As a cheap online-purchase-only expansion to 2003's Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, Revolutions does its job reasonably well. While it doesn't change or enhance enough of the core game to attract players turned off by the original's extreme attention to detail, convoluted interface, and design flaws, it contains so many subtle tweaks and improvements that it is a must-buy for fans. The only drawback is that this $10 expansion probably should have been offered as a free patch.
The massive scope seen in Victoria remains the same, of course. As usual with developer Paradox Interactive, this is a game of grand strategy, where you take over pretty much any nation and try to guide it to prosperity or flat-out world domination. Game mechanics address virtually all of the social and political turmoil that took place during the 19th century, including liberalism and industrialization, as well as the rise of democracy and the establishment of the first truly globe-spanning empires. The big change to the focus of the game involves stretching the open-ended grand campaign from the original terminus of 1920 to the end of 1935 (a move that comes complete with new units, historical events, and inventions). You'll also now be able to port your Revolutions saves into the game's WWII-era big brother, Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday, where you can continue the struggle for world dominance all the way into the Cold War. So if you own both games, you can now play geopolitical guru for more than a century and span virtually the entire modern age.
Gameplay has been both enhanced and extended. A lot of the exploits from the original Victoria have been tightened up or eliminated. A mostly new economic system means that you can no longer take advantage of economic issues that could see middling states like Poland and Spain accumulate massive sums of cash and become globe-bestriding behemoths. Money is now a more big-picture resource. Instead of controlling every dime in every province, you now take a hands-off approach and embrace a free market. This greatly eases the crushing levels of micromanagement in the original game and sets up more realistic economics where capitalists take charge of developments and build the factories that they want, when they want. At the same time, however, less control really means less control. Free markets mean that you lose input when it comes to ordering up buildings, which can be a real issue at times, particularly if you want to go to war while the money-men are focusing solely on luxury items and infrastructure like railroads.
Elections have been altered, too. In the original game, elections came and went without having much of an impact on how you were playing. In Revolutions, elected governments place certain restrictions on your conduct. If the electorate votes for a pacifist party, you can't just ignore their will and go nuts on a military buildup, as your spending will be capped. However, if they go the other way and select war-mongering jingoists, you won't be able to cut back all that much on military spending. The trick now is to make sure that your people stay somewhere in the middle and give you room to move, which you can attempt by banning the more extreme parties that you don't want to see in power. Of course, too much repression and populaces can revolt and force the change that they want, and this has a habit of happening at the most inopportune times, like right after declarations of war.
All in all, both the economic and political restrictions are good changes. While hemming the player in is usually seen as a negative development, the original Victoria left things so wide open that it was very tough to figure out what you were supposed to be doing. Some of the limitations set in place in Revolutions can be frustrating at times, but they're a lot less frustrating than not being able to figure out many aspects of the game at all. Also, these changes do a great job of immersing you in the game as an actual head of state who has to take the people into consideration, and not as an omnipotent figure lording over a computer game. The overall feel is a lot more natural, which makes the game more playable.
But Revolutions still doesn't get the job done in a number of areas. Even though the developers at Paradox likely rewrote a fair bit of the game code, they still didn't bother to include an in-game tutorial, which is an absolute must for a game of this complexity. So you still aren't given enough of a leg up when it comes to learning the game, or even when it comes to managing the blizzard of pop-ups that the interface hurls at you. Many of the historical choices you'll make during the campaign are presented with little or no background, so you don't really know what you're choosing when you click on yea or nay. This is a real annoyance, as many of these options have huge effects on how you build your economy and wage war. And Paradox still hasn't addressed a few technical issues. The game has a tendency to blink on a regular basis, and it chugs mightily when scrolling the map. This just isn't acceptable, especially considering that the engine is now well over three years old.
Yet even with the steep learning curve and cumbersome interface firmly in place, Revolutions fixes Victoria up to a playable state that seems to get a lot closer to what the developers originally had in mind. However, it's grating that you're being forced to pay for what really should have been in the box three years ago, and it's further bothersome that Paradox still hasn't added a proper in-game tutorial.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway AU Impressions
Ubisoft sent a lot of jaws straight to the tarmac when the very first Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway trailer was released back in April, 2006. We saw deeply immersive animation, characterisation and a gritty, physics-enabled, destructible environment – and most importantly, it generated some high expectations. Two years later, we're still waiting for the final game, but we did get to spend some time with the latest build of the game – a mission called Black Friday.
