The Day Gaming Cried

Some time ago UbisSoft had to settle a huge class-action suit brought against the company for bundling (the notoriously harmful) StarFORCE DRM with its released games. So what the geniuses at the helm do next? They decide to make the same mistake yet again - by choosing the same DRM scheme that made BioShock, Mass Effect and Spore infamous: SecuROM 7.xx with Limited Activations!

Mass Effect (a great game in all other aspects) can be fouSpore not only undersold miserably but also made history as the boiling point of gamers lashing back, fed up with idiotic DRM schemes. And the clueless MBAs that run an art-form as any other commodity business decided that, "hey, why not jump into that mud-pond ourselves?"

nd in clearance bins only months after its release;

The original Far Cry was such a monumental game that any sequel of it would have to fight an uphill battle to surpass it (especially without its original developing team). Now imagine shooting this sequel on the foot with a well known, much hated and totally useless DRM scheme that turns it into another Rent-A-Game no one wants. Were I a UbiSoft stock-holder I would be ordering my broker to "Sell-Sell!-SELL!!" instead of posting this...

Ever since its 7.xx version, SecuROM has nothing to do with..."fighting piracy". All it does in this direction (blocking certain optical and virtual drives) is a very old, lame and already bypassed attempt that serves as a thin smoke-screen. SecuROM is, in fact, an intruding and silent Data-Miner and Root-Hijacker that is delivered by means of popular games.

That is why even the STEAM versions as well as the (free) Demos of such games are infected with it. SecuROM will borrow deep into our PC systems and will refuse to be removed completely even after uninstalling the game it came with. It will retain backdoor access and will keep reporting to its mothership.

Lately, these security concerns have been accentuated as known Trojans seem to be exploiting SecuROM's backdoor access for their own purposes. In effect, installing a SecuROM-infected game in our computer will be placing your hardware and data at risk long after having uninstalled the game.

And the latest vehicle to deliver this hazardous snoopware is Far Cry 2 - a game crippled by Limited Installations! No, thanks. I think I 'll pass this one too.

The only people who do not care about SecuROM are, in fact,...pirates! Because cracking games "protected" by this contraption apparently is very easy. Every single game that was supposedly "protected" by SecuROM was cracked hours withing its release!

To everyone else though, SecuROM (or StarFORCE or any other hazardous DRM scheme) is a core issue that needs to be resolved before PC gaming can evolve any further. And the best way to resolve such issues is market correction.

That is why it is important for gamers to keep voting with their wallets. And as with any vote, well informed decisions are paramount in making the right choice. 

A Metroid Universe

The last Metroid games I had played was Metroid II: The Return of Samus on my old GameBoy and the absolutely exceptional Super Metroid on a borrowed SNES. I still have the music from when crossing the Red Soil in Brinstar as a ringtone in my cellphone. So, buying this trilogy was more of a compulsion for me however, it turned out to be a very smart idea.

With Mtroid Prime: Trilogy, for the price of a single game, you get all three Metroid Prime games: Metroid Prime I, Metroid Prime II: Echoes, & Metroid Prime III: Corruption. Metroid Prime I and II: Echoes have been ported from the GameCube, with improved graphics and controls adapted to the Wii. Metroid Prime III: Corruption is one of the best games ever designed for the Wii!

You can access any of the three games from the Menu and play any one of them interchangeably. I found I and III to be beautiful games, offering endless hours of fun whereas II was a bit darker but still a not-to-be-missed experience. It took me a while to master the controls (I am a seasoned PC gamer yet new to consoles) but once I started feeling comfortable with them I had to tear myself away from the game.

Since all of my previous Metroid experience was limited to side-scrolling games, stepping into the space boots (and sticky-ball) of Samus was a blast!

Don't sit this one out. The fate of the Universe depends on it.

Murphy's Law On Radioactive Tovariches

This is not a game to pick up to have mindless fun. Because everything that can go wrong eventually will. Unfortunately not just in the game.

Metro 2033 is set in a postapocalyptic Russian cityscape where only the lucky(?) commuters in the famous Moscow underground survived the nuclear blasts - and are now tormented by the cruel conditions they have to face. The underground tunnels belong to surviving humans ranging to both ends of the moral spectrum and various mutant creatures, all trying to make the most of their life.

And life is harsh. Ammunition is so scarce it is used as currency. So you have to be very careful with your aim. Having to make every shot count may sound fun but the next time you get caught with an almost empty weapon between nasty mutants and bloodthirsty enemies you may long for a more generous game design.

The weapons are not many but they are well designed. Both the pre-war and the improvised ones offer more or less realistic mechanics and satisfying results.

Light and shadows play an important role and stealth is something you will be thinking quite a lot - especially if you are low on ammunition. The graphics of the environments are detailed and beautiful whereas the movements seem fluid and natural. The game designers aimed in increasing the immersion factor wherever they could (there is no HUD besides your cross-hairs, you have to hit T to take a look at your watch - very important when venturing into the irradiated cities); however, pop-up messages and stuttering take a big bite out of that.

Metro 2033 will inevitably be compared to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. I found S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to be more of an RPG (hence its open sandbox nature) whereas METRO 2033 is more of a shooter with a predestined path to follow.

The PC I run this maxed out is a 2 years old system (WinXP SP3, P7 920 on MSI Eclipse with 3GB of RAM and an ASUS nVIDIA GTX480) and the game showed a proneness to stuttering, especially when enemies swarmed. I guess a future patch could take care of that but I would had preferred to receive a finished game and not one rough around its edges.

The retail version of Metro 2033 comes with Red Faction: Guerrilla as a bonus. It is not a bad game and, contrary to Metro, it offers more fun than immersion.

Finally, even he retail version of the game will require to be tied to a STEAM account. Yes that means ownership of your game will be stolen back and you will be allowed to play with it but not actually keep it. Whether this is acceptable to you or not you can now make an informed decision.

Tread with caution.

Workers Of The Outer Worlds, Unite!

The original Red Faction did not only break new ground and bring a number of innovations to the FPS genre - but it was also great fun to play. It was the first game, if I remember correctly, that incorporated damage to the environments that was not just for effect but played quite an important role in the story. Now, its sequels... well, succession in times of revolution is never easy.

Like any revolution, Red Faction (III): Guerrilla, strives to overcome but falls victim to harsh realities - and some bad decisions. But there are also a lot of sparks coming out from under this hammer.

First off, this game tries to be too many things at the same time. It has missions and you get to augment your weapons - but it is clearly not a cRPG. And you get to explore and shoot - but, even if you will find yourself in some hairy situations, the moments of adrenaline rush and intensity are rare. Early on the weapons get too powerful and the importance of explosions overtake the gameplay. Do not get me wrong, I love the smell of a singularity bomb in the morning as much as the next guy - but you can have too many explosions.

Oh, and how come one can blow up building and vehicles sky high but the surrounding rocks remain intact? And while I am poking plot holes: where is all the oxygen coming from since Mars seem as barren as a red desert?

Now, unless the hero were to wear armor we would love to see, why was there a need to go from an FPS to a Third-Person Shooter perspective? There have been TPS games that work great (the excellent Max Payne series spring to mind) but more often than not, the over the shoulder camera ruins the immersion - not to mention your aim.

Finally, there is the issue of graphics. I have an 2 years old system at home (i7 920, nVIDIA GTX480, 3GB of RAM, WinXP SP3), yet, even when all parameters were all maxed out, the graphics were not crisper than Half Life 2 (a 6 year old game). I understand that there are way more particles on the screen and the physics of their explosion would make the game unplayable in 2-3 year old systems but I expected more effort on that department.

On the other hand, driving is great fun! A-la GTA, you can hijack almost anything: from personal vehicles to huge utility tracks. And then there are walkers you can augment. And you can drive them almost over or through everything. The most sturdy of them will take quite a beating before dying on you so I really enjoyed walking or driving through walls and demolishing buildings. Who needs a map if you can plow a path straight towards your destination?!

Did I mention explosions? True, they are a bit excessive, yet there is no denying their fun factor! And what I found particularly impressive is how the choice and design of weapons stay within the story of miners revolting on Mars.

Another piece of good news: the game may not be DRM-free (it is protected by Impulse and WindowsLIVE online saves) but it has neither any malicious form of SecuROM nor does it require any type of activation.

A Rollercoster Of A Game

What you get if you cross Far Cry's endless sandbox and Stranglehold's cool moves with TOCA's vehicle realism and Bionic Commando's grappling hook fun? That's right, you get Just Cause 2. But this is not a perfect world.

Step into the boots of Rico Rodriguez, the luckiest CIA agent ever on a mission to ...liquidate the ruthless dictator, Baby Panay. Said dictator is not the most loved ruler to begin with - hence the three existing (and bickering) factions that oppose him. As Rico you will undertake missions of destruction to help these factions. Completing these missions awards Chaos points that advances the story missions and unlocks better equipment.

The game is just gorgeous! Set in an endless archipelago world of Panau (actually about 1,000km2 or 400ml2) that spans from tropical jungles to snow-caped mountains and dusty badlands you can roam more or less freely. There are seamless day/night cycles but what are really impressive are the weather effects. Like a postal-office worker not rain or snow or sleet can stop Rico - and his clothes will get wet or dusty accordingly. And if you decide to drive keep in mind that cars will handle differently under different weather conditions.

The guns are quite satisfying but what steals the show is the grapple-gun. Grab from passing helicopters and hitch a ride or tie your enemies to exploding gas-canisters and watch them skyrocket to their exploding demise. There are a thousand uses for this weapon - and they are all fun.

There is also an endless supply of vehicles in this game. From rickshaws to super-cars and from jet-fighters to cigarette-boats, you shall not have to walk another mile in your life while in Panau. Crash them and see them accumulate very realistic damages. That's the good news. The bad news is that most of them handle like a semi-deflated boat.

Because not everything runs smoothly in the archipelago. After the fifteenth time you blow up the same tower and the twentieth time you plant explosives on a speeding car and escape with your trusted para-sail, you will start wondering if there is an actual point behind all this mayhem. Then again, is there really a need for a reason to keep blowing up stuff with great style?

To get on this ride you will need either WinVISTA or Win7. I did not notice this until I had already opened the box. I am still a loyal WinXP user at home but, luckily, about two months ago I bought a new laptop and, of course, it came with Win7. I never found gaming to be comfortable on laptops (the keys are closer together and laptop mouses not as ergonomic), but this is besides the point.

The point is that there was absolutely no reason for this game to exclude about 40% of gamers that still stick with their WinXP as they are compatible with all of our classic games.

Moreover, the game requires STEAM to run which means the copy you pay for will never actually become yours to keep. Whether you find this acceptable or not, you can now make an informed decision.

All in all, Just Cause 2 is a game with some flaws but it also offers exhilarating fun.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Forgive me Source-Code for I have sinned. For years I was a dedicated PC-gamer. I though ill of gaming consoles, considering them consumer-toys rather than entertainment systems. Who needs overpriced and oversized gaming consoles that can play Movie-DVDs and even BluRayDisks when most good games are released for PCs as well and they look and play better on them, right? Well, the Nintendo Wii is a different breed.

Gaming on the Wii is an experience one has to live at least once - but preferably whenever he or she feels blue. Sure, it may not sport the cutting-edge graphical capabilities of a SONY PS3 or the game titles selection of the Xbox. Nevertheless, most Wii games take full advantage of the console's capabilities and the exclusive games selection include the unsurpassable The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the absorbing Metroid Prime Trilogy, the mesmerizing Okami and the soothing Endless Ocean: Blue World.

Not to mention the capabilities of Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort when coupled with a Wii Balance Board!

If you can still find one, I would advise buying the (Limited edition) black one. I keep mine in our TV room and the black blends perfectly with my other home entertainment electronics. In any case, do not miss the revolution.

There is simply no other console that offers so much fun. Both SONY and Microsoft have technologically excellent gaming consoles - but Nintendo is the only one that always keeps in mind that gaming is supposed to be fun.