Deus Ex: The Fall review

Having hacked into a stranger's computer, I'm presented with a curious email: "My game of the year is Final Fantasy 27. Giving it back to the Japanese developer was the right move!"

Yes, Deus Ex: The Fall has a subtle sense of humour if you go looking for it; the iOS sci-fi action-RPG, released this week by Square Enix, is not without hints of corporate self-parody.

otherwise a dark adventure set in the year 2027. Rival drug companies are creating havoc on the streets of Panama, causing humans who have augmented their bodies with technology to suffer as a result. Ben Saxon, a British ex-military operative, is balls-deep in this conspiracy, aiming to set it straight. The story, which spans about four to six hours of gameplay, is the first chapter in this franchise's storyline, with sequels (and an eventual Android release) set to drop in the future.

This is an adventurous creation for sure. It was developed exclusively for mobile devices, yet it plays as convincingly as a console title. Plus it fosters one of the most intuitive and satisfying set of touchscreen inputs, baking in rich graphics over a subtly brilliant soundtrack reminiscent of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in the process.

 Plot-wise it won't win any awards for depth, but it's concise and well-suited for jump-in, jump-out enjoyment on public transport and stays true to the Deus Ex universe and atmosphere. There are a few side-quests, although the vast majority are forgettable fetch missions. They're worth doing in order to earn in-game money if nothing else but they cause little deviation from the otherwise linear-feeling storyline.

 You'll explore an array of orange-and-brown-tinted environments, from underground medical institutions littered with drug addicts, to hotel, office complexes and train stations. Liaisons with characters who choose to hold their meetings behind urinals in a gent's toilet are also present. Rejoice! Important NPCs, such as Anna Kelso (possibly Saxon's girlfriend, though I wasn't entirely sure -- readers may correct me here) make regular appearances in your earpiece, helping flesh out backstory or reminding you of current objectives. I'd have preferred to hear a bit more from them, but this is something else that's distilled down to just the essentials for this release. 

Where The Fall -- pardon the expression -- falls down, is with unconvincing mediocre voice acting and a giant question mark over the usefulness of your inventory: you won't find many exciting guns in the field, and you won't find enough money in your playthrough to buy them from the in-game shop. As such, combat gets repetitive, although admittedly never outwardly boring.

 You'll find other collectibles around the game, such as damage reducers and energy boosts, but you rarely need them. Augmentations, which are as central to Deus Ex as a musicians are to a music festival, are a similar tale -- there are heaps of upgrades you can make to your character, but they just don't seem to be essential. I went through huge chunks of the game seeing I could upgrade, but few made any tangible difference to how I played. The only exception is the hacking augmentation, which enables you to break into computers and unlock doors; and the ability to move heavy objects.

 The result of this was that my game climaxed with a wallet stuffed full of looted finances. Good job, too: the last boss was tough to beat with my standard weapons and remaining ammo. I had to buy the rocket launcher, and if I'd have spent my cash throughout the previous five hours on other perks, I probably would have felt pressured to buy it with in-app payments -- yes, they're here.

 It's also worth noting that the game is painfully bug-ridden -- it probably crashed as many times as it was loaded it to play, and takes your recent game progress with it. (A workaround is to close all open apps on your device, then turn on Airplane mode, then turn your device off and on again, leaving Airplane mode on when it reboots. Playing the game under these condition then prevents any major crashes. Also: save as often as you can to be extra safe.)

These issues notwithstanding, Deus Ex: The Fall is a tremendously enjoyable game and left me excited for the next instalment. Its ambition is only let down by inconsistent game balance caused by unnecessary augmentations, lacklustre weaponry on an initial playthough and modest possibilities to deviate from the main quest at hand. But that doesn't make it any less fun, nor any less worthy of praise.
For £4.99 it's without question worth the download for any fan of Deus Ex, sci-fi adventure games in general, or anyone who wants a glimpse at what the future of big-budget mobile-only gaming can be.
  If nothing else it'll give you something to do until Square Enix releases Final Fantasy 27.

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Best Windows Phones: the iPhone and Android alternatives to consider

Wondering what the best Windows Phone device is, or whether it's better for you than an iPhone or Android? We've got the answers you need.

The evolution of the Windows operating system for phones has been a long and painful one, as Microsoft has struggled to adapt its desktop-centric OS for the smaller screen. With Windows Phone 8, it has a system that combines simplicity with speed and flexibility, and even if its app store has a long way to go to catch up with the behemoths of Apple and Google, it's making steady progress, with 140,000 apps and counting, including many big names.

