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…

There are so many things that the development team got right with this game, so many things that just amaze me and constantly surprise me, but it’s also not without its problems and issues, however thankfully the good outweighs the bad by a huge margin.

Before I get any further into this review let me just say a few things to clarify my position:-

GO OUT AND BUY THIS GAME NOW!

OK. Fan boy attack over. Let’s look at this logically for a bit shall we? To start with let me summarise the game. It’s a successor to the seminal Far Cry, set this time in Africa. You play the role of a mercenary, caught up in the dirty little war between rival factions which quickly gets totally out of control, and that’s where the fun starts in earnest. Let’s deal with the good first then shall we…

Ever Wanted That Perfect Sunset?

I can say without hesitation that this is the most beautifully rendered game I’ve ever seen, and I’m a gaming nut so I’ve seen them all. The graphics are simply stunning; trust me when I tell you that you have never seen anything like this before. Ever. Sunrises and sunsets are so good, so absolutely mind blowing that frequently you will find yourself admiring the view (Deserts, jungles, rolling hills and deep valleys, grasslands, swamps, shanty towns, rivers, lakes etc.) instead of paying attention to the sneaky bugger who has outflanked your position and is about to put a bullet in your head. You sit there amazed as the grass and bushes sway in the wind (and wind direction is important folks, trust me!), your jaw drops regularly and you will find yourself uttering words like ‘Fuck Me!’ and ‘Bloody Hell’ when you see the effect you can have on your environment. It is simply stunning. Period.

Flame Wars

Without a doubt the implementation of flames and explosions in this game is the best I’ve seen yet. You can set fire to the grass, the trees… hell you can blow up and destroy pretty much everything you can see (with a few minor exceptions). There is something quite hypnotic when you lob a molotov cocktail into a group of buildings and watch the fire leap from one to the other based on wind direction (Tip: Always check the direction first or you will find yourself running away with your ass on fire as you scramble to inject some badly needed medicine and bandages.

Animations

The animations are quite amazing. From pulling bullets out of your leg to applying bandages to your arms, from exploding jeeps and buildings to exploding heads and limbs. Hell even getting into a damn jeep is perfectly handled, so if you climb in on the wrong side you end up ‘scooting’ across to the drivers position. Likewise when you switch from a gun position to a drivers position or vice versa. It’s just beautiful and never gets old. Even the buddy animations (if you make enough buddies in the game they will come and help you when get shot down sometimes) are cool as they drag you from the battlefield, shooting at bad guys in the process while you apply some medications and get back on your feet. It’s brilliant, really.

Those Wonderful Surprises

The more I play, the more I discover and inevitably the more I find myself smiling, laughing out loud or simply whooping with joy at the pleasure of discovery. This game rewards you for thinking outside the box, for going where no one expects you to, and from thinking before leaping. I don’t want to spoil it for you so I’ll just say the following. Don’t stay on the roads forever – go exploring. Go as far off the beaten track as you dare, and you will be amazed at what you find. Oh and here is a little tip – if you find a bunch of bad guys standing around some ammo… drop a grenade in there and watch the fun as the ammo ignites and fires off in every direction. The watch what happens to the surrounding grass, jungle, trees etc. Oh, and look after your weapons because if you don’t they will fail, and they will even explode in your face if you’re not careful… that’s one of the nastier surpriese in store for you, but there are many many more. Trust me on this.

Fighting Form

The bad guys in the early stages of the game are pretty easy to take out, and just as you are about to get bored you realise that something has changed. Gradually your reputation increases, as do your skills… but guess what? So do theirs! The games increases in difficulty in a wonderfully subtle way until one minute you find yourself out of ammo, out of ideas and shitting yourself behind a tree holding on to your last molotov cocktail and wondering if the wind will be kind to you as you try to escape the five armed gunmen who have outflanked you and ambushed you from three sides. Hell they even try to run you down in the vehicles. It’s pretty fantastic.

Options – You’ve Got ‘Em

You can do it all in this game. Fly, drive, walk, run, crawl, sail or swim your way around a 50km square map that just seems to go on forever. Hell you can even walk between the various districts and areas if you want to, but watch out for that maleria, it’s a killer! Vehicles need to be kept in good condition though, so you will find yourself having to repair them quite regularly. Your weapons will also need to be kept in good condition as I mentioned previously, but you can also upgrade them at various gunsmiths throughout the game, so choose wisely. The currency in this land is diamonds. You get ‘em for carrying out missions buy you can also steal them from caches hidden around the map (one good reason to go off the beaten track!). There are many different ways to approach every single mission or area in the game and you make strategic choices as well which determine how easy or difficult the objective will be. It’s pretty flexible and where as some decisions will force you down one route, most just offer you different ways of achieving the same thing.

The Wishlist

Ok – enough good stuff. There’s actually a huge list of other things I could talk about, but I don’t want to spoil the experience for you. Let’s deal with the not-so-hot things then. Let’s call it my wishlist, and luckilly it’s a small list:

Predators – There aren’t any! There are deer, buffalo, zebras and lots of other animals wandering all over the place but no lions, tigers, snakes, elephants etc. Hopefully someone will either come out with a mod or the developers will include it in a future patch because it would add a lovely edge to an already incredible game (imaging swimming through croc territory!)

Road Warriors – Everyone you meet on the road is a bad guy; it would have been better to force you (as the player) to suss out whether or not the guys you are coming upon are friendly or not the old fashioned way.

Zoom Crazy – The zoom on the monocular is set too high by default, so when you scout out an area you practically have to be miles away in order to make any sense of the image because everything is so close in the scope.

Factions - Don’t exist outside of the main city; It would have been so much cooler to have the factions (AI) struggle for territory outside the main city (similar to Stalker games) which would then change the landscape of the map as you play it.

It has to be said though that the items above are really really niggly and small when compared to the monumental achievement that Far Cry 2 is. I mean right now it’s 1am in the morning, I’ve been playing this game for 2 days and it just escalated up a notch or two on the thrill-o-meter as I’ve had to escape a full scale civil war in a small town and I can tell you I was hyped when I did it. I might just go back and do something different this time and see what happens because it all happens so dynamically, so fast and so perfectly that you get caught up in the action and the pace.

Ok. Enough writing. Time to get back to the jungle and the plot, which is getting darker by the minute. Do yourself a favour and go out and buy this game. It’s legend.

