AndreasB.Net

Cryteks last game, FarCry was a huge success, and their newest game, Crysis, is perhaps an even greater success.

One of the most demanding games on the market today, it sets a new standard for visual quality in a FPS game, as well as having more realistic physics engine. I had great fun cutting down trees with my guns.

Set in a future not to far away, the player is a supersoldier, sent in to investigate a North Korean takeover of an island with a US research team on. The player then needs to investigate what the North Koreans are doing, as well as find out where the research team was taken. However, as you progress, there is clearly something else on the island as well. Something, not seen on Earth.

Graphics and storytelling taken together, this is simply a must-have game.

In a not to distant future mankind is struggling to colonize its third planet, E.D.N. III, a cold iceplanet. However, an alien race known as the Akrid overturned the first attempt to do so, through sheer numbers. However, mankind discovered that an energy source known as thermal energy lay within the very body of the Akrid, with thermal energy, the colonisation of E.D.N. III could potentially be a big success, so 80 years later, mankind returned to resume its colonisation.

Against the large bodies of the Akrid, mankind developed Vital Suits, essentially mechs, which run on thermal energy, and mankind is slowly pushing the Akrids back.

The main character of Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions is a young man named Wayne Holden. Wayne has forgotten his past, remembering only how to fight and how to pilot a VS at the beginning of the game.

Then, through a series of levels Wayne will fight on foot, and increasingly in VSes against Akrid, human pirates and the human organisation known as NEVEC.

The combat itself is fastpaced, each level built of of a long series of combat ending with a classical bossfight.

CAPCOM, the developing camera of this game is a Japanese company, and the Japanese influence is subtly visible throughout the game, however the end-battle is very clearly showing its anime influence.

The graphics of the game are simply stunning (first game I tried on my new computer), at times bordering on photo-realism and generally quite good. The storyline is a good one and the combat varied and fun. This is definetly a game worth playing.

The first Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion is upon us, and it is a good one. Promising 25 additional hours of gameplay, the expansion covers level 18 to 30, taking your hero into the epic levels of D&D.

Mask of the Betrayer is as storydriven, if not more, than the original Neverwinter Nights 2, so staying away from the spoilers is not easy, as the story is sooo good as wanting to be shared, and just needs to be played.

You start in a Barrow in distant Rashemen, confused as to where you are and what happened after you defeated the King of Shadows, and wondering where you laid the Sword of Gith. From there, you go to confront mortals and gods alike, which your epic levels mean near divinity, gives you the challenges you need.

What happened and which plot are you caught up in? The questions are many, and the answers interesting.

With new playfields, new characters, new weapons, new classes and new races to play, as well as a chance to hear what happened to your party after the defeat of the King of Shadows, Mask of the Betrayer goes beyond being a mere expansion into the realms of almost-full-game. I am yet to finish it, but I love every second of it.

Once upon a time, there was a mod named Team Fortress. I never played that mod, so I was not going to buy Team Fortress 2 either. However, a friend of mine heartily recommended it, so when bored one night, I bought it and downloaded it over Steam.

And I must say, for a multiplayer only game, this game is brilliant. Based on the Half-Life 2 engine, the environment graphics are relatively high-end, while the different avatars are ’60ish cartoon character based. Which actually fits, in a crazy but fun way.

Team Fortress 2 is a team bases multiplayer game, there really isn’t that much space for going solo while peppering the enemies, except dying quickly. On the other hands, a good team which uses all 9, yes nine, classes, can truly have fun.

There are three offensive bases classes, scout, soldier, and pyro. Three defence based classes, heavy, demoman and sniper, and support, being medic, engineer and spy.

The gameplay is not as fast as Counter-Strike, but allows for some strategic thinking as well as some fast paced firefights at times.

However, while the team portion of Team Fortress is well done, the fortress part is a bit lacking. I would like to see more defensability, perhaps to the point where an uneven player distribution is needed for the maximum of fun, but allowing defenders a definite advantage would be nice. Such is not to be had in the, relatively balanced starter maps, but there are many maps to come, so that kind of gameplay may yet see the light of day.

So overall, if you are looking for a new multiplayer game, I recommend Team Fortress 2.

So, it has finally come, the latest installment in the Half-Life saga, Half Life 2: Episode 2. Originally scheduled Episode 3, the final episode should have been out by now, but Valve is taking their time making these games. And generally speaking, it is well worth the wait.

