Brain Hood

Titan Quest is one of the best new PC games to hit the market in recent times. Strictly meant for those who are die-hard adventurers, this one has so much to offer that you won’t tire of it for a long time. A game of skill and strategy, Titan Quest boasts of some original ideas and great graphics. There is also a fair amount of violence involved. However, all that simply adds to the fun of this action-adventure game. Simply put, it is a great package for action game fans.

The game has some challenging quests which require the user to keep planning and strategizing. There are four skill types to choose from: lightning, fire, defensive, or offensive. Each of these levels has different logistics and features. The goal is to kill as many monsters as possible without getting hit yourself. You are required to pass through each of the skill levels and the difficulty level increases as you progress. The weapons available to you also become more and more sophisticated with each stage.

The graphics are original and innovative. There are some great new features, such as the dual-weapon set, which lets you exchange weapons seamlessly. There are minor issues with the controls, but in most cases these can be ignored. The good points of this game far outnumber the bad points. The multiplayer version is also very exciting. If you want to compete with your friends, you can invite them online and play with up to six players.

Your mind might not click on hearing the name ‘Metro 2033’ unless you’re really into Russian literature. This pc game is based on a Russian novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky which was released in the year 2005. Metro 2033 gives its readers a peek at how things will span out before the end of the world.

Metro 2033 gives us a setting in which much of the planet has been devastated and only a few humans have survived by taking refuge in the underground system of Moscow. Ever since it hit the bookshelves in stores, metro 2033 has been quite a success as more than 500,000 copies have been sold.

As the game begins, you catch a sight of what the world has been reduced to. As you and another surviving human get out of the underground system, a mutant immediately attacks, but you’ll handle it quite easily as they’re always easy to slaughter. After killing the mutant, you take on gas masks and proceed to meet your allies coming in vehicles. But now you get the real action as this time around a whole army of mutants attacks your allies and hurts them badly. Meanwhile you have to get a good hiding place and kill the mutants turn by turn again. With your allies utterly dissipated and the enemies outnumbering you, your chances to live to fight another day seem quite bleak, and in the midst of this terrifying situation, you’re taken back to how things were eight days ago so that you learn the story from the beginning visiting the Exhibition for the very first instance.

Metro 2033 Weapons

Because the truth is that the main problem with Metro 2033 is in the shootings, which is ironic in the case of an FPS. The weapons on Metro 2033 have no punch, and enemies are sometimes able to get a couple of impacts without restrain them an inch. It is logical and understandable, moreover, that if it is to represent that the weapons are coarse and patched by hand, they have questionable reliability. But what is not acceptable is that in situations modeled use under the same conditions have radically different consequences. For example, once you stop an enemy from a single gunshot, but the following may not fall until the seventh or eighth. Or you throw a knife to a bug found in the other end of the corridor and this impact with surgical precision, but instead failed miserably to throw less than five feet. Metro 2033 Weapons system is unreliable because it behaves erratically and unpredictably, causing frustration in the player to lead you to death more often than necessary. And there’s another problem: too many creatures are at ground level and are below our field of vision, making the shootings become too chaotic. Something that in most games is no problem here becomes a major handicap for the playable section.

By learning a little about the theme of Metro 2033, if you’re thinking it’s just another shooter game like Fallout 3 PC Game and Stalker, then you are mistaken. Metro 2033 review, despite being another post-end-of-the-world shooter game, offers something unique which sets it apart from other games. The developers have emphasized that they have designed Metro 2033 to be primarily a first-person shooter pc game with instances of character-development, but we definitely can’t tag it as a role-playing game. I really had fun writing this Metro 2033 PC review.

Blizzard’s VP of product development, Frank Pearce, has confirmed to IncGamers that there are no current plans to let EU players play against NA players unless they buy the game in that region as well.

“It’ll be structured very similarly to World of Warcraft, where you’ve got the European region and players matched against the other players within their region,” Pearce told us.

Bob Colayco, one of Blizzard’s main PR reps noted “We haven’t promised anything like that,” but added “that’s something we’ll look into.”

Pearce went on to stress that it’s not all doom and gloom for intercontinental friends and “if you’re a European player and you’ve got friends that are in another region that you want to be able to connect with, we definitely want to support that,” although “it might mean that you have to access it through the US client.”

