Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Review

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(More customer reviews)Check out my video review to see what you get in the limited edition with your own two eyes!

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a single player Action-Adventure game developed as a reimagining of the classic Castlevania mythology. An entirely modern action console game, Lords of Shadow combines fast-paced weapons and magic based combat against otherworldly enemies, with platforming and puzzle-solving gameplay, to create a fresh gameplay experience that will thrill both fans of the original game series and gamers more rooted in modern action games. In addition to the game disc, this special Limited Edition contains a variety of extras. See a list of the complete contents below.

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.hack: G.U., Vol.3: Redemption Review

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(More customer reviews)With seven games to this series, and an inexhaustible supple of anime, film, toys, etc., the Dot Hack series has reached the heights of longevity shared by very few RPG's. Final Fantasy is the undeniable owner of the title, both in terms of number of episodes and sheer quality, but Dot Hack will always be a contender. And more to the point, a lot of fun as well. The premise of these games is that a multi-player online fantasy game can become larger than life and that threats within the game can endanger the real world. The first 4 games in this series were based on Kite, a young player who finds himself caught up in the game beneath the game. This set of games established the basic pattern - basically a dungeon game with a number of sidequests,
This second series - 'G.U.' - continues this pattern, this time centered on a new set of characters led by Haseo. Haseo, seeking vengeance for the loss of his girlfriend as become an avid killer of player killers whose nickname is 'The Terror of Death.' One of the things that make the three 'G.U.' an improvement over the original games is the strong element of character depth and development. Haseo starts out unlikable and, as the conflict with the viral AIDA develops, becomes more the responsible leader and hero and less the bitter killer. By the end of the game there are some twenty characters that Haseo can team with, oppose AIDA with, or even propose to.
Along with the quality of character the storyline has become more detailed and logical. And the character enemies have become more interesting as well. This last stanza carefully ties many of the threads together. The game uses the interactions in the game, in addition to resources in the computer interface such as emails and discussion groups, to drive the plot forward. In fact, one of the most noticeable flaws in the game is that faithfully reading your emails will drive the story forward faster than you want to go. Of course, this is one of the few games that will let you play all the sidequests after the main story completes but I found this a bit unsatisfactory. But there is a lot of gameplay here in any case.
The game offers a considerable number of sidequests and internal games to keep anyone happy. There's a fight card game where you can go on quests for special cards and challenge other players. There's motorcycle races and arena fights. All of this in addition to the find every one thing or another quests. There is a enough game time here to play until you are senseless. Since this is the last in a long series most of you know what to expect and I promise you that that is exactly what you will get. If you are new to the series I suggest you track down at least the previous two games if you want to understand the plot and the characters.
Now, what should I do until .hack starts up once again?

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Red Faction Guerrilla Review

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(More customer reviews)The game runs excellent on my pc (Q6600, 9800GT, 6Gb RAM, Vista x64), and I have not encountered any major bugs. Sometimes the destruction effects can be a bit awkward, like when a huge building is being held up by one little pillar, but that doesn't happen too often. I turned off AO because I really couldn't see a difference in image quality and it was making me lose a few fps. The 5.1 sound thing doesn't bother me because I play with crappy headphones, so it didn't hurt my personal evaluation of the game. However, I believe it IS a problem that needs to be adressed by the developers.
The graphics, while good on a technical level, aren't very inspired. I feel like they wasted the Martian setting. It looks like Arizona with futuristic cars. They could've had more outlandish landscapes.
Other than the somewhat mediocre presentation (mediocre in terms of art direction, not technical design), I love the game. The protagonist is a likeable guy, and the story missions so far have provided nice variety. The destruction is not just a gimmick. It's extremely satisfying and never gets old. While the missions usually focus on destroying a structure, there are just so many way to do it. Also, other than the limits placed by the environment, there really is no set path anywhere. One mission asked me to track a marauder through some buildings. Instead following the winding rooms and hallways, I just smashed a straight path through with the hammer.
Overall I think it's an excellent purchase for the price, and hopefully the sound issues get patched up for those of you who want to enjoy it in 5.1.

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.Hack: G.U., Vol. 2 - Reminisce Review

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(More customer reviews)dot Hack has redefined RPG gaming by pitting players in an MMO simulation. The first four games were great, each title adding to the storyline. Think of it like getting a booster pack from a new set. Each set or game brings in new monsters, items, characters and storyline. But once you beat the game, it's not over, there are still tons of things left to do to bide the time until Part 3 comes out! Definitely a must play, just a shame that these games tend to fall under the radar!
A note to all the bad reviews this game has received from magazines. No, this game is not Halo, World of Warcraft, Gears of War or Zelda. That does not mean it is a bad game (GameInformer, I'm talking to you). Any gamer who has actually played the dot Hack series has loved it, which only leads me to conclude that the folks at these game magazines have not actually played the game, or at least did not play it very far. Dot Hack is anything but repetitive. Granted the levels are generated, the actual storyline is far from repetitive. Dark Cloud was another game with levels that were generated, and that game was awesome too! Just because the dungeons are not manually designed does not make this a bad game.


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Macally iShockX Dual Shock Feedback Gamepad for Mac & PC Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm very pleased. So far it has worked with all Mac games I've tried: X-Plane 9 (the prime reason I wanted a gamepad), HyperTank, StuntMani, RC Helicopter Simulator, Colin McRae Rally, Flat Out 2 and Halo.
I even get the 'rumble,' with the one programs I have that supports that feature (Colin McRae Rally). After many years of having a Mac computer it's something new to have access to so many games and this is my first such gamepad and/or joystick thing. And it's fun and quite a new experience at the computer: real video arcade quality with some of these programs.
On the Mac it installs itself on the System Preference Panel, so you can check that all the buttons and sticks work. The Big Warning -- thought -- is not with the gamepad but not all the software programs are so clear about how to set it up, assign the sticks (um...especially the 3-year old Helicopter simulator was a hassle to get right and still seems 'too sensitive,').
So setup for each program will take a little learning and I'd check to be sure the program says it will work with a gamepad (Bioshock Demo, for example, seems to indicate it only work with the X-box gamepad)
But, the iShockX, itself: 5-stars; plug and play; it works.

