Route 101 – Thunder Part 2 of 9

Flotsam

Here I am hung over looking down a Road which is effectively a deathtrap to all those unwary enough to travel down it and stubborn folk like me who doesn't like to back down from a bet once made.  I can just make out the blonde lass a mile in the distance they got a bunch lights all set up, I'm not sure a piece of tail is really worth risking my life over.  Its not like the bet is for much in the way of credits either.  I know what you are thinking and it isn't pride either,  its more to the wipe the smug smile off that old boy's face.  Still that mile just seems to be getting longer the more I look at it, fortunately or not depends on how you look at it there's only me here at this end.  They've probably thought I've bottled it, not me I maybe a little slow sometimes but I'm not stupid got me a secret weapon.

Okay so as secret weapons go it isn't too secret just a sheet of second hand syntho-shield which I managed to bend over the more weaker points of the hunker and then I also I've got a cloak of the stuff.  Didn't come cheap either the guy that sold it to me says its just like the shields the government uses for rescuing people from unexpected D-Shifts.  Thing is the shields don't last long and government always throws them away after one use so there is quite a trade in them.

The real problem is that The Storm itself isn't a D-Shift, more sort of the waste product of one so I'm not actually sure how good the syntho-shield is going to be against The Storm's effects and there are many.  You see I accepted the bet before I read up on the history of the Road, okay I admit that was stupid.  Though I suspect the whole thing was a frame up, I mean they all know about the new protected zone being built right next to my property.  They were just jealous and this is how they've managed to get back at me.  Its not my fault that I'm risking my life not one bit of it.  I bought that piece of land from one of the local widows two summers back apparently been in the family for centuries dating back to before the war of independence.  Of course the locals didn't like a limey like me buying their land, its good farming land not sure why its never been turned.  The soil is thick and black, had one of them big scientists from the city to test it before I bought it though just in case.  They said it was high grade you could grow anything from it, I think that is why the government blokes decided to build near it so they could use me to farm for them but the locals say the land is protected and its bad luck to farm there.  I don't believe in luck what happens happens, of course the locals tried to stop me from doing any work on the land straight off.

First it was none of the local farm-boys would hire out to me despite the high rate I was offering, then I had the cops down on a tip that my trailer contained government controlled plants and then the local hardware store refused my credits.  I've had bring everything in from hundred miles away at considerable cost I might add, for the amount of credits I've spent so far on this shindig I could of bought myself a nice little flat in a protected zone.  Of course that isn't me, I'm a farmer through and through don't like the indoors too much.

Its the government's fault again I had good farm back in Blighty, saw me a government sign about big money to be had in the land of the yanks.  Lots of spare land since the population drop after the D-Shifts started.  Apparently it effects your manhood not that I've ever had any trouble myself in that direction but since the D-Shifts the birthrate has dropped off quite bit.  Blighty seems fine for that sort of thing but the government says it because there's more D-Shifts in the US,  I'm not so sure on that front.  Still that's why I here looking down that stretch of road cause the locals obviously want me dead and away from their land.

Pokermon Go 1st Review

This new mobile app game recently released by Niantic the makers of Ingress is taking the world by storm the only problem being is that the high demand from users has made a pig's ear out of the servers running the game.  It has only been released in the USA and Australia, the UK released is on hold until they can guarantee good service.  That being said if you have an Android phone you can download it from here: APK Pokemon GO download

Which is exactly what I did earlier in the week, once installed on the phone it takes up a whooping 116 Megabytes (MB), admittedly it took a couple of attempts at downloading it the surge for the game was already building.

I am assuming the 116 MB is mostly for the 3D aspects of the game unlike Niantic's previous game Ingress whereby the screen is a very flat 2D environment in place of a walking Avatar that you have in Pokemon GO you have a filled in triangle.  There is augmented reality aspect to the game as well which uses the phone's camera to show the Pokemon's in the real world, I found this slowed the game down somewhat.

Niantic has used many of the portals created in Ingress for the PokeStops and Gyms in Pokemon Go however they have thinned them out quite a bit.

The basics of the game are simple:

• Catch Pokemon's by walking around and throwing PokeBalls at them when they appear
• Collect items from PokeStops (blue portals): PokeBalls, Potions, Eggs etc
• Power Up/Evolve your Pokemons using items you pick up when you catch them
• Hatch Eggs using a Incubator - walking powers it.
• Use the unclaimed Gyms or friendly Gyms to help train your Pokemons
• Capture Gyms (white portals) for your team (Blue/Red/Yellow)

The more you do the more experience (XP) you get which levels you up, you need to be level 5 before you can enter a Gym.  That took three lunchtimes to do so.  There are also badges for collecting different types of Pokemons, walking, evolving etc.

Now the following issues maybe because the servers were already falling apart due the high load, I will list them in reverse chronically order:

• Niantic/The Pokemon Company logo on opening screen covers the entire screen which means if you want to swap to a different app you cannot
• Can no longer login it is stuck in a loop which makes the above really annoying
• The loading screen plays a really annoying tune, had to turn the sound off on the phone
• Augmented Reality switch only on the Capture Pokemon & Battle screens, should be in the settings menu as well
• The Battery Saver turns your screen off when you turn the phone sideways away from you sounds good in theory but in practice when you turn it back to face you the App has crashed/locked out.
• It goes through the battery fair quicker than when using Ingress, it took just under 50% of my phone charge in less than hour.
• Even with the sounds & music off the game sounds like it is running a mini fan maybe this is what is taking all the battery power
• Game freezes and reboots quite a lot more so than any game I have downloaded in the past
• Scrolling is very unresponsive
• Clicking on the menu items is really slow

There does not seem to be much in the way of team play you basically capture Gyms (white portals) for your team and you deploy your best Pokemons to the Gym to defend it from other teams.  You can attack another team's Gym with up to six other players but you are still only playing one on one battles.  There needs to be a team score that everyone can access, the scores could be split by worldwide, region, country and towns.

The ability to trade items would also be a good thing too.

The game for me became unplayable after being unable to login for two days so it got uninstalled, I will wait for the UK release hopefully they will have ironed out some of the kinks by then.

Unless you are a Pokermon fan (which I am not) I think you might find the game quite dull in its game play.

It is curious to note the other reviews I have read about this game suggest that it is first game to get you out walking which is ironic because Niantic's marketing for Ingress was the same thing.

Additional:  Is this the thin end of the wedge?

Of course Ingress was much the same.