My Top 10 FPS games

My Top 10 FPS games

I was lucky enough to grow up in two golden eras of first person shooter games. The first was in the mid to late 90's when FPS games first became mainstream popular and the second was in the late noughties at university when EVERYONE was playing Call of Duty in filthy rooms full of empty lager cans and discarded copies of Nuts magazine. Here is my personal top 10 FPS games of all time (please note, it's probably very different to your top 10). 

#10 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 2009 (Xbox 360).

This was the game that me and all my friends were playing when we were at university. It was incredibly polished but also had a pick up and play feel where a useless player (like me) could have just as much fun as a seasoned vet (like my housemates Ross and Haider). This is thought of as many as the best one in the series and I will always have a fond nostalgia for it due to the numerous hours spent playing this whilst pre drinking with my classic combo of a four pack of Red Stripe and a small bottle of Tesco Value Vodka (I feel sick just typing that) before going out and unsuccessfully talking to women in the wonderful nightlife of Northampton. 

#9 - Doom - 2016 (PS4).

A perfect reintroduction to a classic franchise. They got this game absolutely correct and managed to just avoid taking themselves too seriously. The pace of the game is mostly frantic but also has slower, eerier moments that manage to give the game that classic Doom feel. 

#8 - Wolfenstein 3D - 1992 (PC).

The game that started it all or, at least, the game that started the genre being the behemoth it became. When you compare to later FPS games it is...well, a bit crap. However, it was the first FPS game I ever played and I have many fond memories of putting the floppy disc into our DOS PC and killing a few Nazis. 

#7 - Killzone - 2004 (PS2).

The first Killzone is a bit of an underrated gem in my opinion. People with an Xbox had Halo and the rest of us with our PS2's had this. I really like the art style of it and the levels seemed mostly well designed. It managed to have a dark atmosphere without having any of the horror type elements that many other 'dark' FPS games relied on.

#6 - Doom II: Hell on Earth - 1994 (PC).

This took the original Doom and basically improved it on every front. The levels have more variation and gameplay requires a little more thought (although not much). There is a reason that Doom was so popular in the 90's and continues to be to this day and this game sums up all those reasons why. It's just good fun.

#5 - Quake - 1996 (PC).

I might write 'atmosphere' about 100 times in this blog post but this is yet another game that has tons of it. It was just a little bit better than the Doom games that preceded it and introduced us to more 3D graphics in an FPS game. It also has a NIN soundtrack that, whilst not being the type of music I enjoy, fits the game perfectly. 

#4 - Halo - 2001 (PC). 

Halo represented a huge jump in the polish of FPS games. It looked good, it was stylish and it just played beautifully. It also has one of my favourite arrays of weapons in the genre. It was probably the main reason a lot of people bought an Xbox (although I played it on PC) in the first place and helped introduce Microsoft to the games console market.

#3 - Unreal Tournament - 1999 (PC).

This game left such a big impression on so many people who played it in the late 90's and early noughties. Just a few months ago, I randomly started talking about it with a friend and we both instantly remembered the 'Facing Worlds' level and the hours we spent on that level alone firing at the opposite tower with rocket launchers, sniper rifles and the 'Redeemer'. To both have such an identical, specific memory despite never having played the game together and neither having played it for many years, it shows the impact that some of the perfect design in this game had on people. Or, more likely, maybe we're just really bloody sad.

#2 - Half Life 2 - 2004 (Xbox). 

For many years this was the 'thinking mans' FPS game. At least, that's what we liked to tell ourselves whilst we played this instead of studying for exams. It was one of the first games I played that had a genuinely intriguing story line and characters that seemed nuanced and you actually cared about. Coupled with the intelligent gameplay on offer, this is my second favourite FPS game of all time.

#1 - Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - 2016 (PS4).

Duke Nukem 3D probably isn't the best FPS game of all time but it is definitely my favourite. I have so many memories of playing this on PC as a child, playing a second hand copy on my old Sega Saturn as a university student and then recently played the 'World Tour' version on my PS4. It has a brilliant style to it where it is basically a pastiche of cheesy action films of the 80's and 90's. It makes fun of the 'offensive' material it portrays by never pretending to be anything other than ludicrous, stupid and firmly tongue-in-cheek.

Anyway, which of your favourite FPS games did I miss out?

Social Media Memories.

Social Media Memories

I first discovered social media in around 2003 via a website called 'Face-pic'. Social media seemed a very different world back then. It was almost as if 'normal' people hadn't discovered it yet so it was full of weird and wonderful people with often bizarre pictures of themselves. I then moved onto Bebo, Myspace and, of course, the all powerful Facebook. Here are some are a few random memories have from the noughtie's era of social media.

