Now while most of our readers will be well aware of TERA, I know that some of you may be wondering what the hell I am on about, and more to the point – why am I so eager to be the one reviewing it?

In its own words, TERA is a ‘True Action Combat MMO’. In real terms, this means that instead of going with the time-tested action bar based combat found in most online games, the developers, Bluehole Studio, have built a more action based system.
Knowing the right time to use an ability, watching your enemy’s actions to know the right time to dodge or counter, and actually moving while in combat to use positioning to your advantage are all central to this system. This is a bit of a gamble in a genre that is dominated by the action bar style, but all it takes is one game to have the guts to do it, and do it well, and that can all change. Good news then – TERA has done it right.

It just feels good – damn, damn good – to be ducking and weaving in an MMO, trying to get the upper hand on the enemy while limiting the incoming damage. The ‘true action’ feel is a bit diminished for the caster classes, which mainly boil down to keeping enough distance to cast and make sure you don’t miss, but the style is incredibly natural when it comes to the melee classes.

Click Here to Read the Full Review in May’s Thirteen1

The post Review – TERA appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

This week though we seemed even more distractable than normal – I lost count of the number of times the show and the planned topics parted directions in the end. Sometimes it just seemed to be easier not to try and get back to what we were originally talking about and just move on.

Now along the way I believe we managed to cover the fact that EA were voted the worst company in america, we may have stumbled onto the topic of the Diablo 3 reveal site, I’m pretty sure we at least in passing mentioned the Wasteland 2 hitting its kickstarter target & somewhere along the way we must have mentioned the £850 collectors edition of Resident Evil 6.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #66: If there was a plot we have no idea where we left it appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

Once we were done trying to work out how the hell that could be possible, its a toss up between Gow being a time-traveller or he is the illegitimate love-child of Paul McCartney, we set back to the regular business of  recording a podcast.

We tried to cover as much of the gaming news as we could managing to fit in our take on all the next gen console rumours, gloat a little about having called the Wii U a natural home for MMO’s ages ago, laugh a little at the output of MolyJam & be amazed by the fact that the original Prince of Persia source code has been found. We even managed to, for what is hopefully the last time, cover the continuing saga of GAME – who have been saved finally.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #65: Gow was a founder of The Beatles! appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

Over the last few weeks with have had a plethora of guest hosts like Dan & Alec, hell we even managed to get a bit of Craig at the platform 2012 special podcast – it was only natural that this week would go to the other extreme.

For the first time in a while I had to do the podcast solo, everyone else was either ill or otherwise engaged, not that I was going to let that stop me recording but consider yourself warned. I have a habit of talking too fast and sounding very monotone when I’m alone.

That said I still managed to cover most of this weeks gaming news, from the final nail in the coffin of GAME as it officially goes into administration, to the idiots at Ubisoft using tattoo’s for advertising & even throw in some words about the current kick-starter craze, the reboot of GOG & the craziness of EVE.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #64: Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to myself appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

It’s more likely that we are just sadists, who have got hooked up on a set of very weird games.

This weeks show once again saw Dan, Editor of Thirteen1 pull up a seat next to the microphone. This week though that seat was Gow’s usual spot as he had other matter to attend to and couldn’t be with us.

We were not going to let that stop us doing a show and talking about things like the Mass Effect 3 ending argument, Tax breaks for UK games developers, our addiction to Draw Something, Mists of Pandaria & as always the continuing saga of the downfall of GAME.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #63: Endlessly Addicted to Simulators appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

This year I finally had the time to make it there, so go I did dragging Gow & Alec along for the ride.

While we were there we saw lots of cool gaming stuff, found turkeysaladboy wandering the floor and even managed to complete some hilariously unprofessional interviews.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Special: Platform 2012 appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

Paddy is currently lost in SSX, while Gow is so addicted to Draw Something that he had to be told to stop playing it several times during recording. I wouldn’t mind if he could actually draw things properly – I have had some right shockers from him.

However a recording was done and other than our weekly round up of the death of GAME we managed to find the time to cover a whole pile of gamin news. We looked at the DoubleFine Kickstater campaign, debated the benefits of streaming MMO’s & DUST 514, laughed at a game that has a similar name to one we used to work for & debunked the possibility of the next Xbox not having a disk drive.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #62: Delayed by Snowboards and Doodles appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

Unfortunately that sponsor was our Dutch friend Roy, who insisted we had to drink Grolsh for the whole show (fortunately I eventually talked him down to starting on Grolsh and finishing on real beer) and I would direct you to the shows headline for my opinion of even that small amount of lager.

That aside it was a good show, Gow was endlessly distracted by the fact that I now have a dog , I was confused by the fact that I had only selected the stories less than an hour before we started recording. Not that we would let such small things stop us recording a show for you guys.

This week we once again continued to chronicle the downfall of UK Retailer GAME, Talked about the Hidden DLC on the disc of Street Fighter X Tekken, nattered a bit about the Assassins Creed III reveal, Argued about the possibility of a Valve ‘Steam Box’ Console and basically flapped our gums about anything and everything that popped into our radar from the weeks gaming news.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #61: Lager is not a real beer and should be shot on sight appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

Firstly we have a bit of an announcement – We will be doing our first special podcast episode, Recording live at Platform 2012. Details are still to be finalised but when we know which of the bars we will be set up in, we will let you know so you can come and join us.

Secondly Dan, you know the editor here at T1,  actually turned up to the recording of this podcast after over a year of saying he would do so (seriously we had a book going on whether he would show up or not).

Gaming news wise, we once again continued to chronicle the downfall of UK retailer GAME, we discussed the possibility of a freemium Blizzard game, Ranted a bit about Day one DLC & even found the time to check out a dating site.

All that and much more in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #60: The Dans they are multiplying appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.

But a slight bit of delusion aside he did manage to help DrunkenGamer get through some of the key gaming news of the week in this episode of the Drinky Talky Thingy.

Kicking off with their take on this years nominations for the various BAFTA gaming awards, taking a running look at the latest news about Guild Wars 2 & even finding time to laugh at some research that pointed out that excessive gaming can be bad for a marriage.

There was a whole host more beside that but this post would be huge if I mentioned it all, you will just have to download it and give it a listen.

The latest episode is available for you to download here and if you find you like it you can get the backlog by subscribing on iTunes or over at http://www.drunken-gamer.com/

The post Drinky Talky Thingy Episode #59: A case of mistaken identity appeared first on Thirteen1: Free Video Games Magazine.