Telltale Games, makers of the Sam and Max and Wallace and Gromit series of point and click adventure games, released the fourth installment in their own pirate franchise Tales of Monkey Island with The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood last week, but don’t lose hope: the title is bleak, but the game is wonderful.

The Tales of Monkey Island series is an episode-based saga. The stories began in July with Launch of the Screaming Narwhaland today’s installment Trial and Execution is number four in a five-part drama, culminating next month with Rise of the Pirate God due out sometime in December.

Another essential bit of preface is that Trial and Execution just like those before it, is a point-and-click action adventure game and is rooted on its magnificent storytelling and multitude of dialogue lines.

Now we’re ready.

Trial and Execution begins with a detailed yet brief cinematic introduction that will remind past players of the last chapter’s events, and will catch up newcomer’s to just what the hell is going on. I found this inclusion very helpful, because with short games like these played a month prior, it’s easy to forget what you’ve already accomplished, or, as is more likely, the mess you’ve gotten into.

In the game you play as Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, who, for as ambitious as he is, lacks restraint and a fully operable brain. This is not to say you’re guiding an empty-headed buffoon around the game-world, because you’re not, just that the comedic value of his bumbling nature is apparent.

The basic plot synopsis for this installment is, without giving too much away, you’ve returned to the once-friendly Flotsam Islands, only to be seized and tried in a court of pirate-law for high seas crimes you’ve allegedly committed. It’s your job to defend yourself, using your dashing wit, in the court and save yourself from an untimely death. Oh, and at the same time the sinister French Marquis is plotting, and he’s plotting hard. To live through the day, a lot is asked of Guybrush, but hell, he’s escaped the belly of a Leviathan, how hard can this be!?

With four titles already under the thick belt of the Monkey Island series, there isn’t a heck of a lot to say here. The incredibly solid foundation Telltale laid in the preceding titles is applied to Trial and Execution with wonderful execution.

Voice-acting and character-recognition (through the voice acting), arguably the focal points of point and click games, are spot-on and without flaw in this latest game. With every line spoken, and there are many, many lines of dialogue, I became more attached to Guybrush and the entire supporting cast. Their lines aren’t corny; save for a few, and through this genuineness, the character’s truly come to life and become an emotional investment on you.

The story and dialogue are so good that it’s scary. The events unfold like a great storybook, and one you’ll find yourself steam-rolling through, as events transpire just like that (I snapped my fingers).

The lines of dialogue are eloquently crafted pieces of prose, and truly speak to the writing staff at Telltale. I’d really like to meet these guys and gals; they have some bona fide talent, that’s for sure.

The music element in Trial and Execution is again beautifully done. It intensifies tense moments, relieves stress at others, and is generally appropriate. I wouldn’t put it up for any soundtrack award, but it works, and it works very well.

As far as plot is concerned, I won’t give specifics, as the game lasts only about three hours, but I can say there is more going on in this tale than any of the others. Yes, the first was intriguing on account of its newness, but Trial and Execution is a rollercoaster ride of emotion that’ll keep you actively engaged right up until the stunning and unexpected conclusion. Alliances are formed, backs are stabbed, and hot peppers are licked! But best of all, this installment ends on the most slippery of cliffhangers and I am truly excited to play next month’s fifth and final episode.

What I found most compelling about the game was the fact that a main character dies. It’s a tense moment in a light-hearted franchise. It was wholly unexpected, but masterfully executed. Death was shown in previous games, but only at a comedic and light level. This tragic occurrence is just that; tragic, and for me, was a compelling reason to finish the game. I had to know what’s next!

My only gripe with the game was its return to a familiar location instead of branching out to new environments, a la the belly of a leviathan in the previous installment, because there I feel Telltale strutted their digital stuff and as a result wowed fans and I alike. Now, the game introduces some new environments; the courthouse, De Singe’s laboratory, and brings the darkness of night to the world, which elicits a second opinion of a locale you thought you knew, but still, I think Telltale could have and should have done more.

The game’s humor is also worth noting. Unlike the comedic value of another Telltale property, Sam and Max, which is more direct, the jokes in Trial and Execution are light-hearted and for lack of better term, less funny, but still funny. You won’t be laughing the way you do during your favorite comedy film, but you’ll have a giddy little smirk fixed on your face during much of the game.

Aesthetically, the title looks wonderful. I have a decent PC, a laptop no less! PC gamers go ahead and heckle me, but the game runs smoothly and looks gorgeous on my rig (if I can even call it that).

From the expansive jungle to the detailed docks to the uncivilized courtroom, Telltale’s attention to detail yet again shines through a fog of drear often associated with games of this nature. I experienced no slow-down or texture issues throughout my stay at the Flotsam Islands and at times stopped and reveled at the beauty of creation, as some of the environments really look splendiferous.

Blast Factor: Tales of Monkey Island: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood is a wonderfully thought out, executed, and enjoyable point and click adventure. Excellence in story-telling through voice acting, attention to detail in regards to the game’s environment and memorable characters combine to make this one of the best installments. Telltale Games have proven they have the chops to excel in the genre and I am both excited and saddened to know there is but one game left!

Tales of Monkey Island: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood is available today on PC. $34.95 gets you all five episodes. A copy of the game was given to us by Telltale for reviewing purposes. Arrrrrr.

Quests consist of gathering items, killing monsters collecting information, shaking down shop owners for protection money, sneaking around, stealing, and general helping out. You can also see two sides of one quest depending on who you speak to. So if you help out one person instead of the other for similar goals, you will never be able to help the other person with conflicting interests.

Character interactions were also enjoyable and realistic to a point. If you robbed someone right in front of them they will likely not talk to you and will remember what you did. This sometimes leads to quests that cannot be finished. Luckily though there are spells that can be cast to force someone to forget any misdeed. Pick pocketing is an enjoyable and useful technique that allows you to recover items stolen from you.  This skill has different levels and has a bit of a learning curve; once you initiate a pickpocket attempt, you only have a certain amount of time to grab what you want. Pick pocketing is also useful if you know someone stole one of your items when you were knocked out to get them back.

Risen takes place in a setting that looks very much like South America. The lighting in the game is rather dark making monitors with high contrasts or deep blacks rather hard at times to see what you’re playing unless you turn the brightness settings way up; unfortunately this washes out some of the great graphics and cinematic lighting. Some parts of the game are intentionally left dark as you need to use torches to see where you are going inside of caves or the catacombs of the ruins. The ground in the light has a lush glow and the city looks great in the moonlight. In fact I rather enjoyed the graphical style, though I wish I could have customized my look a bit more as I look like the main character of the show Prison Break with my ultra short buzz cut look.  The water was also well rendered and the thunderstorms and rain effects at night have to be the best I have seen in a game, with the whole setting going from really dark to super bright all around me when the lighting clashes. The games NPC’s were also more detailed and much easier to tell apart than similar games I have encountered.

The game leveling up is done with experience points, but other attributes like strength, dexterity, and weapon and crafting skills are gained by talking to people and asking them to train you. This, of course, will cost you a bit of gold. There are 3 types of close combat weapons such as swords, axes and blunt objects. For attacking from a distance you can use bows, crossbows or magic. Casting spells will use up Mana that needs to be replenished with potions and the like.

The game also has a cooking system in which you can take the meat off killed creatures  and cook it to regain heath or Mana. You can also obtain special recipes and collect the ingredients to make special foods. The same principles can be applied for the alchemy for potions and smith skills for making weapons and armor.

The combat for handheld weapons is done with the left mouse button for attack and the right mouse button for shielding or blocking by turning your weapon on its side. You can also parry the attack if you press the right mouse button just before the enemy is going to attack. The system for locking on enemies is automatic and very well executed. I rarely found my back turned to one enemy while fighting another. For bow attacks you go into a 3^rd or first person view to fire. The closer you are to hitting the enemy’s head the more damage the enemy takes.  Casting spells can be very useful while fighting in hand to hand combat.

One thing I really liked about Risen was that the enemies don’t seem to fall into too many western RPG stereotypes—sure there were gnomes and ghouls but the majority of them seemed very fresh. The AI was also well done; even though you could figure out some of the enemy attack patterns it never seemed monotonous, always giving a good challenge as these patterns were never set in stone and could always be a bit random.

Blast Factor: Besides some slight graphical issues and lots of trouble with the game’s DRM (which they will hopefully have fixed by the time you read this) I really enjoyed the game and can’t wait to play through it again following a different storyline path.

Risen is available on the PC, and an upcoming Xbox 360 version. It retails for $49.99; a copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The game, available exclusively on PC, was built on the much-beloved Unreal 3 Engine and is episode 1 of the Adam’s Venture series, a tale of adventure, danger, and lots, and lots, of Christian themes. In the game you play as Adam Venture, an adventurer searching for the actual Garden of Eden, believed to be found in a mysterious labyrinth of caves where the four mighty rivers, Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Eurphrates meet. Adam, his girlfriend Evelyn, and a antique professor, make the journey deep underground and are the game’s only characters, if you don’t count non-tangible ones.

First and foremost, “Venture” is a third-person action-adventure, puzzle-solving game, that utilizes the keyboard exclusively, not even the mouse. The game is similar to that of Telltale’s Wallace and Gromit and Monkey Island games, only the mouse is absent in “Venture.”

Also worth nothing upfront is the game’s clear Christian agenda. The game prides itself on being non-violent, and this holds true to the very end. As Adam, you’ll never wield any sort of weapon. Rather, as you’ll have to use your mind exclusively to solve the game’s many puzzles. This pacifist approach is not a detriment to the experience whatsoever; rather, it is a point of excellence in the game. It was not until a few hours in that I realized I hadn’t victimized anyone in any way in the game. Violence, whether it be petty and comedic, or blood-soaked and heavy, is a mainstay in video games today, and Venture is refreshing in its lack of.

The game takes place primarily in an expansive set of caves and dark dwellings. For this reason, Veritgo Games decided to stick a torch in your hand at all times as your means of sight, and this works quite well plays into more than a few puzzles. Additionally, the game has some Uncharted and Tomb Raider aspects to it. Sequences of crouching, sprinting, jumping, a very intriguing first-person crawling mechanic, and hanging from ledges are everywhere in “Venture,” and all the actions are executed very well.

The camera system in “Venture” is one of the better approaches I’ve seen. With all the lighting predicaments, cavernous area, and expansive environments, you might even excuse a camera system for faltering from time to time, but in “Venture” I never ran into a single issue with it. Additionally, the system’s excellence coupled with the third-person perspective allows for a great overall cinematic experience.

Venture is a tad on the easy side of similar games I’ve played, but, as a matter of personal taste, I very much enjoyed it this way. Save for a few occasions, I never felt angered at a puzzle I just couldn’t figure out. The game, marketed as a “family game,” is indeed just that. The puzzles are rudimentary at best, but this fact allows the game to flow like a children’s book, from chapter to chapter, sequence to sequence.

Voice acting in the game wasn’t where I hoped it’d be. The characters are hardly memorable, and the lines of dialogue they speak are corny at best. Great dialogue and character interaction can truly cement a games excellence, but Venture just isn’t there yet. At the same time however, for a good chunk of Venture you’re on your own, fighting the spirits of darkness, and dialogue is scarce. The voice acting and characters in Venture are by no stretch of the imagination the worst I’ve seen and heard, they just need work.

Sound effects and the soundtrack of Venture also aren’t exactly great. Certain sequences do a decent job heightening the intensity of a situation, but generally, the game lacks in the sound department.

Visually, Venture looks terrific. It was built on the much-praised Unreal 3 Engine (the same one used in Gears of War games) and thus is capable of smooth running and gorgeously rendered environments. The environment artists could have lazily slapped the same texture on every cave wall and overflowing water spring, but they didn’t. The game’s many wooden bridges, caves of spider webs, flowing water streams, and much more pop with life, in a way I was not expecting. Additionally, Vertigo Games did great work creating main character Adam and the two others. Though, if you’re looking for different, Venture doesn’t have it. Adam resembles Commander Shepard from Mass Effect, Nathan Drake from Uncharted, and Desmond Miles from Assassin’s Creed, just to name a few. And Adam’s girlfriend, Evelyn, yeah, she’s the cute and concerned sidekick we’ve seen before. These aren’t detriments to the game, rather something I feel the entire community needs to break from.

Finally, and likely the make or break aspect of the game, is its clear and direct Christian roots. The story and its many elements highlight good and evil, as depicted by the Christian faith. Adam is constantly tested by dark beings telling him to “stray from the herd and become a wolf,” and a primary part of the game is solving these quick little mini-puzzles where you must correctly arrange a jumbled bible verse. Now, I grew up, and remain, a member of the Catholic Church, so I actually knew many of these verses. But for anyone that doesn’t, they’re easily discernable. The game’s final puzzle requires you to recall, or re-learn, the seven days of creation, and piece them together in the correct order, and even I had a tough time with that one.

Blast Factor: Adam’s Venture has its flaws, but is generally an above average, and most of all fun to play, adventure game. The game’s cavernous environments look beautiful running on the Unreal 3 Engine, and for any Christian-gamer out there with a decent PC, this game has your name written all over it.

Adam’s Venture is available exclusively on the PC. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Order of War is set during World War II and has the player playing through famous historical battles as either Americans against Germans in France or German forces versus Soviets in Poland. You control almost all the aspects of the battles including airstrikes, ground troops, paratroopers, tanks, artillery and even managing reinforcements.

Each level in the game starts out with some black and white video footage of actual battles that have lead up to the scenario about to be played, which I found gives the game much more depth, as opposed to just dropping you into a battle. The game then zooms in on all the units, tanks and vehicles and begins to display many statistics on the screen at once: everything from number of troops to the firepower of missiles to almost blueprint like schematics of certain vehicles. You are then briefed on your objectives as parts of the map are revealed to you. The objectives range from protecting allied convoys, capturing occupied villages and holding positions.

The onscreen HUD displays the number of platoons you control and each of their conditions, a mini map and your resource points. Resource points increase at a steady rate over time and can be used for a variety of things, including paratroops and airstrikes. Each option may cost you a different amount of support, further adding depth to the game play. Many factors can affect success such as varying geography/topography. Tanks and artillery having longer range when on top of a hill and vice versa when firing from downhill; infantry have better cover when in a wooded area. Infantry can hide in trenches or houses for added cover which can give you a great advantage.

The enemy forces have pretty much the same abilities and resources as you do and it is especially challenging to get through a location when the opposing forces are in the houses all around you. Infantry can also load into trucks to faster get to a map location faster, though loading and reloading the trucks can use up valuable time which you don’t always have. There are other disadvantages to using trucks as it puts an entire platoon in one place which makes an easy target for the enemy, and when a truck full of troops is destroyed the whole platoon dies. There are also trucks for artillery that carry anti-tank cannons that take some time to set up but once set up they can become a key to victory in any battle.

Statistics are displayed after each mission is completed and, based on your performance, you are awarded medals, such as purple hearts, and points to upgrade your units in future missions. The upgrades are broken down into Infantry, Artillery and Tanks, and include increases in accuracy, speed, etc. For example you can upgrade your infantry’s accuracy with firearms to level 1 and, if you have enough points left, increase to level 2 and so on. These changes permanently effect the performance of your units through the whole game.

The graphics looked nice at an aerial view, but can zoom in so close that you get a great feel of how it would seem to forces on the ground, though the troops can seem a bit blocky zoomed in. There is also a cinematic function where the screen goes into a letter box view and weaves through the battlefield at different angles and speeds to give you the feel of watching a war movie. Though this function is well done I never found many times to use it as there was so much going on.

In the first level I found there was so much going on I wondered how I could ever command so many units in real time. But after some practice and finding out just how useful and important the pause function was to the game, I started to really enjoy myself. I soon felt rather engrossed in the whole experience. Though the game has some problems, the minimap did not rotate with the camera so it was hard to navigate at times. I also felt the game assumes you know WWII lingo like what a Howitzer or Nebelwerfer is. The strength of the infantry felt weak and I found them more useful as distractions then actual fighters, as the game seems to rely heavily on tanks. The infantry AI seemed lacking as at times, and became rather annoying when they wanted to crawl on their stomach all of a sudden. The distance you could zoom out also felt rather small.

Blast Factor: Order of War is a solid game despite some balance issues. The game really shines the most in the heat of battle and the way it sets up the scenario for you. From someone who was never really interested in WWII based games, I surprisingly found myself enjoying Order of War.