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!

It started with me being a bit bored – as usual – and so I logged onto my favourite online poker site www.pokerroom.com and started messing around at ‘sit and go’ games and then I just got the crazy idea of sitting in on texas holdem no limits tournament, and while I was waiting for that game to kick off (boredom again I suppose) I registered for another tournament, thinking they wouldn’t start at the same time and that I’d probably be knocked out of at least one of them pretty quickly.

Wrong. Doh!

What followed was a pretty intense hour or so of constant play. I had both tournaments up on my screen displayed in different windows and was playing both at the same time. I got some hard rocking MP3s up on my trusty player and decided to see how things would work out.

Weirdly enough it was quite a unique experience; I’d never tried anything like this before. I didn’t get any time to really think about my tactics so I had to just react most of the time. When you only get seconds to decide what move to make next, it tends to focus the mind a bit. I was laying down pairs left and right because it didn’t ‘feel’ right. I was bluffing my way in and out of trouble on a regular basis. Within the first 30 minutes I’d become the chip leader in the first game but was hovering around the middle of the pack in the second.

I tried to focus more on the second game at that point but it was useless; I just couldn’t divide my time in unequal portions so I reverted back to default mode and started playing as fast and furious as I could between both tables and sure enough I made it into the final 3 players on both tables… and that’s when things got really ugly. The sheer speed of things escalated beyond anything I’d experienced before.

At this point the hands are being dealt incredibly fast and the blinds had gone up to the max; so I’m getting even less time to think about my response to each hand. I’ve no idea how long I spent bouncing between both windows at that point because both tables had 3 players going at it hard and fast without any one player pulling away. At some point I managed to knock out a player on one table and was down to a head to head which removed some pressure but then it forced me to play a different style of poker at that point, but I needed to do something drastic on the other table in order to get the headroom to achieve this… so I went all in a few times and finally managed to knock out one of the players.

Now I’m down to 2 parallel head-to-head games and it’s just manic. Escalating agressive plays and bluffs continued for about 5 or 6 minutes until finally I managed to win one of the games.

So – at this stage I’ve won one tournament and am now in a head to head in the other, and it starts to go slow for a bit for some reason, cagey play on both sides until finally I decided to get really agressive and then a series of all ins resulted in me coming out on top.

At that point I stopped, took a breath and realised I’d been so completely focused on the two games for probably well over an hour that I couldn’t tell you what music I was listening to because it all went by so fast. Woah – that was an incredible experience. I’d highly recommend you try it because if you think you’ve got some focus, try this for a while and see what happens. It’ll sort out the men from the boys!

You will know soon enough if the force is strong in your playing ability or not.

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?

My current gaming habits have been restricted since I moved to a new ISP service due to some network issues resulting in a distinct lack of any possibility of me playing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars online these days, which is shame. It really is a shame because ETQW is an amazing game, but not to be outdone I searched through some old DVDs and found Thief: Deadly Shadows.

This was the third instalment in the Thief series and unfortunately the last (unless rumours I’m picking up on the Web lately are to be believed). This was also the first dual-platform development effort (developing both console and PC versions at the same time) which accounted for the small levels and clunky transitions due to memory constraints.

Still, setting the limitations aside and playing it again from start to finish was a very enjoyable experience. I’d forgotten just how much fun it is to sneak around in the shadows, thieving and causing mayhem, having to think your way out of situations rather then shooting a way out. The array of weapons also makes for hugely diverse ways of solving puzzles or achieving objectives – water arrows to douse flames and torches, moss arrows to dampen footsteps, explosive mines to trap your unsuspecting foes, holy water flasks for those pesky undead or even oil lamps combined with fire arrows for really explosive results. The list goes on and on but the combinations never get old.

I’d also forgotten just how amazing the audio is in these ‘sneaker’ games. Instead of depending on what you can see it’s more important to listen carefully to the environment, to overheard conversations and tfootsteps, even doors and creaking stairs etc. These are the clues that tell you whether it’s safe to proceed or not. These noises and sounds become your guide through the ever-dark world of Thief: Deadly Shadows.

The sheer inventiveness of the concept – a sneaker rather than a shooter – is enough to earn this series a permanent place in my heart, even if the third instalment is not a patch on the open levels and freshness of the first two in the series.

However playing through Thief: Deadly Shadows again after all these years has only reinforced in me the desire see more creativity in PC games because of late it’s all gone a bit heavy on the graphics and deformable terrain and light on inventiveness. Apart from Stalker (which made great strides towards an A-Life persistence in an offline game), ETQW (Which was the first series to use tactical squad based asymetric warfare as far as I’m aware) and Portal (which made great and unique use of physics) I can’t think of any really inventive games that made it on to the PC lately.

Can you?

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.

The study itself is not what I’d call conclusive and of course the number of subjects who took part does not lead me to think the results of the study are extensive in any way, but it does answer the question of why exactly I’ve been spending so much bloody time playing online games that involve the taking or defending of territory in asymetric scenarios, and further why I’m getting so much damn enjoyment out of it too.

That and the fact that I have always believed that playing a PC game (online or single player) has always been an effective form of stress relief for me, but I guess what works for me may not apply to others.

Still, I’d be interested in any extensive surveys or studys out there that can offer a more comprehensive viewpoint on why there are so many male gamers versus female gamers. If you know of one, drop me a link would you? Thanks.

 

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.

These outstanding ’gaming moments’ are rare events, often recalled and generally hard to beat. I’ve encountered such moments in games like Half Life, Deus Ex, Tribes, Bioshock etc. but for me the most outstanding moment of them all was a level called ‘The Asylum’ in a game called Thief 3: Deadly Shadows. It was one of the scariest levels I’ve ever played in any game, where the developers used the most basic human fears against the player. The use of shadow and darkness, the audio implementation, the number of false alarms and then the triggering of the actual threats all combined into an incredible, indelible and unforgetable gaming moment. If you doubt me just go search for any keywords related to this and I’m thinking you will find forum entry after forum entry praising the development team for crafting such a brilliantly scary and entertaining level within the game. In Crysis, I experienced that same feeling last night.

