Game Review - Dracula Origin

Dracula Origin is the third game of this type from The Adventure Company. A point and click adventure game. After playing Dracula Sanctuary and Resurrection a few years back I was hoping Dracula Origin would be a little more exciting, especially with all of the advancements in graphics and physics engines over the years since I last played those games.

I must admit, I was some what disappointed in this game. The graphics were OK at best. Nothing really jumped out at you and made you say hey that was awesome or yeah that's cool. The audio was also just OK and the voice acting I thought was as flat as the storyline. Bram's Stoker while a classic to me is out dated. I thought the storyline was done in an extremely lackluster way and I thought the pace of the game was too slow. There was no urgency to save Mina.

Game Play:
Minor Spoiler Alert

This game is supposed to be about Dracula. Yet you only get to see him during the opening sequence of the game, and at the end of the game during the final confrontation, if that's what you really want to call it. There is absolutely no scariness or fearfulness for your own characters well being in this game. There is also no suspense to it either. Your character Professor Van Helsing slowly plods across the screen to hot spots you can easily find by pressing the space bar. You methodically collect items that you need to highlight or combine to solve puzzles. Most of the puzzles are logical and pretty straight forward making them fairly easy to solve. There were only two occasions where I needed to consult a walkthrough. The first one was the eight pointed star lock, and the other one was the Arsenal locker where I failed to click on an informational item that prevented me from entering the correct combination.



System Requirements

• Windows XP SP/2 / Vista
• Pentium IV 1.5 GHz / Athalon XP1500+
• 512 MB Ram
• Disc Space Required 2.5 GB
• 128MB video card Directx 9.0 c Compatible
• Directx 9 Compatible sound card
• 4 X CD Rom
• Mouse, Keyboard & Speakers

I GIVE IT A 4 OUT OF 5

Game Review...Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis

If you are an amateur sleuth, a budding Ellery Queen or Nancy Drew. Or one of those annoying persons, who always wins at Clue. (totally jealous I am of course) Then do I have a game for you. But if you are anything like me, then you better have pencil, paper and a good walkthrough handy.

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis (aka: Sherlock Homes versus Arsene Lupin) is a first person adventure game. This game definitely requires you to use the ole grey matter. You will need to use your reasoning and deductive skills a lot in this game, and I must admit my skills were a lot sharper in my younger days when I used to watch Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the silver screen. The puzzles in the game range from easy to downright pull your hair out hard. (you will wind up saying to yourself after you have read the walkthrough "Now why didn't I think of that" a lot in this game)

Graphics
You don't need a powerful computer to run this game. If your machine is Pentium 3 or higher and your video card is 128 MB Directx 9.0c compatible you should be golden. The graphics are clear and crisp. (on a personal note, not taking anything away from the game. I found the depiction of 1895 London a little too clean and pristine for my liking. )

Audio
The sound effects in the game were good and the voice acting was first rate, but I did find that the character lip syncing was off a little in some of the dialogue cut scenes. There were scenes where the characters lips were still moving long after the dialogue stopped. Another nice feature is the ability to adjust the various sound levels. I personally thought the violin music in the background was a little to intrusive until I adjusted it to my comfort level.

Controls
You move through out the game by means of WASD keys on the keyboard or by holding down the left button of your mouse. Using your mouse you can interact with characters and items by left clicking on them. Right clicking your mouse will allow you to access your inventory, dialogue, documents, notes and maps. Right clicking again will close your inventory screen.

Gameplay
In this installment Sherlock Holmes is locked in a battle of wits with Arsene Lupin a fictional French gentleman thief. Arsene Lupin challenges Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to stop him from stealing priceless artifacts that he says were wrongly taken away from the French through the Treaty of Alexandria and ceded to the British. He vows to steal back these items and humiliate the British Empire in the process. You must unravel the cryptic clues Arsene Lupin leaves behind after the thefts at such famous landmarks in London as the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. You must try to stay on step ahead of Lupin, and prevent him from stealing these priceless artifacts. While maintaining the Honor and Dignity of the British Crown, and of course the reputation of Sherlock Holmes by solving the case.

I found the title a little misleading. When I think of Sherlock Holmes's Nemesis the first person that comes to my mind is Professor Moriarty.... None the less I enjoyed playing this game even though it was a little humbling at times.

545 People

I received this in an e-mail, and the more I thought about it the more sense it made to me. How can a select few wield so much power, and get absolutely nothing done. After reading this I understood. They the politicians want it that way!


WELL SAID!!

545 People
By Charlie Reese --

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.

They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.

No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget.

He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House?

She is the leader of the majority party.

She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.

If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!"

I say its time to clean house. I will not vote for any incumbent running for Congress or the Senate.

Doc.

Have we been handed the solution to our dependence on foreign oil?

Salt Water Fuel

Is this the break through that the automotive industry has been looking for? Retired broadcast engineer John Kanzius invention may be whats needed to bring hydrogen powered vehicles to our showrooms. One of the byproducts of John Kanzius invention is the production of oxygen and hydrogen gas. There are hydrogen powered vehicles on the road today, but only as test vehicles. The automotive industry is hard at work testing various ways of safely storing hydrogen gas in their vehicles. Here lies one of the problems. Storing hydrogen gas and the risk of an explosion if we were involved in an car accident. You see pressurized hydrogen is very explosive and can self ignite if it escapes and expands rapidly from a high pressure tank. John Kanzius may have solved the auto industry's problem. Instead of filling the tank with liquid hydrogen gas, he would fill the tank with salt water. Then with the aid of his radio frequency generator he could convert the salt water into hydrogen gas that could in turn be burned to produce steam, which in turn could then be used to turn a steam turbine generator thus producing electricity to power our electric vehicle. Or something to that effect. No need for banks of heavy batteries or pressurized gas canisters. Just fill the tank with salt water then one or two batteries to power the radio frequency generator, then a little spark to ignite the gas to heat the water that turns the generator and off you go. No more gasoline...No more high fuel prices...No more being held hostage by OPEC over oil.