The main issue is just that you need a separate Battle.net account for each region, and a game associated to that region. Seeing how you need a mandatory physical address for your account, we were wondering if that might not be against the TOS or EULA on principle. Pearce cleared it up by saying he’s “pretty sure that’s not against the TOS or EULA, but you’d be subject to the terms of the EULA for the region in which you’re playing.”

We will shortly release the full interview with Frank, as well as a single player mode hands on preview, so stay tuned!

The sadly underappreciated Gothic role-playing series has been around since 2001 and has told the tale of a soft-spoken nameless hero who ventures forth into a dark fantasy world and eventually becomes a skillful archer, mighty warrior, or powerful wizard while avoiding the perils of being slain by an orc. Perhaps even more sadly, the previous game in the series, Gothic 3, was released with noticeable technical issues, despite the fact that the game also took on an ambitious graphical overhaul. Now, the series is back with a new developer, Spellbound, and a new chapter: Arcania: Gothic 4. Arcania will have a new nameless hero, a new story, and a new home–whereas the previous games were for the PC only, Arcania will also appear on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

We recently had a chance to see the Xbox 360 version of the game in motion to get a quick overview of the game, which starts off on a fairly large “tutorial island” before shipping you off to the rest of the game, which takes place on two other, even-more-vast islands. You play as a nameless shepherd (a brand-new character) whose entire world has been turned upside down by a violent, bloody raid on his home island perpetrated by the new king, Rhobar III, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the previous games’ nameless hero. The king’s raiding party kills off all your character’s friends and family, not to mention his fiancee, so you embark on a journey to seek revenge for your fallen comrades, and you can eventually become a swordsman, archer, or wizard, just like your predecessor.

Arcania seems to be easy to control and easy to play with the standard Xbox 360 controller–your character’s various skills are mapped to quick buttons (a single button press will switch your character from magic to melee to archery), while you can use the D pad to immediately switch to different quick-use items (such as food and other healing items)–a godsend to Gothic fans who previously struggled to pull healing potions out of their packs while they were being beaten to death by monsters.

In addition to reintroducing the series’ three different combat professions, Arcania will have a skill-tree system with points that can be invested each time you gain a level, and its combat systems will be streamlined to make them a bit easier to use. For instance, melee combat will take place with a single button to attack (but will have specific combination attacks based on timing and your character’s invested skill points) plus a separate button to either dodge or block with a shield if you have one; archery will let you autolock your targets at the cost of doing less damage, or zoom in on your targets for deadly headshots once you become more skilled; and magic will have three primary schools in fire (which can be developed to rain down damaging blasts in an area), ice (which both damages and slows the speed of enemies), and lightning (which temporarily stuns enemies by causing their bodies to briefly convulse in pain).

Since Arcania’s story takes place only 10 years after the events of Gothic 3, you can also expect to see reappearances by other familiar characters in the series, such as Diego and Gorn. And again, that new homicidal king sure looks and sounds a lot like the previous games’ nameless hero…but the developer suggests that the story of how the king became what he is may not be as straightforward as it seems. The game itself will be a bit more focused around its story and will have a more-linear structure that will take an estimated 30 to 50 hours to complete for players who just want to reach the end, though there will still be plenty of side content for those who want to poke around and do some exploring.

A bend in the road approaches when suddenly another driver cuts inside and zooms past. It’s brash, arrogant, but nothing compared to what the driver of the passing vehicle does. He turns slightly and facially signals what he thinks of you and your driving abilities. So what do you do? Well, respond, of course, but really … is a rocket up their tailpipe over the top?

Ok, obviously this is not real life – it is kart racing and when May 25 rolls around one of the finest examples of pure fun in the form of video-game kart racing will accelerate into retailers with the release of ModNation Racers from SCEA for the PlayStation 3.

ModNation Racers is the second title in the SCEA “Play, Share, Create” initiative – the first was the acclaimed LittleBigPlanet. Up front, if Sackboy and the ability to create levels, share them, and play online and off were appealing to you, then ModNation Racers is going to be something you will want to play.

It has some of the same elements of LittleBigPlanet. You have a Mod (the little character that can be customized to one’s heart content to be whacky and colorful, or mundane and plain; also that’s where part of the name comes from), a kart, and the opportunity to use a very rich and deep creation system to build tracks. The track editor is surprisingly friendly and yields incredible results.

