Dawn of Discovery

Few things stir the human imagination like the notion of exploration, and few games tap into the appeal of exploration as well as Dawn of Discovery. Here, you'll sail across seas of perfect deep blue, seeking out the next little island on which to build a proud settlement. Once discovered, you'll work the land to produce all manner of goods to make your people thrive while building new ships to forge still further into the unknown. The sheer complexity of producing many of the goods you'll need and the difficulty of taking your settlements to the highest levels of sophistication prevent Dawn of Discovery from being accessible to everyone, but the tremendous depth and terrific production values make it a no-brainer for fans of the genre.

Trading goods by sea is a big part of Dawn of Discovery.

Known as Anno 1404 outside of North America, Dawn of Discovery is the fourth entry in the Anno series of historically themed city-building and trading games. Dawn of Discovery offers both a very linear campaign and a richly customizable continuous play mode. There's so much to Dawn of Discovery that most players will want to start with the more structured campaign to become familiar with the gameplay. The campaign tells a compelling tale of religious conflict and unlikely alliances between East and West, but the structure, which sends you on an endless series of quests on behalf of other global powers, makes you feel more like an errand runner for nobles than a noble yourself. It's in the continuous play mode--where you can set your own goals for victory and chart your own course for achieving them--that Dawn of Discovery is at its best.

Regardless of the mode you're playing, the core action consists of discovering new islands, building settlements, cultivating goods, and managing the needs of your populace to advance your society. The more advanced your society is, the more gold you collect in taxes, but a bigger population doesn't guarantee richer coffers. Your people have needs for food, drink, faith, company, clothing, and amusement that become increasingly difficult to meet as your society becomes more advanced. Thus, it takes careful planning to produce goods quickly enough to meet those needs while keeping production costs to a minimum and preventing your cities from operating at a deficit. Sometimes, you'll need to put other considerations ahead of the well-being of your people by raising taxes to generate the money you need to dig yourself out of debt or denying your people certain goods as you stockpile them for an important construction project. The interface makes selecting and placing buildings, as well as managing taxes, very easy.

Unfortunately, the game never educates you on how to place your buildings for maximum production efficiency. To make matters worse, the manual that accompanies the game is utterly useless and sheds no light on how to build an efficient, profitable society. This makes the initial uphill climb considerably steeper and more frustrating. But once the pieces all come together and you're able to build a flourishing city, it's immensely rewarding.

Your towns bustle with mesmerizing activity and life.

While meeting the needs of peasants is easy, the challenge of satisfying wealthier, more refined residents is considerably more difficult because you'll need to run several production facilities to produce many of the goods they require. Producing leather jerkins, for instance, requires a source of coal, a salt mine, a salt works, and a pig farm. Ultimately, you'll have dozens of production facilities in operation; some generate such basic goods as hemp, while others combine and process those basic goods into other products. You'll also likely have ships carrying goods from island to island along trade routes that you have established, which is a breeze thanks to the intuitive routing interface. Few things can make you feel more like the ruler of an empire than seeing your ships sail the seas engaged in trade and operating autonomously while you're free to focus on other things. And you'll need that freedom because there's never any shortage of things for you to supervise. Dawn of Discovery is a multitasker's dream because you'll want to keep an eye on a myriad of production flows to make sure that things are humming along properly. This ranges from ensuring that the lumberjacks have enough trees to chop down to making sure that the land is properly irrigated for the production of goat's milk. On the flipside, those who prefer a more focused experience may find the sheer number of considerations involved here overwhelming and distracting.

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Posted in: Adventure

Overlord II

The impish minions of the Overlord universe haven't been idle in the two years that have passed since the first game and have emerged with a host of new tricks in Overlord II. The evil little scamps have used the time off to learn how to operate machinery, wear disguises, sail the open seas, ride mounts, and get possessed by their evil master, as well as develop an uncanny talent for attacking baby seals. These additions make Overlord II a more varied experience than the first game, and while some of the issues that hampered the original have been addressed, they haven't exactly been fixed. Overlord II retains the gleeful maliciousness of the series; thus, it's still great fun to have a small army of nasty little blighters at your disposal to wreak havoc. But because the game’s auto-targeting is still haphazard, and the minions apt to do some very dumb things, you can expect some frustration to go along with your enjoyment.

Seal clubbing--not cool. But funny.

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Though the minions have evolved and you're playing as a brand new overlord this time around, the title character remains as mute and inscrutable as in the original. The game is set dozens of years after the first game, so you'll have to start your evil dominion from scratch, with the new enemy being the Roman-like Glorious Empire. The tone of the game is satirical, sharp, and more than a little silly--the elves here are portrayed as hippie environmentalists, the Empire nobles are obese snobs, and the fairies are ridiculously overendowed. Meanwhile, the soldiers act like they stepped straight out of an Asterix comic. It's all harmless fun, and while you will get to kill your fair share of cute animals, your silent, mainly charmless overlord won't really get to do anything too nasty.

Because the main character is so impassive, it's once again up to the minions to carry the charm quotient of the game. The minions are a cackling, gleeful lot of destructive slobs who are endearing in their dedication to their master, and it's a joy to watch them attack enemies, harass innocents, and act like general nuisances. You'll be well into the game before you find all four types of minions--the melee-focused browns, the flame-throwing reds, the sneak-attacking greens, and the magic-heavy blues--but when you do, you'll have a formidable miniarmy at your disposal. As overlord, you need this support because--despite your intimidating Sauron-like garb--you're no match solo for more than a few enemies at any one time. All of the heavy lifting will be done by your minions, and while you'll be able to get away with sheer force of numbers in many encounters, the toughest battles in Overlord II will require you to think hard about your minion mix and how you deploy them on the battlefield.