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Fallout New Vegas Review

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(More customer reviews)A little background and disclaimer before we begin: I am a longtime fan of the Fallout series, having played the originals many times. I was one of the doubters, the nay-sayers of Fallout 3. This review is written from the perspective of a role player who places emphasis on quality world building, dialogue and voice acting. If the reader feels that other aspects of a game are more important when determining its quality, perhaps they should take the following with a grain of salt.
As always, my reviews are spoiler free.
GAMEPLAY
For players completely unfamiliar with Fallout 3 or New Vegas, the engine is very close to other games that Bethesda (its creator) has crafted. In a nutshell, this means that after the introductory sequence, the player is placed onto a large, 3D over-world map. The player immediately has the power to go wherever they please, if they can survive. Hundreds of points of interest populate the map, ranging in scope from a little hole in the wall gas station years beyond use, to the ruins of a factory, or even a populated, rebuilt remnant of the Las Vegas Strip.
Combat in this game is primarily focused on projectile weapons, though for this release Obsidian endeavored to make unarmed a viable combat option. They succeeded, by the way; it is a force to be reckoned with. However, most players will likely choose either Guns or Energy Weapons as their primary combat skill. This plays out as a typical 1st or 3rd person shooter (by preference) during combat. Players new to the FPS/RPG hybrid genre will likely complain that their shots are not aligned with the crosshairs, that they seem to fly about uncontrollably. This is intentional! In an RPG, the beginning character has a low combat skill that will improve as he or she gains experience, modeled after reality. If you don't like your weapons skill represented realistically, then use a cheat or pump up the skill as fast as possible. It doesn't need to ruin the experience.
If a player wishes to avoid combat, they can always run, or they can engage in the other primary facet of the role playing game: Talking! Speech is a powerful skill in this game, and can take the place of a primary combat skill for the advanced user. There are many ways to advance quest lines and plots sin violence in New Vegas, though if the player aims to get the most bang for their buck their first time through, they better sling a rifle over their shoulder and prepare to draw some blood.
One of the other alternatives to the standard FPS gameplay is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (VATS). This allows the player to pause combat and assign shots to various targets and body parts. As a side note, unfortunately the eyes and groin did not return as targets from Fallout 2. VATS shots take up action points which slowly regenerate in real time. This system allows the player to fire in VATS, where the action is in a bullet-time like state, and then return to real time. Upon which they can either choose to let their AP regenerate again before firing, or to unload a fresh clip into the raider's face. Most players will choose the latter. Because of the balance issues that such a powerful tool creates, VATS has been significantly nerfed in New Vegas. It still functions normally at ranges of less than about 30 feet, but anywhere beyond that will yield dramatic drops in the players to hit percentage.
If you're familiar with the Fallout 3 engine, you will immediately be comfortable with New Vegas. This has its ups and downs. On the plus side, Obsidian was able to address many qualms that players had with the original engine. For instance, the companion interface is no longer solely dialogue based. When interacting with your companion, you will first see the Companion Wheel. This gives many helpful and oft used options for healing your character, inventory and tactics management, and dialogue initiation. If you prefer, the old dialogue menus are still easily accessible underneath the wheel, but they seem tired and clunky in comparison.
Obsidian also made an absolutely massive improvement in the way that the armor and damage systems work. Though simple, this completely changes much of the gameplay and improves the quality ten-fold. Without going into the mechanics of it all, a character with a very high armor rating, or "Damage Threshold," will not be damaged by a weapon without enough power to punch through the armor. No longer can one attack a giant scorpion's hardened carapace with a piddley 9mm spitball shooter and expect results. This allows power armor to be the power house it was meant to be. When you're wearing it you are a walking tank, not a house of cards.
Another major change concerns ammunition. If a weapon doesn't have enough oomph to get past the target's Damage Threshold (DT), the player has the option of using armor piercing rounds instead of stock ammo. These pierce through a targets armor but do slightly less damage overall. On the other end of the spectrum, hollow point rounds bounce off of stronger armor like petite peas, but punch inch wide holes in a target that isn't properly protected.
More on the negative side, the game's crafting system allows the player to take advantage of all the junk in this post apocalyptic world. You can craft food at a campfire, ammo at a munitions bench and other items at a work bench. This sounds like a very cool idea, but its execution was clumsy and uninteresting. Occasionally I converted ammo from one type to another, or I cooked up a nice wasteland omelet at the fireside, but more often than not the items that I could craft were available for purchase. When faced with the choice of hauling around junk across the desert (which can weigh a lot if you've got enough of it!) or keeping my weightless caps at the ready to purchase what I need, it was an easy choice. The only item that I relentlessly crafted as much as possible was the weapon repair kit. While I purchased as many as I could as well, there were just not enough to go around. The major advantage of the repair kit is that with one or two of them, you can increase the worth of a higher end weapon from around 30 caps at its lowest useable durability to potentially several thousand. This is a great money maker for the frugal traveler. However, even the mighty usefulness of this item wasn't enough to interest the reviewer to spelunk further into the dark reaches of what turned out to be an annoying and fairly useless system.
Finally, in a glorious stroke of brilliance, Obsidian created Hardcore Mode. This mode is separate from the normal difficulty settings of easy, normal, hard and so forth. Instead, this option changes fundamental gameplay aspects to make the game more realistic and challenging. The changes made by activating Hardcore Mode are: Stimpaks and RadAway heal over time instead of instantly. Ammunition has weight. Companions die permanently, they are not knocked out. In order to heal a crippled limb you must use a doctor's bag instead of a stimpak. And last but certainly not least, the player must eat, drink and sleep or suffer serious penalties and death! While this certainly sounds hardcore, the mode was quite a bit easier than expected. Upon reflection, this turns out to be a blessing, as it's not fun to be constantly scrounging around for water when you could be questing. Obsidian found a pleasant balance between forcing players to survive in a realistic desert and letting the player play the game.
Overall, New Vegas was fun to play, and that's what it really comes down to. I simply ignored the aspects of the game that I didn't feel were fun, and I didn't feel any sort of crafting shaped holes in my heart from doing so. 8/10
VISUALS
The graphics for this game are in the genre of stylized realism. They are not photorealistic, nor do they try to be. They present the game world in a realistic way with a slight artistic flair. Considering this, the graphics are dated, Obsidian barely touched them. This was likely a purposeful choice intended to allow more time for world building and writing. I could bore you with technicalities, or try to describe some of the landscape, but that wouldn't really replace the effect of looking at a few screenshots now would it? 6/10
ACOUSTICS
The soundtrack to this game is very good. With a highly atmospheric and ambient feel, the musical stylings of Inon Zur compliment the mood of the game quite well. The opening theme is a little generic in my opinion. Also, many of the locations in this game have music from the original Fallout and Fallout 2! This was a welcome surprise to say the least. In several areas I was moved by memories and feelings of the older games' atmosphere in ways that made me more deeply appreciate this new venture into the franchise.
Sound effects in this game were fairly standard. There were some minute complaints that arose as I played: Shouldn't such a large sniper rifle have a heartier boom? Why don't my enemies scream in agony as I tear them in half with a chainsaw? Is that really the sound a walking tank would make running on a steel floor? However, most of the sound was well done. A player shouldn't notice good sound effects; they should take them for granted because that's how a real world would function. That's exactly how it was in New Vegas.
The voice acting here was far above the caliber traditionally seen in partnerships or ventures by Bethesda. It was not quite up to the Bioware standard, but then, what is? There were only two instances where the voice acting threw me for a loop, and both of these were instances where a character switched to a different voice actor for a line and then switched back. One of these was in the final 4 minutes of the game. While...Read more›

