Pedal for Scotland - the return of the tryer

So,

Doing Pedal for Scotland again this year...

Let's do a potted history -

• First time done and completed with my wife
• Second time, birth of our first lovely son
• Third time, signed up, death in the family
• Fourth time, signed up, got about 10 miles in and pedal kept coming off - ended up stopping and catching the train back to Glasgow very much ticked off and fuming, calmed down by having lunch with wife and family on my return

That brings us to this year, so what do we have on the cards?  Several test runs of varying lengths have been completed and happy with overall fitness if going to be a slow one, bike has been checked out and extra weight of commuting removed.

Camelbak light weight back and 2 litre bottle bought and ready so running light, no major dramas on the calendar (hear that life?  Leave it!) *achem* had to get that out.

So am I feeling like it's going to happen this time?  Hell yes! is the answer resounding, will it be a fast one?  Not bloody likely but that doesn't matter, as long as I finish that's all that matters at this point, the challenge and the enjoying it with good mates is where it's at, any negative vibes can go take a swim in a deep dark lake with their hands tied behind their back.

Bring it on!

Crysis FPS thoughts

So finally got around to playing the Crysis series after I picked up 1 & 2 in the Steam sale a while back and have to say I'm pleasantly surprised and quite hooked on playing more.

I say this because it did initially look like a gadgets vill FPS that tried to grab attention by having 'cool' powers in your suit rather than a straight forward run around and shoot.

Whilst the graphics of the first one do feel dated and that's natural given when it was released the game play and storyline were solid, I have to admit to getting wound up no end by how the control system worked but when I got the hang of it things cranked up in the fun stakes no end.

So example you say?  Well, attacking a base/group of bad guys from one angle whilst visible, then when they all start shooting/running at you cloaking to cover then running like blazes to another completely different angle, allowing you to use that advantage to snipe/take the objective as needs.

So I finished that (you finished a game, with two toddlers?!) Yes, I did and I even managed to move onto the second in the series and complete that!  Wonders will never cease...

The second was a definite shift in focus & increase in playability, where the first could sometimes come across a bit, here's some bad guys, now move on, the second flowed much better storyline wise and tactics used given it was an urban environment were a good shift.

Something about the overall feel of the game just felt much better put together, I enjoyed playing Crysis 1 but I loved playing Crysis 2, as I felt much more involved in how the game was going storyline wise, enemy AI was definitely improved as well, I clearly remember taking out some bad guys in a base in the first game and a bunch of guys just stood around without reacting, whereas in the second game if you make enough noise EVERYONE will come running, so you have to either a) Don't or b) be prepared for all out war.

I so enjoyed the second that I swallowed my 'I hate Origin platform' concerns and picked up the third in the story, only played about 10 minutes so far but it's shaping up to be another great game, can take or leave having a bow tbh given how practiced I got at using a silenced weapon/knife/fists to take an enemy down silently but we'll see how it develops.

As a last thought it's been entertaining from a gamers view to see how the game has developed both in graphics and overall game functionality from the first to the last, I haven't touched the multiplayer element and frankly I don't plan to, if I want to play MP I can do a bit of Borderlands/any other game where I can play with friends that doesn't involve going up against folks who will have practiced using the suit skills to the Nth degree, if I wanted to get frustrated I'm sure there are plenty of RL things like how folks can believe the crap the UK government is spitting out re: the Yes vote that could get me wound up ;)