peak district

It seems that this blog of mine has sort of become a games review blog. What can I say, I've a lot of free time to play them. Well, when I first started this blog, there were many entries about food, so maybe you could say that I used to like eating but now I like playing games. Hehe. So now I'm not going to write about any video games but I will mention some food. I'm writing about something that I haven't done much this year: traveling.

I'm currently staying at Ammir's apartment in London (thanks Ammir!). Ammir's not here. He's already back in Malaysia after a month traveling around South Africa, Australia and New Zealand with Faizal. Sometimes Pear, Colin and Alvin will stay here as well.

Pear's currently in Leicester and since I haven't been there before, I decided to go there last week for the weekend (that's the weekend before last weekend). It's a small town and the guys there were asking me why I went since there was nothing much to see or do there. But I don't mind, plus I've made some new friends who are either medic students or recently graduated doctors. Boleh la mintak tolong (for free) kalau sakit nanti.

Last weekend, I went there again because I was joining their roadtrip to Peak District. I arrived on Saturday and how lucky I was that they were having a BBQ that night. Delicious. Okay, that's the end of the food part.

wow, i can('t) see klcc from here

Now the traveling part. The next day, Pear, Fidod, Fathi, Fifi, Nazimah, Farah, Sara, Fiza and I went to the Peak District National Park in two cars; one for the guys and the other for the girls. The weather was nice and sunny when we arrived. Everyone were wearing clothes suitable for hiking except for me and Pear. We were wearing baju nak pegi town, but the hike was still enjoyable. The area we were hiking to was Stanage Edge. It's a long line of cliffs made of gritstone.

Once we got to higher ground, the scenery was beautiful. And lots and lots of photos were taken of course. We noticed that in spots where it's nice to take photos (with beautiful scenery plus cool rocks/cliff), there were lots of tahi kambing. Maybe it's their toilet? It must be nice for the sheep, enjoying the view while doing their business. Very strategic locations. Heh.

9 of us hiking and posing all day

We even had a small barbeque up in the hills and played Uno as well. It became hotter during the afternoon and I was slightly sunburned. Padan muka, sapa suruh belagak xnak pakai sunblock. Anyway, we had a nice walk at the hills and cliffs. I didn't feel tired during the hike, but once we were back in our cars and were heading back to Leicester, all the tiredness suddenly came to me. I couldn't keep my eyes open and went straight back to sleep. Kesian gila Fathi because all us other guys were sleeping while he drove the car. Ehe.

Thanks for the trip guys. I had fun. So what's next, the 'Great Backpacking Trip' eh Nazimah and Fiza?

grand theft auto iv

GTA IV is an action-adventure game which was released this year by Rockstar Games. It's a sandbox-style game, meaning that the missions can be completed in a number of different sequences. Of course, any guy out there surely would have either already played the game or want to play it or at least heard of it before, since it's a very male-centric game.

Anyway, I got to play GTA IV after Pear bought a new Xbox 360 which included 2 games: GTA IV and Bad Company. Thanks to Fairuz for his Xbox 360 which I used to play with before Pear's. Oh and thanks to Pear as well for buying the console. Ehe.

i need your car

In the game, Niko Bellic is an Eastern European guy who comes to Liberty City after being persuaded by his cousin Roman who claims he was living a very good life in America. Of course, when Niko gets there, he finds that his cousin was just talking big. Roman's apartment was small and his business wasn't that big either.

So initially, Niko helps Roman with the troubles he had with some contacts, and the game expands from there; Niko is introduced to other characters which he helps to earn money and from these characters, he meets other people and so on.

kaboom

I've finished the storyline missions and I must say that it's very good. Even Colin who doesn't play these games was attracted to the story. In some missions, you need to make a choice and there will be consequences. The ending will depend on what path you choose. I've already played both endings but I won't spoil it to those of you who haven't played it yet.

There are also side missions that you can do in the game. Some of them can help you play the main storyline missions. To complete 100% of the game, you need to finish most of these missions as well because the storyline is only 60% of the game. I'm only on 75% and there's plenty more things to do, such as meeting random people who have little missions of their own, performing stunt jumps, shooting pigeons and plenty more. Oh and there are also the Xbox 360 achievements that I can do. These challenges are spread out all over the islands in Liberty City, so I guess I'll be finishing the game with a laptop nearby showing me where these places are, because it'd take a very long time to try to find them all on my own.

time to put this weapon to good use

The Rockstar team has done a really good job in creating the game. I can't help but be mesmerised by its beautiful graphic, especially when flying over the city in a helicopter. The attention to detail both in the graphics as well as the behaviour of all the elements in the game have made the game truly astounding. Yes, the picture is a bit cartoony but I think they intended to make it that way.

When shooting, the cover system is quite good and the automatic lock on the enemy is cool as well. But you also need to try manual targeting if you want to do plenty of headshots. Muahahaha (gelak jahat). Niko's mobile phone is used to call people (duh!) to initiate some missions, to invite people to go out and so on. You can also restart failed missions by replying messages. This will save you the hassle to go to back to the mission starting point.

catch me if you can

There are a lot more things that can be written about the game, but it's getting long now. I suggest you go read the game reviews (which I suppose most of you would have already done by now). I really like the game but I'm not very happy with the movement of Niko when on foot, which I feel is not very smooth. Other than that, the game's brilliant. So, that's all folks. Now, to finish the game... or maybe not yet because I've already started another game, Assassin's Creed. Heh.

congrats sisso!

Congratulations to Liyana for successfully graduating from the University of Essex! We now have a qualified accountant in the family.

So she graduated a few months earlier than her big bro. Lambat betul IC punya konvo. Even the results aren't out yet. Hopefully it's good...

Anyway, congrats again sisso!

sightseeing with adik2

Three weeks ago, I presented my final year project which meant that I had completed my degree (yeay!). A few days later, my two sisters and one of my brother came to London. Liyana had just finished her degree at Essex while Musfirah and Faqihuddin were on holiday from their studies at UiTM.

anti-clockwise from top left: piccadilly circus, strawberry picking at esher, clacton, funfair at colchester, university of essex

So the next whole week was spent sightseeing with my adik2. And we even got a new adik called Hyree who claims he's 17 years old, which made him elligible to become my youngest adik to be in the UK at that time.

We only went sightseeing in the UK (London, Colchester and Manchester). Places that we visited in London were the usual: London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Greenwich, etc. Oh and of course, shopping at Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus. We went fruit (and vegetable) picking at Esher as well.

anti-clockwise from top left: london eye, champions league and EPL trophies, old trafford, royal greenwich observatory, imperial college

Liyana brought Musfirah and Faqihuddin around Colchester for a couple of days. The four of us then went to Manchester to see Old Trafford and we took pictures with the two trophies. Yeay, we've held the Champions League and English Premier League trophies! While we were in Manchester, we visited our old flat and primary school in Salford. We were there for 3-4 years when we were kids and it was good to know that the teachers there still remember us.

The jalan2 with adik2 was fun. Dah lama tu x dapat nak kacau diorang. Hehe. And the other way round too of course. We had a great time. Thanks to those that went along with us for taking the photos. Pandai pose jugak my sisters and brother ni. Just like their Abang Long(?).