Valve has in Half Life 2 perfected their storytelling within a FPS game. The intervalls between story and fighting are nicely spaced out, and leaves the player craving for more. The even more polished HL2 engine delivers beautifull, if no longer stunning graphics, and Valve seems to have abandoned the Gordon/Alyx playing split, and the player once again plays just Gordon Freeman. As Half-Life should be, if you ask me

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 has moved far away from the enclosed surroundings of the original Half-Life, going outdoors for long stretches, as well into the deep bowels of an Antlion nest. We learn a bit more about the mysterious Vortigaunts as well as the even more mysterious G-Man, but the main plot itself does not move that much ahead.

Half Life 2: Episode 3 should round it all off, and I am personally looking forward to it already.

If you have ever played Half Life or Half Life 2, this is a definite must have, and if you haven’t, its time to get started. This is over all, a very well done game.

Company of Heroes might not be the newest game out there, but what it is, is a very good game. CoH is a RTS set during WW2 from D-day until the German army crossed the Rhine.

CoH has a good storyline and varied gameplay, where you follow Able Company in their push from the beaches of Normandy into Germany itself.

For your infantry, finding good cover is important, as it dictates how much damage they will take from light and heavy fire. I actually feel that the infantry part could have been expanded upon even more, especially on the defensive part and giving the player the time needed to calmy build up a good base defence and then see the Germans drive into it until you are at the brink of defeat, or perhaps you easily repel the attack.

With the possibility of building anti-infantry and anti-tank obstacles as well as lying mines to halt incoming attacks, CoH offers a good and realistic overview over what challenges had to be overcome. A problem is the need for micromanagement of your troops, diverting you somewhat from the overall strategy of things, as well as the calm to build up defences when the need arises.

CoH is based, like Warhammer 40K, around controlling strategic points for resources. There are three resources, the main resource is manpower, which you will need a lot of, you will also need ammunition, and once cavalry and their tanks arrive, fuel. Fuel is a relatively sparce commodity in many playfields, but there are also dedicated tank levels where your inner cavalry commander can satisfy his/her needs.

But overall, it makes for a very strong game, I very much prefer the infinite resource model to the finite but slowly renewable resource model that amongst others, made Dune famous. Still while it worked well in Dune, given the overall setting, infinite resource model makes for a more long-term gameplay and slows down the possibility of rushing.

So I heartily recommend Company of Heroes the next time you are in the market for a RTS.

Medal of Honor: Airborne is the latest installment in the Medal of Honor series of WW2 FPS games. Personally I have been a big fan of this series, and the parallell Call of Duty FPS series, I love the gameplay, and more importantly, they have had a good storyline.

Now WW2 FPSes is starting to become an exhausted genre, and I fear MoH: Airborne, while attempting to freshen it up, just don’t quite make it for me. Yes, the combat has the MoH feel, so if that is what drives you, good for you. But for me, storyline is important, it is very important. And MoH: Airborne has no storyline as such.

Instead they have opted for an open sandbox and railroading combo, where you start by jumping out of a plane and having multiple objectives which you may complete in any order you choose, with a railroaded ending of each scenario. There are six such scenarioes where you jump out over various varied combat fields, and there are objectives to land in specific locations for an added challenge.

Additionally, you get experience for using a weapon, increasing your effectiveness with said weapon in a myriad of ways.

So yes, there are some new elements in this game, but the overall lack of storyline makes for a big letdown. I liked Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault a lot more. It had a good overarching storyline, as well as mission storylines, combined with various special task/flying/flak cannon missions to vary the gameplay.

So all in all, if combat is your thing, this might be a game for you, if storyline is more important, there are loads of better games out there.

While this might not be the newest RPG game out there, it was certainly worth playing. I have not played the earlier Gothic games, but I must say I liked this one.

The setting is pretty standard RPG. You are the nameless hero who has already defeated monsters, dragons and other magical creatures returning from a prison island to the mainland of Myrtana. However, Myrtana has been overrun by orcs, and humanity is all but defeated. North of Myrtana lies Nordmar, inhabited by the Nords, essentially a breed of Vikings and followers of Innos, the god of light and fire, and south of Varana lies Varant, where the Hashishin, a human tribe worshipping Beliar, the dark god, lives. Out in the deserts of Varant, the nomads, followers of Adanos, the god of balance, lives.

The game is open and non-linear, and at the same time, offers three linear storylines. One makes you a champion of Innos, the other of Beliar and the third neither. Choosing late allows you to gain a lot more experience than finishing one area entirely (as that includes choosing your main storyline), only carrying out the missions of one faction.

One of the interesting aspects of Gothic 3 is the dynamic city system. Every city in the game can be liberated and/or conquered depending on which main storyline you choose to follow (or you can make your own path). Once you and sometimes your allies have killed enough of the city defenders, the city falls and the attackers move in to live in the city.

Unfortunately, most of the NPCs who move in are generic NPCs. Allowing more new named NPCs to move in would make for an even more interesting concept, but alas, that was not to be.

