon DEMIGOD and since then I have been following this game. When I finally got a chance to play, I was like a little kid in the candy store.

I got the game, installed, booted with Fraps in the background and tweaked the settings to low, with only the resolution on par with my widescreen. I first started with some offline play, before getting my arse whipped online. First Demigod picked? The Rook of course! I was walking around and smashing stuff, leveling like mad and won the first round. I sighed and exited the game…

This is it, this is the game I have been looking for after BATTLE OF THE DRAGONS died a silent death when NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2 came! But there was only one problem. My system was not good enough to run it properly. As said above, my settings were all set on low, except the screen resolution. I was doing 20 FPS on average, so the game felt real slow when I was in combat.

Now I know that my system is not that good, but with the minimum specs Gas Powered Games mentioned, I assumed the game could at least run around 30-35 FPS with everything set to low. Alas, this was not for me. So I exited the game, shut down my laptop and went downstairs to play some RED FACTION: GUERILLA.

15 minutes later I came back up – no not because RED FACTION sucked – but, because I was convinced I could tweak my dying rig to play this game. After some tweaking I managed to squeeze 5 more FPS to make the game a little more playable.

Most of you are not interested in my bad laptop, but I’m trying to make a point here. With the bad system I had, I kept coming back to the game. I played with every Demigod and finished the “offline mode” of this game. This is how much I think this game has potential!

The game can be easily divided in two groups of characters you can play; an Assassin or a General. Assassins are basically one army people who can deal tons of damage, these characters play a lot like the heroes from DOTA in WARCRAFT III. The Generals are similar to the Assassins, only are a bit weaker, but can summon fairly strong units to aid him (or her). Do not underestimate those summons, because they can tear down buildings fairly easy. Note: You can play a General as if it was an Assassin, just focus your points in melee / ranged / health, instead of on your summons. Now with your Demigod you battle your way towards the enemy base and destroy it (or capture stuff, depending on the game mode you are playing), a simple concept with short and hectic games.

But I have to give everyone a fair warning before rushing out to the stores to get this game. This game indeed has potential, but it is lacking on some parts, which you have to accept if you want to enjoy this game properly.

The offline mode is pretty much bollocks. It is just a fancy version of Skirmish, so you get to know the game a bit better. Do not confuse this with a tutorial, because it’s not. Also there is no real tutorial in this game, but I believe an average gamer should understand the basics in a couple of games versus the AI on easy. The manual can help by the way and if you need to know more things the official forums are a good source of information.

I have not played multiplayer, so I am not going to give an opinion on this. What I read so far on several forums, is that the slowest player makes the entire match / round go slow. Since my laptop sucks, everyone would be slowed down to my speed, so at the moment I am not going to put anyone through this misery. (It is really annoying if you have a great rig and llamas like me are ruining your gaming experience.) This actually is something that needs fixing and the devs are aware of this. Also there are problems with the network coding and login systems, but again the devs are working on it.

Currently I am just hoping a patch will come, which will improve the performance slightly, so I can fully enjoy online play.

So worth the buy? I say yes!. I am aware that on the net the game has been circling prior to the official release date, but all those people downloading and playing it are missing a couple of things:
- The 0-day patch which contains lots of tweaks and other improvements
- Proper online fun (if they fix the network issues), with stats tracking
- Free content (they will be adding more Demigods with future patches)
The game itself can be bought fairly cheap, so do not order it from the official website. I have seen some online stores selling the game for less then 30 bucks, which is cheaper than the 40 dollars from the official site (and only is a digital copy of the game).

If you do buy this game, accept the problems it has now, knowing it will be fixed. And if you are completely new to this type of genre, fight some AI on easy to get a good sense of what you can do. If you are really in doubt, download the game to get a real good impression. The real fun of this game is multiplayer, so you’ll need to buy it for online play (and of course for the free extra Demigods you’ll get!).

Rig played on:
Intel Dual core 1.6 GHz
3.0 GB of RAM
ATi Mobility x1600 with 256 RAM (the bottleneck for this game)

Official site: http://www.demigodthegame.com
Ingame footage can be found on GameShrine