Far Cry 2: Not That Far From Perfection
October 27, 2008 (23 Responses)
IT’S RARE that I play a new game and find myself in love, in awe and utterly amazed at just how good the game is. Welcome to Far Cry 2… Read more
The Force Is Strong With This One
October 5, 2008 (4 Responses)
I DID something today purely by chance which required an incredible amount of concentration but resulted in me winning two poker online tournaments – at the same time! Read more
Those Deadly Shadows Are Still Fun
August 29, 2008 (3 Responses)
BOREDOM drove me away from online first person shooters to revisit the king of first person sneakers in the form of Thief: Deadly Shadows but is it still worthy of the crown? Read more
Getting My Mesocorticolimbic Buzz On…
May 30, 2008 (3 Responses)
I LOVE GAMES. There I said it. I’ve loved gaming (the computer kind) since I was capable of understanding what the concept was. I started with a BBC Acorn, progressed to a ZX Spectrum and eventually after years of loading tapes, writing pointless programs that printed out ‘Hello’ a few times I managed to purchase myself my very first PC, then the endless opportunity for faster, slicker and better upgrades arrived and took hold and then of course the Internet arrived and, well… I’ve never looked back since.
I’ve never really questioned why I love games so much, however I’ve always wondered why none of my female friends ever got into the act. I know there are female gamers and clans out there, but they are far outnumbered by the males and always have been. We just seem to get more out of games, but until now I never knew why.
It’s all about territory apparently, and the impact gaining territory within a game has on a males brain; specifically the mesocorticolimbic centre. This is the part of the brain linked to reward and addiction and it goes bananas in males when we achieve objectives, gain territory or otherwise make important stuff happen within a game context according to a recent study conducted at Stanford university. Read more
Crysis Outstanding Gaming Moment
November 20, 2007 (4 Responses)
GOOD GAMES are easy to come by these days, given the growth of the industry, the improvements in production quality and general focus on pushing the envelope again and again to keep pace with technology. Great games however are few and far between, and even when a great game is produced it doesn’t guarantee anything from its audience. Ultimately the success or failure of the game is driven not just by the sales performance but also by the cult status it achieves amongst gamers and the level and intensity of discussions it promotes online. Typically a really excellent game will have an outstanding gaming moment, hidden somewhere within it.
I have just experienced one of those outstanding ‘gaming moments’ in playing Crysis, a moment which – for me – has justified my investment in this game, because up to this point I was beginning to loose the faith and this game was falling into the category of so many other games before it; good, entertaining but nothing “that special“.
Before I tell you about this let me first clarify a few things. For starters, if you have not played this game, or you don’t want to have any information which may spoil your gameplaying experience – then don’t read any further, because in order to explain what happened I’m going to have to get into the details. In other words… SPOILER ALERT!
So what makes an outstanding ‘gaming moment’ for me? Well, it’s those elusive occasions when you’re playing a game and the combination of all elements of that game come together into something – an event, a challenge, a scene – some unique occurance that just causes your jaw to drop. It is generally accompanied by uncontrollable expletives like ‘Fuck me!’ or “You clever, clever bastards“, and it inevitably ends in a huge appreciative grin on behalf of the player for the game designers and developers, for it was their ingenuity and forethought which crafted this moment, this special unique thing within the game in question.
It doesn’t happen very often, so when it does it’s worthy of mention. Read more
No Surrender, No Retreat (Enemy Territory: Quake Wars)
October 7, 2007 (No Responses)
I’VE BEEN HANDS ON with this PC game now for about a week so I think it’s time to put down in words what I’ve only been able to do in actions for the last few nights, and believe me there have been many late nights with this one.
For anyone who has been living under a rock for the past few years, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW) is the offspring of two excellent, but totally different games. The concept was to take the speed and backstory of the Quake universe (with their associated Strogg bad guys, weaponary etc.) and merge it with the teamplay, tactical variety and map design of Enemy Territory, originally a World War II Allies versus Nazis game. Personally I was never much of a Quake fan because I found the lack of team work and endless one-on-one score whoring a bit boring after a while; for my sins however I was a huge Enemy Territory fan becuase of the teamwork it demanded and the thinking it required in order to master it. Having said that I’d been waiting for the release of ET:QW and following it’s development with great interest because I was very curious to see where the developers were going to take the concept next; and they didn’t dissappoint when they decided to marry ET with Quake.
The bastard offspring of this union is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and while it’s not a direct descendant of either of it’s two parents I think it’s fair to say that it has managed to surpass both in the way that the developers have brought together the two previous incarnations into one hugely entertaining and breakneck paced tactical squad and objective based sci-fi orientated shooter. This is an entirely online multiplayer game – although it does provide a “play versus computer” mode which allows you to practice all the maps against computer controlled (bots) opponents – and believe me you will need the practice before you go online with this puppy, because you will get your ass handed to you again and again until you are familiar with all the new bells and whistles, no matter which pedigree you hail from (e.g. Quake or ET).
That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s problems, but the news is the good far outweighs the bad in this department, and there’s not too much ugly around either; but more on that later. Let’s get into the details… Read more
Makibishi: Annoyingly Addictive & Completely Weird Browser Game
April 29, 2007 (No Responses)
THIS ONE IS going to be a little hard to explain. It all started with my stumbling across a site called “Makibishi Comic“, which turned out to be some sort of online Flash based point-and-click adventure from one of those insane Manga-esque Japanese software houses. This isn’t the first Japanese browser game I’ve featured here at the site, but it’s certainly the weirdest.
A cursory look at the site and you really have no idea what it’s all about, even when you select the English version. Pretty quickly it becomes obvious that this is one of those simple point and click style affairs, where you advance through various quests from screen to screen, but within about 5 minutes of playing this little gem you begin to realise just how different this thing is. In fact – I’m betting you haven’t seen anything like this before, I know I hadn’t. The general objective of the game is to solve a series of clues/puzzles in order to locate five missing people, each search representing a different screen or area within the game.
So – what’s all the fuss about then? Read more
