PC Reviews

Front Mission Evolved Review

Producer Square-Enix’s Front Mission is a long running turn-based strategy game in which giant bipedal robots are the primary tools of militaries the world over. Known as Wanzers, these combat mechs are powerful and versatile in many combat situations. A product of Double Helix Games, Front Mission Evolved continues the story that is left off in Front Mission 5: Scars of the War, but changes the focus and gameplay style from strategy to an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter, similar to Armored Core. However, as in each incarnation, Front Mission has had a large and involving plot with anime-inspired cutscenes and characters.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review

The cliché of an amnesiac protagonist has long been a staple of bad video game writing.  Plenty of games start out with the player awakening in an unknown place, with no name, no idea how he arrived there; the goal being to walk down the only available hallway and explore.  It’s a cheap way to tell the player “There’s no story, just run down the hall and kill everything”.  However, Frictional Games has taken this outdated idea, and built a brilliant story-based, intellectual game around it with Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Civilization V Review

I started up Civilization V with a degree of trepidation. While the previous versions were great games, they always felt like rehashes of the same Civilization II that I played oh so long ago but with added gimmicks and window dressing. At its core, the game’s features continued to remain mostly the same but with graphical updates; the biggest changes were the addition of cultural borders and the new victory conditions, mainly taken from a spinoff, Alpha Centauri. In Civilization V, the game has been significantly overhauled, removing a great deal of interface in favor of simplification, vastly improving combat, making social control more customizable as well as reducing mass unit and city micromanagement. But you know, these scary new changes might actually be a good thing.

VVVVVV Review

VVVVVV is one of the few games that is perfection. It is not the most ambitious, nor most hyped game of 2010, but what it is is a difficult, challenging, and incredibly polished platformer. VVVVVV was made by Terry Cavanagh and released on distractionware.com for $15, and while it looked cool, I (foolishly) didn’t think it was worth the price. When it came onto Steam for $5, and my friend recommended it vehemently, I had to take a look. Lo and behold, the game turned out to be one of the best this year.

Torchlight Review

With the announcement of Torchlight II, there’s no better time to get into the original. Torchlight is an action RPG with one hell of a pedigree – designed by Travis Baldree (Fate), Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer (Diablo and Diablo II) and the team behind Mythos. It’s no surprise then, that the game is of a very high quality. Players take control of a preset character class – Destroyer, Vanquisher or Alchemist (roughly soldier, ranger or mage in generic terms). You then choose a cat or dog to keep you company and you’re ready. Your adventure starts in the town of Torchlight, situated above a complex cave network. In the rock around Torchlight is a magical substance known as ember, and the mysteries surrounding this element provides the meat of the storyline. 

City of Heroes Going Rogue Review

Way back in 2004 the biggest MMORPG in the world was Final Fantasy 11, which had an unfathomable two-hundred thousand subscribers. It all sounds so quaint in the wake of World of Warcraft, yet this was the standard when City of Heroes first appeared at the end of 2004.  Six years later, City of Heroes is still around with a constant stream of updates for its loyal band of about two-hundred thousand crime fighters.  Today, Going Rogue, the first commercial expansion pack for City of Heroes in five years came out.  Online superheroes are no doubt asking “Is it worth the extra bucks for a six-year-old game”?

In short, Yes.  It does what an expansion should do; augment the existing game. No one is going to claim that City of Heroes short on content after 18 free updates, the City of Villains expansion, and a “Mission Architect” which allows players to make and share their own missions.  The new expansion is just three new zones; but what it does do is increase the quality of story-telling and world-building.

Civilization IV Review

One thing the Civilization series does well is kill time, in an epic way. Civilization IV is no different, having chewed up hours of my life. This incarnation of the series is the best to date, managing to streamline the game for new players, while keeping the in depth game play for veterans.

For those who haven’t played or heard of the Civilization series, they are 4X genre games. This means there are multiple ways to win and in Civilization IV that could be Military, Diplomatic, Cultural or Scientific. In fact there are many ways to win, which is one of the things that make the game great. Another important factor is that the game is turned based, choosing all your moves and then allowing your opponent to choose theirs. Finally, one of the biggest things about the game is that it’s EPICALLY LONG. To get an idea how long a game may last think about watching The Lord of the Rings…trilogy…back to back, yea it’s about that long.

Starcraft 2 Review

Hey, StarCraft. It’s been awhile. 12 years later and here we are. More than anything, StarCraft II is one incredible statement, a statement that suggests that, after all this time, after 12 years, the gameplay that defines the StarCraft series hasn’t aged one bit. There’s nothing about StarCraft II that pushes any gameplay boundaries. There’s nothing about StarCraft II that feels like its taken bits and pieces from other real-time strategy games. Through and through, StarCraft II is exactly the sequel we’ve all come to expect and it’s wonderful.

Razer Naga: Building a Better Mouse

There are a lot of mice using the “More is better” philosophy in their design, boasting more buttons than a person has fingers.  Many of these mice make vague claims of benefits to gamers due to some new design feature.  At first glance the Razer Naga appears to another such gimmicky, over-complicated monster.  With a whopping 17 buttons the Naga immediately provoked skepticism in me, but it eventually won me over.

All Points Bulletin Review

In 2002, David Jones, former developer on franchises such as Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, bought out his long time stomping ground of Rage Software and reformed it under the name Realtime Worlds. In 2007, Realtime Worlds released it’s first major title, third person shooter Crackdown. The independently run company found success and an audience, despite mixed critical acclaim. By 2005, RTW had begun work on All Points Bulletin, a GTA inspired cops and robbers styled MMO.

APB is an MMOTPS (Massively Multiplayer Online Third Person Shooter) in which players take the role of vigilante enforcer or rogue criminal in the virtual city of San Paro. Gameplay is split between two action districts which are split into instances of up to 80 players each. Each side has separate NPC contacts to do basic repeatable missions that reward money and reputation for the player amongst factions and contacts. Reputation unlocks equipment, items, clothing, and designs which you can then purchase using the in-game money you collect from missions or bounties.