For those of you familiar with the game I had entered the mine shaft, rescued the hostage and then all hell broke loose and I end up in a zero gravity environment within an alien ship. Nothing particularly outstanding about that I hear you cry, and you’re right. Zero G has been done before. Alien ships have been done before. It’s all been done before… but not quite everything. There was an attention to detail here that surprised me, so much so that I just couldn’t help myself and started laughing out loud and of couse then I heard myself utter those immortal “You clever bastards!” words, and I knew the developers had scored a hit with this one.

So – what was it that got my attention then? Well, after floating around for a bit in Zero G, fighting my way through various scenarios I eventually came upon a large cavernous ante-chamber and upon dispatching the local enemies I then happened across some side chambers with lots of floating objects. I investigated, only to discover that the aliens had been collecting human items to study. As soon as I disturbed them a radio started to play, floating away from me, the tones fading due to battery power drain. All the bits and pieces started to float away at various angles, bouncing off walls and each other, careening in every direction and it was then that I realised that I could actually salvage some of said flotsam and jetsam for some badly needed ammo. I was just about running on empty, I was running out of options and here was my salvation… but in order to get to it I needed to try to navigate myself in and around the floating goodies in a Zero G environment and grab them before they just floated off into a huge dark cavern.

All the while the radio plays, fading in and out. The ambient noises kick in to constantly remind me I’m in an alien ship. Every time I make a mistake I curse and try again. Desperately required bits of ammo are just beyond my grasp, but I keep trying. Up is down, left is right, nothing is easy but I keep trying. Then I realise I’m not alone any more… but I need that ammo, and fast! I can’t help but be impressed by the level of detail applied to the flotsam and jetsam. Here floats the history of other humans, other victims, other families. It adds context to a basic run and gun (or in this case float and gun) cycle. It gives me pause to think about the implications. It made me stop and take in the surroundings. It put things in context within the game.

It was perfect timing, perfect presentation and almost perfectly executed. I am still smiling at the feeling of contentment with the way the scene played out, and it’s only a small piece of a very large game. You can keep the excellent graphics. Hold on your your fancy weaponry and Zero G implementation. Chew up as many trees and jungles as you like with mini-guns and Gauss guns. For me the real treat in Crysis is the way the developers paced out that scene, the way I desperately needed ammo and then found it in the most unexpected place, the way the logic unfolded (of course aliens would be studying human artefacts) and the way the story develops as a result. The way it made me as a player feel about the fate of others within the game. The way it immersed me in the game.

Reading back on this post I realise that it’s really difficult to convey in words just how special that moment was, just how outstanding the design and implementation of the various components (physics engine, graphics, sound, motion etc.) was and how it contributed to my enjoyment of the scene. This is about immersion within a virtual construct. This is what gaming is supposed to do for you as a player.

To the Crysis development and design team I have this to say: Thank You and well done. I hope there are more outstanding moments to come in this game, buf it not I shall be content with this one. Job well done.

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…

The Teams: GDF and Strogg Gameplay

The Strogg are the alien bad asses, intent on dominating Earth and the GDF are the human defenders (Global Defence Force) trying to stop them. Although balance is a huge part of the success of this game (in respect of maps, weapons, vehicles etc.) the abilities of both teams are uniquely different and it plays a major part in selecting the appropriate tactics for offence or defence as a result.

Each team as the same ‘classes’ or ‘roles’, namely Engineer, Soldier, Medic, Field Ops and Covert Ops, however the each team also has different abilities within some of these classes; but more on that later. Physically the Strogg are ugly bastards to look at, comprised (kind of like the borg) of many bits and pieces of other species and even their own kind. The Strogg are relentless, comprised of both strength and cunning. On the battlefield it’s not hard to differentiate between a human and a Strogg, even without the convenient red symbol above their heads!

The only downside here is that it’s pretty difficult to make out which class of Strogg you are dealing with, because if you take the time to actually look closely at one you will almost certanly find yourself dead, in a heartbeat. The same of course applies to the GDF, in that all the classes/roles look similar from a uniform/armour perspective, but if you get up close and personal with one of ‘em you will see the differences; the thing is getting that close in this game means only one of you will leave the encounter standing.

There are three game modes at work here: Campaign, Stopwatch and Objective. Campaign more is a three map cycle where your experience points (XP) continually mounts up and you therefore keep your rankings and rewards for the duration of the campaign. Stopwatch mode is playing a particular map/level from both sides (e.g. GDF and Strogg) and whoever achieves the objectives in the fastest time wins. Objective mode is simply playing any one of the many maps/levels. 

There is a constant timer at work in the game forcing you onwards because the more you sit back and wait for the enemy to come to you, the more the clock ticks down and you miss your chance to win the map. This element of constant pressure to achieve the objectives, to push forward on the map and gain more ground, to ultimately defeat the opposing team is a huge part of why the game is so relentless and addictive; there is no relaxing in an ET:QW game.

When you get killed you will respawn at the nearest spawn point (see below for more details) after about 25 seconds. This of course means that if the opposing team has killed off a bunch of your team mates they now have a few seconds advantage before you get back on the battlefield, which means they can advance their nefarious plans for your demise within the map. The 25 second lapse feels perfectly balanced as it allows just enough time to move forward or plant some explosives, but not enough time to run away with an objective before the next wave of reinforcements hits.

There are an adequate supply of vehicles (ground, water, air) in the maps to keep everyone satisfied – more on those later – but depending on where you end up spawning and how agressive your enemy is, it’s entirely possibly that you end up a good bit away from the frontline action and walking around on these large maps is not really recommended because by the time you get to where you’re going the game is usually almost over… so keep an eye on your spawn points and nearest vehicles.

There is also a ranking system at work here. The more you do, the more experience points (XP) you earn, the higher your rank goes and the more goodies you get in reward (at a minimum within the current map or within the current campaign if playing in campaign mode). Rewards include such items as faster reload times, faster target acquisition, bigger ammo boxes, newer upgraded weapons, vehicle air drops etc.). Basically the game rewards you for putting your neck on the block and trying harder, which is a great feature.

The Teamplay: Do It Or Loose It

In keeping with it’s WW2 parent, ET:QW retains the core elements of squad based co-operation at it’s heart, which essentially forces you – the player – to adopt multiple roles within any given map or level depending on the circumstances. Each role/class has it’s own good and bad points, as well as some unique abilities, but if you are a score whore who specialises in one role (e.g. sniper only) then don’t bother with this game because you will get eaten alive and unless you like the taste of loosing, repeatedly, you will need to either play as a team player or go find another game.