Order of War is a PC exclusive, available at retail for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Telltale Games, makers of the beloved Wallace and Gromit series are at again, today releasing the third installment in the five-part “Tales of Monkey Island” franchise for PC and WiiWare. This issue, dubbed “The Lair of The Leviathan” is the best one yet and will satisfy any adventure-thirsty Pirate enthusiast.

Leviathan begins directly after the events of “Siege of Spinner Cay” and commences with a short but detailed cutscene narrated by the prophetic Voodoo Lady that’ll get you up to speed on past events if you’re new to the series, or will softly remind you of what’s happened, if you’ve forgotten.

The plot this time around is the zaniest it’s ever been. In Leviathan you reprise your role in controlling protagonist Guybrush Threepwood but this time the adventure begins not on land, or in the jungle, rather the action commences at sea, as the ship you’re steering is swallowed up by a Giant Manatee. You, your shipmates and the ship itself, The Screaming Narwhal, are slurped into the Manatee’s stomach, where much of the game takes place.

Voice acting in the game is yet again outstanding and should be seen as a model for games, spanning all genres, moving forward. You might think a swashbuckling pirate adventure would set up well for troves of corny dialogue lines, but this isn’t the case. Every line, save for a few, are well executed with each conversation flowing naturally from line to line, person to person. Leviathan is an adventure game, yes, but its comedic value is priceless, as countless hilarious quips are littered throughout the story. For example, the “Democratically United Brotherhood of the Manatee Interior” is what the assembly of Manatee-dwelling Pirates called themselves. In short, Leviathan, like its two predecessors is very funny in more ways than you’d expect.

Where Telltale also succeeded so very greatly in Leviathan is in the character creation department. If you thought you knew everything about main character Guybrush Threepwood by playing the first two and are ready to write your biography on the man, think again. With each chapter Telltale not only introduces new characters, as they did in this installment, but also adds deeper character elements and faces to those you’re already familiar with. It’s difficult to talk at length on this matter without spoiling anything, but trust me, there’s something stirring in the waters.

Additionally, a character only mentioned in the first two episodes, Coronado DeCava, appears in the flesh in Leviathan and, with his infatuation with the Voodoo Lady and other oddities, is one you won’t soon forget.

You’d think the whole “I’m trapped in a Manatee’s gut” would be a bad thing, but really, it’s not. Telltale did a wonderful job in designing and digitizing such an unknown and gross setting and truly made it a, dare I say, enjoyable, environment to play in. Additionally, you might also think the belly of the beast is an inhospitable hut of glut, but you’d be wrong. Treasure, enemies, allies, and lots of mystery are yours to embark upon, all within the pink and oozing walls of Mr. Manatee.

The contrast in setting to the first two games, where you traversed jungles, ships, and small seaside towns, is a welcomed modification and one that shows off Telltale’s range in environment design capability. The same determined level of detail and dedication to subtleties is applied to Manatee innards, and this is downright awesome.

You’ll finish the events of Lair of the Leviathan in about 2 to 3 hours depending on your play-style, and I strongly believe this is the absolute perfect length for episode-based adventures. The Tales of Monkey Island series began in July and will run an entire 5 months until November. So yes, it’s short, but the taste it leaves in your mouth is so delectable you’d be crazy to jump ship mid-series.

Of note: I ran into a game-breaking, critical error at about 75% completion, and a quick email to Telltale told me the issue was known but rare. But since the build I played was a non-final one, barring disaster, you won’t run into the same bug I did.

Blast Factor: Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan is a superb point-and-click adventure game. Its hilarious dialogue, unexpected and zany plot twists, memorable characters, the very unique environment of the inside of a Manatee, and yet another drastic cliff hanger, I couldn’t be more excited to play Chapter 4 next month.

Played through entire game. Exhausted most of the dialogue. Did not wear an eye-patch or a bandana.

Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan is available today at the Telltale Store exclusively on PC for $34.95 for all 5 episodes delivered monthly.

“Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay” released today and is the second installment in the five part “Monkey Island” series which began in July and will run straight through until November. Does the high-seas, swashbuckling, pirate adventure sequel live up to its predecessor, or walk the plank and drown? Let’s find out.

“Siege of Spinner Cay” picks up, to the second, where “Screaming Narwhal” left off. You’re immediately thrust back into the boots of main character Guybrush Threepwood and are tasked with evading the swift sword blows of a female assassin who is diligently pursuing the removal of your Pox-stricken hand.

However, once the danger is quelled, albeit with limb lost, the main task of finding your beautiful lass Elaine and the treacherous voodoo pirate LeChuck come front and center ultimately landing you and your ship, the Narwhal onto the shores of the ominous and hilariously named Jerkbait Islands.  Once on the main island, Spinner Cay, you’ll quickly discover there is far, far, far, more to what you maybe thought was a simple plot, and tasks, conversations, and head-scratching moments will be aplenty as you trudge through the game’s many puzzles ultimately culminating in yet another head-scratcher of final scene.

Much like Telltale’s Wallace and Gromit four-part series we loved to death, Spinner Cay rehashes everything that was truly wonderful about its predecessor and slowly, but surely, builds upon those digital bounds.

Where the debut title “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal” was simply oriented within a few simply designed locales, “Spinner Cay” branches out from the full-on, multi-level, and downright gorgeous focal point of attraction, the cay itself, to the aptly shaded blue waters of the ocean, to the soft sand beaches, and even to a lush green jungle teeming with mystery.

Telltale also expanded on the basic humor employed in the original by buffing Guybrush and company’s jokes to include multiple counts of pretty clear sexual innuendo to slight anachronisms while keeping the general hilarity amidst danger the series is so well known for, well intact. To solve one of the game’s more hilarious puzzles you must properly insult an evil pirate captain.  But this is no easy task. Calling him a “smelly bloke” just won’t cut it. You’ll have to be more creative!

Where “Spinner Cay” soars past “Narwhal” and sets itself apart in the point and click genre, lies in the game’s glorious soundtrack. Moments of tension, grief, relief, and love are charted wondrously, but sadly, if you’re running audio straight from your bundled computer speakers you’ll miss a lot. That said, should you be running a 5.1 surround sound system or better, you’ll fall victim to a case of the wowzers at the hands of the game’s varying, but always solid, sound pieces.

Most importantly is Telltale’s recognition that episodic content should balloon in creative value with each iteration. It is so very clear that “Siege of Spinner Cay” is not simply the second chapter in the five part series. It is so much more than that. “Spinner Cay’s” plot obviously lies in direct accord with the original, but there is enough fresh material, that when combined with the general familiarity earned in the debut episode, you’ll feel right at home but also challenged in unique ways before your epic swashbuckling journey is over.

Blast Factor:

“Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay” is a truly first-rate point and click adventure game that will leave hardened puzzle-solvers reveling in Telltale’s masterful creation. The narrative is compelling, the visuals are stylized and gorgeous, and the title is virtually glitch free. Enjoy!

Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay was released today exclusivley on PC. $34.95 gets you all five games spanning from last month’s to November.

You are able to play one of three types of characters in Trine – the wizard, the thief, or the knight. You can switch between these three characters at will and without penalty, which allows you to easily maneuver through the environment and create a mix of ranged and melee combat. The wizard starts off with the ability to conjure boxes and move objects via a telekinesis-like ability, but learns new and upgraded spells as you progress, such as conjuring planks you can walk on. The thief uses a bow for offensive combat, and a grapple to help move around her surroundings. At first the bow is simply used for combat or to knock objects over, but later on you can even light torches via flaming arrows! The grapple is a staple tool to solving puzzles in Trine, and also fun to use. The knight is the typical sword-and-board character, equipped with a sword and shield to fight off the undead. At first it doesn’t seem like the knight is very helpful, but eventually you can learn new skills to pick up heavy objects or make yourself more effective in combat. Also, thanks to the very realistic physics engine, the knight is a poor swimmer and will sink when you jump in water due to all of his heavy armor.

As you move through different areas in the game you will have to overcome many types of obstacles. On top of fighting off the undead, you must also find ways around cliffs, moving platforms, spikes and deadly ooze. A nice thing about Trine is that you aren’t locked in to one way of doing things; instead almost everything can be overcome in various ways depending on how you wish to play and how you interact with the environment.

Character-environment interaction is really where this game shines though, as combat isn’t anything special.  When fighting the undead skeletons not much more is needed than jumping around and clicking your attack button, giving the game a kind of hack-and-slash feel versus a need for a strategy. Enemy AI isn’t very creative either, leaving you with the impression that combat was more of a side-note for this game.

As you move through different areas you will notice little blue, green, and red vials hidden in different areas, or drop from monsters you kill. The blue and red vials replenish lost energy and health, and these are rather abundant thankfully because you will notice that you may sometimes spend energy rather quickly. The green vials give experience, and are typically in hard to reach places and require much more effort to get to. Some mobs do give you XP as well, but it is not guaranteed. The leveling system in Trine if extremely basic in this way, and once you collect a certain amount of XP you will level up, allowing you to boost each characters skills a little bit.

There are also little chests you can find as you progress, typically located in places that require some thinking to get to but sometimes right in the open, that offer different rewards. Chests may drop items for your characters, or teach new skills for one of them to spice up gameplay. Most items have special bonuses to them and can be swapped between the three characters very easily via the character menu.

A hidden little fact about Trine is that you have the option to play the game cooperatively with up to two others. I say it is hidden because though the game boasts co-op play, when sitting at the main menu screen it isn’t very clear that you actually can do this. You have to first navigate your way through the options menu, then controls, in order to set up other players controls. This is definitely a pain, as it could take someone quite a while before they even realize how to utilize this option.

Blast Factor: Ultimately, Trine is definitely a fun game to play and has a captivating storyline. Combat is fun, though nothing special for sure, and the environmental puzzles remind me of the times I played games like Prince of Persia. Beautiful graphics pull you into this game, and the shockingly real physics and fluid gameplay keep you playing. However, if you don’t plan on replaying the game or playing co-op, which can get tough on a single PC, at $29.99 ($22.49 until August 19^th via Steam) Trine is a bit expensive considering I finished the game in about five hours of playing.

Trine is available internationally on PC, and will see a North American retail release in September. A Playstation Network version is also forthcoming.

Now, Fallout 3’s protagonist has one more frontier to conquer: Space!

Mothership Zeta, Fallout 3’s fifth and final Downloadable Content, takes the Lone Wanderer on a galactic adventure filled with Aliens, spaceships and, best of all, advanced weapons.  However, with many other DLCs to compete with, how will Bethesda’s most recent Fallout 3 add-on stack up against the competition?

Mothership Zeta opens like most other DLCs; with a mysterious radio signal that ultimately reveals a new location on your map.  The location, aptly named Alien Crash Site, is where a small round ship called Recon Craft Theta had crash-landed in the Wasteland.  Upon arriving at the location, the Lone Wanderer will notice that there is fairly heavy radiation surrounding the ship.  Eventually, when players approach the ship, the Lone Wander is beamed up to Mothership Zeta.

Once the Lone Wander teleports to Zeta, players find themselves trapped (and stripped of all armor and weapons) in a holding cell with a Waster named Somah.  Somah doesn’t know much more than you when it comes to general information about the ship, but she has learned that your Alien captors would prefer to keep their human specimens alive.  With this in mind, Somah suggests that you should fight her, making the Aliens have to open the cell and break up the scuffle.  Once you agree to the plan, it is executed perfectly and the escape begins.

One of my favorite parts about Mothership Zeta is the unique cast of characters you meet during your attempt to escape.  First, the Alien enemies on the spacecraft were very cool.  Each Alien looks similar to what we all imagine an extraterrestrial would look like: small, green and with a big head.  Still, even with this classic interpretation of extra-terrestrials, the natives of Mothership Zeta are quite interesting because of their beautifully animated armor and masterfully recorded voices.  These aspects alone were probably two of the best things about this DLC.

Also, the Aliens of Mothership Zeta seem to have been in the abducting business for quite a while, judging by the types of folks you encounter.  The Aliens cryogenically froze many different types of NPCs, good and bad.  Some of the frozen enemies that are frozen (and possibly unfrozen) include Slavers, Super Mutants and those ever-pesky Feral Ghouls.  The allies you meet on Mothership Zeta are from Earth’s present and past.  Characters such as a cowboy, a little girl who survived the Great War (and is very helpful throughout the DLC) and a medic from the liberation of Alaska.  My favorite NPC was a cryo-frozen Samurai, complete with ancient Japanese armor and weaponry.

Speaking of weapons, the Aliens on Mothership Zeta really know how develop some tools of destruction.  In addition to the massive device called the Death Ray (useable only at the end of the DLC), the fallen Aliens usually leave behind impressive loot.  Items such as the Shock Baton and Electro-Suppressor serve as viable weapons for melee characters.  The Alien Atomizer and Disintegrator are found often throughout the DLC and do considerable damage against your extra-terrestrial adversaries.  My favorite weapon in Mothership Zeta was the Drone Cannon.  This weapon, which is found on the Aliens’ security robots, fire large spheres of energy that bounce around and eventually explode.  This was especially helpful when I wanted to eliminate enemies who were hiding around corners and behind objects.

Sadly, the characters and the weapons were the only things I really liked about the Mothership Zeta DLC.

The great thing about Fallout 3 is the fact that it is driven by such an interesting storyline.  Unfortunately, Mothership Zeta fails to provide anything resembling an intriguing plot.  I found myself becoming bored with this DLC very quickly, not caring about whom I talked to or what information I uncovered.  Instead, I seemed to just be playing Mothership Zeta so I could get my character to level 30 and be done with it.  Though I was able to get to that pinnacle level, I still wasn’t happy with the story that got me there.

Similar to the plot, the quests in Mothership Zeta were quite bland.  Many of the tasks that the Lone Wanderer must complete tended to be tedious and uninteresting.  There was no real problem solving during the quests.  Instead, the Lone Wanderer is forced run from one location to another, having no say in the way he or she completes the task.  Fallout 3 is all about making the right or wrong choice.  However, for the developers of Mothership Zeta, it seems that this DLC is all about making *their* choice.

Not helping the entertainment value of the quests was the confusing nature of the spacecraft’s environments.  Though each room and hallway on Mothership Zeta looked clean and futuristic, I found it very easy to get lost while trying to find important points of interest.  The use of teleportation pads came in handy quite often, but they often made things much more confusing than they needed to be.  I applaud the effort by Bethesda, but they just didn’t do anything for me.

Blast Factor: Overall, Mothership Zeta was a real letdown for me.  Though the characters and advanced weaponry in this DLC were a pleasure to interact with, important aspects such as the plot, quests and environments were either flawed or just plain boring.  If $10 means little to you, Mothership Zeta may be worth purchasing if you have all of the other Fallout 3 DLCs and would like to reach level 30.  However, if you’re still lacking any of the previous DLCs, I suggest you invest in those first.

Mothership Zeta is currently available exclusively on Xbox Live and Games for Windows for 800 Points / $9.99.

Late last month (July 28), Telltale released The Bogey Man, the fourth and final installment in the now epic “Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures” series.  I spent a great deal of time and effort, and experienced many moments of pure point and click bliss over the past weekend as I played through the title, and today I feel a bit saddened to know the series is over, but am also warmed at the feeling of passing my thoughts on to you, dear reader.

Does The Bogey Man capture and build upon the essence of the three to come before it, or does it shank the drive into the rough, and leave us face-palming into eternity? Only one way to find out….

First and truly foremost, for beginners to the series primarily, The Bogey Man, and the entire series for that matter, is a point and click adventure puzzle-solving game. No, this isn’t the FPS Wallace and Gromit we are so yearning for (we kid), but in all the same ways it is a fully-encompassing experience, which could be called an acquired taste, but really, if you love great games, The Bogey Man is it.

Every character from the previous installments (including the sinister Monty Muzzler from Muzzled!) returns in The Bogey Man and at this point, having known the characters for over four months, the level of emotional attachment and general knowledge for said characters will be a remarkable feat to experience. Is it weird that I know Felicity Flitt is an avid gardener with a stuck-up mentality? No, it’s great gaming!

Obviously the two title characters, Wallace, the bumbling inventor, and his vastly intelligently superior canine companion Gromit are the centers of attention in The Bogey Man, and you’ll be treated to your fair share of daft statements from the former, and saving graces from the latter. By now we’re used to it, aren’t you?