#1 - Pokes were the ultimate flirting tactic. 

If a girl sent you a poke on Facebook it basically meant she wanted to marry you and have your babies. I joke but it did used to be a really common way of interacting with the opposite sex before completely fading into obscurity. Seriously, I remember people having full blown conversations about a someone poking them on Facebook. We were extremely romantic in 2007. 

#2 - Painstaking hours choosing the perfect Myspace song.

Myspace had a feature where you could set a song to start playing the moment someone went onto your page. Many people (including me, and you if you're honest with yourself) considered this an important first impression. You would have to choose a song that perfectly represented your personality and also started well because they might only spend a few seconds on your page. I showed everyone that I was highly unique by setting mine as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. 

#3 - 'Chav' culture on Bebo.

Every form of social media feels like it has a certain audience. Instagram is for young people who want to post attractive pictures of themselves, Facebook is for slightly older people who want to keep in touch with family and Twitter is for narcissists. Bebo always seemed to be predominantly for the kind of teens who would write 'cant read lol' or 'hate books' under the favourite books section and the favourite films section was just endless repetitions of 'Green Street' and 'Football Factory'. From my own home town of Welshpool there was even a page created for the 'Welshpool Massive' complete with completely unironic boasts such as 'we don't ask for respect, we demand it' and 'death to Newtown' (a nearby town to Welshpool). 

#4 - Public feuds on Facebook.

Is it just me or did Facebook used to be a lot more interesting than it is now because people just didn't hide anything back then? I remember people publicly calling out other people on Facebook over things such as cheating, stealing, lying and many other issues you can no longer watch on Jeremy Kyle. This would result in incredibly long winded debates occurring via comments on the original post from all the people involved. The drama seems to have now been traded for baby photo's and mental health awareness which is much more wholesome. 

#5 - The 'Top Friends' hierarchy of Myspace. 

Myspace had a feature where you could list your top friends. I think it was six overall. Choosing your top friends seemed like an important decision and seeing whether you had made other peoples top friends list was an often depressing past time. It didn't stop there though, you also had to think of the order you were going to place your top friends in. This is what we worried about before global warming went more mainstream. 

Anyway, what have I missed? 

The Best Things About 2019.

The Best Things About 2019

It would be easy to write off 2019 as being a bad year, what with another 4 years of Tory government (this time with Boris at the helm) to look forward to, climate change bizarrely not being considered a priority by many world leaders and that sausage rolls song reminding me that LadBaby is still a thing. However, like any year, there have been many positives to 2019 as well. Here are a few of them (let me know what I missed out):

#1 - School climate strikes.

Back in September, millions of young people went on strike around the world to promote action on climate change. This is great for two reasons: firstly because it promotes climate change as an issue we should all agree on (after all, it is just science) and secondly because it shows that the next generation of adults are hopefully much more prepared to tackle this issue. 

#2 - EU bans single use plastics.

Again, on the theme of looking after the planet, the EU has agreed to ban single use plastics after 2021. It is not difficult to see the damage that single use plastics have on the environment (you literally only need to watch a David Attenborough documentary) so this is a great step in the right direction.

#3 - Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. 

Baby Archie became the first dual heritage person to be born into our royal family (please correct me if I'm wrong) which shows the royal family becoming just a little more representative of the diversity in our country. Also, most people just love a royal baby. 

#4 - Greta Thunberg. 

I think most people like her, some people seem to bloody hate her, but Greta has definitely helped raise the profile of climate change around the world.

#5 - Women's World Cup.

As far as I could tell, the Women's World Cup was promoted this year as being much more of a big deal than it ever has been in the past. This helps to not only promote the sport but is hopefully a push in the right direction for women eventually achieving equality in football and maybe even sport in general.

#6 - Children's lives being saved.

According to 'Beautiful News' many of the main healthcare issues that have killed children in the past are now heavily in decline. These include: respiratory diseases, diarrhea, measles, malaria, meningitis, tetanus and AID's. 

#7 - Black female beauty being celebrated.

Don't get me wrong, beauty pageants hardly seem to be a way of looking towards the future although I've never actually watched one so I might be wrong. However, in 2019, for the first time ever, five black women now hold the top pageant crowns. You only need to watch this video to see how much this can mean for other women. 

#8 - More trees.

Many organizations and governments are increasingly realising the importance of planting more trees to help protect the future of the planet. This includes he Arbor Day Foundation which has committed to planting 100 million trees in the hopes of removing 578,000 tons of chemical pollution from the air.