On the surface, the game offers many of the same racing modes that other kart racers have had – play offline with a career mode, play on the same machine against another player, or go online for head-to-head racing with up to 11 others. Regardless of the race selected, there are load times and the courses are pure eye candy – textured, lush, and colorful with elements that can be interacted with (tokens dot the courses in the career mode and the challenge is to find them all and roar through them to collect them).

Each race is preceded by selecting the speed level, difficulty level, number of laps and number of AI racers. This is an intelligent racer, and the harder you drive (pun intended) the difficulty settings, the tougher it will be to win. There are a number of pre-made race tracks (28) and they are very solid. Each has speed boosts, ramps to jump, and weapon pick-ups scattered throughout the course. Driving solid lines through the course and using the weapons registers style points, as does the appropriate use of drifting tactics in the curves. The style points power up a meter that can deliver a nitro-style short burst of speed – handy for ramp lead-ups, blowing by a close opponent near the finish line, or pulling even with another kart and then using the right thumbstick to side-swipe the opposition and knock the kart off the track. Or snag a weapon and use it to take out a frontrunner or group of them.

There are four weapon types, and they are gathered by running through the icons that pop up on the track. However, knowing when to use them and when to hold them is important because if held on to, the next time a weapon icon is driven through, the weapon possessed by the player gets an upgrade and becomes a bit more powerful. You don’t want to hold on to them for too long, though, because the race pacing is wonderfully fast and a three-lap race can seemingly be over just when you start to feel like you are getting warmed up.

The career mode features a lighthearted story that has some great characters and clever dialogue. In fact, listening to this game is pretty much a treat as well. Not only is the soundtrack capable of being player managed, but the announcing can be pretty funny at times. Like when the overly pompous announcer proclaims that “10,000 cameras” will be covering every second of the race. The more down-to-earth color commentator says that “10,000” is an exaggeration, leading to an insult from the announcer that the only “exaggeration is the size of” the color commentator’s forehead. (Admittedly, that’s a bit sophomoric, but it’s still smile-worthy.)

Online also will feature leaderboards for online racing as well as a matching system for finding races appropriate for your skill level. Everything is accessible through the hub known as the ModSpot.
From start to finish, this is a game infused with fun.

The rest of the formula is pretty stock, though. Race, place and win customization items. Head into the Mod area, and there is a lot that can be done. The Mods can be customized with a rich palette of textures, clothing items, head items, stickers, colors and other assorted accessories – some themed, but all that bring character and personality to the Mod. The karts can be customized with body types, colors, stickers, accessories and kart parts.

And then there are the tracks and the very powerful, but simple-to-use editing tools. From land levels to environmental elements to track textures and shortcuts – everything that the developers used to create the pre-made courses is there for the players to use to create their own. And then everything, the Mods, karts and tracks, can be uploaded and shared online.

This is one of those instances where jumping into the create section is supposed to be a quick drop-in to see what can be done and several hours later, the player comes out with a new Mod and several track designs ready for use.
Replace that mantra of just one more race with “I’ll build just one more track” as hours are kissed off.

Back to the racing … The controls are spot on and tight. Filling the style meter is important because in addition to the nitro boost, you can also get a temporary shield – important when you know you are targeted (and you do know – the game shows you with a red warning light and the sounds shift to let you know there is incoming).

The first time that this United Front Games title was mentioned, it was one of those “gee, another kart racer” moments – but dismiss all those thoughts. ModNation Racers is an intelligent, deep and enjoyable game that takes the ‘play, create, share’ initiative and runs with it. Fun, entertaining, a pleasure to look at and create in – MNR raises the bar for the genre.

One of the more fascinating stratagems in popular culture is the reboot.  Executed when a comic, film or game series has descended into a woefully irretractable trajectory, the maneuver can revitalize a property, allowing the media to jettison its bloated exterior. When executed prudently (as displayed by Space Invaders Extreme 2 or more recently, Batman: Arkham Asylum) the reboot has the power to make a wayward franchise miraculously relevant, allowing participants to forgive any past transgressions.

After suffering through 2005’s Dead to Rights II, I was certain gamers has seen the last of action star Jack Slate and his canine companion, Shadow. Instead of refining the original game’s amalgam of ham-fisted brawling, slow-motion shooting, and sporadic quick time events, the sequel lost its direction. The follow-up abandoned the absorbing gunplay of its predecessor, turning Grant City into a regrettably unsophisticated succession of pop-up targets.

The recently released Dead to Rights: Retribution attempts to revive the neglected franchise, giving the series a requisite restart.  Although not without its faults, the title does offer a modest serving of degenerate aggression that will likely keep action enthusiasts content through its eight-hour campaign. Players that sung the praises of 2008’s 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, should appreciate a comparable quotient of F-bombs, blood-splattering head shots, and low-brow vehemence.

Retribution blends its elements far better than its precursors. Each level tasks players with stealthy environmental skulking with Shadow, ballistic exchanges from exposed and covered positions, as well as a healthy dose of fisticuffs. Neither of these activities is executed with faultless implementation, yet taken synergistically, they contribute to game’s sense of variety.  Retribution shrewdly never gets caught in one rut for too long, keeping the action diverse and simplistic.

The game’s behemoth-sized hound displays a rewarding amount of versatility. When players are controlling Jack, Shadow can retrieve ammo or eliminate enemies with the press of the direction pad. In situations where Jack is prohibited from entering a location (due to his size, not any silly search warrant issues), the dedicated dog can creep in, and clandestinely eliminate foes. With the ability to see enemy footprints, drag bodies,  and offer an enemy-provoking bark, Shadow’s methods would make Sam Fisher envious. Like the recent exploits of the Third-Echelon operative, the canine shows an undeniable bloodlust- burrowing into the chest cavities or groins of his opponents.

Retribution’s shooting mechanics are capable, allowing players to utilize an arsenal of pistols, sub-machine guns, grenades, and RPGS against antagonists which are as dimwitted as they are dense. Regrettably, the ‘A’ button does double duty, initiated Jack to either take cover or to disarm an opponent. In the heat of battle, Jack would occasionally latch onto to wall, allowing him to get blasted by nearby thugs. Apparently, the Grant City Police Academy favors the instruction of knee-cap targeting over basic defensive tactics.

With two PSP entries under its belt, SCEA’s SOCOM US Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo franchise ranks among the premiere shooters on the system, benefiting from great controls and comprehensive multiplayer features. Now, Sony and developer Slant Six Games have released the third entry, Fireteam Bravo 3 to PSP owners everywhere.

Fireteam Bravo 3 is definitely a different beast from its predecessors, sporting a more streamlined and simplified set of gameplay mechanics, doing away with a great deal of the game’s tactical depth in favor of a more action-oriented (read: less strategic) approach. While this might work for newcomers who want to get in on the action right away, the series vets will take issue with the easy single-player campaign and lack of overall depth.

In Fireteam Bravo 3, you’ll play as Wraith, the leader of your four-person SEAL unit. You are put behind Soviet lines in order to find a missing mole that has lost contact with his superiors. Your team goes in alone, working covertly and silently (with no contact from HQ) in order to figure out the mole’s status and discern what went wrong. Things take a quick turn for the worse when one of your SEALs is taken hostage, complicating matters a lot more.

The game’s squad controls have been made much easier than in previous iterations. Your character will be able to have command over each of his units by holding down the circle button to pull open your command radial. By simply pushing the circle button, you’ll be able to send your units to wherever you are currently aiming. This is a fine addition, cleaning up the controls quite a bit.

Unfortunately, the simplicity doesn’t really end there. Mission objectives are pretty streamlined and lack the complexity of previous Fireteam Bravo games, often having you simply moving from one point to another clearing out hostiles. There are secondary missions to be found, but these rarely move beyond searching out buildings for Intel and persons of interest. Additionally, the lock-on mechanic makes these engagements far from engaging, as many of the weapon load-outs are more than capable of taking out enemies from a good distance without having to take the time to aim properly. This and the linear nature of the mission design makes this a very easy single-player experience. It doesn’t help matters that the campaign is pretty short, clocking in at a little under the six hour mark.

However, while the single-player missions may leave a bit to be desired, the multiplayer delivers in spades. The game boasts a solid four-player co-op mode (a first for the PSP system), and myriad competitive modes, including classic modes like Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch, as well as modes like Escort and Demolition that shake things up. The modes also run very solidly without lag. Couple that with voice chat capabilities and you’ve got a great multiplayer experience that technically rivals anything you’d see on a console.

Graphically, Fireteam Bravo 3 is a solid looking title. The character models look pretty good for a PSP game, and the environments are well-detailed. The action also unfolds at a smooth clip as well.

The sound is also very good. The music does a great job of setting the stage for the game’s theme and general mood, and the voice acting is solid. The sound effects are also well done, aside from a few instances of cutting out.

While Fireteam Bravo 3’s single-player campaign is short, easy, and pretty drab, the competitive multiplayer element really helps carry the experience. Just don’t expect the level of depth as other SOCOM games.

Gameplay: 7.0
While the controls are as solid as ever (a feat considering the PSP’s limitations in this area), the game’s single-player element lacks the creative spark of the previous iterations. The game feels very simplified compared to the other titles, and the overall brevity of the campaign and its ease makes for a somewhat lackluster experience.

Graphics: 8.5
Fireteam Bravo is a pretty sweet looking game, with nice character models, detailed environments, and a smooth clip.

Sound: 8.5
The music and sound effects are both very solid, and the game features some quality voice work to boot.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.0
The story is a bit of a drag, and the simplistic nature of the gameplay might turn off series stalwarts.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Certainly the high point of the experience, the game’s multiplayer is comprehensive and runs very solidly on the system with minimal lag.

Overall: 7.5
While the game’s single-player campaign isn’t as fleshed out as we would’ve hoped and the mechanics have been overly simplified, the game’s solid multiplayer definitely gives it some long-lasting legs.

God of War 3 takes everything you loved about the series and amplifies it. The result of this is a truly engrossing game on all levels, from gameplay to graphics and even the music. If I were to sum up the game in one word it would have to be “Epic”.

The graphics are extraordinary, and the ‘wow’ factor kicks in from the very start. The visuals are consistently stunning throughout the game, however, the boss fights are really designed to take your breath away most of the times. I don’t believe any other game has attempted something this colossal, although the boss fights have always been grand in the series, this time around they are simply ridiculous, but in a good way! What’s even more impressive is that all this happens without any hint of lag – so it’s a smooth experience from start to finish.

The music is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the God of War series, and sounds very much like the previous games. It still does a great job of heightening the tension in key moments and keeping you engaged. However, maybe I’ve grown up since playing the last 2 games, but this time I felt the dialogue for Kratos was quite cheesy and uneven in some places. The rest of the characters you encounter throughout the game have dialogue more congruent with their personas.

The gameplay itself is practically identical to its predecessors. You get some very cool and distinct weapons along the way which make slaying your opponents quite thrilling. There are four main weapons that can be leveled up for additional moves which add more ‘flexibility’ and power to your array of assaults. Speaking of assaults, this game is way more brutal than before, in some cases giving you options to go on ruthlessly after you’ve killed your opponent. As an example, there is one boss fight where you keep punching until your screen is plastered in blood and you can continue bashing the guy’s head in if you wish! It almost makes you feel guilty for enjoying these barbaric acts.

The majority of the gameplay is destroying different hordes of enemies (and they give you a nice variety to work with). You will have to employ different strategies with different opponents, since some are more vulnerable to certain kinds of weapons. You can get away with button mashing in the later stages of the game once you’ve leveled up to a certain degree, but prior to that you do have to learn to dodge and get your timing right.

One thing I noticed is that there are fewer puzzles this time around and even those are not as complex as some of the ones in the previous games. I’m guessing this will resonate well with the majority of gamers as it keeps the momentum going. I would’ve personally liked a few difficult puzzles but I didn’t mind this change of pace too much either. The rest is ‘simply’ fighting gods and even titans and slaying them in creative and brutal ways which will leave you quite impressed with Kratos.

One thing that set God of War apart from regular action games was the utterly engrossing storyline based on Greek Mythology. That is still the case, but this time you don’t really feel the story moving forward in a meaningful way until the latter part of the game. Also it feels the storyline is a bit fragmented. Kratos viciously slays everyone and everything (even unnecessarily at times) from beginning and then near the end he suddenly becomes emo. This also leads to an ending that was a big disappointment in my books, unfortunately I cannot discuss that here! Luckily the ride was good enough to compensate for the erratic storyline.

All in all, this game is quite identical to its predecessors, and even better in some ways. Santa Monica Studio stuck to their winning formula from the previous games and polished off a few things to deliver the ultimate action adventure game experience. One thing to note is that this game is not very long – about 8-10 hrs, but perfect for this kind of experience. If you have no objections to an absurd amount of blood and gore then I recommend you go out and pick this up right away.