Bionic Commando Rearmed PC

My first game review, i remember playing the nes version some years ago. This game is my favourite game of the classic nes aside from super contra,mario,ninja gaiden,jackal,rush n  attack & lifeforce. What i like about this game is apart from jumping .. we instead use a bionic armed to move around. Maybe the bionic arm is too heavy.. thats why jumping is impossible. But thats what make this game unique compared to others. Bionic Commando Rearmed is a perfect transformaton from classic 2d to latest 3d+2d environment. The game looks beautiful and the gameplay is perfectly brings the feelings of playing the classic game for the first time. The graphic is very up to date compared with duke nukem manhattan project with latest physx engine. The animation is detailed and smooth. Right now i havent finish the game in normal mode.. i started the game with normal mode by the way. Im still at the very end which is the albatross level. I play this game using keyboard first.. but its too hard because of the control.. so i buy my self a gamepad.. which give a better control value for me. Overall, Im really happy with this game cause it bring the instant classic value to me with the updated enhancement.

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10

My Ubuntu Desktop

It almost neary 1 months now after the release of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex and right now im using it despite some problem that still existed which i have yet to find solutions. The problem that existed for me is:

1. OpenOffice crash/disappear when opening .xls files. This seems to be a problem inside Intrepid Ibex with my system (both home and office cpu). One let down of the this release is they still bundle it with openoffice 2.4. The xls problem do exist with the installed openoffice 2.4. Ive do a manually install of openoffice 3.0 with my system, and it seems the problem still exist. When running as Root, the openoffice can open the file. Weird oo. Anybody with the solutions, do help me ok?
2. Resticted Drivers not working out of the box. This one i have found the solution. We must manualy install nvidia-glx or fglrx from sypnatic. And then we activate the driver using Hardware Drivers from System->Administration->Hardware Drivers.

Well, that was the problem ive encontered with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex on both my system. That at least to me is the downfall in this release. But.. theres a lot improvement in this release. This release  rarely crash like hardy heron. Especially if u notice. when opening youtube or flashy website.. firefox does not mysteriosly disappear like with hardy heron. Networking is the most improve feature in this release. Now we can easily connect 3g phone and connect to 3g network with a little configuration. My nokia 6120C works like charm with ubuntu. And I also had test huawei modem (with pcmcia to pci converter). It works.

This is a nice upgrade to those who use hardy heron. Its more stable and speedier. Those who likes eye candy sure are satisfied with the performance when using compiz. But for me… i just disable any eye candy..even the mimize animation. Cause to me.. its distracting.

When Installing Ubuntu for the first time, make sure to install graphic drivers first (nvidia/ati). And then straight away down ubuntu-restricted-extras via terminal.. to enable multimedia codecs.

Well, thats my review on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex for now. This review is base on the OS layer only. Additional applications such as VLC,Gnucash and other will be reviewed in the next post.

Metallica Death Magnetic 2008

I’ve been waiting for this album since the launch of missionmetallica.com website. Here in Malaysia, we got the Death Magnetic Album about 2 weeks later than the official international release. We got 3 different version here which are Malaysian Edition, Standard Edition and the Coffin version. The Malaysia Edition is hyper cheap (RM 29.90.. around USD 8.++) very simple and using normal cd case. I bought the standard version, the digipack with the coffin hole in the middle of the cover booklet (RM 54.90) .  I’ve been a metallica fan since I heard the song One when i was 14 years old last time.. now im 28. My first metallica album is And Justice For All.. and this is my favorite album.Its got the metal thrash feeling.. and I like complexity and melody changes throughtout. But let me say.. im a fan of any album that they make from Kill em all to st Anger.

Now we welcome Death Magnetic.. and most of metallica fans are drowing towards death magnetic and not agaisnt it. To me this is the album that combines all the things that they’ve done from kill em all to st anger. It got the taste of everything. Thats why this album is so special to me. Let me review track by track of the album.

1. That was just your life – I swear that this is my favorite song of the album when im listening to the 30 second streaming from their website for the first time before the album out. The riffs & melody changes is unique and fast as hell. James hetfield is really are genius where he can sing and play the riff at the same time. Maybe because he can play piano (from research a pianist / guitarist can use both left and right brain at the same time). Everything is perfect about this song, riffs,melody,lyric,vocal,drums,bass and kirks solo.. and not forgetting the dual lead. I give this song a rating of 10/10. Almost like my life. yeah.
2. The end of the line – The new song.. yeah. I mean just the intro… this song is the song that i really spend time getting use to it .. and now it becomes my favorite.. creeping death style singing.. i really like the unique riff/lead on the bridge.. in the middle of the song.. this song is really great when playing live.. same with all death magnetic tracks.. kirk hammett on fire with his wah on this song…….the slave becomes the master.. 8/10 rating on this song.
3. Broken Beat and Scarred – Metal Groove is two words for this song. This song is soo rob trujillo influence. The lyrics are simple.. but very positive. u rise.. u fall .. u down and you rise again.. what dont kill you make you more strong. To me this is the perfected style of st anger era.. like a combination of some kind of monster+frantic+harvester of sorrow. We die hard.. thats the words of metallica.. their music will never fade away. 9/10
4. The day that never comes – I can sum this song as THe call of kthlu+Unforgiven 2+Fade to Black+A bit Master of Puppets+One+Sanitarium. This song got many influence from their past. It got so many details that i love from metallica. James Hetfield vocal is great and emotional,best guitar duel and solo. 10/10. This song touch my heart the first time i heard it. LOVE is a four letter word.
5. All nightmare Long – This songs seems to be everyone favourite but not mr james favourite according to an interview with him. Yeah. This song is my favorite too .. its fast and got lots of riff changes. The intro is very unique.. and everything seems to be fun and heavy. The Whiplash of 2008. The lyrics to me is great and the vocal hooks of the chorus is great like sandman. 10/10.
6. Cyanide – The first song that they first play live for their fans. This one is so rob trujilo too.. grovy and heavy. Got riffs changes and i really digg the slow part in the middle. Suicide . ive already died. I like the multilayer of riff in this song. 8/10.
7. The Unforgiven III – Yeah.. the ballad in the album… ballad metal rock to be precise.. the song intro is so great.. i even think that they should change the estacy of gold with the intro of unforviven 3.. this is mr hetfield song.. its really him we can see from this song.. the lyrics and vocal are very great.. the best solo is in this song also. how can i blame u.. when its me i can’t forgive? 10/10
8. Judas Kiss – Bow down……. this is most hooky song on this album.. yeah.. complex and got plenty lots of riffs.. got the most intros also. which is not a bad thing.. it even moves the song further. This song is also got many fans out their.. and can’t wait to hear this live. Vocal is perfect.. and lyrics also perfect.. This is the enter sandman of 2008. 10/10
9. Suicide and Redemption – I’m a fan of instrumental. and this to me… is a very mature metallica version of intrumental.. its heavy and right in the face.. and yet when it comes to the middle. .the slow part starts.. its like when i feel the first time hear the slow sad lead in to live is to die. everyone have their own solo in this song.. and the lead solo by hetfield and kirk are the hightlight of this songs.. 10/10
10. My Apocalypse – The shortest song in the album.. got lots of riffss.. hey this album is full of riffs.. this is the summary of death magnetic album.. and yeah.. its got the death magnetic word in this song also…. trash metal.. just like damage inc.. metal militia. i love this song. 10/10

Overall.. this album really meets my expectations.. or even exceeds it.. im sure a lot of fans are very satisfied with this album. Yeah. thank you metallica.. for making this album.. its like master of puppets and black album all over again.