In Black Friday, which is the seventh mission in the game, takes place in a rainy European village. As the rain buckets down, the German forces begin their advance on the town of Veghel; your squad stands between them and Nazi occupation.
Emotional impact on the player is a key element of Hell's Highway, as Gearbox's President Randy Pitchford has gone to lengths to point out. Instead of putting you in the shoes of some faceless, floating head packing a luger, you take on the roll of Staff Sergeant Matt Baker – a fleshed out and believable character who routinely interacts with his squad and has to deal with the emotional and psychological impact of life and death on the battlefield. To that end, the player too is positioned to actually give a damn about the result of bad tactical decisions – though, we'll need to sit down with the final game to really see if Hell's Highway plies out the tears.
The gameplay makes squad management as seamless as possible, in a Ghost Recon kind of way. You're broken down into separate squads - initially the Fire team, the Assault team or the Bazooka team. Each has its own function, which is fairly self-evident.
While moments of action are generally played from the first-person perspective, the breakaway cover system pulls out to display your surroundings from above, in a third-person perspective. This gives you the best possible view of your squad and the immediate surroundings, while also giving you a chance to catch your breath, line up a grenade, redirect your squad or prepare to vault over your cover with a tap of the A button (on 360).
Let's talk about grenades for a second. These have, in past games, been far too readily available. In Hell's Highway, these have seemingly become much harder to find; you're forced to use them sparingly, therefore upping their value. On the flipside, like in the real world, the splash damage seems a little higher than your average shooter. A well-placed grenade can really stem the tide of Nazi oppressors.
A checkpoint system guides you from one point on the field to the next; when issuing orders to advance, flank or take cover, hand animations and waving signal the appropriate manoeuvre to your teammates. It's a subtle way of keeping HUD clutter to a minimum, too – though, there are still some pop-up notifications, such as a casualty warning when someone takes one too many rounds of hot lead. Other features also seem a little tried-and-tested at times – particularly the red-ring that eventually lines the screen when you take damage, and the AI, while possibly not fully implemented, still seemed a little daft at times. Still, the immersive setting and impressive animation routines made up for initial shortcomings in the demo we saw. Hopefully, the next few months will provide enough time to smooth over any AI wrinkles.
Side by side by side, the PC version is the most visually impressive. Running on DirectX 10 with every effect switched on, the game looks an absolute treat. Black Friday takes place at night, as rain pelts down on cobblestone streets and down walls and other surfaces. The water effects, which are reactive to lighting, were stunning on the PC build. As droplets fell under lamplight, they lit up and reflected realistically. Water streamed down the canvas sides of army trucks and brick walls, and pooled on the ground too – reminiscent of Bioshock's supreme water simulation. The effect was a little heavy-handed on the 360 and PS3; it just looked a little too heavy in the foreground, while the distance had a strange 'shimmer' to the rain effect, which could prove distracting in the final game.
The 360 version looked nearly as solid as the PC build at this stage – which says a lot for the quality of the engine; it did a great job of matching the muted colour depth and textural detail. It also cranked out self-shadowing effects, some very nice depth-of-field effects and dynamic HDR. The PS3 version can claim almost all of these elements too in the version we saw, but the textures and colour scheme were noticeably muddier and flatter in this build. Here's hoping the PS3 porting team can pull it together before release.
Will World War II shooters ever go out of fashion? Not as long as people are happy to keep putting down the dollars, it seems. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is at least taking steps to break out of the Medal of Honour / Call of Duty framework by putting a stronger emphasis on story and characterisation than even Call of Duty 4 managed. Our fingers are firmly crossed that Gearbox polish the game on every platform and address our meagre concerns.
In Black Friday, which is the seventh mission in the game, takes place in a rainy European village. As the rain buckets down, the German forces begin their advance on the town of Veghel; your squad stands between them and Nazi occupation.