Wallace’s zany inventions, including his notorious Trousers, play a vital part in The Bogey Man, and without giving too many critical plot elements away, you’ll certainly need to master the art of mechanical sleuthing!

Graphically speaking, The Bogey Man is downright sexy. The artsy claymation style of both the films and the series’ prior installments is again rehashed in this golf-oriented iteration. Nothing gained, nothing lost in terms of detail or style, but this is no problem, as The Bogey Man adds new locales, including a club house and a sewer, all drawn in the adorable style the series is so darn famous for.  I ran across a few slowdown issues and some awkward moments due to graphical hang-ups, but these can be attributed to the fact that A) my graphics card isn’t the hottest, and 2) I was playing a review build, not the one you’ll receive.

Sound in The Bogey Man, following suit of its predecessors, is wondrous. The light and melodious background tunes morph into all shades of emotion as related to the scene depicted, and you’d do well to stop for a moment, enjoy the melodies, and then proceed on solving the game’s many puzzles! From the familiar tune of the opening credits to the emotional climax at the end, the music only adds, never detracts to the total experience, and is always fitting. I ran into a few slight audio clipping issues, oddly only with the talkative shop owner Mr. Paneer, but this slight hiccup is truly a non-issue in the overall scheme of things.

As far as plot is concerned, The Bogey Man is arguably the most preposterous yet. Yes, we’ve seen an entirely too large Queen Bee, a canine-operated amusement ride, and a basement-based sandy beach vacation spot, but some of the hi-jinks in The Bogey Man truly trump them all. On a scale of believable to shut the f*ck up, The Bogey Man is heavy set to latter. However, we’re talking about video games here, namely Wallace and Gromit video games, so come on. Even if it feels as if Telltale ran senselessly from idea to idea, it works, and that’s what matters!

The general plot scheme in The Bogey Man ties in directly with its predecessor, Muzzled!, which ended on the greatest of cliffhangers, as Wallace inadvertently proposed to neighbor Felicity Flit. In this latest episode the main struggle and origin of the game’s many puzzles stem forth from this unusual predicament, and, as one hilarious event leads to another, Wallace strives to become repulsive to Felicity in order to nullify their faux-agreement. We’ve all been there haven’t we?

Pacing and difficulty in The Bogey Man are both well constructed. Puzzles begin in a welcoming nature, but quickly, as the title lasts just a tad over 3 hours, they’ll escalate to pure head-scratching ponderings deserving of all your attention. The aforementioned pacing is wonderfully assembled. There is truly never a down moment. Depending on the scene, you’ll guide either Wallace or Gromit around the game’s multiple environments, and you’ll never be short of tasks to complete.

Blast Factor:

The Bogey Man is the stunning conclusion to the epic four part series that point and click adventure game fans should not miss out on. Diehard fans of the Wallace and Gromit universe should absolutely play this title, as it is the closest thing to another properly made film we’re going to get. Voice acting is beyond superb, pacing is excellent, visuals are familiar and adorable, and the conclusion leaves nothing in question. Go play!

Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures is a four part episode-based title developed and published by Telltale games. The Bogey Man retails for $8.95 in the Telltale online store, or $34.95 gets you all four installments.

Enter Telltale games, a company founded in 2004 and arguably most famous for their work on the Sam and Max series, who, in a unique fashion release their games through monthly episodic installments, instead of, as is normative, all at once.

Telltale are also the blokes behind Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures, a four part whirlwind of a story that we absolutely. Loved. To. Death.

It was through Telltale that my love for the genre ballooned back up to where all I can do is sing the praises of the genre, as told by the studio. No, I am not a secret agent, stealthily blogging for Blast, on Telltale’s payroll, I simply feel when a studio is on their game, the laudatory remarks should be ubiquitous.

Tales of a Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, the first part of 5 in the epic Monkey Island series launched this month, and I enthusiastically and excitedly took part in the swashbuckling mayhem. Did Telltale yet again strike a resounding chord with the oceanic puzzler, or should you patch up both eyes and skip over this gallivanting endeavor? Time to find out!

There are three major game-play elements that Telltale excelled at in Screaming Narwhal and they are storytelling, visuals, and sound. Sound familiar? They should, as every major game, with some exception, is centered on that trifecta, but, in a simplistic point and click style adventure game their importance is heightened to say the least and Telltale was more than up to this task of delivering on all counts.

Without giving too much away, Screaming Narwhal is all about main character Guybrush and his humorous attempts at solving the mystery of the swirling winds that rule Flotsam Island, a location the pirate is washed up upon after an encounter with a voodoo pirate named LeChuck.

Dialogue in Screaming Narwhal is downright scary awesome. Conversational options, a la Mass Effect, allow for multiple emotional responses, and voice acting is absolutely superb. Main character Guybrush Threepwood is a hilarious fellow, who will constantly amaze you with his wit, charm, and total tomfoolery. Dialogue, arguably the penultimate facet of Screaming Narwhal is what makes this game great. If you can’t stand listening to line after line of conversation, don’t play this game.

Visuals, there’s a word gamers have grown to love, and Telltale has crafted a beau-ty with Screaming Narwhal. As you probably guessed, the drama goes down on the wooden rafters of ships, but also in a beautifully rendered town, jungle, and a French scientist’s laboratory! Characters models are highly stylized, with kind of a Team Fortress 2 look to them, and couple that with some the gorgeously cute town setting and lush green jungle, and you’ve got more than enough to enjoy for your entire stay on Flotsam Island.

Maybe my keen ear and love of music skews my attention towards the melody facet of games, but I firmly believe that the musical composition for Screaming Narwhal adds that extra oomph to the experience that, when coupled with the aforesaid wondrous storytelling, is a dynamic and emotionally attractive aspect to the entire experience. From the game’s opening sequence of escalated drama on the high seas to the many humorous encounters Guybrush enters into, the music never detracts, always adds, and enriches the sense of immersion Telltale was so yearning to achieve.

Storytelling, sound, and visuals are all integral elements to the experience of the gamer, but what about how the game actually plays? In a word: excellent.

The pace at which events unfold in Screaming Narwhal is so well constructed that you’ll never feel rushed, dragged, overburdened with tasks. The game is, at its root, a puzzle-solving experience. Sure, your ultimate goal is to learn the mystery behinds the whirling winds, but along the way you must first tackle a number of varied tasks to meet that end. These tasks never, ever feel trivial. Every move you make is important in the ultimate struggle, and you’ll know this, as the game’s inventory system (kind of like your backpack) shows you what items you’ve collected and a simple conversation with a local NPC will remind you of the task at hand.

The control scheme in Screaming Narwhal is executed wonderfully, as it is so simple, yet to useful. A simple click of the mouse can elicit conversation, place a lit bomb in pink underwear (you’ll do that), or shoot a canon, just to name a few. Hovering your mouse over the right side of the screen or hitting the tab button will open up your inventory to make use of the many wares you’ll collect along the way. Basically, the simple system Telltale has borrowed from Wallace and Gromit, works very, very well, and trust me, you’ll appreciate its simplicity.

Finally, Screaming Narwhal is just part one of five in the Monkey Island series, and, as you’d expect, the game ends on a seriously exciting cliff hanger that raises so, so many questions to be answered in the sequel, due out next month. Ahh, what a business model indeed!

Blast Factor:

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is a truly excellent point and click adventure game buffed by superb voice acting, gorgeous visuals, alluring and encompassing storytelling, and warm, welcoming, and appropriate sound resting in the background. The only caveat I can throw your way is that the game features a ton of dialogue, and if you’re impatient and choose to skip the conversational scenes to simply finish the game, you’ll end up spending more time on Flotsam Island, as the dialogue is so, so important, and full of clues, not to mention it’s the best voice acting I’ve heard since Mass Effect. Bottom line, if you’re into point and click games, Monkey Island, or just great games in general, you won’t want to miss this one!

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is available today exclusively on PC. $34.95 gets you all 5 episodes releasing on a monthly schedule from now until November.

The game starts off with the new Create-A-Sim program, where you are able to completely alter almost every aspect of your Sims. The standard facial changes are allowed along with the ability to adjust all preset models to your liking, and many new haircut styles are introduced, as well as the ability to literally create your own wardrobe for the Sims. Another very cool feature is being able to choose a voice for your Sim, then adjusting the pitch to your liking.

This new feature is the Create a Style tool, which allows you to create a new style of clothing or add your own flavor to existing patterns. This also lets you copy styles from one type of clothing and carry it over to anything else so they can match! Another bonus is that this isn’t limited to your Sim’s clothing – the Create a Style tool can also be used on anything you can buy for your Sim, so you can add your own touch to almost every design element of the game.

Depending on what age you make your Sim, you are able to choose a different number of personality traits. There are 63 personality traits to choose from, from being absent-minded to hating being naked to being evil! This gives you an endless variety of combinations to completely shape how your Sim acts and views the world. On top of personality traits, you can also choose a few of your Sims favorite things and their life goals!

When I was able to play The Sims 3 it was the first time I had played The Sims in at least two years, so the creation phase alone took me a solid hour to explore the different features and be happy with my Sim. Not being an avid Sims player, I am happy to say that the character creation part of the game is very simple to learn even with all of the given options. So how better to begin playing the game than with an evil computer genius with a good sense of humor?

When it comes to The Sims 3 world, it allows much more freedom than previous The Sims titles and it is now seamless. This is always a very nice touch to a game, providing a much more sandbox-style feel to game that already lets you do whatever you wish.

Whether you decide to buy a house for your Sim and decorate accordingly, or build a new house from scratch, you will spending a lot of time in Buy Mode. This is standard in The Sims games, but from what I remember from the other titles The Sims 3 offers a much simpler UI and it’s much easier to cycle through tools and items. The only thing I found that was a pain was the way to move your camera view around, as it was extremely awkward.

During my play time I created my own house for my Sim, with fully outfitted rooms with custom styles thanks to the Create a Style tool. After a while it becomes a bit captivating as you take the time to carefully design each room while building houses, then having so much freedom to decorate and outfit them with many types of appliances and furniture.

Another new feature is the Create a Movie tool, which lets you record up to 1 GB of gameplay at a time. After uploading the recording, you are presented with many tools for video editing to give your movie a polished look. I was unable to get the chance to play around with this feature as of yet, but it is something I look forward to experimenting with.

This game expands on the previous style of gameplay in other Sims games, providing new jobs and choices for your Sims as well as more items to purchase for them.

The Sims 3 was overall a fun a game to play, with many new features and tons of new items to improve gameplay. The game is even more sandbox than ever, allowing limitless amounts of customization and the choice to do whatever you please, making your experience more unique than ever.

The Sims 3 is available on Windows and Mac OS X, retails for $49.99, and comes with $10 worth of Sims Store points upon registration.

Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures has been just that thus far: a grand adventure. Both Fright of the Bumblebees and The Last Resort were stellar episodes, but if you don’t believe me? Read our reviews!

Following the proven success recipe that is short and sweet storytelling, Muzzled!, the third installment in the series, went live for download this morning, and leapfrogs the first two episodes by a considerable clip based on a number of determining factors.

First off, you’ve got know what you’re getting muzzled into here. Muzzled! is, as said before, just one of four pieces of the Grand Adventure, and while the story elements have changed, the fundamental puzzle-solving nature of the game remains rigidly intact and fundamentally important. As episodic content goes, Muzzled! is a short experience, and what I mean by short is between three and five hours of gameplay bolstered by prolonged cut scene periods of story-important dialogue. If you’re the type who elects to skip these cinematics in order to “save time,” be warned, as each and every conversation between characters contains nuanced clues of how to proceed. Except for maybe Major Crum. What’s he rambling on about all the time?

The story unravels very, very quickly in Muzzled!, so I’ll sum up the narrative without spoilers, and in a simple way.  Wallace is still inventing quirky contraptions that ultimately are more trouble than they’re worth and Gromit, his four-legged canine mute counterpart, again leaps into the fray to save the day. Every character from the original two games makes an appearance in Muzzled!, but one man, Monty Muzzle, arrives on the scene with a proposition that may not be as righteous as the shady bloke says it is. Muzzle has organized a weekend fair to take place with all proceeds going towards endangered canines. If only, and you’ll soon discover his motives are quite a bit more dastardly than what the man preaches.

As said before, the narrative in Muzzled! races along at a very brisk pace, much faster than the original two, and, only as a cartoon could, the action cruises from place to place, with rampant adventure spilling forth throughout. It’s awesome, I promise.

Where Telltale truly succeeds in Muzzled!, and throughout the series, is via glorious storytelling bolstered by believable and engaging voice acting. It is truly remarkable how much I have come to learn about and grow attached to the games’ many characters and this can only be chalked up to a dedicated effort to create authentic personalities. My British humor vocabulary and understanding is not great so I can only assume many jokes flew straight over my head, but the ones I did catch had me smiling cheek to cheek and laughing at the games’ many subtle jokes, often not even spoken.

As far as gameplay is concerned, Muzzled! introduces no new game mechanics not found in the prior two, which would have been a welcome addition, but an understandable move on Telltale’s part. If it ain’t broke?

The familiar point, click, investigate, and manipulate mechanism remains intact and never becomes problematic or irksome. A simple drag and click of the mouse, and a toggle of the shift key is really all you need, besides a keen and inquisitive mind (and you’ll need a lot of that).

Telltale did a remarkable job creating a memorable world through the first two games and now, in Muzzled!, West Wallaby Street has an oddly familiar sense to it. The kitchen? Oh yeah, that’s down the hallway and to the left!

However, Telltale did add a new playable zone, and in Muzzled! you’ll spend the bulk of total play time in a brand new location — the Faire Grounds. Leaving West Wallaby Street, traveling past the bus stop and through the town square lies the Grounds, upon which lie a mess of puzzles, everyone from town, a high-flying and well animated amusement ride, and some precarious situations.

After the great danger is quelled and the cheese is eaten, a “proposal” of grand sorts is extended to Wallace from an unlikely source and, should he accept, the face of the Wallace and Gromit series will forever change. Guess you have to play to learn about this highest cliff of all cliffhangers!

Overall, Telltale has yet again told the tale of excellence in every facet of game design. From dynamic and alluring storytelling buffed by memorable characters, to the authentic feel of the familiar claymation style presentation, Muzzled! succeeds so very well.

Muzzled! released June 16 for PC and is currently available for individual purchase for $8.95 or $34.95 for all four episodes via the Telltale Store. Fright of the Bumblebees is also on Xbox Live; download it here for 800 MS Points.

That is not to say that the new content found in Assault on Dark Athena is bad; it’s just that after replaying an improved version of one of the last generation’s gems, the issues stand out and take away from the experience. In the end, depending on your level of tolerance, you’re going to end up with a fantastic remake that has yet to really show its age coupled with either a decent sequel in Athena or one that ultimately disappoints.

As Richard B. Riddick, you help out some prisoners by doing them some favors — favors which often involve killing other prisoners — and they help you get on your way to escaping from Butcher Bay, a prison in the desert that no one has ever escaped from. You hide in the shadows, shoot out lights, snap necks, drop from the rafters — all of these stealth kills are highly satisfying, and if you limit your gun play to involve shadows, even that is fun as the AI struggles to find where you are versus where you were when you fired. The AI is not stupid in this game, as they will find you and come after you once they sense you are in the area. They will turn if they hear you coming as well, so you need to be sneaky and quiet, not just unseen. Luckily, Riddick has a stealth mode that allows him to walk quietly, and also lets you know if you’re in anyone’s line of sight; blue vision means you are unseen, while a return to regular vision means someone has the potential to catch you. You do have to be careful in making sure that guards are not hiding in the shadows like you were, as once you pop out they could converge on you. Like I said, the AI is not stupid.

Escape from Butcher Bay is a game that had tons of attention lavished on it in the past, so I’m not going to go into too much detail here given that there’s an entire other game to review; just know that if you loved the original, this remake is fantastic, and is worth revisiting just for the visual upgrades, given that it comes in a package with another game.