The maps/levels are designed around indoor and outdoor, defend and assault, escort or prevention style missions and due to the sheer size of the maps each quadrant has multiple spawn control points. Capturing a spawn point means your team can then call in deployables (see Mana From Heaven later in this review) and respawn closer to the action. Loosing a spawn point however sets your team back and enables the enemy to get close to you with the same benefits for them. Spawn points are however contained within discrete areas of battle which once gained or lost, remain so. For example in an escort style mission where your team have to escort something from A to B, certain control points on the map once reached remain in your control – forcing your opponents further back towards their last defensive position. In this way ET:QW keeps things interesting and on edge, because ownership these key areas on the battlefield can play a huge part in the outcome of the battle.

In this respect at different parts of a battlefield different skills and roles are required. Engineers may be required to build a bridge in order for vehicles to pass, Covert Ops are needed to hack into enemy equipment, Field Ops are needed to rain down artillary fire on embedded enemy positions, Soldiers are required to plant explosives on barricades and so on. Failure to have the right type of resource at the required locations – supported by all the other team classes – can mean you don’t progress through the battlefield. This means you either get very good at switching roles within the game as you respawn to suit the current need, or you get used to having your ass handed to you by the opposing team.

Within each mission there are also mini-missions (such as construct an item, destroy an item, defend an objective etc.) which the player can elect to do for more XP and hopefully more rewards. These mini-missions are selected from a drop down menu on the HUD – although how you get the time to go wandering around to achieve this is beyond me ’cause someone, somewhere is always looking to put you down and take back your territory.

The Class System: Know Your Place

As previously mentioned a willingness to play multiple roles is required in order to be successful in this game. The basic manual which accompanies the game is crap, just barely enough to get you up and running, however the installation also includes an “Advanced User Guide” which should be read by everyone before going online. It’s the bible for all roles/vehicles/maps/classes etc.  In the absence of the full information in that guide here is a quick breakdown of the various roles available to you in the game on either Strogg or GDF sides:-

Soldier:  The GDF Soldier/Strogg Aggressor class has the widest choice of weapons, the most health, and can complete Destroy objectives with their HE Charges.

Medic: The GDF medic keeps teammates alive, healing with Med Packs and using Defibrillators to revive teammates and destroy Strogg Spawn Hosts. The Strogg Technician Supplies and heals teammates with combined ammo/health Stroyent Cells, can revive fallen teammates, and create Spawn Hosts from GDF corpses

Engineer: The GDF Engineer / Strogg Constructor completes Construction objectives and vehicle/deployable repair with Repair Tool, and deploys defense turrets and Landmines. He can also efuse enemy Plasma Charges to Defend Destruction Objectives

Field Ops: The GDF Field Ops re-supplies teammates with Ammo Packs, Deploys and Targets Fire Support, uses the Vampire Airstrike Marker to call in Bombing runs. The Strogg Oppressor deploys and Targets Bombardment Weapons, uses the Violator beacon to bring down Orbital Strikes and can deploy a Tactical Shield for cover

Covert Ops: The GDF Covert Ops deploys Radar to reveal enemy units, completes Hack objectives and hacks enemy deployables with the Hacking Tool, uses the Third Eye Camera to spy on and ambush the enemy, can steal enemy identities, disable enemy vehicles and deployables with the EMP Grenade, backstab with Knife, and use the Smoke Grenade for concealment. The Strogg Infiltrator Deploys PSI-Radar to reveal enemy units, completes Hack objectives and hacks enemy deployables with the Hacking Tool, uses the Flyer Drone to spy on and ambush the enemy, and the Teleporter to access sniper vantage points. Can steal enemy identities , disable enemy vehicles and deployables with the scrambler grenade and backstab with the Spikes

The Deployables: Mana From Heaven

Engineers, Covert Ops and Field Ops can call in reinforcements from above and place deployables in any controlled areas of the map, which is why territory is such a big deal in this game (the hint was in the title wasn’t it!). Engineers can call down anti-personnel, anti-vehicle and anti-artillary turrents. The anti-personnel are lethal but slow to lock on so a few grenades can disable them if you’re accurate. The anti-vehicle turrents take down land based as well as air based vehicles – so watch out. The anti-artillary turrents are great defences against most long range bombardment weapons, but be warned they don’t defend you against all types!

The GDF Field Ops can deploy three types of bombardment weapons which he can then call upon using a laser designator. These range from simple artillary style bombings to directed rockets to a full SSN missile which just whacks everything in the vicinity – so choose your targets with some intelligence please. The Strogg opposite number (Strogg Oppressor) can deploy similar turrets (Rail Howitzer, Plasma Mortar, Dark Matter Cannon).

The Covert Ops/Infiltrator can deploy a radar and believe me, you will need radars up and running at all times because things happen so damn fast in these games that without the benefit of knowing where every enemy is at any point in time your team will be at a huge disadvantage.

Calling in deployables is a fairly easy and intuitive process, switching between first person and third person perspectives to help the player select an appropriate site for the deployment. The images on the left there show the sequence but here is the short version.

Switch to your deployable view by simply selecting the appropriate weapon number (or use the mouse wheel if you’re lazy like me!) and use the binocs to locate a suitable spot on the map. The feedback is really easy: green means you’ve found a decent spot, red is completely unsuitable and orange is not great but keep searching and you are bound to find a green spot close by. So it’s colour by numbers then until you find a spot. Once found, simply hit the fire button and stand back.

Once selected the outline of the deployable is ‘painted’ on the map and the airborne department kicks into gear. The crazy planes and choppers will arrive within 20-30 seconds and drop their package as they pass by. Seconds from the ground the parachute will open and the artillary or radar unit will arrive, unpack itself and setup for action. It’s all automatic from the time you ‘fired’ it at the selected spot, which means you can fire and forget, and get on the business of killing everything else in your path without waiting for it to arrive. It’s a pretty slick and quick implementation and it works well, becomign second nature within a few minutes of playing.

The Vehicles & Weapons: Death From Above, Below, Behind… Everywhere!

The array of vehicles in the game is fantastic. There are ground based transports, tanks, single seater quad bikes and the like. There are air based transport craft and gunships. There are even boats in the game, although some vehicles are actually amphibious too – but I’ll let you discover that on your own. GDF and Strogg vehicles are as different as can be.