Windows 8 mostly means Nokia, though HTC, Samsung and others have dabbled with it. If you want the very best Windows smartphone, go for the one with the biggest spec. But there are horses for courses, and for considerably less cash, you can get some very good devices without too much compromise on capability and performance.
Nokia Lumia 925

 Best Windows Phone for: Photography and high-end apps
The latest big beast in Nokia's formidable army of Lumia handsets packs in just about every trick that both Nokia and Windows can throw at it, putting it in direct competition with the likes of the iPhone and  Samsung's Galaxy S4.
It has a thinner, lighter casing than its predecessor the 920, despite a move from plastic to aluminium. The 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ Amoled touchscreen offers a beautifully sharp resolution of 1,280x768 pixels and offers strikingly vivid colours supported by deeply contrasting blacks.

It has a dual-core 1.5GHz processor rather than the quad-core type modelled by some of the more advanced Google smartphones, but it operates with an impressive smoothness, due in part to the streamlined OS which has so far resisted customisation from manufacturers. Apps open with impressive speed and web browsing is almost as fast as thought.
The camera has been beefed up with an 8.7-megapixel PureView model. It has the biggest arsenal of extras of any Nokia phone, including City Lens, which allows you to view the scene around you augmented with business and tourist information.
The 2,000mAh battery held up very well too delivering a good day and a half of regular use, better than we've come to expect from most high-end smartphones.
As with other Nokia Windows phones you get 7GB of free cloud storage via SkyDrive and a range of extras including HERE Maps and satnav, as well as Nokia Music which offers free downloadable playlists of tunes. Unfortunately, you're stuck with the 16GB onboard memory as there's no option to expand it via microSD card.


HTC Windows Phone 8X
Best Windows Phone for: Anyone who doesn't like the Lumia designs but still wants a high-end device 


HTC has impressed with its wide (very wide) range of Google handsets, but the Taiwanese manufacturer has also dipped its toe in Windows waters, notably with this high-ender.
Known to its chums as the Windows 8X, it features a 4.3-inch super LCD screen with a resolution of 1,280x720 pixels, considerably better than its little Windows brother,  the 8S's four-inch 800x480.
There's no sign of the Sense customisation that HTC has brought to its  Android phones (Windows won't let anyone mess with the programme at this stage) but its notably different from Nokia phones simply because it doesn't have the HERE Maps and Nokia Music extras.

The dual-core 1.5GHz processor is nippy enough (all these Windows phones seem fast in comparison with similarly specced Androids) but like most Windows phones, there's no option to expand the 16GB memory via microSD card.
As usual with HTC, the camera is a bit of a let-down. It has eight megapixels and includes autofocus and an LED flash as well as a wide-angle lens option, but doesn't deliver the same basic pic quality as any of its Nokia rivals. There's also a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls -- Skype and other video calling apps are now available from the Marketplace.
The 1,800mAh battery did a reasonable job but didn't distinguish itself above the charge-every-day pack.


Coming in below the 925 in the Lumia hierarchy, the 820 knocks a couple of hundred quid off the price while still maintaining a very good set of features.
It has a similarly robust build and shape (all-plastic this time though, with changeable back covers) as its pricier cousin but the display reveals its midrange ambitions. With a sub-HD 800x480 pixel resolution it's noticeably less sharp, though it still looks vibrant and dynamic.

It's still a very fast handset too, with its dual-core 1.5GHz processor backed by a full 1GB RAM -- the same as you get on the 925. Unless you're used to the highest-end Androids, this is one of the key features of Windows phones -- you just don't have the same amount of hanging around waiting for apps to open.
The eight-megapixel camera is a step down from the 925's 8.7-megapixel model but it's certainly no slouch, delivering sharp and detailed pics on its automatic settings, plus there are plenty of extras to play with as well as the ever-growing list of Windows 'Lenses' which add extra functionality.
Unlike the 925 however, the 820 allows you to expand its 8GB of onboard memory by up to 64GB via microSD card. If you're fond of your HD videos and hi-res audio this is a major consideration for Windows phones, many of which don't offer memory expansion.
Battery-wise the 820's 1,650mAh power pack didn't distinguish itself, though you should be able to rely on a good day of regular use without having to worry.


Skipping out the next-in-line  720, the Lumia 620 offers a competitive spec and a considerably lower price without compromising too much on the features.
Something you can't do with the pricier Lumias is open the case. With the 620 you can and there is a range of bright colours to choose from to match your personal style -- green, yellow, pink and blue, as well as standard black or white.
The 3.8-inch display is smaller than the 720's 4.3-incher but it's actually a little sharper since it offers the same pixel resolution -- 800x480.