That game is not up to par with Butcher Bay though; Assault on Dark Athena tries to mix run-and-gun gameplay with stealth, and it doesn’t do a great job of either. Here are some issues you need to deal with: there are tons of weapons and ammunition available, and the level design is set up in a way where there are tons of open spaces — that means there isn’t anywhere to hide. Combine those two together, and you realize the game is telling you to shoot first and hide in the shadows later, which takes away from Riddick’s core gameplay. When you move from the confines of corridors into a more open world, this is magnified. Fewer places to hide, more shooting to be had, and as you will realize, that AI that is not so stupid is now also nearly impossible to kill with ease.

They could sense your presence in corridors when you weren’t visible if you made too much noise, but now you can’t even hide effectively. They have better accuracy and range than you do with Riddick’s limited (and imperfect) gun play, and they have far more health than you do as well; the imbalance between the number of shots you can take and the number you need to fire shows that this is meant to be a stealth game, but it’s tough to pull off when the level design screams run-and-gun. This is not a one-on-one thing either, as Athena often pits you against groups of enemies, or against a turret that can maul you in no time.

Again, this is a worthwhile package, even if you’re just buying the remake of Butcher Bay. You get two games for the price of one, and now Riddick gets to experience multiplayer as well, which is a neat addition to the series when you’re talking about the Pitch Black mode. If you have never experienced Escape from Butcher Bay before, you’re in for a wonderful game, while the remake is worth owning just to play through it again in it’s prettier form. The greatness of Escape from Butcher Bay is quite an experience (let’s say it’s a 9), while the disappointment that stems from playing  Assault on Dark Athena is unavoidable (let’s give this one a 7), but at least you purchased both for the grand total of $60.

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC, and retails for $59.99.

The same elements that built the Academy Award winning films undoubtedly spill over into this well constructed and thoroughly enjoyable episodic title, Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures.

“Fright of the Bumblebees” is the zany first episode in the four part series and is the focal point of this review, as the three remaining titles have yet to release.

Upon entering the game and hearing the initial Wallace and Gromit brass and reed instrument theme music, a flood of nostalgia rushed through my body and definitively and effectively created an atmosphere in which I felt comfortable, relaxed and ready for the mayhem I knew would soon transpire.

Immediately you are introduced to two well known and admired characters, you guessed it, Wallace and Gromit.   The fusion of the bumbling, accident prone inventor and cheese lover and his sophisticated canine companion make for a compelling team that succeeds so very well in FOTB.

You can either fire up a tutorial level that calmly walks you through the basic mouse, pointer, and key movements, interactive measures, and inventory system in the title, and while it may be useful for beginners to point-and-click games, skipping it won’t hurt either.

First and foremost, FOTB is situated in three major locations, the front yard, the house, and the town square, exploration is limited to items you can click on and interactively emote with  in a number of ways.  This is no sandbox, open world type game, there is no jump, kick, or punch button, story progression advances through speaking with characters, collecting and assembling items to solve the games’ many puzzles.  If you want to exact revenge on the neighbor and pee in her garden while playing as Gromit, well I’m sorry, “Pee on lady’s shrubs” is not an accepted interactivity feature.

In the same way the films begin, so does FOTB, Wallace is awoken from his slumber, presses a button on his morning contraption, slides out of bed dumptruck style, flies through the opened floorboard while being simultaneously dressed, and lands directly at the breakfast table ready for his meal.

The first task in FOTB, which is indicative of the style and manner of future quests, is for Gromit to assemble the necessary materials; eggs, toast, and honey from the kitchen, prepare them through the use of one of Wallace’s “helpful” contraptions and finally deliver them to the big man.  Certain tasks can be difficult to complete without hints and very generously, Telltale Games created a widget that you can toggle from low to high dependening on the number of hints and tips you’d like during gameplay.  There are many moments where you will traverse the entire house, venture outside and even travel to the town square looking for one small item, only to realize it was hidden in a trash can in the corner of the room!  Frustrating yes, but you learn quickly.

The game plays as if it were one of the films, cutscenes are long and filled with detail, but the voice acting is pure gold and adds to the emotion of the various sequences.  You guide either Wallace or Gromit depending on the scene and without spoiling any plot, the *availability* of the other.

The controls are fluid and simple, directional walking is controlled in the normative WASD orientation with the point of the mouse used as an operative mechanism to access doors, engage in a sequence of hilarious dialogue, or even control the misunderstood “Sniffer 3000.”

Throughout the game to complete the various tasks given to either Wallace or Gromit, the need to store items and call them up for future use becomes necessary and the simple and effective inventory system does just that.  At one point in the title, while Wallace is yapping away on the phone in his underpants and oblivious to his neighbors’ predicament, Gromit must pull out an S.O.S. sign from the inventory and flash it at Wallace to gather his attention.  The inventory system is basic but does exactly what is needed from it.

Undercover offers players the freedom to cruise around the game’s world–the fictional city of Palm Harbor freely. In theory, the sandbox style gameplay should be a welcome change from the tried and true, point A to point B track race formula, but the developers seem to have missed the point entirely.

Other than driving from mission to mission, there doesn’t seem to be much of incentive to explore the city. There are no hidden missions, no way to hunt down opponents–everything happens in a linear fashion in Undercover. A number of the missions almost scrap the open gameplay by sectioning off an area of the map you’re allowed to go. The true allure of these open world games is to explore, and it seems like Undercover is more interested in a leisurely drive. Palm harbor is an immersive setting, it’s just a shame that the developers at Blackbox didn’t go the extra mile and take advantage of the setting — especially when Burnout Paradise did just that in amazing fashion earlier this year.

That’s not to say that Palm Harbor is void of all life. Yes, the cops are back in Undercover — and yes they’re pissed. While the AI starts off easy going and fun, that quickly changes, and it becomes aggressive and frustrating. In fact, about halfway through, the AI becomes so obnoxiously aggressive that players, especially those new to the series may be tempted to put down the controller.

It’s not like the game is hard either. Apart from the enemy AI, it’s a safe bet to assume that this Need For Speedtitle was aimed at the casual market. It’s not unusual to beat a slew of high performance cars, with a much lower rated car. It’s understandable that with the success of movies like the Fast and The Furious and the incredibly hot street racing scene, the developers would want to open their game up to a wider audience, but the uneven difficulty levels distract from the overall experience.

It would be nice to say that using the game’s new RPG like leveling system helps deal with the horrid AI and uneven gameplay, but in reality, it manages to do the exact opposite.  This new system, which borrows heavily from games like World of Warcraft, rewards players for completing missions and races with stat points which can in turn be used to better your driving skills. These stats are also used almost as a rep system; the higher your stats, the more cars and missions are available to you.

While upgrading your “driver level” seems like a logical way to get on an even field with your opponents, the game’s AI seems to ramp as your stats do the same. This tactic of games adapting to the level of players has been done successfully in games like Zelda: The WindWaker, Resident Evil 4 and even this year’s Madden; Undercover’s system comes off as unfair and frustrating.

Naturally, the success of Sands of Time paved the way for two sequels; Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Sadly, the sequels were similar in name alone, and seemed to focus more on blood, gore and button mashing combat than any of the elements that made Sands of Time so special.

When Ubisoft Montreal decided to revamp the series completely, it took on an immense challenge — create a new Prince of Persia title that went back to the series’ roots, yet was good enough to make players forget about The Sands of Time.

They succeeded — for the most part.

The newest chapter in the Prince of Persia series is a fun, innovative and rewarding experience that nods back to the franchises early days, yet takes a big step towards rewriting the rules of the entire platformer genre. Sadly though, a few slight hiccups in the design of the Prince’s world will hinder its chances of joining the ranks of The Sands of Time.

More often than not when developers use cell shading for their titles, the ends result comes off as little more than a hokey gimmick, but in the case of PoP, it works, and it works well. From the start, the developers wanted to make players feel like they were in a storybook throughout the entire PoP experience, which the cell shading achieves tremendously. The incredibly detailed characters stand out well against the vibrant backgrounds. Incredibly, as you progress, the game’s visuals only get more stunning — playing through each completed area brings new life, and new color to an already vibrant landscape. Prince of Persia has every right to be considered along with Fallout 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 as one of the year’s best looking games.

Unlike the two most recent sequels, PoP is less about combat, and more about platforming, though it’s unlike any platformer you’ve ever played. Though you’ll be doing plenty of running and jumping, thanks to a few minor gameplay tweaks, it feels so different than anything you’ve played before. PoP is not about jumping to one ledge, slowing down and looking for your next platform, like Mirror’s Edge earlier this year, you’ll have a much more rewarding experience if you’re able to keep the Prince in a constant state of motion. Each world is setup so players are able to string together lengthy combinations of acrobatic maneuvers (it doesn’t hurt that most of the animations are simply phenomenal) to advance through them. There is a definite rhythm to PoP’s gameplay, and when you actually take a step back, and allow yourself to move along with it, the feeling is incredibly rewarding.

Featuring a brave, bold and truly open three dimensional world where players could come and go as they please; and their actions had deeper consequences then a game-over screen, coupled with innovative graphics and an incredibly deep branching storyline, one thing was evident – the gaming industry was growing up.  Now, nearly a decade later, the series is rewriting everything we thought we knew.  From the massive size of Liberty City, to its strikingly gritty, yet gorgeous visuals – everything about GTA IVis truly an achievement.

Fresh off the boat from Eastern Europe, Niko Bellic, GTA IV’s protagonist, is looking for a fresh start and his shot at “the American Dream.” However, the visions of an endless supply of money, women and fame his cousin Roman promised quickly fade and reality sinks in as Niko finds himself in the middle of a gang-war that will grip Liberty City by its core. Of course you’ll be stealing, shooting and killing like in previous installments of the series, butGTA IV manages to make even these series standards seem new and exciting.

Sure, Niko is the game’s poster boy, but undoubtedly GTA IV’s main character is Liberty City itself.  Yes, you’ve been to Liberty City before, but not like this – not even close. More than ever, Liberty (clearly based off New York City), is alive. From the bums in the back alleys to the suits in the financial district, Rockstar has done a great job creating a  believably rich and populated environment that seems like it could go on even without you there. You’ll get stuck in traffic, watch construction jobs go from start to completion, even establish relationships with your fellow city folk, but remember – this is GTA, and most people you meet aren’t the type to bring home to mom and dad.

Truly, GTA IV is the deepest title of the franchise, if not the entire industry has ever seen. Think of it as the love-child of The Godfather and The Sims. Like Vice City and San Andreasbefore it, GTA IV gives players the freedom to truly explore and enjoy the city around them. Feel like hitting up the local bowling alley, but don’t want to leave the house? GTA IVfeatures its own fully functional bowling-alley complete with bowling mini-game and purchasable snacks. You can go out to nightclubs (and yes, that includes those nightclubs), restaurants, amusement parks and even famous landmarks like the Statue Of Happiness; Liberty’s version of the Statue of Liberty.

Even with all of its functionality, Liberty City looks amazing. In the game’s opening moments, we’re treated to a cinematic opening that rivals that of most major Hollywood productions, and things just keep getting better from there. The city and the characters (especially in the superbly acted cut scenes), the entire world that GTA IV pulls us into is covered in a brilliantly gritty art scheme that seems to combine real life with the seedy side of New York City we see in the movies. It’s hard not to marvel at certain moments in the game – watching the sunset over the river or standing in the middle of Times Squa…excuse me, I mean Star Junction… is nothing short of breathtaking.

If you have ever experimented in the kitchen, trying to mix different elements of your favorite dishes together, then you have an idea of how “Dead Space” came to fruition. Many times, you come away with something that has its high points, but in the end is somewhat unsatisfying and unfocused, something that is missing just that little extra flavor or attention to detail that could have pushed your experimental dinner over the edge.

On occasion though, you will do everything just right, adding just the right amount of flavors and spices to a dish and coming away with something that defies your expectations and, in some ways, rivals or surpasses the products you were borrowing from in the first place. Luckily for developer EA Redwood Shores, “Dead Space” is much more of the latter than the former, a triumph in the field of survival horror and a game that no one should miss out on during this pre-holiday influx of top-grade titles.

The title borrows heavily from some heavy hitters in gaming’s history: the atmosphere is ripped straight out of “Metroid Prime,” though in a more mature and gory setting. Your manipulation of items through the use of telekinesis is very much like having “Half-Life 2″’s gravity gun at your disposal, especially since anything you grasp with your suit’s powers can be utilized to slow and injure the enemies that give chase.

Cut scenes come from the in-game engine, which allows your character able to walk around the area freely much like Gordon Freeman did in both Half-Life titles. Enemies pop out of corners and from behind you, much like in “Doom 3″-mercifully though, your meager flashlight comes from your weapon, meaning you can both shoot and see at the same time. The balance between action and survival horror is something anything who has played “Resident Evil 4″ knows well, especially late in the game when everything except for enemies to dispose of is at a premium.

You play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer who is supposed to be on the mining ship Ishimura in order to do some maintenance. His name comes from a combination of science-fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke-the developers at Redwood Shores have impeccable taste in sci-fi, if you could not tell by now-and, much like the aforementioned Freeman, ends up being pretty useful when his back is against the wall against mysterious creatures looking to cut his mortal coil. He’s placed in an incredibly gory setting, one that helps to make the atmosphere more mature than the titles it borrows ideas from.

After you are attacked by the Necromorphs, the alien creatures who seem to be all over the ship, you and the surviving crew of the shuttle you came in on attempt to get the Ishimura working once again, while holding off the creatures in order to stay alive long enough to accomplish this task. Clarke is also looking for his girlfriend, who was on board the mining ship and is seen via video in the opening sequence prior to landing the shuttle.

One of the first things you may notice when you gain control of Isaac is that there is no on-screen menu. Your health is on the back of your suit, or “rig”; your remaining rounds for your current weapon are displayed via hologram when you take aim and your inventory is accessed in real-time via hologram as well. There is a shortcut button that is easily accessed in order to use health while in the midst of battle, so as long as you remember to hit that you won’t be killed while rummaging through your inventory, but it helps to keep you immersed in the experience and puts you further into that survival horror feeling.

This game is gorgeous; yes, it’s full of colors from the darker end of the color spectrum, but that makes sense given the whole thing takes place in space in a half-destroyed space ship. Almost everything is well detailed, and the attention paid to Isaac’s suit and movements is delightful and is something you will notice throughout the game. The enemy creatures are designed wonderfully as well; you will catch yourself admiring the art design and genuine frightful nature of the beasts as they sprint towards you for the first time, before remembering that yes, you need to mangle them-and fast-if you want to live to admire later variations.

There are various ways for Isaac and the Necromorphs to die, and you will more than likely get a chance to view a few of these on your first play through. Many of them are too good to be spoiled by a review, so you will have to trust me when I say that you will at least be entertained when you fail to survive a mission. These deaths are as gory and detailed as anything you can do to the Necromorphs-and this is game where your right trigger defaults as a “melee curbstomp” button.

I’ve been in a pissy mood lately when it comes to card games.

Since moving to Boston in 2002, it’s been all poker, poker, poker. I like poker. I’ve made money at poker. I’ve paid for a trip to Vegas in the Harrah’s poker room. Though, I’m an awful tournament player (ask Mark Scalia).

It seems like computerized card games have boiled down to solitaire and poker, with every geek’s dream of going to the World Series.

I didn’t learn how to play poker for real until college. Growing up, we had two games: setback with my friends and pinochle with the family.

I’ve been really pleased to see Pinochle making an appearance on more and more commercial products, but no one has gotten it right yet with the rules and the artificial intelligence. (you’ll see an Old Shoebox article in a few weeks about someone who DID get it in 1993)

Reel Deal Card Games ‘09 includes but doesn’t at all understand pinochle, but I’m not going to dwell on that fact any longer.

What you do get is more than 80 games and free online multiplayer, which is nice, but there aren’t exactly a ton of people lining up to play.

Phanton EFX, the game’s publisher, did manage to put together a good platform. What they should have done was give it away and just sell advertising on the multiplayer servers.

The artificial intelligence, while cute and often entertaining, is just really stupid. They get the rules wrong a log, they bet, raise and fold without any obvious reason in the poker games, but most of all they just aren’t programmed to understand the subtle nuances of most of the complicated games. (pinochle)

The game, packaged on two CDs, includes Harts, Bridge, Cribbage, Canasta, Golf, Rummy 500, spades, War, Pinochle, Gin, All Fives, Wist, Euchre, Pitch, Old Maid, Spite & Malice, Go Fish, Skat, Pepper, Crazy Eights, Memory Match, seven poker games, Blackjack, and 45 solitaires. As you play the games, you earn points towards virtual prizes, and that’s just ducky.