But, Will We Ever See It?

Probably not!

John Kanzius has offered to sell his process so that he can continue his research into curing cancer. So whats to stop OPEC with their trillions of dollars in oil profits from buying the process in order to maintain the status quo of high oil prices.

Time to step up.

Our politicians from the President on down who have told us that we need to find alternate forms of energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. So here's their chance to step up and free us of our dependency on oil. Will they invest in America and use our tax dollars wisely to finance the research and development of this breakthrough that could possibly once and for all end our dependency on foreign oil. Or will they offer us the same old lip service?

Illegal Immigration

This is a draft of an older post that I recently found from my old site.

Where's the Fence?

The existing fence is a joke! There are so many ways over it, under it, around it or thru it. That if it were a dike holding back the flood waters. We'd all be underwater. The entire fence needs to be replaced and extended to cover the entire southern border with Mexico. I don't want to hear that it can't be done. We have the technology to secure our borders. Just take a look at Area 51 (Groom Lake) in Nevada. A jack rabbit can't get into that top secret base with out the government knowing about it.

We have the fundamental right as a nation to secure our borders in any way we see fit!
No other country including Mexico has the right to tell us how to secure our border. The reason for the fence is to keep illegal immigrants (all persons not just Mexicans) from violating our immigration laws and entering our country unannounced. The fence will also help prevent illicit drugs from being smuggled into the United States through our southern border.

Amnesty...Hell No!

Illegal is illegal any way you cut it. Unauthorized aliens entered the United States illegally and broke our immigration laws. Any illegal alien who is caught inside the United States should go before an immigration board. A board set up in all 50 states with the legal authority to hold hearings for the sole purpose of dealing with immigration violations. (To keep from tying up our court system with immigration hearings and appeals.) The three member board would have the authority to deport any illegal alien after it heard all the mitigating circumstances for each individual case. Their decisions would be final, but in some circumstances where children and families are involved. A one time appeal would be allowed within 90 days of their decision. Of course illegal aliens who commit crimes in the United States would go through our criminal court system. They would do their time and then be deported or just be deported depending on the seriousness of the crime.

What needs to be done

Secure the border... build the fence, install any hi tech surveillance equipment that will help seal the border, hire additional border patrol agents to seal the border.
Enforce our existing immigration laws.
Legislate and create an immigration board to deal with immigration violations.
Pass new laws to close loopholes in the old laws and replace outdated laws.
Create a computer data base of everyone who applies for a visa, student visa, etc. that enters the United States.
Issue tamper proof ID cards (when applying for visas) with photo, thumb print, and magnetic strips with pertinent information embedded. (i.e.; arrival date, entry point, height, weight, sex, hair color, eye color, blood type, departure date, etc!) To be presented to immigration officials along with their passport upon arrival in the United States. The card would be swiped upon arrival and verified against the data base and activated by immigration officials to start the clock ticking.
Prosecute companies and individuals that hire illegal aliens.
Create a documented and verifiable guest worker program.
After all of that is done. Then we deal with the daunting task of dealing with all of the illegal aliens who are here and what we should be done with them.
Amnesty is not an option. That would be a slap in the face to the thousands of immigrants who have followed our laws and legally applied for immigration and are currently waiting for entry into the United States.

It's going to cost us tons of money.

It's going to take years to fix.

All we need is determination and the will to do it, and of course a few politicians with the cohones to do it.

"Under God"

I am a member of the silent majority, and I have been silent for too long. It’s time for me to speak up, and maybe? Just maybe, the rest will follow. I am by no means an expert about anything. I do not have a PhD or any other kind of degree. Although, that does not mean I am not educated. I am far from illiterate. I do however have the sense that God gave me.
Good Sense and Common Sense.

Common sense tells me that we can not let special interest groups, minorities and individuals with their own personal agendas to continue to slowly eradicate our civil and constitutional liberties.

Here’s an example. I’m sure everyone has heard about Michael Newdow and his personal crusade to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Michael Newdow, who is a self proclaimed atheist, has filed suit on the behalf of his daughter. Mr. Newdow contends that his daughter was offended by the words “under God”, while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school.

Mr. Newdow does not have custody of his daughter nor does she live with him, but that did not stop him from using his daughter to further his personal agenda.

I remember watching one of the television news programs where Mr. Newdows daughter was being interviewed. She was asked by one of the news anchors whether or not she had a problem with reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with the inclusion of the words “under God in the Pledge. She clearly said she did not.

So what we have here is one individual trying to impose his will on not only his daughter, but on all of us too. And if that is not enough for you, Mr. Newdow was recently before the Supreme Court trying to have “In God We Trust” removed from all of our money. So far the courts have not been swayed by any of his arguments and have managed to turn him away on technicalities. But it is just a matter of time before Mr. Newdow will come up with the right arguments to sway the courts to his way of thinking.

What can I do about it? Nothing by myself, but if we the silent majority, as a group decide to make its displeasure over these issues known. We may resolve these issues once and for all. I urge you to email your Legislator. Tell him of her that we want “under God’ to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance. Tell your Congressmen and Senators that we will not tolerate having our country’s motto “In God We Trust” removed from our Currency and Coinage*. I urge you to do it today.

*Note; If you are not yet aware that the word Liberty has been removed from the new one dollar presidential coins, and our motto has been removed from the face of the coin and has been relegated to the edge of the coin.

As a coin collector I plan to boycott these coins.