Emotional impact on the player is a key element of Hell's Highway, as Gearbox's President Randy Pitchford has gone to lengths to point out. Instead of putting you in the shoes of some faceless, floating head packing a luger, you take on the roll of Staff Sergeant Matt Baker – a fleshed out and believable character who routinely interacts with his squad and has to deal with the emotional and psychological impact of life and death on the battlefield. To that end, the player too is positioned to actually give a damn about the result of bad tactical decisions – though, we'll need to sit down with the final game to really see if Hell's Highway plies out the tears.
The gameplay makes squad management as seamless as possible, in a Ghost Recon kind of way. You're broken down into separate squads - initially the Fire team, the Assault team or the Bazooka team. Each has its own function, which is fairly self-evident.
While moments of action are generally played from the first-person perspective, the breakaway cover system pulls out to display your surroundings from above, in a third-person perspective. This gives you the best possible view of your squad and the immediate surroundings, while also giving you a chance to catch your breath, line up a grenade, redirect your squad or prepare to vault over your cover with a tap of the A button (on 360).
Let's talk about grenades for a second. These have, in past games, been far too readily available. In Hell's Highway, these have seemingly become much harder to find; you're forced to use them sparingly, therefore upping their value. On the flipside, like in the real world, the splash damage seems a little higher than your average shooter. A well-placed grenade can really stem the tide of Nazi oppressors.
A checkpoint system guides you from one point on the field to the next; when issuing orders to advance, flank or take cover, hand animations and waving signal the appropriate manoeuvre to your teammates. It's a subtle way of keeping HUD clutter to a minimum, too – though, there are still some pop-up notifications, such as a casualty warning when someone takes one too many rounds of hot lead. Other features also seem a little tried-and-tested at times – particularly the red-ring that eventually lines the screen when you take damage, and the AI, while possibly not fully implemented, still seemed a little daft at times. Still, the immersive setting and impressive animation routines made up for initial shortcomings in the demo we saw. Hopefully, the next few months will provide enough time to smooth over any AI wrinkles.
Side by side by side, the PC version is the most visually impressive. Running on DirectX 10 with every effect switched on, the game looks an absolute treat. Black Friday takes place at night, as rain pelts down on cobblestone streets and down walls and other surfaces. The water effects, which are reactive to lighting, were stunning on the PC build. As droplets fell under lamplight, they lit up and reflected realistically. Water streamed down the canvas sides of army trucks and brick walls, and pooled on the ground too – reminiscent of Bioshock's supreme water simulation. The effect was a little heavy-handed on the 360 and PS3; it just looked a little too heavy in the foreground, while the distance had a strange 'shimmer' to the rain effect, which could prove distracting in the final game.
The 360 version looked nearly as solid as the PC build at this stage – which says a lot for the quality of the engine; it did a great job of matching the muted colour depth and textural detail. It also cranked out self-shadowing effects, some very nice depth-of-field effects and dynamic HDR. The PS3 version can claim almost all of these elements too in the version we saw, but the textures and colour scheme were noticeably muddier and flatter in this build. Here's hoping the PS3 porting team can pull it together before release.
Will World War II shooters ever go out of fashion? Not as long as people are happy to keep putting down the dollars, it seems. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is at least taking steps to break out of the Medal of Honour / Call of Duty framework by putting a stronger emphasis on story and characterisation than even Call of Duty 4 managed. Our fingers are firmly crossed that Gearbox polish the game on every platform and address our meagre concerns.
Metal Gear Solid
MGS4 is the best Metal Gear in the whole series, combining the previous MGS games in one. The game play is great, the story is very dramatic and you are going to love the environment. The new levels are great, especially the battlefield in the Middle East. It is easy to blend in the environment thanks to the new sneaking suit. You'll have a new set of weapons that can be modified.
The only thing I don't like about the game is the voice of liquid, I hoped Cam Clarke was still voice acting liquid, but overall you'll remember this game for a long time.
For beginners, don't bother playing the game unless you've played the previous MGS games cause you'll be lost in the storyline and the game play or the least you can do is to listen to someone who played them to understand the story. But it is recommended to play them.