The powerhouse of the Strogg machine is the Cyclops, a massive walker with two plasma cannons which is slow to move but packs a huge punch. For added fun and games it has a “Siege” mode which can be engaged by sitting the walker down, which provides for even greater punch on the plasma cannons and accuracy. Down the food chain is a Desecrator hover tank which is faster than the Cyclops and also has a ‘siege’ mode for those long distance shots from the bushes! Still – nothing quite matches up to using a Cyclops to ‘stomp‘ enemy soldiers as they try to scurry past you.

In the air the Strogg have the Icarus which is a single-seater very very fast mad thing; you will note the keen pilots with mad skillz online love this vehicle because of it’s speed and agility. This little buggers are very difficult to hit with a rocket due to their speed, so I’m advising you to use good old fashioned projectile weapons - that’s assault rifles in case you’re wondering – to curb these bouncing bastards. Up the food chain in the air is the Tormentor, a 2 seater gunship which can turn on a penny but a good rocket hit will drive these puppies to the ground.

The GDF are similarly equiped – on the ground with insanely fast Husky scout buggies, Armadillo and Trojan personnel carriers for the medium scut work and Titan tanks for the heavy hitting. In the air they get a Bumblebee 5 person transport and the beautiful Anansi 2-person attack ‘copter, which is a dream to fly. Saying that – flying can be done in ‘simple‘ mode or ‘advanced’; the advanced gives you more control but demands better skills.

The variety of vehicles combined with the sheer scale of the maps leads to outdoor and indoor chaos and combat. The outdoor battles are fast, frenetic and wide ranging. Vehicle to vehicle combat will be interspersed with ground troops and air assaults, all making for some memorable moments and chaotic fun. Once the action shifts indoors the vehicles are left behind and the action gets even more insane, with hand to hand fighting, corridor traps and sniper baiting. Hell the mines even play a big part of this because it’s possible to place them anywhere (hardly anyone looks up for some reason so I usually stick ‘em high!).

The shift from outdoor to indoor and back to outdoor combat can happen all within a single map, which is what keeps the gameplay so variable and damn addictive. Oh yeah – and here’s another top tip for you. If you’re defending indoors you probably have lost most of your outdoor spawn points at this stage of the map, so you’re down to whatever equipment you can muster indoors, which means no artillary turrets and no radar since they have to be air dropped. However, if you play as a Covert Ops you can throw a remote camera on a wall somewhere which not only acts as a third eye and remote bomb for you, but it also acts as a short range radar so you can see the bady guys coming and lay a trap in advance. Remember – when indoors, mines are your friends!

As for the weapons, the assault rifles are pretty cool on both sides, with scopes and crouching delivering more accuracy. Grenade / plasma launchers are in attendance as usual, with some railguns, sniper rifles (with amazing zooms) and the good old trusty rocket launcher too. Knifing your opponent in the back is still the preferred method of total domination though!

Strogg weapons take a little longer to get used to, because they are just so different from the GDF ones. Most Strogg weapons are energy based compared to the projectile variety favoured by the humans, but you will get the hang of them both eventually. My favourite weapon on either side is still the mines, and I like the fact that they cannot just be throw down and left there, they must be activated to be ‘armed‘. Of course while you’re doing that you’re wide open to be attacked. Also players are only allowed to place a total of 3 active mines at any one time, which is another neat balance feature.

The Maps: Backdoors & Trapdoors

The map design is sublime in this game. It ranges from massive outdoor environments to cramped corridors and sewers, usually within the same level. Given the nature of the gameplay, territory is a vital part of the game, so the advancement from one area to another is the reason the battles are fought. This could have been a problem (e.g. choke points) if the levels had not been thought through so well.

In playing the maps this week every time I thought I’d hit a dead end I found another way around whatever obstacle was in my way. Tunnels through mountains almost also contain other exits/entrances, either via rivers and sewers or indeed passages over and through the mountains. Internal maps vary from close cramped tunnels and rooms to vast cathedral like caverns with multiple entrances and exits.

This of course presents the defenders with an endless array of problems and the attackers with a similar choice of possibilities, which is what makes the game so interesting. Flying around in the air vehicles the terrain poses little threat, but the anti-vehicle turrets or the rocket weilding soldiers take care of that anyway. The maps range from island paradises to lush jungles, industrial wastlands to african deserts, snow capped mountains to dense forests. The graphic detail is excellent and the network code is fantastic. I’m playing at 1600×1280 and no FPS or lag issues at all.

You will not be dissappointed with the variety or the layout of the maps, and once you get to know them I’m sure there will be lots of new tricks and tips to discover. In this game, familiarity breeds success and you can save the contempt for your fallen foes.

The Verdict: Good, Bad and Ugly

So how do I feel about this game then? Well it’s not without it’s faults, but the good news is they are few and far between. Let’s do a classic Good, Bad and Ugly on it then shall we?:-

The Good: Sublime map design, excellent graphics, very slick network code, endless variety of roles and enforced co-operation equals a hell of an addictive online shooter that should appeal to both Quake and ET lovers. It retains the speed of Quake with the tactical complexity of ET and has evolved the combat to a whole new level.

The Bad: Ranking is not persistant, which is a bit of a pain but in keeping with the original ET mode. Once you finish a map or campaign you go back to zero and start all over again. Having played Battlefield 2 for the last year I’d kind of become used to my online ranking and goodies, but I suppose nothing is forever. Your stats are maintained online (assuming you play on a ranked server) but no rewards are maintained, just the statistics. The timer is a constant challenge as the seconds tick by and the objectives remain unobtained, but this can be tweaked by server admins to allow more time to maps/levels if required. Personally I’d enjoy 30 minute games rather than 20, just to that I’ve time to think about stuff in the game rather than always reacting to the most immediate threat, but it’s only a small gripe.

The Ugly: The strogg are ugly and that’s about it; nah just kidding. The maps, models, vehicles, players and combat implementations are beautiful; no complaints there at all. There are perhaps two items I’d address if I could though. First off if you are in ‘run‘ mode instead of  ‘walk’ mode when entering an air vehicle it tends to shoot off into the nearest fence or building. I’ve learned to walk when at the main base!! The only other thing I can think of is that a better waypointing system for doing the mini-missions would be appreciated.