The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.5GHz but while it's noticeably a little slower than its more expensive cousins, it's very smooth and slick in operation so that you barely notice the very slight delay while apps open.
It has most of the Nokia extras you'll find on more expensive handsets, including HERE Maps and satnav and Nokia Music, though it doesn't have the City Lens augmented reality feature for the camera.
The five-megapixel camera may not match more expensive Nokias but it still has a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and outperforms many similarly specced Android cameras.

 In common with just a few Windows Phones, it allows you to expand its built-in memory, and you can add microSD cards up to 64GB to boost its onboard capacity of 8GB.

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11 Cara Meningkatkan Kecerdasan Otak

Lagi mampir ke blog temen, saya nemu tulisan yang judulnya 11 Cara Untuk Meningkatkan Kecerdasan Otak Kita. Saya pikir, wah pas banget nih kebetulan saya lagi liburan kuliah dan otak ini lebih sering dipake nganggur, ngelamun, males-malesan, dan sebagainya. Mungkin cara-cara yang ada dalam tulisan itu bisa dicoba untuk meningkatkan aktifitas otak. Maksudnya biar nggak cuma nglamun aja gitu. Langsung aja, begini nih isi tulisannya.
Para ilmuwan dari University of California, Berkeley, AS, pernah meneliti otak tikus. Mereka menemukan, otak tikus tumbuh sebesar 4 persen saat mereka dipaksa menjalankan tugas mental setiap hari, misalnya mencari jalan keluar dari lorong yang berliku, memanjat tangga, dan bersosialisasi dengan tikus lain.

Nah, otak tikus saja bisa dilatih untuk tumbuh, apalagi otak manusia. Makin dilatih, otak kita pasti kian tajam. Kehilangan daya ingat dalam jumlah tertentu pada usia berapa pun adalah wajar, sama seperti terjadinya perubahan pada organ tubuh lain. Yang penting, jangan malas untuk rajin melatih otak kita agar daya ingat tetap kuat sepanjang masa.
Inilah cara ampuh membuat otak jadi cerdas:
1. Latih kemampuan mengamati. Perhatikan lingkungan sekitar. Rekam dalam pikiran apa yang Anda lihat, mulai dari yang paling sederhana dan diteruskan dengan observasi yang lebih rumit.
2. Asah indra. Bisa dilatih dengan membedakan rasa makanan yang disukai dan yang tidak. Menyadari bau dan aroma di sekitar atau bunyi-bunyian yang ada di jalan atau mungkin rasa panas atau dingin udara di sekitar Anda.
3. Hafalkan nama teman-teman dan pasangkan nomor teleponnya. Ada berapa yang bisa diingat? Latih supaya bisa mengingat lebih banyak.
4. Pelajari sesuatu yang baru. Banyak membaca dan berkenalan dengan hal-hal lain yang mungkin bukan bidang Anda, bisa bahasa asing, pengetahuan tentang komputer, dan lain-lain.
5. Gunakan tangan supaya mengikuti petunjuk otak. Misalnya bermain gitar, mengetik tanpa melihat tuts, mengerjakan prakarya dari kayu, atau berlatih menulis halus.
6. Tekuni hobi. Gunakan kesempatan untuk mengembangkan hobi Anda.
7. Pelajari dan hafalkan tanggal-tanggal penting, menyangkut anggota keluarga, teman, atau perayaan tertentu.
8. Hafalkan sesuatu yang Anda sukai. Bisa jadi itu puisi, lagu, kalimat dari sebuah buku atau kata-kata seseorang. Sebisa mungkin juga usahakan agar kalimat yang digunakan adalah bahasa asing.
9. Latihan menghafal urutan angka berderet panjang, misalnya 32145687390282930498. Ini adalah bentuk latihan memperbaiki daya ingat jangka pendek. Lakukan dengan mengelompokkan atau memecah bilangan itu menjadi beberapa bagian, misalnya 3214568 kemudian 7390282 dan terakhir 930498.
10. Ingat perjalanan pribadi. Apa yang sedang Anda kerjakan satu jam lalu, minggu lalu pada hari Rabu pukul 10.00, misalnya. Dengan siapa, di mana, dan seterusnya.
11. Ingat dan teliti ulang pengeluaran harian. Apa yang Anda beli kemarin? Berapa uang yang ada dalam dompet Anda sekarang? Kapan Anda terakhir mengambil uang tunai, dan seterusnya.
Latihan-latihan ini akan memungkinkan sel otak tetap aktif dan jaringan penghubung antarsel otak semakin rapat. Kegiatan mental yang menantang meningkatkan jumlah sirkuit aktif atau sinapsis dalam otak. Semakin banyak sirkuit, semakin banyak asosiasi, makin besar pula kemampuan mengingat.
Semoga cara ampuh membuat otak jadi cerdas ini dapat bermanfaat bagi anda semua.

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