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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Sniper Elite 4 in Video Games

Oct 10, 2017 (Updated Oct 10, 2017)  
Sniper Elite 4
Sniper Elite 4
2017 | Shooter
Satisfying gameplay. (2 more)
X-Ray camera.
Neat settings.
Generic characters and plot. (1 more)
Sub par graphics.
Hits It's Target
The fourth game in the third person WW2 shooter series, this game expands on the groundwork laid by it's predecessors. If you are coming off of a story driven game and are just looking for something satisfying and fun, then this is perfect for you. The story and characters are paper thin and the voice acting is all over the place in terms of quality, but that's not why you come to Sniper Elite, you come to watch a Nazi's brains explode from the sheer impact of your well placed bullet.


This is definitely the best game in the series in terms of it's gameplay systems. The control given to the player is clear and specific and if you miss a shot, you have no one to blame but yourself. The infamous X-ray cam makes a glorious return and it is even more detailed and brutal than in previous entries. No matter how many times you make a pair of Nazi testicles go pop from across a beautiful Italian town, it never gets old.


The other great thing about this game is it's various settings. There is an array of different maps that you work your way through during the game's campaign and each is unique and well thought out enough to give you a challenge, but also make you feel like a total bad-ass when you land a near impossible shot, in equal measure.


Although the landscapes are nice to run around in and function well in terms of matching with the game's gameplay style, the quality of the graphics itself isn't going to astonish anyone. We are around halfway through the PS4's life-cycle and this looks at best, like a late generation PS3 game. Again though, it doesn't really matter here, no one is buying Sniper Elite 4 for it's graphical quality.


Overall, there is a ton of fun to be had here. Don't think too much about the story and just enjoy systematically working your way through each various map, popping Nazi skulls as you go.
  
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Duolingo Spanish Podcast in Podcasts

Jan 4, 2018 (Updated Jan 4, 2018)  
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Education
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Interesting and useful
@Duolingo is one of the most popular language learning apps on the market, so it was only a matter of time it explored other avenues. With its new Spanish podcast range, it has upped its game, as it feels much more useful and meaningful than learning sentences such as "I am a pretty duck".

The main topic of discussion is life experiences, from meeting heroes to rites of passage - it seems far more relevant than the content of the app. And the podcast is bilingual. However, it is for intermediate level which is perhaps why the content is a bit more interesting and varied. So far, so good.
  
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ClareR (6256 KP) rated Happy Family in Books

Oct 29, 2019  
HF
Happy Family
James Ellis | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
One to look out for next year!
Happy Family is set in the near future, where people game via glasses and one augmented reality game in particular is very popular: Happy Family. This game was invented by Tom Hannah, also an artist, who has hidden himself away with his suicidal thoughts in Spain in the middle of nowhere, after the death of his mother. Germaine Kiecke, an art academic, is a huge fan of Tom’s and wants to interview him for her new book. But Tom is guarded by a strange girl and three huge dogs who are named after the Marx brothers. Germaine has had a traumatic upbringing as an orphan in Belgium in a notorious orphanage called ‘Motherhood’. Thus she finds it impossible to express her feelings except through Tom’s game Happy Family. So when she finds out that something threatens this game for her and millions of others, she’s forced to take a look at how she lives her life.

Germaine was a difficult character to get an understanding of, but I think in view of her childhood that was reasonable. The other characters who also relied on Tom Hannah in some way were actually very amusing - whether they were supposed to be or not, I don’t know, but towards the end of the novel, their antics descended (or ascended!) into slapstick. For various reasons that I won’t go into (I don’t want to spoil it!), this was both sad and funny - there was a healthy dose of black humour throughout really.

I read this on The Pigeonhole, and the other readers had a real mix of opinions: it seems to have been a real ‘marmite’ book. Personally, I loved it. It ticked a lot of boxes for me, first and foremost being it’s quirkiness. There was some gaming talk, but it was relevant to the story and the characters, and I don’t actually think there was that much considering that it was set against the backdrop of the game (and lets face it, I have two teenage sons who are obsessed with the Xbox 🙄).

I really enjoyed this book, and thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising it.