Overall I’d have to give this game a 9 out of 10 and I’m sure I’ll be playing this for a long time to come. I get the impression the modding community will also deliver, as they did with ET in the past, to create new maps, levels and missions… so it should be a good year or two for ET and Quake fans alike. When you play this game you really will understand the concept of ‘No Surrender, No Retreat’. Trust me on this!

If you’re playing ET:QW, let me know what you think.

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?

Well – although pointing and clicking is the ‘method’ of advancing in this game, it’s the crazy clues, mad interaction with things and enforced lateral thinking which makes this stand out from the crowd. Initially you will be pissed off that you can’t quite understand what the game is telling you to do. Clues aren’t obvious; but trust me, the answer is always there on the screen. Frustration will lead eventually to outright anger at times and just as you are about to kill your browser session and move on you will remember what I said above – it’s about lateral thinking, not just clicking – and that’s when this game becomes truely unique. Every single time I thought I’d hit a dead end, I just needed to think differently in order to solve things.

The reward for figuring out the clues and the sequences is to advance to the next screen, which in itself is not particularly exciting. However the intrinsic reward of figuring out the nefarious and downright nasty clues, well that’s just hard to describe. It will drive you mad trying to figure out what’s going on, but trust me on this – try it for a while and I’m betting you will get hooked. 

Let me know how you get on with this… I’d be curious how you fared out in the logic/puzzles.

IT’S NICE TO SEE the Chinese making an attempt to join the rest of us in the 21st Century; especially when it comes to dealing with gaming addiction. Ever since the Internet opened up in China the folks have been flocking in their millions to the online virtual existence, and in particular to MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

In order to appreciate why China is so focused on this you need to appreciate the sheer size of the market over there. The Chinese games market has grown rapidly in recent years, so rapidly that it scared the shit out of the authorities. Back in 2005 the market was estimated to grow to approximately $580 Million with over 70% of that market dedicated to MMORPG type games. In 2006 this grew to $1 Billion, and it’s now estimated that before this year is out (2007) the Chinese games market will eclipse even South Korea and will continue to grow to a predicted online usage base of 180 Million subscribers by 2010. Think about that for a second, 180 Million people online, playing games!

Now comes the tricky bit; How the hell can China expect to control this explosive growth?

Thus far the Chinese authorities have focused their attentions on two key fronts in a strategic attempt to both identify and control the online population. On the one hand they want to know who is online and what they are doing; especially in relation to the content they are viewing. On the other hand the authorities want to ensure they control the amount of online game time kids are being exposed to, due to the rise in gaming addictions. Both strategies have their flaws, but the Chinese have just come out with a new approach to dealing with gaming addiction which might actually catch on in other countries too, if they manage to pull it off. And the best news of all for gamers in China is that it no longer involves getting electric shock treatments!

From a privacy perspective the Chinese implemented what has become known as the Great Firewall Of China – a massive internet firewall designed to prevent access to any ‘unsavory’ information, but this strategy proved to be a little ineffective and was hacked pretty quickly by some enterprising Canadians. They also then concentrated their efforts on identifying all online avatars, making it quite challenging to even get online in the first place and of course the latest effort is a recently announced method to force people to use a “real name verification system” when going online. Pretty invasive and paranoid I think you will agree, but it pales into insignificance when you consider what they did address the potential for gaming addiction.

Initially the Chinese figured the best way to treat kids who had become addicted to online gaming was to electrocute them. Yup - you read that right! They wired kids up and shocked ‘em until they agreed that gaming wasn’t something they really needed to do anymore. Needless to say this didn’t go down to well with the West, or the poor kids who had their privates wired up in the process. Other countries dealt with gaming addiction in their own ways, the Dutch for example opening gaming addiction clinics to help kids and parents alike, but for a while there it looked like the Chinese were just fighting a loosing battle, and a barbaric one at that, until recently when they announced the latest strategy in dealing with addiction… Virtual Penalties.

It works like this (in theory anyway): Kids under 18 (everyone has to register with an ID card) can only play an online game for a max of 3 hours per day without incurring any penalties. The longer they stay on beyond this limit, the more online penalties they incur (in their individual game worlds) and therefore the more they get penalised within the game. For example, a kid breaking the online curfu in World of Warcraft would start to loose experience points rapidly, thus negating the point of playing the game. Chinese authorities have given games companies until July to implement this new control system or their games will be axed, and the new system is due to commence from the middle of April – so it’s going to be an interesting summer for Chinese gamers one way or another!

I wonder if this approach would ever catch on in the West? What do you think?

IT’S BEEN A GOOD WEEK for PC gamers; first up was the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R (Shadow Of Chernobyl) amidst high expectations and hype concerning the A-life system and now I find in my inbox this morning confirmation that Play.com has just posted out my copy of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars… so my weekends are taken care of for a while

I did the usual thing of admiring the special edition packaging and documentation for approximately 0.3 seconds and then slung the DVD into the drive and started the installation, and I haven’t looked back since. I’m sure there are plenty of useful bits of information and context contained in the documentation, but I prefer to just stumble along and around the game mechanics and levels, seeing how it feels and how it plays; it’s just my way.

So then – what can you expect from my first impressions of the game? Well, I’ve got a bunch of cool screenshots from the game, a lot of observations on the performance, mechanics, graphics, design, interactions, AI and just about everything else… so if you are considering this PC game as an addition to your existing collection then I hope this review will give you some food for thought.

The good news is this is not your average game; the really good news is that whatever your expectations for this game, whatever hype you have heard about in advance – it still delivers enough bang for your [insert appropriate currency] to make it worth your time, as long as you know just what type of game play you are in for because this one is a breed apart from the usual FPS gunfests. It may not live up to all the aforementioned hype, but it does deliver more than enough to keep your interest.

This is a new direction for a PC game and I’m getting so much enjoyment from it that it reminds me of my first play through of Thief. Back then the gaming industry ended up coining the phrase First Person Sneaker for Thief, because so much of the game was focused upon sound and stealth. I’ve no idea yet what to use as an acronym for this game because it just keeps surprising me with new and innovative touches.

Right so – where to start? Let’s go straight to the eye candy, the graphics…

Eye Candy

Shiny new widescreen in hand (well on desk actually) I set about installing and testing out S.T.A.L.K.E.R and ran into my first problem – the graphics. This game is not using state-of-the-art graphics (say in comparison to HL2, UT2K7 or even Crysis) but it’s still putting out enough oomph that you will need a decent graphics card to get real value from it. My current graphic card is an ATI X800XT which has been pretty decent up to now for all my games, but it is a few generations behind at this point. I’m playing this game on a widescreen at 1680 x 1050 resolution and of course out of the box I cranked all the goodies to the max to see what it looked like, and my card pretty much melted in the process. This puppy (even a generation behind on graphics) looks fantastic, but – for me – was completely unplayable when I had all the eye candy switched on, using dynamic rendering and shadows etc.