If you’re looking for a PC cards game, I’ve seen worse, and better.

Minor spoiler warning. We’re not giving away anything vital.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that plays out like so:

You sit down at 5:30 in the afternoon to play the game. You open a box of Cheez-Its. You figure on playing the game for an hour or two and eating a few handfuls of crackers.

Suddenly the sun is coming up, the box is empty, and you’ve just gotten started in the game.

This caloric description doesn’t even begin to do justice to Fallout 3. Not only is Fallout 3 the best game of the year, but it’s one of the best games ever made.

That’s a lofty statement, but you’re reading a magazine that has a track record of telling the truth. So listen up.

The game takes place in post nuclear apocalyptic Washington D.C., and you’re one of the lucky few that got to live in the secure Vault 101, free from the radiation, deadly super mutants and certain death in the barren wasteland outside.

You begin Fallout 3 at the moment of your character (male or female) is born, and you age through the game in quick chapters until you one day when you wake up to discover your father, a scientist and doctor, has inexplicably left the Vault – a big no-no. Now the Vault director is after you, and your life is in danger.

Right from the start, Bethesda shows you the sheer volume of choices, side-quests, and adventures in Fallout 3. As you’re escaping the authorities, you’ll find that an infestation of giant radioactive cockroaches has swarmed the vault. You’ll run into a childhood bully begging you for help because his alcoholic mother is being attacked by the roaches, and he’s too scared to do anything about it. You’ll find that your father’s assistant – who was like an uncle to you – has been murdered for information about dad’s disappearance. Seeking revenge, you’ll find the vault director, but wait, he’s the father of your potential love interest and childhood best friend.

And that’s all before the game really even starts.

Leaving the vault, you’ll then spend the next, oh, month of your life exploring and re-exploring a visual masterpiece. Washington D.C., the surrounding area, and all the monuments have been reconstructed and then devastated by nuclear war. It’s eye-popping to walk through this virtual world and see the Washington Monument in ruins as you approach it and the museums of the Smithsonian in various stages of decay, squatters taking up shelter in their strong construction. It’s not just up-close either. From far in the distance, you can see the Washington Monument or the Capital Building, and it’s eerie.

Let me tell you what else is eerie: listening to the radio stations in the background. From the start, you’ll have your choice of Enclave Radio, the propaganda channel for a faction that claims to be the resurrected United States Government, and the rebel free radio wasteland station and its eccentric disc jockey, Three Dog.

You have the choice to be good or bad. You can be a hero, defending the helpless, saving cities and having townsfolk shower you with gifts (that does happen). You can walk into the slave trader’s village and kill all the slavers. Or you can be an asshole. You can exploit children, beat up women, destroy towns. You can be evil, corrupt, and terrifying.

That all starts when you’re a kid or when you’re escaping the vault. Your best friend steals a gun from her father to “aid” in your escape. When the childhood bully begs you for help, you can help him, save his mother and be the hero.

Or you can shoot him in the head and put two in the mother for good measure.

These are your choices, and don’t let emotion get in the way — yes, it’s just a video game, but we’ve all been there.

Even your own health is a series of carefully balanced choices. If your hit points are low, you can drink water from a stream or sink or even down a soda from a vending machine, but this increases your radiation level, which is bad for you in the long run.

You will also encounter a variety of drugs and chemicals that will raise HP or boost your abilities temporarily, but if you take too much, you’ll get addicted and dependent on the drug. If you run out, you’ll go through withdrawal and lose abilities.

The game is bloody, gory, violent, and full of sexually suggestive and explicit dialog. But the game doesn’t include swears in the same way that Kane and Lynch did — just for the hell of it. Fallout 3’s dialogue is tactfully woven together.

There are a lot of little things that I would have liked to have seen built up more, like sitting at a bar and ordering a drink, settling up two lovebirds and then going to the wedding, going to restaurants. These features all happen, but could have been a bit better designed. You don’t have food delivered to you or a drink poured for you; you just buy it and it appears in your inventory.

The game’s inventory system works exactly like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls titles. You can carry items up to your strength limit, and then you have to drop stuff strategically.

The game world is massive. It takes many, many hours to go through it, and you can bet that expansion packs and downloadable content is coming.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m a little biased in favor of the post apocalyptic genre. I grew up playing and reading Shadowrun for Genesis, Super Nintendo and tabletop — still have all the books. I number Blade Runner, Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. in my list of favorite movies.

But forget about the genre for a bit. The visuals are unparalleled and the audio is sublime. Walking down a bombed out road in Washington is that much creepier when “America the Beautiful” is playing in the background, seriously. The controls are intuitive and can be inverted or adjusted for sensitivity. The plot is complex and gripping.

When I discovered Interplay’s Wasteland in the early 1990s, this was how I imagined the game would look in real life. Technically Fallout 3 is the fourth installment in the franchise. Interplay made Wasteland and then Fallout 1 and 2, as technical sequels. They also made two spin-offs: the combat-heavy Fallout: Tactics on the PC in 2001 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (the first console Fallout title) in 2004. Interplay started making Fallout 3, (see Van Buren) but they were broke and struggling. Bethesda scooped up the Fallout franchise last year for just under $6 million. Bethesda completely threw out Interplay’s work and built this game from scratch.

It does use the same gameplay engine as The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Fallout 3 is artistic and timely. It has a message to it — a frightening message. But unlike other games with a social context, Fallout 3 doesn’t push these factors down your throat.

It is, however, a quiet indictment of corrupt politics, unscrupulous foreign policy and an increasingly insular American populace.

Blast tested the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Joe Sinicki and Terri Schwartz of the Blast Magazine staff contributed to this report.

Way back in the mid 1990s, the computer game magazines were full of whole page advertisements in the back of the book for a 3D Dos game called Cylindrix. It wasn’t necessarily a visual marvel, but it was an intuitive game and one of the first real 3D experiences in Dos.

Cylindrix was coded to run in Dos DJGPP Protected Mode so that it could address more than 640 KB of memory, something that the Dos programmers felt was impossible at one point in history.

I had an original copy on 3.5″ diskettes that I sold on eBay for over $100 about eight years ago. I actually wish I held onto it, because it’s a museum piece. But I still have my two-disk demo.

So what is Cylindrix?

Cylindrix is a fast-paced battle game set in a round cylinder. To play the game, you use teamwork and fast reflexes to tap the enemy pylons scattered around the map. Tapping the pylons turns them to your team’s color. The more pylons you have on your side, the most powerful your hover tank’s (did we mention you’re in a hover tank?) weapons become. You’ll find yourself constantly struggling to maintain a favorable pylon count, or your enemies will gain the upper hand.

You play the commander and you have to assign each of your wingman tanks a task like “Get Pylons” or “Attack Enemy Ships.” Knowing which commands to issue and when to issue them is the key to winning the game.

One of the game’s developers, John R. McCawley, obtained permission to license out the game for free. He’s also working on Windows and Linux ports of the game.

Definitely try his new versions, because his team completely rebuilt the game from scratch.

You will absolutely need DOSBox for my version, or it ain’t gonna work.

From the game’s readme.txt file
The playing field

THE CYLINDRIX. This is the playing field in which the game takes place. Your vehicle can either skim along its surface or detach from the surface and fly freely within the Cylindrix. Each end of the Cylindrix is capped with a force shield preventing you from escaping combat.

All of the cylinders are the same size, but the various lighting conditions will make some feel smaller or larger than others. Each square on the surface of the cylinder is 40′ x 40′.

A cylinder’s measurements are: Height: 382 feet high, or approximately 27 stories high Length: 1200 feet, or 87 stories long

Square foot area: 1,440,000
Total cubic feet: 137,000,000

Pylon: Average height, 7 stories
Radar Base: 45 feet high

PYLONS. Towers of energy called pylons jut from the surface of the Cylindrix. When your vehicle collides with a pylon, the pylon becomes charged to the polarity of your team, turning it whatever color your vehicles are. As a result, your teams weapons will do more damage. Capturing pylons is of extreme importance.

RADAR BASES. Each team has a radar base somewhere on the surface of the Cylindrix. The radar bases will fire relentlessly at any enemy vehicles in range. The radar bases control the homing of energy missiles, and update each vehicle’s radar display. If your radar base is destroyed you lose both of these.

ENERGY SQUARE. Each Cylindrix has on its surface an energy square. If you move your vehicle over the square its shields will be recharged.

HEADS UP DISPLAYS
Each of the eight ships has a uniquely designed Heads Up Display, but they all display the same information.

ON SCREEN RADAR DISPLAY. This is an actual 3D display of the cylinder and always moves in relation to your view of the cylinder. Your ship is represented by the white square that is at the bottom of the
cylinder when you are on the ground and when you are in the air the white dot will move in relation to the cylinder. The blue squares represent the blue team, the red squares represent the red team.
Any time your radar locks onto a ship, the square representing that ship will have a yellow box around it. If your radar base is destroyed, your radar disappears.

CROSS HAIRS AND RADAR LOCKING. These cross hairs allow for the aiming of lasers by eye or missiles when your radar is inoperable. When you lock radar on an opponent, a diamond shape will appear between the radar lock box, and your ship. When the cross hairs, the radar lock box, and the diamond are all lined up, then you are facing the enemy directly.

SHIELD STRENGTH DISPLAY. The shield strength level is indicated by the bar on the screen with the ‘S’ on it. Every time your force shield is hit with a laser or a missile it is weakened. If your vehicle is
shot after your energy shield has been depleted, it will be destroyed. There is a brightly colored square on the cylinder’s surface, called the Energy Square. If you move your vehicle on top of it while on the surface, your shield’s strength will recharge.

MISSILE DISPLAY. The number of missiles you hold is displayed here. Missiles regenerate automatically.

WEAPON DAMAGE DISPLAY. The relative amount of damage you are able to do, the number energized pylons you have tagged on the Cylindrix surface (see “The Playing Field” above) is indicated on the bar on the screen with the “D” next to it.

WINGMAN 1 And WINGMAN 2 – COMMAND DISPLAY.
Every time you give a command to your wingman, it is displayed here.

WINGMAN 1 And WINGMAN 2 – SHIELD STRENGTH DISPLAY.
The shield strength of your two wingman is displayed here.

KEY CONTROLS:

NOTE: Cylindrix allows the reassigning of keys, but the default settings are as follows.

AERIAL AND SURFACE CONTROL
“s” Take Off and Land
“v” Change viewpoint, in or out of ship.
“Esc” Pauses game and brings up an options menu.

SURFACE ONLY CONTROLS
Up arrow Move forward
Down arrow Move backwards
Right arrow Rotate right
Left arrow Rotate left
“Alt” Sidestep Right or Left using arrow key (Strafe).

AERIAL ONLY CONTROLS
“a” Throttle Faster
“z” Throttle Slower
Up arrow Nose down
Down arrow Nose up
Right arrow Rotate right (Clockwise).
Left arrow Rotate left (Counterclockwise).
“Alt” + arrow key Step Up, Down, Right, or Left (Strafe).

WEAPONS CONTROLS
“Ctrl” Fire laser
Space Fire energy missile
“x” Engage Special Weapon

COMMANDS TO WINGMEN KEYS
W 1 W 2
F1 F7 Get Pylons
F2 F8 Attack
F3 F9 Attack Enemy Radar Base
F4 F10 Defend Home Radar Base
F5 F11 Group – Surround and Defend
F6 F12 Orders Canceled

Ye Olde System Requirements

• 486/66 DX (SX will not work)
• Soundblaster compatible sound card
• Double speed (2x) CD Rom Drive
• 10MB of HD Space
• 8MB of RAM

Akella is at the forefront of all that, and we recently had the opportunity to play one of their upcoming games, A Stroke of Fate, which is a WWII adventure title coming out in a few months.

“Fate” is looking like a pretty solid game. It has beautifully detailed scenery and compelling mini-game puzzles like playing poker with Nazi officers to earn their trust and flirting with a receptionist to get information.

Here are my concerns: The English script needs work. It still feels like the Russians translated it into English. They need to have a native speaker rewrite it entirely to adapt it to an American audience. Also, some of the puzzles are not very intuitive and require going back and forth between four or more rooms.

Finally, there’s no voice acting, just text. I called Akella out on that, especially since they’ve been working on the game for almost two years. In response, they’re adding an ethnic German voice track — it won’t be English, but it will breathe some life into the characters.

“We’re working on voice over. All NPC and male hero speak perfect German,” said Akella’s Boris Tolkachev.

What really impresses me about this game is the amount of research and work that has gone into it so far. They recreated the “fuhrerbunker,” where Hitler took refuge as the war turned against him. The developers also researched Nazi artwork and German decor at the time.

The game’s developers from SPLine Games spoke to Blast through Tolkachev, who is our English-language contact over there.

Tolkachev said SPLine worked with a history consultant and pulled a bunch of history books, and bear with me because I’m going to list some things here –

• Walter Warlimont: “Inside Hitler’s Headquarters”
• “The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel”
• Antony Beevor: “Berlin: the Downfall, 1945″
• William L. Shirer: “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”
• Яровой Аркадий Федорович: “Волчьи логова: Адольф Гитлер на войне, в политике, в быту”
• Leonid Mlechin: “Hitler and his Russian Friends”
• B. V. Sokolov: “Hunt for Stalin, Hunt for Hitler”
• Chuev S. G.: “Special services of the Third Reich”

I have no idea what the book is that’s in Russian, but they also gave me a list of like 30 website references too. Take a look at that here.

“In other words, we were very serious about it,” Tolkachev said.

But enough of that, people work hard to make every video game that comes out there (okay, most of them). Why is Stroke of Fate any different? It’s really a self-answering question. This is a chance to play a WWII adventure from an authentic Russian perspective, and I guarantee that no matter how many History Channel specials you’ve seen, there’s a lot about the Russian involvement in WWII that Americans don’t get exposed to.

The game, with voice acting and maybe a few more interactives like non-linear elements and repeatable minigames, has real potential. It’s mouse-driven, so you’ll do a lot of clicking, but what we seem to have is a good, cerebral adventure game with real historical backbone.

This is not a game you may have heard of. Gamespot hasn’t covered it. Blast is the first American media outlet to take an interest in the game, and we’re publishing the first hands-on review of it. Don’t expect Fallout 3 or a billion-dollar game. It’s a gutsy, conversational, alternative history lesson.

We reviewed the PC version, but ti was also released on PlayStation. Click here to download the original demo!

Taylor’s review

When I first saw the box for KKnD 2 Krossfire, I thought “Wow, this game doesn’t look that bad!”

Little did I know how wrong I was. Installation was probably the best part of this game — smooth and quick with no restart afterward.

Even the opening movie was informative and actually looked good, but this is the only part of the game that has good graphics. The rest of the game did not impress me at all.

The graphics, in my opinion, were no better than Command & Conquer, which is 3 or 4 years old. Why they didn’t try to the improve graphics is beyond me. With such games as Command & Conquer 2: Tiberium Sun coming out soon, you would think that they would want to get an one up on the competition.

KKnD2 Krossfire ran exceptionally well on my system, probably because of such of its low quality graphics etc. Levels took only a moment to load while the movies would only take a few seconds.

The Sound for KKnD2 Krossfire was nothing special. When you click on an unit, it makes the same sound every time you click on the unit. Not to mention that it makes the same sound for every unit for your race. Now, I don’t mean to complain, but hearing the same marine saying the same thing over and over and over again gets on my nerves and I found myself often turning down the sound because of this.

The gameplay is quite boring. There are almost too many units in this game. You cant even figure out what you are making as a unit sometimes. It’s such a stupid design for making a unit. You click on “Constructibles” then a submenu pops up and you choose a base (small, medium, huge) then pick parts. Unfortunately, there is no way to know what these parts do however. Then there is the control factor of these units. To select a unit you left click on it. To move a unit you left click where you want it to go. This is okay, except if you have a lot of units together, and you try to move a unit away from enemy fire, but accidentally click on another unit, the unit is toast.

Despite the genre, this game requires absolutely no strategy to play. It’s just get money, build units, die, build even more units, more, more, more. You get the idea. There is no balance in the units. It’ll take a million archers to take out one sentry gun. The only way to win is to mass-produce units from the very start.