#9 - Humpback Whales return.

From there being just hundreds of Humpback Whales in the 80's, there are now over 25,000 of them. This is largely due to bans on whaling. 

#10 - Baby Yoda. 

Despite me knowing nothing about The Mandalorian, Baby Yoda seems to have made many people very happy. Plus, he has spawned some pretty good memes.

Have a great rest of the year and here's hoping for lots more positives to come in 2020. 

Unexpected Positives To Another Tory Government.

Unexpected Positives to Another Conservative Government

We are awaiting another election and it looks as though the Conservatives are going to win again. However, despite the naysayers saying that this will be an obvious disaster for the country, I have managed to find a few positives that another Tory government will bring.

#1 - British Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad is my favourite series of all time. It was GOT until that last season but please don't get me started on that. It has often been said that Breaking Bad could never be set in England due to our amazing NHS. However, under another Tory government, it looks increasingly possible that the NHS could be at least partially privatized. That means the possibility of a British Breaking Bad! 

#2 - Memes.

Boris Johnson has an entire image that is pretty much geared towards making unsuspecting people few him as a bit of a harmless, lovable rogue. This makes him perfect meme material. With Boris in charge for a full term, I'm sure he will provide us with plenty more laughs in meme format. I mean, we're gonna need it. 

#3 - Billionaires will be protected. 

A lot of people have been very concerned about the huge amounts of wealth amassed by Britain's good, honest, hardworking billionaires being under threat from Jeremy Corbyn's proposed taxes on the super rich. Luckily, these massive fortunes will be well protected under lock and key by Boris. This may even provide another British television boost in the form of more episodes of Rich Kids go Skint. 

#4 - We won't have to be PC.

It is well known that we are a generation of over-sensitive snowflakes that are far too easily offended. Unlike previous generations who never got offended by anything (except immigration, rock music, rap music, environmentalists, unions, wind farms, vegan sausage rolls etc). However, with Boris setting the precedent of making openly derogatory remarks about black people, Muslim women and gay people, Roy Chubby Brown fans can be reassured that they aren't out of touch, it is the young people who are wrong.

CBBC Classic Shows Tier List.

CBBC CLASSIC SHOWS TIER LIST

You may have recently read an article about the outrage caused by a recent tier list that CBBC posted on its Twitter. Now, we already know that most opinions shared on Twitter tend to be wrong but this one really did take the biscuit (great saying btw). The first thing I noticed was that they had put Newsround in the bottom tier and ChuckleVision in the mid-tier. What?!?! Anyway, here is my attempt at creating my own CBBC shows tier list. Keep in mind 3 things: 1) this is just my opinion. 2) I've had to leave off shows I don't remember (wtf is Ooglies?). 3) I've only included shows that CBBC included on their tier list so there are quite a few classics missing i.e. Arthur. 

Hmmm tier:

Basil Brush - Even as a kid, it just wasn't funny. 

UBOS - Really bad attempt at cashing in on the Harry Potter craze back in the day. 

BAMZOOKI - Children design their own robot things to complete challenges. Good idea but was poorly executed and a bit dull.

The Slammer - Talent show type format like BGT for kids. Was alright I guess.

Mid Tier:

Dennis the Menace - Was never quite as good as it should have been. Didn't live up to the comics. 

Mona the Vampire - Amazing theme tune but a fairly average cartoon. 

Raven - Did well to have a bit of a different vibe to other children's game shows but wasn't quite as exciting as some.

Top tier:

50/50 - Always seemed like the kids were genuinely having fun on this show. "Flynn, what did they win?". 

Get Your Own Back - A great format for a game show and Dave Benson Phillips was probably one of my favourite hosts from that generation. 

Smart - Really nice, genuinely chilled vibe for a children's show. Never seemed patronising and I would have had a go but I never had any bloody pipe cleaners. 

Deadly 60 - Very informative and another show that was massively helped by having a great host in Steve Backshall. 

Tracey Beaker - I've always really respected Jacqueline Wilson as a children's author and Tracey Beaker is no exception. It also had a really diverse cast including being one of the few shows I had seen that included children with disabilities. 

Dick & Dom in da Bungalow - Who can forget classics such as bogies, don't drop the sausage and baby racing?

Legend tier:

ChuckleVision - The Chuckle brothers took a show that appeared to have a tiny budget and practically the same story-line every week and they still made it entertaining! They always seemed to be genuinely likable and the nation (including me) mourned when Barry Chuckle died last year. Also, if you haven't seen their collaboration with Tinchy Stryder then you need to watch it now. 