So unfortunately I had to do two things straight away. First I slapped down the graphics settings to static rendering – which does have a serious impact on the quality of the visuals, but also gives you the performance you need to actually play the game. Second I went online and ordered up a nice shiny new ATI X1950XT 512MB beastie

Even at the reduced quality the game looks pretty good, and the landscapes, sunsets, explosions, water, clouds etc. look stunning. I know for a fact that a colleague of mine (you know who you are!) is also using an ATI X1950XT with all the settings cranked up the max, and he has been waxing lyrical about how good this game looks so as long as you have the card to handle it, you are in for a treat.

And speaking of beasties, just look at that puppy on the right there. That is what is commonly referred to in-game as a bloodsucker. I ran in to one of these last night in a tunnel system and the fucker caused me endless problems before I figured out how to take him out; giving me pure delight in the process, but more on that later. For now though let’s just say the eye candy is more than good enough for a game in 2007, even though it’s not current generation amazing, it’s bloody good enough.

Game Mechanics

OK, so this is at it’s heart an FPS (First Person Shooter) but it’s also got some RPG (Role Playing Game) mixed in too. I think the most appropriate predecessor I can mention which comes close is Deus Ex, which pretty much became a genre on it’s own. Stalking around a radioactive wasteland has it’s perils and requires more than just a shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of attitude or approach. Interactions with other characters in the game affect how the world around you conducts itself. Your actions, and the actions of the so-called A-Life characters (in-game Artificial Intelligence) continually changes the outcomes of things as you progress through various geographic zones. On several occasions I’ve even noticed differences in returning to previous savegames – that’s how good this is.

So what? Well, this greatly adds to the replay value of the game, and it also enhances your experiences within the single player missions because things keep changing on you. Nothing can be taken for granted. So, yes there are lots of weapons, lots of opponents (human and monster) and plenty of opportunities to choose between stealth or firepower, however there is also a trading element to the game. Hard currency is required to keep yourself alive. Food, vodka, bullets, equipment – it all costs money. Said money can be earned via missions or trading (more on this later) or even by entering into arena style combat challenges against tougher and tougher opponents. In addition, you can of course also steal what you need, either from the bodies of those you kill or likewise the bodies of those you find on your travels – remember the A-Life is happening all around you, it’s not waiting for you to show up first… so frequently firefights and other events will take place whether you are there or not, depending on all the ‘other’ interactions.

Then there is the trading element of the game too. There are certain locations in the game where you can buy/sell equipment, so it’s a great opportunity to trade in any bits and pieces you may have come across. Alternatively, when out and about you can also trade with other characters. This is of vital importance because you will frequently run out of ammo or equipment or worse still medical aid and food – all of which you need to stay alive. Interactions with other characters can yield valuable information, can form alliances or make new enemies… all of which will come back to aid or haunt you one way or another at some point, which is what makes this a really cool thing. The only down side is the text-based implementation of the interactions between characters, but you get used to it after a while. You can also recover PDAs and items which can be interrogated too.

As for equipment – this is one of the best pieces of innovation in the game for me. All equipment gets old with use and time, meaning it looses accuracy and (in the case of guns for example) will jam more often, which is of course the last thing you want in a firefight. This adds a touch of realism which really makes you evaluate your usage of each and every piece of equipment, from the protective suits you wear to the bullets you load up.

More than that, you can only carry a certain loadout, which means you can’t just pick up everything you see. Then it gets even more complex because you can only switch between weapons you are currently ‘carrying’ versus those in your backpack… so if you don’t think your way out of a situation, you can’t always shoot your way out because at a crucial point in the proceedings you will go for a weapon or item and find you didn’t take it out of the damn backpack in advance, or worse still you forgot to load it with ammo

Atmospheric

This sounds messy; it sounds like it’s too complicated but actually it’s not. It’s perfect. It not only adds realism, but it forces you to really think about how you will handle each situation. Do you sneak around or go in full guns blazing. Have you enough medical supplies to survive the engagement? Should you drop all your goods and hide them – to be picked up later after the battle – or drag them around with you and hope they don’t slow you down. Why not bribe your way out? All these decisions count, because remember – you are not the only one stalking around in the game, the A-Life is also doing it’s thing, trying to survive, trying to outwit you and every other A-Life character too.

The implementation of this is not perfect of course; there are some pathing problems evident at times and the odd glitch here and there, but overall the atmosphere of the game and the situations keep you fully immersed and it’s good enough to let you enjoy what’s happening, marvel at what you don’t understand around you and every now and then make you jump out of your skin.

The atmosphere is so good in this game, the landscapes and weird anomalies so well integrated into the every day creepy aspects of the ‘game world’ that you will frequently find yourself staring off into a crazy warped radioactive field or admiring a sunset or a rainstorm or even just looking for shelter when a storm hits… only to suddenly realise that the growling or moaning sounds you should have been paying attention to have decided they are hungry, and you’re dinner. It’s very immersive and very well done, from the sprawling wastelands to the complex ruins or small towns and even into the dark and forbidding tunnel systems… I can only look forward to when my ATI X1950XT card arrives and I get to crank it back up to max settings!

Choose Your Weapon

Constantly I’ve found myself having to choose the right tools for the job. Do I go up close and personal with a shotgun? Sneak around with a knife and go for the quiet kill? These are all pretty standard decisions for most FPS based games, however it gets better than that. You also have to choose the right ammo. Some bad guys may require an armour piercing round or two. Some monsters don’t go down easy. It’s all about figuring out how to get in, get the job done and get out in one piece. Sometimes running away like a mad thing is actually the smart answer! Although if you’re injured, or carrying too much weight or… well you get the idea

As a perfect example this little bugger on the left here is what I encountered last night in a tunnel system. I knew it was there, kind of, because I could hear the bastard moving about, but I couldn’t see him. Eventually when it made a run at me I could see the shimmering reflection, but by then it was too late and I was clawed to pieces. I reloaded a saved game and went at it again, as you do, and got creamed many times until it finally dawned on me.

