If there ever was any doubt that gaming is an art-form, the Shaddow Warrior shreds it to pieces.
The game offers traditional Japanese settings (from the temples and the castles to the mythology and the paintings), rich late 80's environments (from shipyards and inner courtyards to caves and snowy mountains) and a great collection of interesting guns. It may be only 9 in total yet I got more excited when I got the shotgun or the rocket launcher than I ever was finding any one of the bazzilion guns in Borderlands 2.
Each type of enemy has different strengths and different weaknesses so you will have to try to figure out the best and quickest way to put them down. Each gun comes with three purchasable upgrades and augmentations. No sniper rifle because this game wants you to be up close and personal.
The music is sublime, the dialog witty, the atmosphere mesmerizing, the hidden secrets will keep you exploring every nook and cranny (and try again and again to find your way to that impossible to reach bonus statue) and the story unfolds in twists and turns and double-crosses. And the ending will make you misty.
I know it is not fair to this epic game but it does bring to mind the game Daikatana should had been. See, Mr Romero, if you fail to get it right, someone else eventually will. Now, I usually refuse full marks to games that come with an obligatory online digital distribution platform such as STEAM (required here); however, this game is so good I decided to make a rare exception.
I am old enough to have played the original game when it first came out in 1997. I was a great fan of the series that followed and, thus, was very eager to get my hands on this latest installment. In a short sentence: Fallout 3 is a dream come true.
It is a cRPG game in which the player can alternate between the First and Third person perspective roaming a world comparable in size with Oblivion. The action has moved from Vault 13 and Southern California to Vault 101 and Washington, D.C. and the story brakes away from the previous bloodlines. However, the atmosphere of the original has been maintained and its scents sharpened: veterans will find it fitting like and old glove - whereas the new gamers are in store for a bag of pleasant surprises.
The graphics are wonderful, the guns detailed and the environments highly interactive. Short of a screenshot, imagine what would HalfLife-2 would look if released today. And similar to HL2, Fallout 3 does not require an...übercomputer to run smoothly. Once you see a NPC move though, you understand where the corners were cut.
Character customization is carried out in great style using the new and improved PIP-BOY at the beginning. You exit the vault and the harsh reality of a world that barely survived annihilation slaps you on the face. Adapt or perish.
The main storyline is there to be followed but Fallout 3offers the greatest number of alternative choices I have ever encountered in a game! There is always a great number of paths to follow in order to achieve any goal - but every choice comes with a consequences tag. This is common feature of most classic cRPGs but in Fallout 3 I saw it implemented like never before. If nothing else, this sends replayability through the roof.
Side-quests offer little besides distraction and experience points (XP) to be spend on character improvement. XP are gained solely by completing quests, emerging victorious from fights, finding locations, picking locks and hacking terminals - and they are not limited by the action they were earned. Levelling up is based on 7 basic attributes [Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility & Luck - acronym?;)] that, in turn, affect your (13) specific skills. Since levelling
up is capped at Level-20, the game designers wanted to encourage replaying the game. On the other hand, it also means that your character will never realize its full potential (in case you are wondering why I withheld a star from fun, that's the second half of it).
The game is violent and gory but well within tasteful limits. Not so with the language - but it is tradeoff with realism. In a radioactive world, Sunday-school niceties are bound to go out the window.
What deserves a special mention is V.A.T.S. (:Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) which opens new vistas in cRPG design. It is an ingenious system which lets you pause the game and target specific body parts of your opponents. The success of your attack still depends on your skills but the end effect is cinematic and amazing (remember the movie Swordfish?).
After the nuclear summer of 2008 (with all the LimitedInstallation-defective EA releases), this seems like a postapocalyptic dawn indeed! Bethesda decided to listen to the gaming community and did not cripple this beautiful game with any idiotic DRM scheme. Inputting a serial number and a DVD-check is more than reasonable.
The publishers of Fallout 3 understand that there is a fine balance between "protecting the product" and..."insulting your own customers". And they obviously view respect as the two way street that it is - and for this they deserve our support: buy this game, today.