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Welcome to Vegas. New Vegas. It's the kind of town where you dig your own grave prior to being shot in the head and left for dead...and that's before things really get ugly. It's a town of dreamers and desperados being torn apart by warring factions vying for complete control of this desert oasis. It's a place where the right kind of person with the right kind of weaponry can really make a name for themselves, and make more than an enemy or two along the way.As you battle your way across the heat-blasted Mojave Wasteland, the colossal Hoover Dam, and the neon drenched Vegas Strip, you'll be introduced to a colorful cast of characters, power-hungry factions, special weapons, mutated creatures and much more. Choose sides in the upcoming war or declare "winner takes all" and crown yourself the King of New Vegas in this follow-up to the 2008 videogame of the year, Fallout 3.Enjoy your stay.

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Darkspore Review

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(More customer reviews)Played both the Steam Beta of this game and the open Beta offered by EA and before they even released all the nuances of the game I fell in love. A great dungeon crawler game, with the added caveat that there is a squadding system that allows the play of up to 3 "heroes" on a single level. It starts out easy but as you approach level 3-4 and pass it get ready for some serious strategy play, item customization and co-op play should you wish to have some company. PVP system is pretty nice, only played a couple of games and got trounced, but wasn't in the pvp mindset just wanted to see what it offered. Has solid potential and hardcore gamers could find quite a nice niche in its gameplay style to forge the perfect squad and dominate kiddies all day. Like most dungeon crawlers it can be repetitive at times, but with the co-op play and the ability to make unique squads and unlock new "heroes" it can help wash off some of that tedium. If you were a fan of D2 or Torchlight I highly recommend this it may just become your new favorite hack-and-slash!

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Darkspore is a Sci-fi Action-RPG game from Maxis that uses the development houses award-winning Creature Editing technology from Spore to bring a whole new franchise to life. With this unique customization functionality players are able to create genetically altered heroes which are in turn used against a mutant horde that has terrorized the galaxy for 1,000 years in an RPG like none before it. Additional features include hundreds of enemy types, multiplayer support including co-op, exceptional replay value