Gothic 3 allows the player freedom, much freedom, almost too much freedom for me, as I personally prefer a bit more railroading and storytelling than do whatever you want, but still, it is a good game.

Overall the story of Gothic 3 is a good one, the various quests are actually quite refreshing and not too cliché for a RPG, and I enjoyed it immensely (although sleep could be a problem at times ). So yes, I do recommend buying this game.

Dark Star One is a free form space game. It might not be the newest and shiniest graphics, but it is one of the better spaceship games I have seen in a long while. Where X2 and X3 have economic systems so advanced that regular gameplay suffers, Dark Star One has a simplistic economy model where shifting goods always make a profit (but it might be a small one), unless customs catches you, that is.

So what makes the game stand out? To me, it was its storyline. While the storyline itself is linear, no good/evil choice, no sidequests, it is set in an open and free universe. The player can play the storyline when the player wants to, and then go and explore, hunt pirates, play a trader or whatever freely in the rest of the time.

The storyline itself is interesting and worth playing the game for, even though it is a pretty generic save the universe from big bad evil plot, it is one players want.

The Dark Star One is the only spaceship the player is allowed to use, but the player has full freedom in selecting weapons, and the Dark Star One is slowly upgraded throughout the game, allowing for quite different playstyles. If the player chooses to focus on upgrading the hull, HPs will rise more than the other options, and there will be several turret mounts added to the ship. Turrets are automatic weapons firing without player intervention. If the player wants speed and quicker weapon recharge, the player can focus on the engines. Lastly the player can focus on the wings, increase spaceship agility and weapon slots for the direct fire weapons, which are in the players direct control. There is also the “plasma weapon” which can boost attack/defence or fire specialized attacks, based on how the player upgrades it.

And while you have to stare on the same ship throughout the game, its looks is upgraded every time you upgrade your ship. Upgrading engines upgrades the look of the engines, upgrading the wings upgrades the look of the wings and so on.

However, space fights remind me of atmospheric fights in the sluggishness of the ships (and the fact that they need constant engine firing to maintain velocit in space.) There are also some ground based flying, and yes, you get to copy Luke Skywalker with the Dark Star One version of the trench run, and the fly into the core run, but with a twist.

Although the ending is kinda cliché, the twist makes it an interesting one. Overall, if you like space ship games with a storyline and not too much economics, give Dark Star One a go. Last game I enjoyed of this time this thoroughly was Starlancer.

My first impression of this game can be summarized thus: Wow!

Even on my somewhat aging machine which creeps a bit over the minimal requirements for the game, the graphics do look great and flow smoothly. (At least when my GPU does not decide to crash The time to get a new rig is close.) It is without doubt the best looking PC game yet.

The visual style is 1940ish Art Deco of the environment, and while I do not know that timeperiod well, to me at least, it feels as if they pulled it off quite nicely.

The city where everything happens, Rapture, was built around 1940 juding by the style, by a man called Andrew Ryan. It was meant to be a haven for the scientist, the artist and the industrialist. Freedom from the Soviet Union and freedom from the west. They were to shake off the bounds of morality and improve life in every way they could, and they did.

Through a virus named ADAM, they paved the way for genetic manipulation. Genetic manipulation of the over the counter style, I would like to have flaming hands please. And surely enough, ADAM needs EVE to operate, I guess someone has been reading the bible However, at some point before the player enters the city, things have gone horribly wrong. The leadership appears to have gone mad, and the citizens, well, most are now known as splicers.

My primary interest in a game is its storyline. Without a good and interesting storyline, the game itself is not interesting, at all. BioShock’s storyline and storytelling is great. Both through the radio conversations with the mysterious Alex, and from the personal diaries spread around Rapture do we learn something of the current, and the past Rapture. The hints are intriguing, the several smaller ongoing subplots in some persons diaries interesting, and sometimes chilling to the bone.

Something should also be said about the small commercials around in Rapture. With the style being a mix of Art Deco and the post-war optimism, they alone bring a sense of what Rapture was, of a society, after our moral standards, gone wrong, and still in some what, still doing well. My professor always said that the commercials capture the spirit of a society well, nothing put me more in mind of that than the commercials spread around Rapture, mostly for genetic manipulation.

Gameplaywise, its a quite standard FPS shooter with a story line. The combination of regular weaponry and plasmid weaponry makes for an interesting change, reminds me of Deus Ex: Invisible War, but it is possible to use the plasmids a great deal more, making them in essence, usable for fights, but not to be wasted too much.

Overall, the bar for games has been raised considerably. Both in the graphics department, and in the storytelling department for action games. I fully recommend going out and buying it.