Horrible Histories - This is one of the few children's TV shows that I still find genuinely funny and interesting. As a teacher, I have used clips from the show many times in my lessons. They really make the children laugh and present information in a way that they don't forget.  

Newsround - A really consistent show that has barely changed it's format since I was a child and it doesn't need to. 

Which shows do you think I put in the wrong place on the list and which classics did they miss that you wish they had included on their list?

My Top Graphic Novels.

My Top 5 Graphic Novels

In the literary world I think graphic novels can still be a bit looked down upon although I do think more and more people are realising that graphic novels may have more scope than they initially thought. One of the main reasons that I like reading them is simply because it makes an interesting change from reading more traditional novels. They are easier to read which, after reading some 500+ page tome, can be a welcome break. I'm fairly new to the world of graphic novels but here is my top 5 list of the ones I have read so far (and only 2 of them are about superheroes). 

#5 - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller. 

TDKR is a version of Batman that you don't really see in the films. He is older and a bit more vulnerable which makes him a more complex and interesting character in this story. It is considered by many to be one of the most important graphic novels of all time for good reason. 

#4 - The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui. 

This story has so many themes that it is difficult to summarise. It is a memoir and one of the main themes is immigration, largely based on the experiences of the authors parents who were from Vietnam. It's incredibly personal and moving and should probably be compulsory reading for anyone who claims to hate immigrants. 

#3 - Watchmen - Alan Moore.

Possibly the most famous graphic novel on this list and the first one that I personally ever read. Alan Moore famously lives in Northampton, where I went to university, and is a bit of a local hero. I saw him once in Waterstones and he had the exact look and presence you would expect of someone who wrote Watchmen. Anyway, I've said nothing about Watchmen but read it anyway, it's amazing. 

#2 - Maus - Art Spiegelman.

One of the many words that you could use to describe Maus would be epic. The story encompasses so much action, emotion, history etc that you feel like (wait for the cliche) you've been on a real journey by the time you've finished it. There are so many stories out there about the holocaust, as there should be, but this is definitely one of the more unique and memorable ones that I have read. 

#1 - My Friend Dahmer - John "Derf" Backderf. 

I loved reading this book from start to finish. It was just so...weird. It reminded me a bit of the work of Robert Crumb in that it was able to combine the surreal and the ordinary into an incredible work of art. It is about the authors experiences of going to the same school as Jeffrey Dahmer, giving us a completely unique account of this infamous serial killer. 

I still haven't read that many graphic novels and would be interested to hear your recommendations. 

        

   

Good And Bad About Boris.

The Good and the Bad About Boris

In a move that feels like great material for a dystopian novel, it seems very likely that Boris Johnson will be our next prime minister. Personally, I don't think Hunt has a chance of beating Boris but, obviously, I could be wrong. Boris is a classic Marmite type character. Most people I know can't stand him but the few supporters I do know absolutely love the guy and think he's hilarious. You know, the same people that enjoy watching Roy Chubby Brown stand-up. Anyway, to be fair to Boris, here are a few of both the good and bad points about him as a person and potential prime minister. 

Good - He has funny hair.

Bad - He lied to Brexit voters.

Boris' claim that 350 million pounds a week would be going to the NHS if we left the EU was such a big lie that even Nigel Farage and the Daily Mail refuted it. You know things are bad when you have less honesty and integrity than Farage and the Daily Mail. 

Good - His dad seemed nice on 'I'm a Celebrity'. 

Bad - His racist/Islamophobic comments. 

Boris famously described Muslim women as 'looking like letterboxes'. He has also previously described black people as 'picanninies' with 'watermelon smiles'. These aren't even things that he was secretly recorded saying in private conversation or anything like that. He literally published them for the public to read. Probably endearing himself to more of those Roy Chubby Brown fans. 

Good - That time he got stuck on a zip wire. 

Bad - He wants more cuts. 

Austerity and cuts to public services have had a hugely negative effect on ordinary people (low income workers etc) in the UK as seen in many examples such as the huge growth in people relying on food banks. Furthermore, the economic growth of Britain following the recession was actually slower than most other countries in the EU (with far less cuts) despite austerity. However, Boris felt we didn't go far enough with the cuts and stated that we should have continued with them. He also dropped targets for affordable housing (despite owning multiple homes himself) during his time as London Mayor. 

There are lots more good and bad points about Boris but most of us don't get to choose whether he becomes the next prime minster anyway. The good news is that the memes are probably going to be out of this world.