There are only one or two units that can attack air units, so air dominance is key in this game. It kinda makes the game unfair because if you have air and the other person is still researching things to make anti air, they will never win.

To sum it up, if you really want to play a game that bores you, and needs no thinking at all, this is for YOU! If not? go play StarCraft, a much better game. 2 out of 5 stars

Stormy’s 1998 analysis/preview

I guess this must be a pretty popular game cause it comes in several languages, they are English, German, French, Spanish & Mandarin. (I think that is the first time I’ve seen a game available in Mandarin!)

There are two CD’s, one containing the installation and Survivor missions, the other containing the Series 9 and Evolved missions. When you start the game with disk one in, you must pick a Survivor mission. If you pick either one of the other two, the game will bounce back to the desktop, and that’s that. The only way to play the other two missions is to start with disk 2 in the drive, BEFORE you choose the mission. There will be no “please insert disk 2″ prompt, which of course surprised the heck out of me, I thought the CD was broke.

The folks that wrote the instruction manual are aware that a lot of people don’t like to read manuals, so they wrote it humorous. Unless you already know how to play, you ought to get a kick out of learning how to play this game.

The game has 51 missions, and your objective is to gather resources to build your own buildings and fighting units while looking for the enemy so you can crush everything he’s got, in some of the missions, and in some of the missions your only objective is to kill. You can kinda tell right away, either you have the stuff to gather resources, (oil rigs, tankers, buildings, etc) or you don’t. If you don’t have all the extra stuff, then you gotta figure out how to kill the enemy with what you got, cause you can’t build any more. However, there are surprises lying around, there is buried 21st century goodies, and during a mission where I found myself with just one fighter, (he was a nasty one, but not invincible) suddenly I found a repair bay out in the middle of nowhere (thank god!) You can play this game alone or 2 people over Modem and Serial connections, or up to eight players on TCP/IP, or IPX.

Ye Olde System Requirements

• Pentium 133 or faster
• 16MB RAM
• 4X CD
• 2MB DirectX compatible video card
• DirectX compatible digital sound card

Official website

Your adventure begins in the year 2100. Your job: colonize a hostile and unforgiving planet and save the future of mankind.

The problem: six other factions are out to stop you at any cost.

In Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, you play as one of seven ideological factions, battling against six others. Choose from The University of Planet, a science and information related faction, or Morgan industries, a faction bent on economic issues. You can also play as Gaia’s Stepdaughters, an ecology related faction, or the Spartan Federation, led by a great military power. You can also be the Lord’s believers led by Sister Miriam, the Human Hive, or the Peacekeeping forces of Brother Lal.

Every faction has its strengths and weaknesses. You really have to find your niche in this game, and that can take time. In Alpha Centauri, the follow up to Civilization II, Sid Meier has created the ultimate colonization and battle game.

We’ve never seen graphics as stunningly good as these in any game. The 3D rolling terrain is awesome. The military units are well shown, and the videos are just as good. Each faction fights for technical superiority, and we’ve never seen a tech-tree as cool as this one. All the technologies are based on ones today. Make your way up the tree, as you concentrate research in different areas. You reach your peak when you make Transcendence: The next step in human evolution.

This game is infinitely playable. There are so many variables available. You can choose from one of many levels of difficulty, randomized terrain and map sizes. You can pick your faction and even design your own map. I think that this game is difficult, yet fun. It offers a challenge to all those who get bored playing typical build and conquer games. Games can last lots of time. I found myself immersed in a game for over ten hours one day. This game is truly a step above and beyond typical games.

Another good element to this game is Diplomatic Relations. You must maintain a constant balance between friends, choosing allies and enemies carefully. You must vote on different planetary issues, including the UN Charter, planetary governor, and whether to salvage the ship you crashed on. This element of the game is very difficult, and makes the game even more interesting.

The units in this game are simply amazing. They range from simple conventional troops with conventional weapons to specially trained amphibious marine troops that can drop out of the sky that carry chaos guns. You can choose from infinite variables to design and implement your own troops or naval units. Use these troops to crush your opponents or defend your borders.

I totally recommend this game, for those who own high-end Pentium based computers. Although I did play this game on my minimal P133, I recommend at least a P266. The graphics are infinitely better, and the game play is much faster. You should also have a computer stocked full of RAM. I again recommend at least 32 MB.

There is only one true gripe I had with this game. You could only quit when it was your turn. This leads to waiting a few minutes before you can quit. If you have your own PC, great, but if you share it with a family, they’re bound to get mad at one point or another. But, in my experience, I have never seen a better build and conquer game than Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ye Olde System Requirements

• Pentium 133 MHz
• 16 MB RAM
• 60MB hard drive space
• 2MB video memory

Your uncle has apparently committed suicide, leaving you a mine on Luna Crysta, which is “booming” like a California town in the late 1800s. You travel to Luna Crysta to do something with your new mine. After you start meeting people, from the suspicious manner in which everyone acts, you start wondering about Uncle Jake’s “suicide.”

You meet a beautiful woman, (wow, that’s a plot twist we didn’t suspect, did we?) a sinister man, an oily official, a belligerent cop and an oh-so-accommodating bartenter. Your girlfriend whines on the phone, and your sister talks like she wants you dead. And that’s all in the first couple of hours! You do manage to meet two friendly faces, an older female miner, and a young Cephid child, both of who have heard all about you from your uncle, and seem willing to help you.

You have very little money to start, and you might be thinking of selling out. A trip to the casino shows you that beautiful woman is a blackjack dealer, who is welling to cheat for you, (at least until her boss shows up). This gives you a little money to start building up a “kit.”

All the while, people are out to get you. The oily official says he’s sorry out one side of his face, and suggests you pay for the damage uncle Jake’s death caused. The belligerent cop can’t wait for you to misstep, so he can “get” you. The sinister man reveals your darling sister hired him to get your claim — and the words “one way or another” run through your mind while he’s talking. The oh-so-accommodating bartender offers you a price that you “just can’t refuse” on any ore or crystals you find. And the beautiful woman? She’s been hired by the boss to get close to you and watch you.

Boy, do you ever need a friend, huh? Do you feel like you’re in the middle of an afternoon soap? Well, just wait until the game really gets started.

Dark Side of the Moon is mostly a puzzle solver, although there is plenty of opportunity to get killed along the way, so trust me kiddies, save, and save often! This is not a game you want to space out and forget, even if you think you’re safe because no monsters have pounced on you yet.

There are several mysteries to solve, (like starting with what REALLY happened to your uncle,) and various puzzles to solve. Very early on, the sinister man gets blown away, and of course, they think that you did it, so you become a fugitive, which makes for many opportunities for you to get blown to smithereens. That is cool too, if you get killed, you see your atoms floating in the cosmos, you state that while you are dead, you can’t stay that way, you have places to go, and people to see; and the big programmer in the sky-gives you another chance! How many games ya played that returns you close to where you were zapped-and doesn’t even penalize you?

Now for the bad points. There are 6 CD’s and you will spend a LOT of time swapping them. I would have liked it if they could have grouped some stuff you had to do more on the same CD. When you are talking to someone, as good as the graphics are, the action gets somewhat jerky, and I think the jerkiness shows up even more because the graphics are so good. If you don’t like “tongue-in-cheek” acting, you might be tempted to say that the acting is poor. I prefer, the sinister man is very sinister, the oily official ‘drips’, etc.

The movement and conversation are somewhat controlled. About half of the conversation on your side goes down without your control, when you are offered a choice of comments to make, I noticed that it didn’t seem to matter what you asked first, you will have to check every comment to exit this screen. As far as the movement, when you click the mouse to move, and you stop; look around, cause you only stop when there is an intersection, or when there is something next to you to look at. The reason I mentioned this as a bad point-this opinion will vary from player to player. Some people won’t care, some people that are used to having more free rein in the games they have played might feel this is confining.

The big bad point however — the game tends to lock up. When I first started to play, I got stuck in the same spot a half a dozen times; and I mean locks-up-need-to-hard-boot-your-computer lock-up. I finally had to uninstall, re-install, and start over so I could get past that one screen. I did some research on the web, looking to see if there might be a patch, and I did find out that it wasn’t my system. Enough other people mentioned it that it has to be a universal problem. I also noticed that I couldn’t play for too long, maybe a half an hour to 45 minutes at a time, and then Norton started to interrupt with messages saying that my memory load or CPU load was too high. I had to quit the game. My CPU usage was 97 percent and my memory load was 95 percent. I might mention at this point that I have an 8 MB video card, and a 450 P2 with 128 MB of RAM.

OK, so now you’re going to ask why bother since there were so many bad points, and I’m going to tell you why. Some of the bad points won’t be considered bad by everyone. As far as the lock-up glitches, I’m hopeful that SouthPeak, after working on the game for 2 years, will have a fix for these bugs soon. You don’t put as much work into a project as was obviously put into this one, without being willing to clean up those stupid bugs that crop up after production, though some beta testing might have helped.

I just would not let a few lock-ups keep me from getting this game.

The graphics are gorgeous, the sound is great and the story is quite good. If you like RPGs, or science fiction, or you just want to check out something different, give this game a try. I think you’ll be very pleased.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Southpeak Interactive
Developer: Southpeak Interactive
Platform: Adventure
Players: 1
Launch Date: Nov 30, 1998

Playability: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 1999

Ye Olde System Requirements

• Pentium 166 MHz
• 32 MB RAM
• 8x or faster CD-ROM
• 60MB hard drive space
• 2MB SVGA graphics for 640×480 resolution
• PCI or AGP video card with 2MB RAM strongly recommended

There are several ways to play. The championship game is the primary game mode, pitting you against 19 other computer controlled cars, looking to win the for the season. There are 6 seasons per year, and this game does include weather to ruin your year. There is also Time Attack, which is a single player game, for bettering your time by racing against a previous race or recording a new race; or Quick Race, which pits you against a single computer controlled opponent, and allows you to practice and/or get used to the different options you have available.

There are 3 driving perspectives, cockpit view, chase and first person. You can also select an automatic or manual transmission, change your tires and shocks to better control, steer and ‘grip’ the road, depending on conditions. You need to pay attention to that, cause at some point you will be racing in the snow! You also have a lap counter, a lap speedometer, a regular speedometer and more on your screen while you are racing, and if these things bother you-you can shut them off.

The game suffers from serious control issues, however. The cars and courses are fake too. You’re also limited to two cars and courses when you first start out. This is supposed to be an arcade racer, but you have to spend hours unlocking all of the arcade game features.

If you really like racing games and have the right touch to get past the control issues, you might want to give it a try.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Southpeak Interactive
Developer: Boss Game Studios
Platform: Nintendo 64
Genre: Racing
Players: 1
Launch Date: April 30, 1999

Playability: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 1999

Ye Olde System Requirements

• P2-233MHz
• 32 MB RAM
• DirectX 6.0
• 60MB hard drive space
• 16-bit sound card
• 4 MB video memory

Gamers from arcades to living rooms would spend hours trying to best the score of those who came before them by any means necessary. Yes, it was a much simpler time.

Enter The Club, Bizarre Creations new run-and-gun action shooter harkens back to these golden days, mixing modern day shooter elements with an old school, points-first system.

But sadly, once the nostalgic rush wears off, it will become painfully evident just how thin of a package The Club is. Imagine one of those akward moments where everything suddenly just stops, and you’re left with a big, dumb grin on your face that slowly fades away.

The premise is simple. Compete in the aforementioned club, existing only as an urban legend to most, where a small group of rich contestants competes to see who can rack up the most points by killing off criminals paid to try and off them. Points are awarded based on kills, with bonuses for style, accuracy, what kind of opponent you killed and the weapons used.

It’s a simple system, but it can also be highly addictive. You’ll find yourself replaying entire contests just to see what scores would be if you approached different situations from different angles and using different methods.

The key to The Club is to not look at the game as a shooter. It can more aptly be compared to a racing game — you know, with guns instead of cars?

In all seriousness, making this comparison allows you to see just how hectic the game can be.

Your goal is to score as many points as possible by quickly going through a very linear course, while picking up power-ups and hitting special targets for bonuses. In this sense, The Club relies heavily on strategy. What’s the clearest way to clear a room while still garnering the most points?

Sadly, the single player game can be completed in roughly 3-4 hours. While The Club was never meant to have the massive scope of a title like Mass Effect or Lost Odyssey and a bit of forgiveness can be given for the replayability, that’s still a ridiculously short time. This is made all the more disappointing that the game’s advertised five different single player game modes are all quite similar and can fairly be brought down to two or three original modes that aren’t complete retreads of the others.

Something about The Club just feels so uninspired. Even the characters come off as mere stereotypes of characters from other games or action movies. There’s Finn, the hard on his luck southern gambler being chased by the mob. And there’s Adjo, the former Nigerian gangster who is looking to repent for the horrible things he’s done in the past.

While The Club’s visuals are quite solid — minus a few frame rate issues when the action becomes increasingly hectic — it still feels like a dated game. Characters move rigidly and get stuck behind invisible walls, a real issue when you take into account just how much timing plays into the core gameplay. Perhaps the developers were merely trying to level the playing field as the enemy AI is quite lacking. Sure, they’ll duck behind cover, but they don’t seem to stay there for long and you won’t have much trouble adding them to your kill count, even on the higher difficulties.

Those still obsessed with getting the highest score (I’m looking at you achievement point junkies) could find The Club to be entertaining enough for a few go-rounds, but with an amazingly short single player experience and no real story to speak of, The Club will offer little more than a diversion to most gamers.

While the original idea was executed in a passable fashion, there’s simply not enough secondary content to support it.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Shooter
Players: 1-4
Launch Date: February 19, 2008

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Intellivision collection was relaunched on the last generation of consoles — Xbox, PS2, GC — in 2004 to mixed reviews. You have to give Keith Robinson, who runs and basically is wholly responsible for the survival of Intellivision, for keeping these games alive! See the bottom for a few old, old Intellivision commercials.

By: Tom Carroll

This is going to be a very “to the point” review. If you have ever hankered to return to the old days of video games, the days where you didn’t worry too much about a story line or character depth or polygon count or frame rate, buy Intellivision Lives. It’ll get you there faster than the twister delivered Dorothy to Oz.

This game consists of 50 of the best Intellivision games made, and they are true to the originals down to the square pixels and goofy “period” music. There are action games, sports games, kid’s games, and space games and even 21 games that were never released. How can you beat that?!

An added bonus is the extra material that comes on the CD. This is historical material, pictures, video and text-based biographies. Much of this was put together by Keith Robinson, original Mattel Electronics staffer, survivor and now a co-founder of Intellivision Productions, Inc.

Robinson originally joined Mattel Electronics in 1981 after a brief stint in TV and film special effects. After working on TRON Solar Sailer, a game based on a movie that was based within a video game, Robinson became manager of applications where he supervised the programming and graphic design of numerous Intellivision games.

Because Mattel was adamant about its programmers remaining in the shadows, the group was collectively called the “Blue Sky Rangers” in a TV Guide article about Intellivision. The name stuck.

For Intellivision Lives!, Robinson collected a bunch of the wacky videos and interviews that employees participated in during the studio’s heyday.

That’s the good part of the story. When Mattel pulled the plug on Intellivision, Robinson presided over several waves of layoffs. Because of Mattel’s attempt to avoid a media circus atmosphere, Robinson poured gasoline on the situation by handing out pink slips in a clown suit. Mattel Electronics closed its doors in 1984.

Although Intellivision lived on briefly in another incarnation, INTV Corporation, Intellivision was essentially dead.

But now, through the efforts of Robinson and others, the games and the times can live again. Intellivision Lives is a thoroughly entertaining buy and is well worth the cost to anyone who wants a good historical time capsule to keep on the shelf and play whenever the current crop of losers and clones fails to entertain.

Ups

The games look exactly like the originals!
Tons of fun games to play through
A chance to explore an age that will never be seen again

Downs

The games look exactly like the originals!
A list of games isn’t part of the documentation.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Intellivision Productions, Inc.
Developer: Intellivision Productions, Inc.
Platform: PC CD-ROM, PlayStation
Genre: Action/Game collection
Players: 1
Launch Date: April 30, 1999

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 1999

Surround yourself with every type of chocolate bar, truffle or delicacy you can possibly imagine, all while having a calorie free experience. Welcome to the world of chocolate — “The Elixir of the Gods.”