I’d tried different ammo, different weapons and different tactics – all to no avail. This resilient bastard kept coming and kept clawing me into little chunks – and not even in the same way each time – until I realised that the torso of this chap was capable of taking huge punishment (I emptied 3 clips into him at one point), so I knew I had to focus on the head shot, but for that I had to let him get close, close enough for me to see where the head was at, and maybe get two or three shots off before he got his claws into me. Eventually I did it, and the sense of achievement was brilliant.

Then around the corner I ran into some kind of mad mindfuck monster, some psyionic nightmare which basically made mince meat out of me no matter what I did. So what to do about this guy? Yup – you guessed it – run like fuck and recover somewhere else, grab what loot I could and get the hell out. I just didn’t have enough firepower to take care of it so it was time to get out of dodge.

This is what I mean by saying the game is in a genre of it’s own. You are constantly on edge, always looking for an angle, always trying to decide which course of action will not only suit you in the present, but which will also serve you in the future. I know I’m going to have to go down there again, I know that mindfuck lad is going to be there too, somewhere, not where I expect but somewhere… and I also know that next time I won’t be so lucky; next time I will need another option. Right now though I don’t know if that’s a better gun, better explosives or something else completely – and that’s what makes this so enticing.

Wrap Up

From a first impressions perspective I’m really happy with this game. I think it will have immense replay value and I love the way it pushes me to think before acting. I also love the realism, the fact that every action has a consequence and the constantly changing world and A-Life implementation. I have no idea what’s waiting for me around the next corner, but I know it will be fun finding out. I’d guess I’ve been playing for approximately 3 or 4 hours so far and I know I’ve only seen a fraction of the goodies, characters, monsters and situations which will keep me up at night trying to figure them out.

So – my advice to you based on these first impressions? Make sure your rig has the power and the graphics oomph to get the best from this game, then crank it up and allow yourself to be immersed in a crazy radioactive wasteland where you will find yourself enjoying many many hours of FPS / RPG fun. Allow this game to grow on you and I think you will really enjoy it in return.

OK – SO WE’VE had the nostalgia trip, the eye candy, the cheesy goodness and even the adventure on the first part of this countdown… but what does that leave then? Well – for those of you who can count – it leaves three games spread across distinct genres. We have a frag fest spectacular, some teamwork taken to a new level and of course the most ambitious game of the year too. So let’s get started then and complete the list of Howl @ The Moons! top 7 games for 2007 (Part 2):-

Next up is an evolution of one of the main reasons I got so into playing games online in the first place. Up until I played Enemy Territory (ET), I was pretty much a confirmed offline gamer with the odd addiction to a game called Tribes, but for the most part I didn’t get much of a kick from online gaming. ET changed all that. For starters – it was free, and to make things better, it was also the best implementation of a teamwork and role/class based game available at the time. Winning a round wasn’t possible unless the sides worked together as a team, sharing roles (such as Engineer, Medic, Covert Ops etc.) in order to achieve common objectives.

Now flash forward a few years and the team behind ET are releasing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW). Picture the teamwork from ET, combined with latest state-of-the-art graphics and the character attributes of the various half-human and pure monsters from Quake. Now add a dash of strategy, a pinch of tactical control and a lot of repurposing (salvaging parts from partially destroyed vehicles to improve or repair your own, ripping out body parts from your fallen enemies to help repair your fellow team mates etc.) ET:QW has all the signs of a brilliantly balanced online shooter which cannot be dominated by just FPS heads with a quick trigger finger. It’s fast and it’s futuristic but it will take teamwork, tactics and some seriously explosive playing styles to win this one.

Check out the video promo on the EnemyTerritory website and you will see why I’m excited about this one. Might be worth a read of some reviews as well (IGN, Eurogamer, Gamespy). Current release date is set for the end of March, but this is one that I’d also count on slipping into Q2.

Now we move onto possibly the most ambitious PC game of the year. I refer of course to S.T.A.L.K.E.R, from Ukranian developers G.S.C Game World. This little beauty is a post-apocalyptic shooter which takes the standard FPS genre and turns it on it’s head. Most games try to avoid linear progressions and scripted setups, but in reality they deal with your ‘perception’ of what is linear. This game however presents you with the most advanced AI behaviour yet concieved in any PC game and a world which is constantly changing, while you play the game. If this sounds a little mad, well then you’d better read some of the previews and playtests, because IGN, Gamespy, Eurogamer and a hell of a lot more sites are literally drooling at the mouth waiting for this one to hit the shelves.

For me the attraction is the interactivity which this new game world-engine and AI implementation will afford the player. Every decision you make, every choice you implement will affect the world around you, and the way the game responds. Playing the same level twice in exactly the same way won’t guarantee an identical result, because things constantly change. This means lots and lots of head scratching, of what-if scenarios and of experimentation – which sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to me. Current release date is estimated as Q1 2007, but it’s already slipped so much that I’m thinking it’s a June release myself; mind you Play.com have it listed as 16th March… so keep your fingers crossed.

Lastly we come to that splatterfest, that absolutely adrenelin fuelled trigger-happy death match in the sky known as Unreal Tournament from Epic Games. In this case I’m referring to the latest incarnation due this year, Unreal Tournament 2007 (UT2007). This time around the graphics engine has been tweaked beyond belief and the weapons and vehicles have been improved massively. UT2007 offers a perfect platform for you twitchy killers who survive on reflexes alone. This is FPS junkie heaven; make no mistake.

The last iteration of this franchise was back in 2004, so the technology has moved on considerably since then. The game development has been based upon the Unreal Engine V3 and if early screenshots and demo movies are anything to go by, it’s a hell of product. It’s pretty, it’s fast, it’s insanely unforgiving to newbies and it’s the only real proving ground for competitive players who want to exhibit their prowess and speed. No teamwork necessary, just pure unadulterated speed, accuracy and I guess just plain old big balls.

Early previews (Gamespy, Gamespot) are all quite positive and it looks like this beastie is due to hit the shelves in May of this year, but I personally think it will be a christmas release. Still – when it hits, it will hit hard; expect a massive marketing campaign and lots of repetitive stress related injuries and sore fingers.

So that’s it then; my very own most wanted PC games for this year. If even 50% of them hit when they are promised, it looks like March is going to be a very busy month for me