The only thing I don't like about the game is the voice of liquid, I hoped Cam Clarke was still voice acting liquid, but overall you'll remember this game for a long time.
For beginners, don't bother playing the game unless you've played the previous MGS games cause you'll be lost in the storyline and the game play or the least you can do is to listen to someone who played them to understand the story. But it is recommended to play them.
Art Of Murder FBI Confidential
GamePlay: You get to be a real FBI agent in this game while busting your brains to solve intricate puzzles. It's a point and click method of play like Myst and it will take a lot of patience and creativity to solve the brainteasers.
Graphics: Pretty nice rendered backgrounds with a smattering of cut scenes and in-game animation. This is the old school way of presenting game graphics so don't expect a lot of action in the surroundings.
Sound: A ton of dialog and some very eerie music that adds to the atmosphere of the game. The big minus is the voice actress who plays Bonnet. She's as genuine as a three dollar bill.
Replay Value: You'll grind it out in certain parts of the game and will just be happy to finish. But the whole experience is like a good book, so you might want to return to it again for fun.
Island Wars 2 Christmas Edition
The best way to pass time is by playing this small game. good thing about this game is, it's only 2.5mb! so its easy to download and play. Ah, the South Pacific seas... warm sun, clear skies, crystal waters... those two little islands are still obsessed with destroying each other's Christmas trees and you seem to have been caught in the middle again! Building on the success of Island Wars!, Island Wars 2 Christmas Edition raises the bar with multiple game types, bonuses, improved AI, and a completely rewritten graphics engine, while offering the same game play that made the original so popular. Play on your own, against the computer or with a friend! Or, with a friend against the computer! The possibilities are endless!
Diablo 3
Diablo 3 is on release almost a decade after diablo2. It's going to be the biggest Diablo yet, that it's going to retain the series focus on cooperative play, and that it'll feature the return of Deckard Cain (the old dude from the last two who crooned "Stay a while, and listen!" when you clicked him). You'll also get a new class called the Witch Doctor who'll have access to jungle magic and be able to summon animals and insects, inflict diseases, and mind-control enemies.
As the game is now finally fully 3D, you'll be able to zoom in or out on the fly. The interface has been unsurprisingly tweaked with onscreen hotbars for skills as well as the option to swap between them quickly with the tab key or your mousewheel. Instead of quaffing potions like Professor Snape on a bender, you'll roll over red orbs to replenish your health. Environments can be pretty thoroughly pulverized, as well as utilized to effect the destruction of enemies. Certain enemies will be considerably larger, finally filling the screen like proper boss monsters. Armor now relates to class and renders uniquely depending on the character wearing it. And girls, you'll finally have the option to pick female versions of character classes, including the Barbarian and Witch Doctor. diablo2 is some what easy to finish, i am hoping diablo3 to be a massive game.
As the game is now finally fully 3D, you'll be able to zoom in or out on the fly. The interface has been unsurprisingly tweaked with onscreen hotbars for skills as well as the option to swap between them quickly with the tab key or your mousewheel. Instead of quaffing potions like Professor Snape on a bender, you'll roll over red orbs to replenish your health. Environments can be pretty thoroughly pulverized, as well as utilized to effect the destruction of enemies. Certain enemies will be considerably larger, finally filling the screen like proper boss monsters. Armor now relates to class and renders uniquely depending on the character wearing it. And girls, you'll finally have the option to pick female versions of character classes, including the Barbarian and Witch Doctor. diablo2 is some what easy to finish, i am hoping diablo3 to be a massive game.
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Medal of Honor: Airborne is a World War II first-person shooter computer game and the 11th installment of the Medal of Honor series. It was developed by EA Los Angeles and was released worldwide on the PC and Xbox 360 in early September 2007.The game takes place in the European theater of World War II, and is the first in the series to focus on paratrooper activities.
The game uses a heavily-modified Unreal Engine 3.Airborne employs a nonlinear gameplay style whereby the player can start the game anywhere in the map by directing where they land, as opposed to previous linear FPS games where the start point and direction is already laid out, such as Allied Assault.
In my opinion this is the really cool game(6GB) and very realistic.What u guys say about this game?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)