Chocolatier challenges you to build a successful worldwide chocolate business empire. Similar to the many tycoon style games but with an original concept, Chocolatier is also an adventure game that brings you on missions all over the world that you must complete in order to propel your business to success.

Picture this game as the love child between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

The game brings you to the year 1880, where Evangeline Baumeister, a famous chocolatier, finds her chocolate company in financial trouble after letting her irresponsible sister take over. Her sister has also lost many of their famous chocolate recipes, and so Evangeline asks you to travel the world to find these recipes and bring the company back up to speed.

In order to find these recipes and re-establish business relationships, you must travel to designated spots all around the globe and meet with many colorful (yet stereotypical) characters who help you find the lost recipes and will guide you towards good deals on purchasing ingredients. Oftentimes these characters will send you on a mission before they hand over the recipes or make a large purchase. They will usually request you to make a delivery or bring a message to a certain person, so it’s important to remember where that person is.

The game can be tricky, as you can only find certain ingredients in specific locations, such as coffee beans only being available to purchase in Mexico (a necessary ingredient for your delicious Colombo Cacao Coffee Caramel Truffles and Dark Chocolate Coffee bars) and special lemons that can only be found in Trinidad. It’s also wise to know what products sell best at certain locations. To be successful you really must get to know the people and characteristics of each location, which is a realistic aspect of managing a thriving business.

As you travel on, you will gradually obtain recipes for increasingly fancy chocolates and your sales profits will increase. As your overall net gain increases you will be able to set up factories in every continent, and expand your business. The challenges lies in the constant need to expand, while simultaneously trying to micromanage such details as how much of each ingredient goes into each chocolate product at all your factories. The good thing is your chocolates sell for an outrageous amount of money and your consumers don’t seem to mind, so the money flows in at a consistent rate.

Chocolatier is a fun and challenging game that does require strategy and the ability to make smart business decisions, mixed in with some brainless, yet amusing missions to complete. This game is safe for dieters and those with an all too dangerous fondness for chocolate, but I can’t make any promises that after hours of staring at those yummy-looking computerized truffles, you won’t be running to your local candy store with an urge to buy out their entire supply.

Quick hits:

Publisher: PlayFirst/Brighter Minds Media
Developer: Big Splash
Platform: PC/MAC CD-ROM
Genre: Edutainment/Adventure
Players: 1

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Jared seems detached while Simon avoids conflict at all costs. Sarah’s fencing skills are predictably handy when mysterious events begins happening around the house. The adventure begins as one of the siblings uncovers some amazing history about their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick, voiced by David Strathairn.

You can play as Jared, Simon, Mallory Grace and even small Thimbletack the Brownie throughout the chapter quests. Optional side quests are also available. As with other fantasy games like Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, etc. etc., you must use certain characters to complete certain level areas. Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You offers available help at any time (+ button) and background into finding hidden creatures like faeries and goblins. The guide also gives hints for your next task while providing background, interesting trivia and options/abilities.

The game has a good mix of puzzles and collection activities as well. Collect from ten types of faeries/sprites then keep up to three at a time. Get your creative juices flowing a bit by painting each sprite when you nab each one to record them in the guide. You can go back to capture free sprites, found in the same spot. Catching several of the same kind boosts their power. Observant players (plus players who have read the book) can take quicker advantage of the items while keeping others in mind for future use, though you can get stuck at times (e.g. finding the broomstick in the beginning turned into a bit of a chore for this reviewer).

Enemies include goblins (collect their teeth for bonuses), changelings, trolls and ogres. Attack movements and range weapons (e.g. tomato sauce gun) help you dispatch them fairly quickly, though the sprite power come in very handy for key battles, even the puzzles. The attack movements, which make good use of the Wii remote, include charge attacks (holding A then releasing) and regular charge by pointing the remote up.

Flipping the Nunchuk up to enact a sliding jump move, which has advantages in battle, but be sure to plan your direction on the Nunchuk before you do it. Options and button combinations allow you to set the camera to your liking, otherwise the way you move is pretty basic. Players can get to a center point in the environment then pan around or just run through every nook and cranny waiting for the interaction icons to appear.

The plotline (closely follows the film) predictably has a linear base, so you can’t always use exits when you want to. Moving through the dark environments (you can adjust the lighting) can be challenging as well. Most dead ends have a large solid black background.
The colorful icons help show the exits and key interaction points. Four save points help manage the progress/checkpoints, especially for younger players.

This game provides a nice bonus by allowing unlimited character switching once you complete the game. Other bonuses, including a competitive multiplayer mode, and unlockables reward you along the way too. Well schooled players can conquer the game quickly, but even without extensive knowledge (though cut scenes, with film’s stars, provide some background), most players can finish the game without hitting double digit hours, so the unlockables and multiplayer mode helps boost the replay value. Options for possible future installments could include designing your own sprite then sharing online plus participating in International Sprite League tournaments.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Platform: Wii (reviewed), Playstation 2, Xbox 360, DS, PC
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars

The game is a lot like Blizzard’s Warcraft III and also has the RPG style of a game like Quest. The true beauty of Fantasy Wars lives in the fact that, especially for a clone, it has amazing replay value!

There are three campaigns in which you take the roles of the humans, the cute little elves and the tough orcs. The orcs are the usual fantasy stereotype. In “Wars,” they are known for desiring gold, being a strong race and a constant need to pillage.

The game is no pushover. It’s very difficult in the beginning and gets harder in later phases. It’s important to use your units to their maximum potential and be able to plan for what your opponent might attack you with. The game is a turn-based strategy, which means that you will direct units to attack, hold their positions, defend, gather, etc. Then it’s the other guy’s turn.

Unlike other TBS games, your units and supplies will carry over to the next mission, instead of just starting fresh. Each individual campaign has it’s own ups and downs. The key to being successful at Fantasy Wars is to stay focused, protect your units and deploy them at the right time.

The graphics are well-done. The environments are clear and well animated. It’s all just a little “cartoony” sometimes though. The battle animations will even have you laughing at times.

On the other hand, the sound is enough to drive you insane. The battle cries start off okay enough, but when you hear them every four seconds in a heated battle, you might turn your volume all the way down.

Multiplayer is also available via networking.

The game delivers. It’s an affordable strategy title. Fantasy Wars is highly addictive and a great way to kill an afternoon.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Atari
Developer: Ino-Co
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Turn-based strategy
Players: 1-2
Launch Date: November 13, 2007

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

After many battles, a former kingdom has been divided into many small principalities and earldoms. The king’s troops were pushed back into one last royal province, and the rulers of the other provinces waged terrible, destructive wars against one another. The whole land fell into a state of chaos and now the former royal capital itself is under siege by the armies of the rebel lords. You belong to the last remaining group of loyal king’s men, and have been commanded to go to the king in view of the imminent attack.

In my reading of a latest magazine, I had found that it had given Knights and Merchants a poor review. In the advertisements and previews I had seen, however, I found it to be a game deserving of a much higher rating. That is why I rushed to review it, to prove that magazine wrong, or at least to try.

Well, I was right. Knights and Merchants gets a four star review from me. If the game were less complicated, it would have been perfect. The game’s battle system is very complex. A setup like that ought to be its own game. When you throw in the kingdom management, the game becomes very frenzied. Otherwise, it is the greatest detail I’ve ever seen in a game. Until it, Age of Empires was the best. But in Knights and Merchants, your little people do exactly what they should be doing. My favorite was the farmer on the vineyard. He put a basket on his back, walked out into the fields, and he picks the grapes off the vines. Then, he gets back to his house, pours the grapes out into a huge well, removes his shoes, and stomps on the grapes, making wine. That is exactly the kind of game that this is. Everything makes a whole lot of sense. Soldiers and servants need bread, sausage, and wine for food, and the serfs are expected to bring everything to them. Builders require wood and stone as they are working, and they will stop until they get these things from the serfs.

Another good thing about the game is the amount of people needed. In traditional RTS games, there is one servant/peon that will do all your day to day tasks. In Knights and Merchants, serfs only bring commodities to building sites, food to hungry troops, and other things like that. Then, builders only will construct your needed buildings, which are also very numerous. For wood, you need a saw mill; for bread, a windmill and a bakery; etc. There are so many different variations in this game. However for people who don’t like these complicated games, I wouldn’t recommend Knights and Merchants, but if you want a new style of Real-time Strategy, go buy Knights and Merchants.

Download the demo free from Blast Magazine.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Interactive Magic
Developer: JoyMania
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Real-time strategy
Players: 1
Launch Date: 1998

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 1999

Ye Olde System Requirements

• PC Pentium 133
• 7 0MB Disk space
• 24MB RAM or more
• 28.8 modem for net play

Silent Steel…a dangerous undersea cinematic adventure of hide and seek. The enemy is out there, and they’re hunting the USS IDAHO.

As captain of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Sub Idaho, you are in command of the most powerful weapons system ever devised. With 24 Trident missiles on board, you carry enough firepower to destroy the entire planet. You’re on war footing te moment you submerge–no such thing as a routine patrol here.

With fear and uncertainty undermining the morale of your crew., the orders you issue will seal the fate of your ship as you attempt to unravel the intricate plot threatening the stability of the free world.

This all-video Strategy Adventure is the most advanced cinematic multimedia game ever released. Silent Steel’s branching storyline provides a greater depth of game play than other simulations. If you like a good Strategy Adventure game, you’ll love Silent Steel.”

Indeed you will love Silent Steel, but not quite as much today as you would have in the mid-90s, as the all-video game was meant to run on Windows 3.1 and 95, and despite repeated attempts, some of the character voices don’t work in Windows XP.

Tsunami’s Silent Steel is a dialog-driven adventure, where gameplay is completely based on choosing the right sequence of things for your character, the captain of the USS Idaho, to say. In Silent Steel, every choice you make — every order you give your submariners — has a major affect on whether you end up winning the game or being blown to the blimey deep.

This game was amazingly advanced when it came out. It was 100 percent video with a full cast and sets that included shots off aircraft carriers, Seahawk helicopters, submarines, and more with plot twists that included CIA interference and betrayal.

The original version was four CD’s, but a DVD came out later that removed the swapping of discs during gameplay.

The cast is perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game. Silent Steel stars Brian McNamara as the executive officer. McNamara, of “Army Wives” fame, also played Carson Ward on “The O.C.” and got a Golden Globe nomination in 1987 for “Billionaire Boys Club.” He and Jim Metzler, who plays the comical master chief, also have Star Trek acting credits. The traitor, Lt. Wheeler, is played by Fred Lehneg who was Marshal Edward Mars on “Lost.”

Silent Steel came out near the Crimson Tide submarine craze and gives a player a visually amazing perspective over their own submarine without the need for technical knowledge. It’s a classic piece of video game history, and it has held its value, still selling for over $20 online.

Don’t miss the blooper reel either! (ALT-B)

The full package:
Original readme file
Original glossary of submarine/game terms
Quick-win walkthrough

Ye Olde System Requirements:

• Windows 3.1 or Higher
• 486-66 MHz or better
• SVGA (256 color) display or better
• 8MB RAM
• 2MB Hard disk space
• 2X or higher CD-ROM drive
• 8 or 16 bit sound card

On February, 12 2007, Variety reported that Lions Gate Studios had purchased the movie rights to Eidos’ upcoming shooter; “Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.” The deal — the first time a game has ever been optioned before its release — should prove to be a smart choice by Lions Gate as Dead Men’s story is fast paced, and intriguing, just like a Hollywood blockbuster.

Unfortunately, as an interactive experience Dead Men is more of a mixed bag. Sure, there’s some solid action, but the title is so fundamentally flawed that it’s hard to even enjoy the game’s brightest spots.

At the start of Dead Men, we find our two heroes (in the loosest sense of the word), Kane and Lynch en route to Death row. When things are at their bleakest, a mysterious outfit known only as The 7 interrupts the trip. We learn that Kane is a former member of The 7, and owes them a hefty amount. They give Kane an ultimatum, return the loot or they off his wife and daughter. They have Lynch, a pill-popping, psychopath, keep tabs on him.

Without spoiling anything, Dead Men features twists, turns and some of the best character development seen in this console generation. What it also features is some of the most mature content ever.

Right from the start you’ll kill police officers, drop f-bombs and shoot innocent hostages with no remorse or recoil. In the past, some games have featured these same actions, but they’ve come off almost as cheap, shock tactics. This is not an issue in Dead Men. It would feel awkward if these two anti-heroes didn’t do these things, and the mature content gives it almost an edgy independent movie feel. (Tarantino?)

Aiding in that feeling is the game’s pitch perfect presentation. Minus a few camera glitches, the action unfolds very cinematically, with little to no interruption. Rather than interrupt the title’s flow with cut-scene after cut-scene, most of the story takes place in game (save for the traditional post-level cut-scenes). Kane and Lynch argue, and nitpick at each other, almost like a murderous odd-couple.

Sadly, Dead Men falters in almost every other aspect. When initially announced, Eidos promised that gamers would be able to choose their own style of play –- whether it be old school run and gun or commanding Kane, Lynch and the squad of miscreants you encounter throughout the game similar to the style of the Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six franchises. Unfortunately, the squad-based controls seem rather useless, and besides a few key moments in the game where you are almost forced to use them, you’ll more than likely forget that they’re even in the game. Sure, it’s nice to have your guys cover certain exits, or attack a group of enemies, but it just becomes more of a hassle when you’re constantly running over to heal them, and you end up doing the work you sent them to do as a result of the horrible AI.

Luckily, the enemy AI is just as bad, and most enemies jump right out of their cover –- seemingly happy to let your bullets hit them.

The cover system is another major disappointment. 90 percent of Dead Men is gun fights, and as a result the game’s faulty cover system makes it much more frustrating than it should be, and you’ll be stuck crossing your fingers hoping one of your squad members is close enough to give you an adrenaline shot and boost your health. Unlike the intuitive cover system of games like Gears of War, Dead Man requires no button presses to go into cover – as your character will find cover automatically when in close enough proximity to a wall, counter etc. While this may sound easier, far too frequently, you’ll be sticking to surfaces you don’t want to, causing yourself to become vulnerable to incoming fire, rather than being able to pick your best point in the aforementioned games.

Perhaps what bugs me the most about Dead Men is its problems with cheap gameplay. In many shooter games, the opening levels are used to set-up the game’s basics and rules, allowing players to seamlessly build upon them in the later levels. This seems nearly impossible when those rules are broken quickly after they’re established. Take for instance the level early on just after escaping from a bank where you must shoot cop cars trailing your getaway van from the back. Throwing grenades underneath the cars will sometimes do them in, but others it will merely result in an acme like cloud of dust billowing up around the car. It must also be noted that it’s in levels like this that it becomes apparent that the backgrounds and NPC’s (non-playing characters) have literally no personality. Case in point, the same level mentioned above, while shooting at the cop cars makes them swerve, other people on the road, just keep driving along, unaware of the bullets flying around, even when they’re the target!

Dead Men’s visuals are like the rest of the title: some are great, and some are just plain old horrible. Wide-shots, like that of downtown Tokyo as seen repelling down the side of a high rise are nothing short of breathtaking. But shots up close, especially player models, are downright bad — reminiscent of many games from the early part of this generation.

The developers must be commended on Dead Men’s online mode: Fragile Alliance. Rather than bank on the tried and true Deathmatch mode, Fragile Alliance uses the squad based gameplay to create an original and compelling experience. One team plays as bank robbers, while the other as cops. You can guess what each team’s objectives are, but what makes Fragile Alliance truly unique is that anyone on the team controlling the bank robbers can choose to risk it all, and screw over their teammates, taking the loot for themselves.

I’m sure Kane and Lynch: Dead Men will make a great movie, but as a game – it’s a forgettable and lackluster run-of-the-mill shooter with some deep, fundamental problems. If you’re looking for a distraction from some of last year’s AAA titles, it might be worth it to give the title a rent, it may take some of the frustration out.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Io Interactive
Platform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Playstation 3, PC
Genre: Action, Third-person shooter
Players: 1-2 (local) up to 8 online,

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 3 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men is a very solid game with an excellent story, good graphics and original multiplayer. It’s also easy to learn the controls and basics.

The game’s storyline puts you in the position of one of two men, Kane, the former mercenary, or Lynch who is a drug-up psychopath babysitting Kane. The two men go through various stages of heists and committing other kinds of crimes. They interact so realistically; it’s one of the strongest points int he game.