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Dewy's Adventure Review

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(More customer reviews)Dewy's Adventure bombed (sales wise) in Japan, and Konami is quietly releasing it here a week early with absolutely no advertising. Reviews have just begun to trinkle in, a week after the release, and word of mouth is next to none. I went to five different stores for this game, and finally came across it after a two day search. I also got a Dewy plush toy with it, although I don't care much for it.
The main thing that surprises me about this is how surprisingly good this platformer is. It can be summed up in just a few words: Super Mario 64 + Super Monkey Ball. That's it. Of course, the controls are not as tight as either title, and as such it's a bit frustrating at certain points, but this is easily one of the year's finest platformers. At least until Super Mario Galaxy comes out.
In this game, you control Dewy, a droplet of water. He's beyond adorable, and to be quite honest, a bit beyond someone like myself -- I don't really care for the baby-ish persona of this character, although I'm sure there are many others who will (not to mention little kids). The story, while simple and absolutely standard, is augmented with rather nice illustrations and storybook sequences, reminiscent of Elebits. It would be pretty easy to already be put off by the whimsical nature this title presents, but wait until you start playing this thing.
You hold the Wiimote like a NES controller, and tilt it to move the stage in which Dewy inhabits. Press the D-Pad up to raise the temperature, down to lower the temperature. Doing so results in Dewy's multiple forms: the standard, water-like one, where he can jump the best and control easily; warmer for the mist form, in which he becomes a cloud and is able to strike down any nearby enemies with lightning; and colder for the ice form, in which he can slide across pools of now frozen water and do some awesome attacks.
The main complaint about this game thus far is how "average" it is. I honestly can not agree -- while it is basically a simple platformer game, the ability to modify your surroundings via temperature is a stroke of utter genius. In the ice world, you can lower and raise water levels, for example, and this creates obstacles within obstacles. The controls do take some use getting to, and they are never really quite as tight as they should be, but they work overall.
Besides that, the presentation is fantastic. The graphics in this game are some of Wii's best yet... absolutely beautiful at certain points. The music is just fine, and the level design is both clever and fun.
On top of all that, the game will last you a long time. There are many levels, and each level takes about 10-30 minutes to beat.. and that is not including doing the levels perfectly, as you are graded based on your performance. As you can imagine, the re-play factor is quite high.
I haven't even gotten to the solid multiplayer yet, not to mention the option to design your own multiplayer levels and send them to anyone with Nintendo's WiiConnect24 service.
I highly recommend this game for a couple reasons -- firstly, it's a great third-party effort (which Nintendo can always use) that oozes innovation and originality but also happens to be excellent. Second, although I'm not certain, you can count on this game being out of print within a year or less. There seems to be not many copies to begin with, and the fact that absolutely no one is talking about it a week after its release is a bit sad. I have a feeling this will be one of those forgotten classics, that sometime in the near future people will be profiled by some magazine as one of the best games you've never played.
So if you're a platformer junkie and love a good challenge, pick Dewy's Adventure up right away.

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Left 4 Dead Review

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(More customer reviews)Original L4D review of Nov 18, 2008
'Left 4 Dead' is a great new 4 man co-op or single player FPS game from VALVE.
The GAME:
This game is a 4 player journey of survival; it can be played as single player (with 3 computer comrades) or with 3 other people on-line. The trek begins in any of 4 different locations and ends in another part of town with an extraction to safety if you survive. (or a nice mention, in memoriam, if you don't)
The Pros:
1.)Great graphics and audio. The atmosphere is very dusky and eerie; lighting is sparse in buildings except for your flashlight (kind of reminds me of 'Doom 3'). Creeping into a pitch black room with only a flashlight to find it either empty, full of zombies or even worse, harbouring a super mutant is visceral to say the least.
2.)The action is fast paced and hectic; there is not a lot of down time between one attack and the next. Attacks either by a hoard of undead or a super mutant comes at a fairly regular clip. Half the fun here is trying to find out what weakness the monsters have and what works best against them.
3.)Weaponry come in the form of guns (shotgun, sniper rifle, automatic machine gun and pistols) explosives consist of pipe bombs and Molotov fire bombs.
4.)You can start the game from the beginning any one of four campaigns OR at the beginning of any chapter within a campaign. Each section of the game is reasonably short, so you don't have to redo the entire game if you have to shut down for a while [see Cons: 2.) below]. Also, if your team dies while playing, you restart from the last 'safe-house' you made it to.

5.)The game resets weapons, monsters, and health packs for every new game; so each game is slightly different than the last, although played over the same geographic area.
6.)Certain 'achievements' are awarded throughout the game for accomplishing certain things. I initially thought these were a perk or upgrade, but now I don't think so...they just recognize certain 'accomplishments' i.e. setting a 'tank' afire or pushing away a 'hunter', and many others.
They add absolutely nothing to the game play and they were not available in the demo.
7.)You have the ability to set up a game from the Undead point of view; haven't tried this yet.
8.)A couple of nice on-line game features:
a.] you can change the difficulty setting ANYTIME; great if it's too easy or if your taking a continual pounding
b.] if you have a player that is 'disruptive' to the team play, you can kick that player out of the game by simply taking a vote among the other three on-line players. (I was surprised that this actually happened a couple of times while I was playing)
c.)And finally, a truly great feature; You can 'Take a Break' from an on-line game by pressing ESC> Take a Break> anytime while playing; great for a call to the BR or to take a phone call. When you 'Take a Break' you go 'Idle' while your away and your computer player takes over until you get back into the game (by pressing the left mouse key).
The Cons: (all minor)
1.)A fairly linear game; only a little room to travel off the prescribed path. Yet, in retrospect, having played this game many times, it would be difficult for this game to function properly with a 'open world', given the fighting style required for on-line co-op; each segment is a fairly short 'meat' run from point 'A' to point 'B'.
2.)No game saves...none; and this is understandable from the 4 player on-line game. However with the single player game, the chapters aren't terribly long BUT they do require a degree of concentration and work to finish, especially on the higher difficulty levels. And somehow losing all your hard fought gains if you have to leave the game unexpectedly, seems a little unfair; you'll understand more clearly what I mean once you begin to play.
3.)The AI of your comrades in the single person game needs one small modification; your buddies will guard you, heal you and stay near you BUT, they won't pick up the extra pipe bombs or Molotov bombs that often sit there before them. And it would be really helpful in the single person game-play if they did, especially on advanced and expert.
Suggestions:
I can not stress how much headphones/microphone add to the enjoyment of playing this game on-line; especially with communicating with your on-line playing partners. If you can, try playing with a headset, you won't believe the difference.
Conclusion:
A new FPS that requires 4 player co-operation (in both single and on-line play) to be successful. You may get away with a little 'individuality' on 'Easy', but on 'Normal', 'Advanced' or 'Expert' forget about it; if you don't travel and fight as a pack, your toast.
The on-line co-op version is one of the greatest games EVER...IF played with the 4 players who have an understanding of the game concepts and are willing to work together. And that being said, having a maximum of 4 players for on-line play is probably the perfect number; 3 would not be enough to fend off the hoards (except on easy maybe) and with 5 players you'd be getting in each others way.
The game chapters are fairly short and there are no game saves. However the game play is intense and visceral and you do tend to become wrapped up in the action that is taking place around you.
And finally, this is one of those rare games that I just don't ever get tired of playing, (at least, with the on-line game)...and a game with this quality has to be in the running for game of the year.
4 1/2 to 5 Stars
Ray Nicholson (cujo)
Addendum: Oct 07/09
"Crash Course"...some comments
First impressions from a co-op viewpoint...initially disappointing, but better since they've updated it (see comments below).
A very short game...maybe 30 minutes or so consisting of only two segments. The map is mostly made up of streets littered with abandoned cars and trucks, and the buildings are mostly warehouses. This added map, although playable as single player or co-op, was primarily intended I believe, for Versus players.
This map has improved since its original debut; updates have apparently removed a lot of the excess ammo and guns, making it a better challenge.
The finale...interesting and takes some planning (although the final run to the rescue vehicle is extremely easy). Which leads to the one drawback in this new map...if you all die in the finale, you must restart at the last safehouse...about 15 minutes of travel to the ending.
Conclusion:
Now that the game (with the removal of all the extra guns and ammo) has become more of a challenge, I'll probably play this map a bit more...too bad they didn't make it a full map like the others (probably didn't want to divert too much attention away from the upcoming L4D2).Addendum: April 22/09
"Survival"... some comments,
Well the much anticipated update for Left 4 Dead has finally arrived. The new game is call 'Survival' and it IS aptly named. There are several new individual mods to this new game that use slight variations from some of the different sections of the 4 established games i.e. No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest. There is one brand new locale called 'Last Stand'; its setting is at a lighthouse and it's probably the most difficult game of the lot.
Rather than a prolonged campaign these games are very short; and make no mistake about it, you are going to die. The challenge here is to see how long you can last; 4 minutes gets you a bronze medal, 7 minutes a silver and you get a gold medal if you last for ten minutes. Unlike the regular game, there is NO option for easy, normal etc. difficulty; just the one standard for everyone; "brutal" might be a good name for this newness addition.
In the regular game you get attacked by hordes of zombies, with an occasional smoker, hunter or tank thrown in, but usually not all at once. However in this game, you get attacked by ALL types of infected, all at once. In addition, there is no long stretch to outrun a tank; not that that matters, as you are fighting the horde, smokers and hunters the same time as your trying to fight off the tank...yup, just about impossible.
Impression:
Intense...yes. Gut wrenching...yes. FUN...hmmm, I'm not sure. One of the great strengths of on-line Left 4 Dead was the co-op fighting style needed to get through the advanced and expert campaigns. Here in 'Survival', co-op is needed but somehow, after a battle that begins with about 1 minute of 'easy', all chaos breaks-out. And because your being attacked from all side by ALL types of infected, the co-op gaming style, that made the regular L4D sooo enjoyable, is gone; gone because at this point, it becomes a game of personal survival, rather than the group...and that's the real shortcoming of this update.
And finally, I could play the regular on-line L4D for hours and never (well almost never) get tired. But with this game, I found that not only did it take quite a lot of time/effort to strategically set up gas cans, propane tanks etc. in the area you want to TRY to defend, but also, that after 3 or 4 tries I was frustrated, weary and eager to return to the regular game.
I must admit, in fairness, that I've never been a great fan of time based/get the highest score, type games, so I'm probably a little prejudiced. I'll continue to 'give this a go' for a while; maybe it'll turn out to be a great game. But somehow, I think I'd have liked a new regular campaign map better.
R.N. (cujo)


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Ultimate Pro Pinball Review

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(More customer reviews)The Pro Pinball games are the best you can get without having a full-sized table in your game room (which we do).
I loved these games when they were first released, and played them on Win95 and 98, but when XP came along, they were toast.
I was very happy to see that they had been re-released for XP.
Strangely, the first two games work just fine, but the newest in the series will not work on my computer. It installs, graphics are fine, but all keyboard entries are erratic and slow (I'm talking 10-20 seconds for response times!). The fix posted in the readme files, and the updates, didn't fix the problem for me, but may fix it for others.
It's a bummer, because the third game is my favorite - however, I'll live with just the other two.
It's still worthy - but frustrating to pay for something and not be able to play part of it!

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Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II Retribution Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a huge Warhammer 40k fan and I love the DOW games. The gameplay was very similar to the previous iterations of this series. The levelling of your 'characters' was a bit different, but had the same feeling as the previous DOW II games. However, once I completed the campaign I replayed the game using a different species/race, I was disappointed. This is new and added an enhanced feel to the game, however, the missions were almost identical, just using different voice-overs and cut scenese. I was expecting more from this game, and there were fewer missions than expected, but I can't fault the graphics, playability, and the story line of the game. If I could give it a 3.5/5 I would but I'll give it a 4/5.

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Take command of one of six unique factions in the next stand alone expansion of the critically acclaimed Dawn of War real-time strategy franchise. Choose to build a massive army or lead your small squad of elite heroes into battle and experience a single player campaign customized to your faction. Go online and face off against your enemies and experience the fast brutal combat of the 41st millennium.