Voting with our wallets is the only argument the gaming industry cannot afford to ignore. And it is about time to cast some well deserved positive votes.
During this ongoing Dark Age for PC gaming, when corporate Greed has coupled with pseudo-DRM schemes to stifle any original idea or creative process, I found myself, again and again, reaching for the classics. And Deus Ex is definitely a classic masterpiece.
Set in the near future, infused with equal doses of cyberpunk mentality and noir atmosphere, playing like an FPS with strong RPG elements (inventory, character development, modifiable equipment, secondary quests) - and yet one is better off avoiding shooting more often than not!. Whoever played Deus Ex can attest that this game will stay with you. Forever. And rightly so.
This is a game infused with life. The characters act natural. The script is brilliantly paranoid. And the whole setting will immerse you into this twisted world of technological possibilities and power.
In a perfect world, David Lynch would have realized William Gibson's Neuromancer. Short of that, we have been offered Deus Ex.
Sure the graphics may look dated. But I promise you that you will find no lip-synced modern game more appealing than Deus Ex Even 5+ years old PCs will be able to render its full potential (although the game's strengths are hardly limited to its appearance) - and it is DRM-free.
Baldur's Gate II was the longest the most fun games I have ever played!
The original Baldur's Gate was excellent in all of storyline, gameplay, music and stability. Now, nowadays, sequels usually mean a graphically-improved expansion (at best). Baldur's Gate II is a rare exception of the sequel clearly surpassing the original. And in the case of such great original, this means a lot!
Words fail to describe the perfect harmony of brilliant ideas, emerging story-line and detailed coding that makes this game an unsurpassed classic! Do not let the slightly outdated graphics discourage you. They were cutting edge only some years ago - and you will be able to unleash their full potential even on mid-range PCs!
I have yet to meet anyone who has played it and not raved about it! Hard-core D&D fans will find the character building, fighting checks and balances and overall experience very close to the actual pen-&-paper games.
Casual computer gamers will notice none of the tedious stuff of other cRPGs as the gameplay runs smooth and beautifully.
You even have the choice to turn it into either a turn-based or an action game by tweaking the auto-pause options! I am telling you: this is how computers games should be!
You will let yourself get lost in the deep dungeons of the labyrinthic story; you will be laughing out loud to the humorous dialog; you will be surprised as to who is a double and triple-agent.
There is an evil beyond imagining unleashed and only you with your party can stand in its way.
Party members offer a multitude of unpredictable balancing points and diverging story-lines of their own: side quests, conflicts and love affairs enrich the story in so many original ways!
Amelie and The City of Lost Children belong to those films that, although, you find strange when you sit through it for the very first time, they stay with you forever. I find the director (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) to be Europe's answer to David Lynch - only a tad heavier on the regressive images and lighter on the subconscious horrors. So when he had another film out, I was not going to miss it. And, once more, I was glad I did. MicMacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot, as is the original title) is a sleeper gem of a film.
A bunch of eccentrics (each with his or hers own quirky character and unusual personal history) come together by life's caprice and end up undertaking an impossible task: try to take down the two largest arms manufacturers in the country. Ingenious ideas, impossible retro gadgets (handmade from salvaged materials), and an unwavering sense of justice. No sacrifice is too big if it means making the villains pay for their crimes.
The colors are soft and comforting; the imagery is mesmerizing; the music will take you back to a more naive age; and the story will make you laugh, cry and laugh again. All in all, great entertainment!
Inceptionis a movie built like a labyrinth, complete with a menacing minotauric presence and a guiding Ariadne; worlds within worlds and dreams reflected onto dreams like an infinity mirror effect.
Nolan takes the viewer deep, deeper than any other filmmaker in memory, and without holding your hand all the way he never lets you get lost. His vision has years compressed into hours, Paris folding onto itself, militarized minds and entire worlds built out of a single person's imagination. Yet in the end, his logic is solid and his story scintillatingly brilliant.
This is a bioSciFi, a cyberpunk and an action movie all rolled into a complex story in the near future, where not even our dreams will be safe and sharing our subconscious fears and fixations will only be an induced REM cycle away. A true and timeless Masterpiece of a movie.
Everyone has his or hers favorite TV shows, and our preferences may shift with seasonal moods, age and personal experiences. However, Twin Peaksis television at its best! The frivolity of the 80's gave way to the seriousness of the 90's - all painted in 50's Americana nostalgia of innocence lost.
Atmospheric, mysterious, quirky, intriguing, intelligent, naive, bold and nostalgic for an American way of life gone - if it ever really existed - yet coveted in all our visions of Utopia. Then again, there is a serpent in every Eden. And David Lynch knows how to, masterfully, give us brief terrifying glimpses of it!
Words are just not capable to describe this prematurely terminated series! Every time I watch it I discover another moment, another gem I treasure. Casting three of the most beautiful women of the 90's did not hurt either. Too bad the network executives decided to, first, meddle with the plot and, when this backfired, then treat this masterpiece as filler material, moving it around to different weekdays and different time-slots. No wonder ratings floundered resulting in the series eventual cancellation.
True, the 25 years are not up yet. However, I think that real Agent Cooper has remained trapped in the Waiting Area long enough. Let's all petition David Lynch for a long-awaited movie or TV mini-series to tidy things up.
Own it and make weekends out of it. Once in a blue moon a certain magic manifests amongst us. One that never fades.
In 2007 a small Eastern European game developer (CD PROJEKT RED)...shows BIOWARE how to use their own Aurora engine. The original Witcher was the game that Neverwinter Nights had promised (but never managed) to be. Two years later BIOWARE picks up the glove and comes back with a strong response, the masterpiece Dragon Age: Origins. Unfortunately, its sequel, Dragon Age 2, does not live up to expectations. And this is all the opening the perfect sequel needed to come in and, once more, steal the show.
THIS IS HOW TO MAKE A cRPG SEQUEL!
There was to be an Xbox version of this game (and, probably a PS3 one later on). Nevertheless, The Witcher 2 is a game designed from start to finish for the PC. In an age when 7-8 years old consoles set the standard this is very important. From the brand new engine to the very last script line, everything that could be recreated from scratch was and everything that could be improved shows improvement.
The story is now even deeper; the graphics are several notches higher (even better than most modern First-Person Shooters); character development has been both streamlined and more balanced; equipping Geralt is now more detailed whereas loot is abundant.
It is possible (although not necessary) to import your character from the first Witcher. If, like me, you liked the original game, you will simply love the sequel.
LOOK AT THE SKY: IT IS THE WITCHING HOUR - EVERY HOUR!
The graphics are simply A-MA-ZING! I like the way the rock formations catch the moving shadows and how the wind stirs up dust. I like the subtle movement of the grass and the exploding colors of the wild flowers. I like the textures of the clothes, the shine of the armor and the glint of the swords. I like the way the sun gets in your eyes and the way rays of light play with the tree foliage.
What is also important, these graphics and dynamic lighting are achieved even on medium-built systems. Even more impressively, the game is set in a day/night cycle, and this is reflected not only on the levels of ambient light but also on the activities of the surrounding world.
THE WORLD AROUND YOU COMES TRULY ALIVE
Remember how in most RolePlaying games approaching a Non-Playing Character (NPC) usually means he or she would utter any one of a small number of preset phrases? After a while, you have heard them all and it got very predictable. Well, prepare to be surprised. Again and again.
This is a world you will truly be immersed into. A world that wakes up, goes to work, gossips, bickers and barters, and unwinds in the tavern. Walk the same streets at night and they are eerily empty. And that is without taking into account the ever changing weather!
The immersion is so total for yet two other reasons: not only is the world fully open from the very beginning (no blocked areas or closed bridges!) but there are no loading delays between areas (only between chapters).
THE LIFE OF A WITCHER IS NEVER BORING
Geralt is a real warlock, combining a mix of sword fighting with potions and spells. These are the three main character developing trees, Swordmaster, Alchemist or Mage. Sword moves, potion ingredients and spells can be combined - and all choices are meticulously balanced.
With the original Witcher it took me a while to master the timed sword-strokes - but it was really satisfying after that. In the sequel, sword-fighting has been simplified to the classic mod - and that is one of the gripes I have with this game (yes, us gamers are sure fickle!). The other is the short dialogue options. I like my cRPGs wordy.
Now, the story is far from being linear. Choices matter and choosing a path will bifurcate the story, most of the times irrevocably. And the story in The Witcher 2is as important as the fighting.
What I also appreciated was the return of consequences. Those of you who have played Baldur's Gate Saga know that bashing or picking the lock of a chest was a punishable offense if anyone saw you. In contrast, in Dragon Age: Origins you could rob the town blind and (quite unrealistically) the NPCs could not care less. Well, in this game, your character better behave or face the ever vigilant guards.
ADJUST TO YOUR ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF BINDING. AND, THEN, THE DREAM
The first retail versions of this game came with a simple disc-check, implemented by SecuROM. If you own Fallout 3, for example, you have experienced the same thing. Compared to the customer-abusing schemes out there (UBISOFT's and 2K-GAMES' ears should be burning at this point) I find this solution not ideal but palatable. And yet it gets better: the game is now DRM-FREE!
Even from launch, acknowledging the fact that most gamers would rather not have to deal even with this mild version of DRM, the developers made sure to also release a (digital) GOG version of the game which was DRM-free. Then, the very first patch (and all patches can be applied by simply using the game's launcher), removed all traces of the DRM. The Enhanced edition that came later was DRM-free from the very beginning.
Just for thinking like a gamer and truly respecting their customers, CD PROJEKT RED gets full marks in my books!
A FINAL SPELL
I have only praises for this magnificent sequel to a great game. It was one of the rare cases when I pre-ordered a game before I knew anything about it and was rewarded with a game that exceeded my highest expectations. I do have some advice for the game developers though.
First, keep showing the same respect to your customers and you will see that gamers know how to repay this with equal respect and loyalty. And finally, when the mega-publishers show up at your door with their mesmerizing bags of money, try to remember what happened to so many great game developing groups in the past that did not resist to temptation.
With my Highest Recommendations!
(and not only because, as promised, all of their past and future DLCs are free!)
Dungeons & Dragons Anthology is the ultimate RPG collection. It contains only masterpieces
and (if you move fast) for a great price one can own six of the greatest cRPGs ever
released!
All six are isometric Role-Playing games and (with the
exception of Temple of Elemental Evil) they are built on variations of
the Infinity Engine. They also share similar gameplay mechanics. They
are story driven (prepare to do a lot of reading when faced with
dialogue options - something I missed in their latest successor, Dragon Age: Origins), and they offer almost an infinite number of customizations for your hero and his companions.
If
you are hooked on graphics you should know that these games are no
eye-candy anymore. However, we have all played or rather tried to play
bad games with impressive graphics and know that a game does not have to
offer the latest graphics to grab you, immerse you into its world and
offer endless hours of escapist fun.
Because there are tons of reviews on the individual games (links provided), I shall only give brief descriptions of them.
BALDUR's GATE Saga: The Stone years. This includes Baldur's Gate I & Baldur's Gate II,
each with its own expansion (this is how it is done, good games are
followed by a single solid expansion - not a endless string of DLCs!).
ICEWIND DALE Saga: The Wood years. This includes Icewind Dale with its expansion and Icewind Dale 2. These games are very similar to Baldur's Gate and, although shorter, they are harder and require even more tactical thinking.
TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL:
The Metal years. Although this game sports the best graphics of the
collection, it will require some patience because it is both built as an
older Turn-Based RPG (although one can turn it to real-time) and
introduces the first version of the character-action wheel (we would
later come to see in the NeverWinter Nights games). It is an acquired
taste but it does reward climbing the learning curve.
PLANESCAPE - TORMENT:
The Bone Years. I consider this to be the best game of the collection -
and I am a huge fan of the BG Saga. Planescape is dark and deep and
bittersweet and beautiful. It is intelligent and imaginative and the
music will enchant you. For ever. If I were to choose one game to play
for the rest of my life, this would be it.
Were I a member of the gaming Industry right now (especially one of the 500-lbs gorillas the likes of EA and Activision/Blizzard) I would hang my head in shame. Because where conglomerates with literally thousands of employees have failed, a small Eastern European company of less than 30 people taught them all what gaming should look and feel like and how it should be marketed.
Who of the multi-billion gaming "giants" ever went back to rework and improve a game already released? And then offer the new enhanced version to their customers for Free? Yet, there you have it: thanks to CD PROJEKTRED gaming as an art-form is still alive and kicking!
The Witcherwas the most awaited fantasy cRPG in the past 3 years. Not only did the original deliver, but even more work has gone into truly improving it.When first released this was one of the most beautiful Role-Playing Games I ever played - and now, now it is gorgeous.
The environments are detailed, realistic, and can be experienced from up close. Grass, flowers and tree branches moved in both Fable and Titan Quest as well; these, however, seem so true I caught myself reaching for my...antihistamines! Weather affects and day-night alterations (you have to see the elongating shadows to believe them!) are just gorgeous! More importantly, these are not just eye-candy: certain NPCs and monsters appear only when the correct combination of time-of-day and weather coincide...The horizon is far and the clouds move in endless variations. It reminded me of the sky of the original Unreal, another visually ground-breaking game at its time. Pure. Visual. Magic.
The character (Geralt) can master both sword-fighting and magic spells (what is known in Western Europe as a Warlock). To some die-hard RPG fans this may seem like heresy, nevertheless, keep in mind that multi-classing is not unheard off. The movement repertoire for both practices are impressively designed. Especially the sword-fighting, it is at par to any console action game. And the spells (both offensive and defensive ones) are not less impressive.
Free roaming? Yes and no. One can decide which parts of the map he will visit but loading is still needed to travel even annoyingly short distances. And since quests and side-quest still have to be completed, yes, eventually a subtle, yet ever present, directionality is present.
Looting and bartering? Aaah...yes, sort of. You practically never change the swords you start off with (you do but much later in the game and the selection is not...vast), whereas good armor is only a little easier to come by compared to Planescape: Torment. Keep in mind that is is a true cRPG - not an item conveyor-belt the likes of Diablo3.
On the upside, you get to gamble (real men do NOT quicksave before betting on dice-poker!), have romantic relationships and bribe for information, so trinkets have other uses as well.
Detailed character modifiers? Nothing like the AD&D rules but you do gain talents (gold, silver & bronze) which you can spend to improve your fighting or magical abilities. You will only get a number of those (especially gold ones) so you have to choose wisely. At the same time this increases the re-playability of the game.
After replaying the game over and over these past years, I can find no fault with it. The camera placement, which sometimes got on my nerves (it is that Aurora Engine...), I got used to rather quickly. And the timed sword strokes that I had to learn how to land in order to get the sequence bonuses and maximum effect (and was bitching about in my initial review of the game), well, I got to love them so much that I even missed them in The Witcher II! Yes, us gamers, we are a fickle bunch.
This game brought a breath of fresh air to the scene when released. This Enhanced edition not only is a truly reworked game but it also comes full with detailed Manuals, beautiful Maps and all the extras that games used to come with in the good old days. Now, not only does this game include the best MODs and DLCs, but, in the respect-the-gamer-first spirit of CD PROJEKT RED, it is absolutely DRM-FREE!
Whereas the Baldur's Gate Saga was story-heavy but (by today standards) visually wanting and the NeverWinter Nignts Series was found, well, wanting in all aspects, The Witcheris the dream cRPG that BIOWARE was supposed to be capable of releasing all along but never did - and its current EA bedfellows surely put a stop to such aspirations now. That game, however, is finally here - and not from whom you would expect.
A tip of my hat to CD PROJEKT RED for keeping the art-form of Gaming alive. Well done indeed!
The game offers traditional Japanese settings (from the temples and the castles to the mythology and the paintings), rich late 80's environments (from shipyards and inner courtyards to caves and snowy mountains) and a great collection of interesting guns. It may be only 9 in total yet I got more excited when I got the shotgun or the rocket launcher than I ever was finding any one of the bazzilion guns in Borderlands 2.
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