Not only during cut scenes, but during the actual gameplay you can see the two men showing their pleasure or displeasure towards each other and the current heist. The storyline is even better in cooperative mode with a friend, where one of you takes the role of Kane, and the other, Lynch.

The controls are easy to master. The game is a third-person shooter in which you use the Left Trigger to aim, and the Right Trigger to shoot. You are able to use the other buttons to control people that are helping you.

The graphics, while not the most impressive thing to hit the Xbox 360, are well-done. Each area is well-detailed and nice to look at. The people are well designed and so are the structures — interior and exterior.

Xbox Live multiplayer might be the best part of the game. It allows you and seven other companions to go on heists. You start by picking up jewelry and cash, trying to raise your total worth before the escape. However, players have the option of being a team player, or getting greedy and killing you for all of your loot.

The killed player gets respawned as a guard or police officer, and the killer will be marked as a traitor. Your former companions will come gunning for both of you.

Dead Men is the perfect way to fix that action-game craving. It’s not at all perfect, but there’s real “edge of your seat” action, exciting multiplayer, and a story that will suck you right in. It’s a definite rental, and if you aren’t turned off by the crude language, drug references, and bloody violence (F-bombs EVERYWHERE), this is one of those games you just buy by default.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Eidos
Developer: Io Interactive
Platform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Playstation 3, PC
Genre: Action, Third-person shooter
Players: 1-2 (local) up to 8 online,

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

By John W. Fletcher

Messiah is probably one of the more unique games I have seen in the last few years — being completely original by not only how it is played but an amazing array of new quirks you have never seen on the PC before.

In this game you are a cute little baby angel named Bob. You have been sent to earth, quite against your will, by God to fight the growing evil of Father Prime.

Despite his cute appearance he can be as much of a bastard as your inner devil wants him to be.

There are some quirks. He has a limited ability to fly — which can get you out of some tight situations. Second, and my favorite, he can possess anybody! You can fly into the back of any unsuspecting victim and take over his soul, forcing him to do whatever hideous evil you want him to do (don’t get any ideas you pervert).

Since there is a massive array of characters the game can get extremely interesting. To get certain places or better weapons you have to possess certain people, which can be good and bad (you’ll see when you play). For instance: As a weak scientist you can’t hurt people for shit but you can get into a needed-entry room. As the biogenetically altered 8-foot tall behemoth you can tear anybody a new asshole.

You can get a lot of gameplay out of this since it is a two-disc game. It took me a long time to beat it. The levels are huge and the difficulty of all the possessing and everything can drive you kind of nuts after a while.

As you proceed you have to do these kind-of maze-like paths to get where you want to go and possess a lot of different people. You even have to possess a rat! It’s difficult because if they see you they will kill you and if they suspect you they will kill you. It’s not as easy as it seems. You have to do a lot of flying puzzles to get places and that is difficult with little, chubby baby wings.

All the weapons you can use are awesome too. You have things like a bazooka you can use, or a harpoon that spears your enemies to a wall! It’s disappointing that Bob himself can’t kill anybody but the fact that you can be a pimp in a club and beat somebody to death with your cane — it’s all forgiven. Overall, it is really fun but very confusing.

You get to all of this in amazingly created and huge levels which are incredibly realistic and make your experience just that much better. I strongly suggest usage of a very fast computer. All of the characters have amazing detail and the scenery is pretty cool too. In the game you are playing from a third person point-of-view which you can toggle close or far. It has an interesting sound system by that there is no music and only fx until you get into fights — when it starts blasting Fear Factory so you can barely here the fighting itself! However, you can here some pretty cool tracks if you pop into your CD player. As for controls it is very good and you have to use a mouse-keyboard combo which can be slightly annoying at times.

Now the bad news. NO multiplayer — sorry, it’s strictly single player. Also it can drag on and on after a while. All the puzzles get really annoying and somebody is always killing me. When you are a cop none of the other cops seem to like you and will kill you if you do so much as sneeze wrong. It seems you can never survive too long — maybe this is just me, somebody try it and tell me because I can never seem to survive in some guy for more than 3 minutes. You always seem to be walking through a war zone in some areas where there are opposing factions and you are always on the wrong side.

I guess that’s part of the game but it just gets to me by the 20th reloading.

Overall it is a very unique and good game. I suggest you give it a spin.

Download the demo free from Blast Magazine.

Quick hits:

Publisher: The late Interplay
Developer: Shiny Entertainment (David Perry’s outfit. They also made Earthworm Jim)
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Action/Adventure
Players: 1
Launch Date: March 31, 2000

Playability: 4.5 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 5 out of 5 stars
Support: 5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 2000

The game was originally conceived 11 years ago, the developer said on its blog. It went gold on November 21 and was released for direct download in UK, Scandinavia, Benelux and Italy December 2.

A patch came out three days later.

That’s disappointing but not surprising. I played v0.9-1 and encountered plenty of issues, particularly in point of view movement. Unlike most strategy games, SunAge doesn’t let you slide around with the keyboard arrows. You have to drag the cursor to the edge of the screen, and the map automatically moves.

That is a terrible, awful way to control a strategy game. The last thing you want to happen when you’re reaching to control your units is to have the map move around on you. Fix that. It’s a 2D strategy game. The keyboard isn’t too retro.

Getting past the controls and beta bugs, SunAge is a 2D post-modern strategy game with wonderfully crafted elements of cyberpunk, fantasy and military. Unlike early reports, the game is largely based on Earth, with an alien planet added. Earth. in an Al Gore-like prediction, is no longer hospitable for humans, who have retreated to secure domes.

You get to play as any of three races, the Federals, the Raak Zun, and the Sentinels.

“The Federacy was an organization born out of necessity. As conditions on Earth became increasingly hostile, humanity was faced with a difficult decision. Adapt, or die. The Federacy was formed, an international entity formed of many collapsing governments, to protect the remnants of a dying race,” and that’s the pseudo-noble human race you can control. Very post-mod, post-apocalyptic.

But — “When mankind retreated into the domes they also committed an act of grand betrayal – abandoning many of their peoples to perish in the toxic wastelands. But not all perished. Suffering decades of mutation and hardship, a new race was born with the instinct and brute force to survive the dangers of the wasteland: the Raak-Zun.” — They tend to look a lot like orcs.

The game uses four different kinds of ore and elements, Nitrium Ore, Plutonium, Zirkonium and Iberium Rods that let you produce units, vehicles, aircraft and advanced tech. It’s sort of like the original Star Wars strategy games where you’re seeking out futuristic materials to build your futuristic military units.

Just think of Zirkonium as chopping down trees for wood in Warcraft.

The game uses a lot of units and a traditional commander role on point.

SunAge has a good story, solid races and units and an RPG-type element with pop-in conversations and monologues that reminded me of what I used to see in Phantasy Star IV, one of the best RPG’s of the 16-bit generation. If they hold true to that — maybe some cut-scenes? — it’s a great feature.

I picked up the gameplay elements with a little effort. Grouping units together is intuitive and they will open fire on all hostiles. In my version, my units didn’t flock to a far-away enemy if I targeted it. They needed to be in range to respond to the attack command. The full version will improve on this with “combat queuing,” letting you issue batches of orders to your men. You can also formate your units in different ways depending on the enemy.

The game is 2D, but don’t get your shorts in a knot over that. The scenery elements look great and elements are detailed. There’s full voice acting and good character development as the story unfolds.

There’s some work to be done. The game is getting decent feedback on forums so far, but it is being criticized for a steep learning curve.

“This game keeps handing me my ass even in the early missions. It seems like you guys got so proficient at the game you forgot to see if us noobies could handle it,” said nailernforce on the Vertex4 boards.

I like SunAge. I think there’s room to improve it and make it ready for an ADHD American market. I also haven’t heard anything about unit or map editors yet — so we’ll have to see about mods and editing.

So let me put Lighthouse Interactive and Vertex4 on notice: You don’t get any second chances in the United States. Fix the bugs and controls before you put it out here. If the game can’t be played without some sort of bug or freeze-up, it will fail here. God dammit, you put 11 years into this one. Don’t let a month’s worth of bug testing eff it all up.

Features:

• 3 Distinct Races – Human, Raak-zun and Sentinel – each with their own units, buildings, technological advantages and disadvantages
• Unique Upgrades – Alternate modes can be researched for all units, unlocking dual functionality for greater tactical depth
• Graphics – Stunning sci-fi environments from vast industrial cities and devastated wastelands, to a lush alien planet. While displaying rich graphical environments and visual effects, SunAge is very playable on lower spec PC’s and laptops
• Tactical Landscape – All units and their alternate modes are crucial to the overall strategy. Exploit weaknesses in the enemy’s network while strengthening your own connection lines
• Formations – Squad concept combined with long distance camera views allows a large number of units to be fighting onscreen with a clear overview of the battle ground
• Singleplayer – 25 campaign maps with compelling plots for each race
• Multiplayer – LAN and Online – Classic multiplayer with focus on gathering 4 different kinds of resources and outsmarting the opponent in battle. 10 maps created uniquely for multiplayer mode
• Command Queuing – Command your units to prone, build or attack where you want them and when you want them to do so
• Indirect Intelligent Targeting (IIT) – Order your units to focus on pre-selected targets

System requirements:

• OS: Windows ME / 2000 / XP / Vista
• CPU: 1,2 GHz Intel® Pentium® III or equivalent AMD® Athlon processor
• RAM: 512 MB (1 GB Recommended for Windows Vista)
• Video Card: 128 MB 3D accelerated video card
• PC CD-ROM: 4x (or PC DVD-ROM drive)
• Sound: DirectSound compatible (Sound Blaster X-Fi series sound card recommended)
• Available Hard Disk Space: 1 GB
• DirectX: 9.0c compatible
• Other: Mouse, Keyboard and Speakers
• Multiplayer: LAN or 56K (or faster) Internet Connection

Quick hits:

Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive
Developer: Vertex 4
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Real-time strategy
Players: 1
Launch Date: Q1, 2008

Playability: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 3 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars (Based on the Beta. As Homer Simpson said to Maggie: Prove me wrong Silent Bob)

Downloads:
Wallpaper

“The enthusiastic response we’ve received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we’re excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “The world we’ve created for Shivering Isles is unlike anything you’ve seen or played in Oblivion and we can’t wait for folks to play it.”

Most gamers are familiar with Shivering Isles, which hit shelves in March for the PC version. The Xbox 360 version was released on Xbox Live Marketplace, for 2,400 Microsoft Points ($30). The expansion was originally announced on January 18, but here we have the PS3 version on November 20. We also saw the Knights of the Nine, another expansion, earlier.

Shivering Isles adds 30 more hours to Oblivion and is optimized for HD video at 480p or 720p.

The isles are Mania and Dementia with a whole new lot of side quests and dungeons. New creatures include the Gatekeeper, a collection of body parts sewn together and the Knights of the Order, which are made up of tree roots.

Shivering Isles is about 1/4 the size of Cyrodiil, the Oblivion main map, according to Bethesda. Your existing character will work fine with it, and you can breeze between the worlds back and forth.

If you’re an Elder Scrolls fan, you don’t need me to tell you what to do here.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PlayStation 3 (Xbox 360 and PC versions previously released)
Genre: Role-playing game
Players: 1
Launch Date: November 20, 2007

Playability: 5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars

• See a world created in Sheograth’s own image, one divided between Mania and Dementia unlike anything you’ve experienced
• Battle the denizens of Shivering Isles, a land filled with hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibeous Grummites, and many more
• Find and wield new weapons and armor or have new ones forged for you
• Explore a bizarre landscape filled with twisting, vast dungeons buried within the roots of the trees themselves
• Requires Elder Scrolls IV: Obilivion software to play

The game also spawned a generation of gaming. Many people call it the phenomenon of the “Myst clone,” but make no mistake, the entire genre of mouse-driven adventure games pays homage to Myst. (Read The Review Center’s original review here)

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is no Myst.

But it is a mouse-driven adventure game with deeply challenging puzzles as you play detective Howard E. Loreid, lead investigator on the case of the Clark Field murder. The game inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, and if you’re familiar with Lovecraft’s works, Darkness Within is a familiar yarn about estranged family members’ secrets and the occult. The plot is jaded, but it’s a video game, so I let the clichés go usually. No, the plot doesn’t hurt “Darkness,” it’s the terrible gameplay and lack of character interaction.

Loreid is having nightmares lately, and the game opens in one such dream about a mental institution and a dead body. He wakes up to the sound of his cell phone ringing and his office calling. Loreid has to get out of bed and head over to his office, finding his phone and car keys in the process. No shower, no getting dressed, no animation, just clickity click click and you’re suddenly headed to the police station.

The “police station,” like most scenes in the game, is a beautifully decorated, wholly un-interactive experience. Loreid’s office is just that, a one room office with no people, no activity, a phone you can’t use and a computer you can’t interact with. Comeon folks, they were letting people click more items in rooms in 1995 games.

You do a ton of clicking in Myst, but not nearly this much. In Myst, every click results in something interesting. In “Darkness,” every click results in another click.

What really gets me is the sheer lack of any character interaction. The game starts with a ringing cell phone and a coworker calling, but there’s no bustling police station, paternal captain or fellow officers — just an empty office.

Still, the one room jobs are far better than some of the larger scenes. There’s just too much clicking. Like going up a flight of stairs — you click once to go up halfway, then again to move across the landing, then again to go up again, then another click to open the door at the top of the next landing. You also have to be in the correct step to interact with items and evidence. If you can see something, you can’t click it until you’re right up against it. Then you click it and the item zooms up. Then you click it again and you can finally look/analyze the item.

And that’s what turned me off of Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder. It takes so long to move around and find things, that I didn’t have any mental energy left to dedicate to what are actually pretty well-crafted puzzles.

That’s all in spite of the fact that Darkness Within is a beautifully well-designed game. For a low-budget title, the graphics are excellent, the lighting effects are superb and the item detail defy it’s system requirements (set at 1 Ghz/512MB RAM).

Sure the occult angles and soap opera family troubles are brilliantly unoriginal, but really it’s the terrible controls and the awful gameplay that make Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder fail to make the grade.

The game also takes up over a gigabyte of hard drive space, and since Lighthouse and Zoetrope decided to distribute the game on CD-ROM instead of DVD-ROM, you have to install the game from both CD’s. Installation alone takes 20 minutes.

This is all a damn shame because the PC world is desperate for a strong adventure game. Next Life, anything Agatha Christie, Anacapri: The Dream, Operation Wintersun, and now Darkness Within have all been god-awful. Sadly, Darkness Within is the best Adventure game on that list, and for an adventure game whore like me, it’s a sad time to play video games.

I know we get a cut of the proceeds, but click the link to the right, do yourself a huge favor and buy Indigo Prophecy. It’s a few years old, but it’s the best adventure title of the 21st century, and you can get it for 10 bucks.

Play that game and learn what’s missing in the modern adventure game, and without going too far into a tangent, let me just say that the latest games, including Darkness Within are missing the mark on cinematics and creating bland, stale, detached characters. Even in Myst, players grew attached to the plight of “The Stranger.” Howard E. Loreid? Not so much.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive
Developer: Zoetrope Interactive
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Mouse-driven Adventure
Players: 1
Launch Date: November 6, 2007

Playability: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 2 out of 5 stars

Rock Slide is a Tetris clone puzzle game. The program runs pretty good, except for a slight bug that involves the “Rocks.” If you hold down to get a rock to fall all the way down, then the next group of rocks will automatically fall straight down also.

The graphics that are actually not as good as Tetris’, and there is only one sound effect and no music.

The installation program is just plain bad. You can only install the program to the default directory, which is C:\Rock. This will clutter up your root drive, which will eventually degrade your system performance, slightly.*

The program is pretty user friendly, and there are some cool features like a high scores list. Overall, it’s not worth $10, and if you are satisfied with Microsoft’s version of Tetris, or any other Tetris-style puzzle game, then there is no need to download or buy this software, however, if you really like challenging puzzlers, then you will like to play this game…for a little while.

*Newer versions of this game have corrected the installation problems.

Download the shareware free from Blast!

Publisher: AGCrump Software
Developer: AGCrump Software
Platform: PC
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 2 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars