A True Prince Amongst Thieves

There was an extra reason for gamers to rejoice Holiday season of 2008: draconian DRM schemes appeared to be on their way out. First Bethesda striped SecuROM to the bare minimum for FALLOUT 3; then DRM-free World of Goo (an indie game!) outperforms Spore - a 45-million flop; and, finally, UbiSoft decides to walk the narrow yet honest path towards customer loyalty, by releasing a DRM-free game. Yes, Prince of Persia is DRM-Free!

This was either a very decent and brave decision (after all, only a month ago, Far Cry 2 came with a fully activated SecuROM 7.xx and Limited Installations) or it was an experiment: the executives wanted to see whether games do indeed sell good either with or without intrusive DRM.

Either way, UbiSoft deserved to be congratulated.

I was one of the first to chastise their decisions to ruin good games with heavy-handed DRM schemes. It is only fair to be one of the first to congratulate them on a customer-first decision. And because talk is cheap, I bought my copy the moment it was released. I would advise anyone who would care to listen to vote with his or her wallet and support such a gutsy decision. Because it sure takes guts to go against the current and brake ranks with the other greedy game publishers. And, this time, the Canadians at UbiSoft (Montreal) proved they have brass ones.

The game itself is simplified fun. The graphics are clear and fresh in a comic-book/retro way (known as cel-shaded) and the gameplay enjoys (or suffers, depending on your point of view) a number of assists that make it easier and flowing. Probably, too easy. You will not get the frustrations of repeated deaths but neither the satisfaction of finally making it through a hard boss.

The game does give off a platform feeling (combos on a PC game always give me an awkward feeling as they are much easier with a gamepad - but that again, this is an action game, it is to be expected). 

All in all, a good game that still deserves our support.

The Darker, The Better

Dark Sector is a beautifully made and well thought out game that should not go by unnoticed. It is what you get if you cross Resident Evil with Max Payne (minus the bullet time): a fast Third-Person Shooter with an immersive story, imaginative weapons and cool moves. Finishing off zombies has never been more fun!

The graphics are detailed yet monochromatically biased: greys, blue and yellow sectors alternate. At first I found this unrealistic (which it is) but it sure fights the well known F/TPS repetitiveness feeling of running in the same corridors for ever.

Since the game enjoys (or suffers) a quick recovery cycle, you are almost never in danger of immediate death - but this hardly impends the flow of epinephrine through your body. Moreover, once our hero (Hayden) gets infected and acquires the glaive, a whole new ball-game opens up: although of limited effectiveness as a melee weapon, this cycle-edged discus will deal devastating arcs of gore and destruction to his enemies!

Oh yes, this is quite a gory game, mind you (I think it was banned in Australia for that). So, unless intended for young children, recommended.

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.

Tipping The Scales Of Power With Your Knife

Assassin's Creed was on of the most anticipated games to be ported to PCs. For this, the Director's Cut edition was produced, adding some content over the console versions (mostly rooftop action missions), and care was taken to make the gamepad to keyboard/mouse-transition as seamless as possible. For the most part it was successful.

This is a tremendously beautiful game. The game is not new yet the first thing that grabs you is how real the city environments feel. The graphics are just out of this world! If your PC is a few years old, it has to be least a mid-range to enjoy their full potential (minimum requirements provided below), but real skies, dynamic shadows, facial expressions and realistically flowing robes are only beginning to describe it! Run on a roof and the other citizens will gather around and comment on your crazy behavior! Throw someone on a vendor's cart and he will come after you complaining about his ruined produce! And the city is alive well beyond your character. If only Bioware could take some lessons for its next Baldur's Gate...

Adding to this is the wonderful sound! From the crowd murmurs and the NTCs cries for help, to the whistling of the wind and the well-chosen background music, a good sound-card and speakers set is recommended to truly enjoy this game. If you have a 5.1 speaker system (I do not) I can imagine the experience to become even more immersing.

As to the gameplay, you control Altaïr ibn La-Ahad ("The Flying One, Son of None"). He is a member of the Assassin Brotherhood that sides, well, with both...sides, during the 3rd Crusade. In a story twist, he is also your ancestor, the game being your/his flashback memories. This is a twist I could do without, but I would guess it lays groundwork for the sequels.

Controlling your character with a keyboard/mouse takes a lot of getting used to as you have to manage running, climbing, fighting as well as modifying your actions from low to high visibility. The keys are re-mapable but the complexity of the controls will never let you forget you are playing a game. 

The Third person perspective works beautifully and will never loose your interest. Most missions require sneaking and murdering in the shadows. Others will have you eavesdropping for passwords or pickpocketing documents to gain access into target buildings. Some will have you sharpen those sword skills. Still, the game does not avoid its share of stupid "keep this...suicidal character from getting killed" missions. Keep in mind though that Assassin's Creed is rather a strategically thinking action TPS, not a hack&slash fast-paced one.

Pull your knives out and sky-dive into it!

It Wants Its Cut Just For Driving Us Around

Mafia II is is a game with all the trappings of a hit that was to go down smooth - only to turn out the hit was nothing but a setup. And the supposed marks are the ones pulling the strings. Would a made man allow this to happen?

THREADBARE UNDERSHIRTS UNDER FLASHY SILK SUITS

The first thing that grabs you is how dull the graphics look once the (well-done) cinematics end. On top of that, it is not that the environments are badly designed, it is that the same patterns are used over and over resulting in...chain deja-vue episodes. This cookie-cutter approach could had made it easier to get lost - unfortunately, there is not even a chance for that.

FOLLOW THE SCRIPT OR ELSE, CAPICE?

If you enjoyed the freedom experienced in the GTA series, well, do not expect anything close to that degree of sandbox roaming. This a linear game only set on an open-looking background. Which, once more, shows that looks were considered more important than substance. And if you make a mistake and have to reload, be prepared to replay quite a long sequence because this is yet another game with only an autosaving option - and, once more, 2K behaves as if autosaving points are charged by the unit.

JUST KEEP MAKING THE ROUNDS PAISANO!

The next disappointment is how repetitive the gameplay itself is. "Great fighting mechanics" means all of two options: hitting or backstepping. Whereas, "realistic driving" means that your cars handle like boats - and you will still get killed once those 1940's-Detroit death-traps hit a wall or a tree. Realistic? Sure. But fun? Veramente not! All the mini-games and the money-worries are simply too trivial and half-baked to save the day. Fight-by-numbers made it to the big leagues...

NICE SHADES MAN, BUT CAN YOU SEE THROUGH THEM?

As if all of the above were not enough, the camera placement was so bad it reminded me of the notorious NeverWinter Nights. And sometimes, this turns more into a spectacle than a game.

VITO! CLOSE THOSE SHUTTERS, NOW!

I always had a problem with censorship boards (from totalitarian censorship bureaus to Nielsen ratings) but, at the same time, I do respect the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit. Well, Mafia II will manage to enrage both sides of the generation gap. If the slow-news days keep up, expect some "outraged" news-reports on the content of this game before school begins. True, there are numerous instances in which this game justifies its MATURE (17+) rating - but this hardly makes it an adult game. Like a Dutch school painting of children looking like smaller adults, Mafia II offers the juvenile version of a grownup world. I very much doubt that any teenager (which obviously is the target demographic for this game) will be impressed.

And for all this ...fun, we still have to activate the game and tie to permanently to a STEAM account. This is clearly not one of those game you would want to keep, so shouldn't you be able to resell it? Well, 2K GAMES thinks not. You can now make your decision accordingly.

My advice: pass on this infamnia and, instead, get your Mafia fix from a good old Godfather Trilogy weekend. This game is so bad it almost enters cult territory.

But it is also boring so it fails to even do that.

The Suit! My Kingdom For The Suit!

This game took the really scenic route before, finally, finding its way home. Release dates were pushed back, again and again; publishers were changed (from ATARI to SIERRA), like horses while crossing a river: an equally bad idea. What finally reached the shore was nothing to brag about...

TimeShift runs for about 10-15 hours, not short yet not long either by regular standards (I mean "regular", mind you, not HalfLife2 Episodes which run shorter than demos). In all those hours the story never manages to engage you. Time travel has always been a mind bender to grasp - and this is especially true when the story is tissue-paper thin...True, most FPS games do not have thicker stories, yet great FPS games all had a much higher immersion factor.

In the original Unreal you tried to escape an alien planet. In HalfLife2 you either wandered the alien-infested underground Black Mesa or doing Mr Smith's biding in combine-controlled City 17. In Far Cry you investigated the attack on your boat by a group of mutant-creating mercenaries. In Max Payne, oh, don't get me started on Max Payne... In TimeShift you try to, well, get back a time-shifting suit from the evil doctor and then go back in time to amend the bad things he already did. Yeah, really exciting...

TimeShift manages to stay afloat by improving on old idea. Remember Max Payne's bullet-time? Well, in TimeShift you can actually stop or even reverse time. This is not unlimited of course and it has rather slow recharge cycle but it provides with a number of interesting possibilities: dodge bullets, throw back the live grenade, disarm the opponents and then use their own weapons against them...(if you die though, you do stay dead).

AI? What AI? I don't know whether it is due to going back and forth in time, but your enemies never raise above flatlined. Even without slowing time they will just walk in front of your mowing machine gun...

The one thing that did improve by the long wait were the graphics. Compared to early-released demos, there seems that a lot of work has been put into all of textures, surfaces and shadows. Slow time and watch for the explosions: they are really impressive! Combine this with a collection of really imaginative and impressive weapons and you have TimeShift major success. Incendiary projectiles anyone? And I really liked the abundance of ammo! (some FPS are so stingy with their ammo crates, you would think they actually had to pay for them!)

5paces To Death

The first Dead Space was a Third-Person Horror Shooter with lots of atmosphere and tons of (idiosyncratic!) character. It surely reinvigorated, if not redefined, the horror-TPS genre and failed to become a classic solely because of its awkward (and non-remappable!) controls and the draconian DRM scheme it came bundled with.Well, apparently history repeats itself as a farce on Titan as well.

Isaac, Locked 'n' Loaded 

And if you are a Necromorph, better get outta his way! Because not only did he find his voice but he is on his very last nerve and they are recklessly stepping on it.

The graphics have received a refresher, the sounds will make you jump to the edge of your seat once more and the guns have been revamped (there are only a few new additions). Now, if only there was more ammo to actually use them without counting every bloody bullet!

An Engineer On Rails

Dead Space 2 is and feels very linear. If this game were an RPG it would had killed it. However, for a horror-TPS this is not necessarily a bad thing. The environments are nicely done, the story will absorb you (for almost all of the about 10 hours it lasts) and (although I could do with less hacking mini-games!) the gameplay never gets boring. From creepy corridors to zero-gravity chambers, Titan will keep challenging your skills.

However, do not get me started on the color-coded...GPS pointers! If anything ruins immersion, getting directions to the next ...save-point surely does.

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are...

No Horror-game is complete without its dark-room segment. I still remember the intensity of the original Unreal when the lights suddenly went out and you had to fight your very first Skaarj - with only the muzzle-flashes to guide you. Dead Space 2 will not disappoint on this aspect. Not only is the game as atmospheric as the first one and the camera keeps playing games on you, but shadows and darkness are expertly used to heighten the tension.

DRM Vents The Game Into Space

Dragon Age: Origins was a phenomenal game that was a huge financial success - and (the original release) came with a simple disk-check. So did a number of other good games the same year. So, there is absolutely no argument that could possibly support EA's anti-customer decision to limit the number of installations to...5 (and now the title of this review starts to make more sense, right?).

Forget to revoke an installation token (or have your HDD crash on you or even change your hardware configuration) and you game keeps getting truncated more and more until nothing is left of it.

Overall, a solid sequel that deserved a more customer-friendly publisher.

It could certainly do without the ...Dim Mak it received just before it was let out the door.