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Assassin's Creed Review

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(More customer reviews)This is on of the most anticipated games to be ported to PCs. For this, the Director's Cut edition was produced, adding some content over the console versions (mostly rooftop action missions), and care was taken to make the gamepad to keyboard/mouse-transition as seamless as possible. For the most part it was successful.
This is a TREMENDOUSLY BEAUTIFULLY GAME. The first thing that grabs you is how REAL the city environments feel. The graphics are just OUT OF THIS WORLD! You will need a very good PC to enjoy their full potential (minimum requirements provided below), but real skies, dynamic shadows, facial expressions and realistically flowing robes are only beginning to describe it! Run on a roof and the other citizens will gather around and comment on your crazy behavior! Throw someone on a vendor's cart and he will come after you complaining about his ruined produce! And the city is alive well beyond your character. If only BIOWARE could take some lessons for its next BALDUR's GATE...
Adding to this is the wonderful sound! From the crowd murmurs and the NTCs cries for help, to the whistling of the wind and the well-chosen background music, a good sound-card and speakers set is recommended to truly enjoy this game. If you have a 5.1 speaker system (I do not) I can imagine the experience to become even more immersing.
As to the gameplay, you control Altaïr ibn La-Ahad ("The Flying One, Son of None"). He is a member of the Assassin Brotherhood that sides, well, with both...sides, during the 3rd Crusade. In a story twist, he is also your ancestor, the game being your/his flashback memories. This is a twist I could do without, but I would guess it lays groundwork for the sequels.
The Third person perspective works beautifully and will never loose your interest. Most missions require sneaking and murdering in the shadows. Others will have you eavesdropping for passwords or pickpocketing documents to gain access into target buildings. Some will have you sharpen those sword skills. Still, the game does not avoid its share of stupid "keep this...suicidal character from getting killed" missions. Keep in mind though that ASSASSIN's CREED is rather a strategically thinking action TPS, not a hack&slash fast-paced one.
Controlling your character with a keyboard/mouse takes a lot of getting used to as you have to manage running, climbing, fighting as well as modifying your actions from low to high visibility. The keys are remapable but their complexity will never let you forget you are playing a game. Now for some bad news.
These are the official MINIMUM Requirements:
* Pentium D 2.6GHz (YES, Dual Core!) (or AMD equivalent)
* 1GB RAM (WinXP) or 2GB (WinVISTA) (3GB RECOMMENDED!)
* nVidia 6800 (or Shader Model 3.0 compliant or ATI equivalent)
* Dual-Layer DVD-ROM (or BluRay disc)
* 12GB HDD Space (although my install folder was no larger than 7GB)
As one can see, this is worse than CRYSIS! What I cannot get is how on earth ASSASSIN works on only 512MB of RAM of the XBox, yet it is recommended to have...3GB of RAM on a PC! Sure, the extra content is nice but who did the porting, unpaid interns? Has ANY PC optimization been attempted at all?
Keep also in mind that (as with CRYSIS) in order to fully enjoy the game, barely meeting the minimum requirements means you will barely experience the game. I refuse to deal with WinVISTA so, obviously, this review pertains to DirectX-9. The game is also DirectX-10 compatible, something I cannot comment on though. And now for some good news.
UBISOFT has been recently hit with a $5million class-action suit for hardware (OK, "allegedly") damaged by StarForce bundled with its games. Since, they have announced to be abandoning its StarForce partnership - so let's all rejoice: unlike other UBISOFT games, ASSASSIN's CREED does NOT sport StarForce! Instead, a much milder SafeDisc is used.
It is a pity it took litigation to finally listen to their own customers (suing StarForce would make much more sense, but try finding them in Russia!), but let's count our blessings.
So, overall, this is a well made and beautiful, immersing (although quite short) game that needed more work in PC optimization (where it looses 1 star Overall) and character control (where it looses 1 star for Fun).
As Altair himself would have put it: "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
Well, not everything - and certainly NOT StarForce.

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Swashbucklers Review

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(More customer reviews)I've read alot of reviews for this game that trash it. I am writing this review to say that this game does not deserve that. However what is does deserve is to make a check payable to Sid Meier. This game's only real fault is that it borrows so much material from Sid Meier's Pirates. If you're going to rip somone of then at least rip off the best. The 2 games are very comparable with each having their own strenths and weaknesses, but I digress as this is a review for Swashbucklers and I want to help you decide whether or not to purchase this game.
First off I am a little annoyed that in this day and age Atari would chose to have the characters talk in mumbles with text at the bottom of the screen. It sounds kinda like the Sims. This can grate on your nerves a little. Music is pretty boring too, but when you're in the middle of a naval battle you don't notice as much because cannon fire sounds just as you would expect it to. Awesome. Play these levels in surround sound!
When you board a ship combat starts out bland as there is one basic attack button when fighting multiple opponents, but as you level up you learn new attacks and defense options that you assign to the remaining buttons on your controller. In this way your character is quite customizable. Once you defeat all enemies on screen you then fence against the ship's captain much like in Sid Meier's Pirates. The only difference is that you have a high and low attact and now 2 special attacks.
You can also engage in prize fights at bars for cash. This mode, while fairly entertaining seems to be little more than a distraction from the actual gameplay. It controls much like the ship duels against the captain except you only lhave 1 attact.
My favorite part of the game is the naval combat. Fair warning though. The controls are pretty realistic so the ships move slow. The level of detail as you and your opponent blast one another's ships is awesome.
My recommendation is that you rent this one before deciding on a purchasing it. Some may find this game too slow for their tastes. Others may feel angered at the fact that it so blatantly draws material from another source. However, some may see this as a whole new experience in and of itself that warrants some extensive play time.

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IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Review

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(More customer reviews)This game is meant to be a recreation of the Battle of Britain by Maddox, the makers of IL2, which is a classic flight simulator and arguably the best WW2 air warfare simulator for the last few years.
The game was unfortunately released very bugged even after several years of development. Present bugs include: no radio commands; no force feedback; very slow framerates over the land (not the sea) on practically all computers; simple engine management has severe issues; no multi-core processor support; no SLI graphics card support. Patches have been released that address some of the bugs but it presently remains a mess.
My computer is a dual core AMD 4800 X2 with 4GB RAM, ATI 4850 graphics card, Creative Soundcard and Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick running Windows 7 64 bit. On my computer with all the above patches/mods applied the game runs acceptably smoothly on low quality settings which make the towns and London look like Noddy towns and the terrain itself rather bland. It is playable but flying with a decent quality of graphics grinds the game to a slideshow practically. The reason for this is probably because the graphics engine is years old (the game has been in developement for eight years).
The game was released over Steam (a digital distribution site) so an internet connection and a Steam account are required to install and register the game. The boxed version includes a rather pitiful manual and a disk but you still need to download the game via Steam, so its practically pointless getting the boxed version as opposed to getting it directly from Steam (although it may still be cheaper getting the boxed version). However because it requires Steam activation if you don't like it or it doesn't work it will be very difficult to return the game and get your money back. These days most games come with such protection and as such you have to be absolutely sure before you buy the game that it is going to be worth keeping it. Many people have not managed to get this game to work on their computers and have not managed to get their money back.
In terms of gameplay the game models the main aircraft types of the Battle of Britain quite well, you can fly many of them including the bombers and man the turrets. Complex engine management is possible for all flyable planes which models the radiators, mixture controls, throttles, etc, (simple engine management is also possible but is completely bugged). The damage you do when you hit enemy planes is amazing to watch - holes in the wings, dead pilots/gunners, explosions, panels flying off, etc. Aerodynamically however the plane representations are faulted in that it is impossible to fly at high level for some reason.
There is no dynamic/semi-dynamic campaign provided or even a random mission generator, so you are stuck with the presented missions at the moment, which considering the time the game spent in development is surprising. There is a mission creator but it is not a simple task to operate it. There is no immersion outside the missions themselves (the Il2 games have always been quite unimmersive outside the missions which is a definite fault in the gameplay design) and the campaigns are very dry as well even whilst playing them - boring briefings and no historical flavour outside of the flying itself leads to a rather stale environment for a modern game. Its also a real shame that many ancillary but crucial aspects of the Battle of Britain, such as pilot stress/exhaustion, supply effects, base destruction, plane shortages, radar vectoring issues, big wings, etc are not modelled in the game at all. The game presently concentrates purely on the accuracy of the immediate dogfighting combat and planes. Also, disappointingly, the battles themselves are very small affairs - tens of planes not hundreds, so in terms of recreating the Battle of Britain it falls rather flat, which in real life was all about overwelming amounts of German planes being intercepted by few British planes. In fact the game is little more than a series of small skirmishes set within a historical background.
The development team is dedicated and the game is therefore likely to be constantly improved and worked on over the next few months/years, so given time this game may become very good although the extent of issues and shortcomings the game has will not be dealt with quickly. Also potential buyers should also bear in mind that the game was deliberately released at least six months too early, and many people may understandably have issues with rewarding that kind of practice.

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The skies of Britain have always had a regal air. The Royal Air Force, a proud band of dedicated fighters, has always protected the towns and citizens below with might and prowess. But in 1940, the skies darkened. A devastating world war rages across Europe. The land below roils with battle, and the once-peaceful blue realm above swarms with ruthless German and Italian aircraft hungry for destruction. This is the Battle for Britain — the pivotal moment that England could soar to victory or topple into despair. Assume a lofty position, high in the skies over the continent as you enlist in the RAF and join the ranks of the elite pilots in whose hands the very fate of the nation resides. Get ready to prove your mettle in aerial combat as you take part in one of World War II's most infamous battles.

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Trainz Simulator 2010, Engineers Edition Deluxe, US Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used Trainz since the 2006 incarnation and while it has some rough edges and somewhat arcane maintenance and updating issues, the behavior of the basic simulator and the richness of detail in the included railroad layouts is superb. This is easily the most accurately detailed Railroad simulator out there today. You can operate as either a real railroad engineer with nearly complete behavioral fidelity on both electric and steam trains or as a model railroader using a basic DCC potentiometer-like control. The rolling stock is highly detailed. The factories at which you load or deliver goods are detailed and animated to give a real operational feel to the tasks you are performing. The game comes with a great set of railroad system maps which are representative of the cottage industry that exists supporting this product. There are people out there going to great lengths to provide highly detailed working railroad layouts for this engine and some of the best are included in this edition, from backwoods narrow gauge working railroads to High Speed futuristic passenger railroads.
I think what I love the most is the freight railroads because of the planning you have to do to put together a set of consists from multiple sources and then deliver those goods to multiple destinations having to work out not only all the switching to put your loads together but also the ordering of the consists for delivery. It can be challenging to get the cars in the right order and the cab pointed in the right direction to accomplish a "scenario." The game comes with a number of layouts (Routes) each of which can contain multiple planned scenarios that will vary in difficulty. And, of course, you can create your own scenarios or just drive around exploring the detailed countryside.
I've used the Microsoft product and while enjoyable it is not as richly detailed or complex in operation as Trainz. And the Auran software folks have done a good job improving the product over time such that they never intentionally make your previous customizations obsolete - the product has been great for maintaining backward compatibility through multiple generations.
And this latest incarnation has the best tree simulations! The trees are articulate - they bend and twist as if in the wind. Much better than previous generations and competitor products. I think the scaling of the trees may be off (too large) in some of the layouts but overall the fact that the trees are not static as you drive by or look around helps with the authentic feel of this simulation.
PROs: Richly detailed, highly authentic looking and acting, with multiple layouts. Well-supported by 3rd party vendors and an active user community supported by Auran, the game manufacturer, to give you the ability to operate a massive model railroad or simulate working on a real one.
CONs: The Content Manager used to update and add layouts and components to the simulator has always seemed to be a bit arcane to me. I've slowly gotten used to it and I like the new automated update notification - but the fact that the Update notification occurs outside the Content Manager just seems to make the content management process seem even more arcane. The good news is that you don't have to do any of it for the game to work! Another con is the deliberately slowed down feed of updates. Auran wants you to subscribe to priority download service to get full high speed access - it's not mandatory but without it your downloads will be slow - on the order of 30kbits/second or somewhere close to that. I can't fault them too much for that because I imagine that a high fidelity railroad simulator like this doesn't have the business volume to support a simulator as refined and accurate as this.
Summary: If you really like detail in a railroad simulator or are a model railroading buff who never had the time build the layout you really wanted then you'll love this simulator. You'll get some layouts in this that are more richly detailed and operational than any model railroad I've ever seen. And if you're looking to see what it's like to manage 100s of tons of metal in motion and have to deal with conflicting traffic on busy mainlines and in complex switchyards then this is the simulator for you! It gets better and better every year - in large part due to the loyal users who keep adding content to what is a great railroad simulation engine!

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TRANSPORT GIANT - GOLD EDITION (DVD-ROM) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm so glad I bought this game despite all the negative reviews.
Pros:
- Excellent graphics (for this genre)
- Great gameplay (challenging, interesting and reasonably realistic)
- Huge variety of vehicles (from horses to trucks to trains to ships to airplanes to blimps and everything in between)
- Strong financial and industrial model
- Realistic yet fun
- Signals for railroads
- Visible city growth
- Competent AI
Cons:
- Eats memory as your network expands (slows down your system when you exit the game)
- Little help info (although there's a user manual on the website)
- Poor game music (if that matters)
I've previously played Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Railroad Tycoon 2 and Locomotion, and Transport Giant is far better than the rest. TTD and Locomotion have pathetic graphics which completely neutralizes any benefit of good gameplay, while RT2 is plain unrealistic in its lack of signals, deals with trains only and cities never grow beyond hutments!
This little-known gem is one of the best strategy games I've played, especially among the tycoon types. Granted, it's not perfect and there's a lot of negative publicity around it, but the least you can do is download the demo and try it for yourself.

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Logitech Gaming Headset G330 (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)With the G330, Logitech delivers a comfortable headset with surprisingly high sound quality. I would definitely recommend this product provided you're willing the spend the cash, which is considerably high for a wired headset.
I suppose I'll discuss the comfort first since that seems to be the major marketing point for this product. This is the first set of behind-the-head headphones I have ever seen that are adjustable. It seems like an obvious addition, but a welcome one. Now even people with bigger heads (like me) can look at "one-size-fits-all" and actually believe it. For me, the major issues effecting these behind-the-ear type headsets is the tightness and sharpness where they hang on your ears. Logitech seems to have nailed down both of those flaws. The tightness is adjustable and the hook around your ear is not even noticeable. All I feel while wearing these is the foam on my ears, which is soft. In addition, the ear pieces pivot slightly to take into account different types of ears. So, without a doubt this is the most comfortable headset (or behind-the-ear headphones) I have ever worn.
Now onto usage. The cord from the headset has a control box to allow for volume control and muting. On the control box is a belt-clip for attaching to clothing. It's light enough that if it's dangling, you probably won't notice it. Down from there on the cord, you'll find a velcro strap for neatly storing the wires -- a nice touch. And finally, the output plugs. These are 2 stereo jacks with embedded, color-coated labels for each to let you know that one is for the headphones and one is for the microphone. With these jacks, you can plug them into your sound card. But, like me, you'll probably want to use the provided USB adapter. The jacks plug into the adapter and then you plug that into a USB port. Windows (I'm using Windows 7 RTM) will immediately recognize this as a sound device, so there must be some kind of sound card type logic within the USB adapter (which is why I suspect the price is so high by the way). By default Windows will make this your default sound device so you will hear all your game audio through the headphones and all the voices through your PC speakers, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted. But with some simple changes to the sound devices in windows, you can swap that around so the game audio goes through your speakers and the voices go through your headset. You will likely also need to configure whatever game software you're using to work that way as well. Both Steam and Games for Windows Live allow you to do this. Just go into settings and select the G330 sound device for voice input and output, then select your audio card for game audio (music and SFX) output.
Now, had the audio configuration never defaulted to the G330 being my default audio device, I might not have had a chance to experience the sound quality that comes out of these bad boys. I have a 5.1 surround sound system, but if I didn't, I would be glad to use these for my main gaming audio device. They really sound tremendous. I was very surprised to hear that kind of quality audio coming from these little headphones. It's a very full sound, and loud without distortion. The microphone is also top quality. I recorded my voice and played it back to hear how it sounded. It was clear and defined -- definitely better than what I'm used to with Xbox Live headsets.
About Xbox Live... my only bad point about these. There is no adapter to turn them into a mono headset for use with Xbox Live. I tried buying a cheap splitter to turn the 2 3.5mm stereo jacks into 1 2.5mm stereo jack, but the adapter was a splitter and ended up combining the signals into a choppy output. So, you definitely need some kind of special adapter. I don't know if Logitech sells it or not.
So, other than that, these are top notch. I definitely recommend. Another fine product by Logitech.

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With its adjustable, behind-the-head fit, pivoting ear pads, and lightweight headband lined with pressure-relieving silicone, the Logitech Gaming Headset G330 delivers comfort that won't quit. A flexible, noise-canceling microphone reduces annoying background noise and rotates out of the way when not in use. Connect via USB or 3.5 mm jacks.

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