Initially, it can be a little intimidating to deploy your minions, and you'll need to be fairly dexterous when manipulating the keyboard and mouse. The default layout, however, is pretty easy to get used to, and is superior to the game’s console counterparts as it affords you more accuracy when directing your minions. You'll quickly get the grasp of sweeping units across the landscape, separating your minions into their respective color groups to take advantage of their unique strengths (and shield their weaknesses), and making them hold strategic checkpoints. For the most part, your minions are dependable creatures who'll find the best path to take or attack the most present danger. They can, however, still be quite dumb, which means a certain amount of micromanagement from their overlord is in order. Minions will often stop to pick up booty when there are still plenty of dangerous enemies attacking, and some are prone to aquatic suicide by trying to pick up objects close to water.

Despite their occasional brain lapses, this time around, your minions are a much more talented bunch and their most important new trait is the ability to ride different mounts. Three of the four minion types have their own specific beastie they can ride, allowing them to vastly increase their effectiveness and speed. It's satisfying to see your reds do damaging strafing runs atop their fire lizards. And breaking through a heavily shielded phalanx becomes a breeze when your browns are mounted on their wolves. Opportunities to ride don't occur too often in the game, but when they do, it's a welcome change from Overlord II's usual gameplay.

Minions ridinng wolves. Can things get any better?

In fact, variety is one of Overlord II's most redeeming factors. At certain points in the game, the overlord will be able to directly possess an underling, giving you the chance to play from a minion's point of view. These are some of the best sequences in the game, with one highlight being a stealth mission through a heavily guarded Empire fort using your newly found greens (sort of like Metal Gear Overlord). You'll also get to control some hefty weaponry in the form of catapults and arrow turrets, as well as take on enemy ships with your own minion-rowed vessel. In some ridiculous but quite funny missions, you'll be able to disguise your minions to gain entry into heavily guarded areas. Individually, these specific events don't occur that often, but collectively, these welcome additions mean you shouldn't get stuck with doing the same thing over and over again during Overlord II's lengthy single-player campaign.

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Posted in: Action

Street Fighter IV

It's obvious that each iteration of the long-running Street Fighter series has been carefully tuned and tweaked to the finest degree, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Street Fighter IV. The lessons learned in the franchise's 20-plus years have been used to prune back the core fighting experience to create something truly special.Street Fighter IV is a resounding success not only because it's one of the most technically complex 2D fighters ever made, but also because it's also wrapped inside a layer of absolute accessibility. Never has the old "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master" adage been truer than it is here.

Three new shader effects give the game a fresh new look, though they're only minor improvements on the already-gorgeous graphics.

The Street Fighter fundamentals have remained consistent over the years; your job is to knock out the other guy or gal. All 12 of the classic world warriors--Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Blanka, E. Honda, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison--are back and playable from the outset, and they're joined by six brand-new and diverse characters. Abel, a mixed martial arts grapple-style character; Crimson Viper a female fighter with sweeping, airborne fire attacks; Rufus, a rotund fighter whose body makes him a bit of a sight gag despite his deceptive speed; and El Fuerte, a pro wrestler whose rushes and air throws make him a slippery foe. Ryu and Ken's sensei, Gouken, also makes his playable-character debut in Street Fighter IV. Naturally, he didn't teach the boys everything he knows, so when they meet again he has a few tricks up his sleeves, including a horizontal and vertical fireball EX move. The game's new end boss, Seth, fills the last spot and joins the list once you've unlocked everyone else. Character balance is spot-on across the roster, and as a result, you should never feel that you can't compete simply because you've chosen one character over another.

You'll need to finish the game multiple times and in special ways to unlock the complete character list. Doing so will make fan favourites Cammy, Sakura, Akuma, Fei Long, Rose, Gen, and Dan playable. Like previous games in the series, Street Fighter IV lets you perform powerful super combos, but it has removed air blocking and parrying completely. Developers Capcom and Dimps have added a completely new gameplay system: focus attacks, a new multipurpose offensive and defensive ability that can be charged to one of three levels by pressing and holding the medium punch and kick buttons simultaneously. There's no onscreen bar to show how charged your attack is, so you'll need to rely on the progressively darkening ink splashes surrounding your character model. Each character features a unique focus animation, so you shouldn't have any trouble working it out after a few rounds with each. Focus attacks make you vulnerable to damage because you need to be standing still to charge them (though you can dash forward or backward to cancel them), but the trade-off is that you'll absorb the first hit without the penalty of an animation reset, allowing for an instant counterattack if you land it. They can also act as armour-breaking moves, shutting down more-powerful attacks. Successfully landing a fully charged focus attack will deal damage and crumple your opponent to the ground, giving you the chance to follow up with an unblockable hit as he or she falls.

The new mechanic also lets you use part of your EX power-meter charge to exit animations early and chain bigger combos together. They take a little getting used to and some serious thumb dexterity, but once they're mastered, you can perform moves such as dragon-punch stalls directly into super moves or use them to juggle players in midair with multiple hits. Your revenge meter builds as you take damage, whereas the EX meter fills as you dish it out. EX power rolls over to the next round, but revenge must be built from scratch each time. This becomes a crucial risk-versus-reward mechanic. Do you take hits to build revenge and power up an ultra attack, or do you deal damage to burn your EX on improved moves, cancels, or save it for a super finisher? The flexibility of this system means that you're free to play according to your strengths and style. But just like reversals, EX power-ups, and ultra combo attacks, focus attacks serve to mix up the experience only for veteran players; such is the game's balance that they have never been required to win a match, and they act more as an additional weapon in the arsenal of a skilled player. They're waiting for you when you want to take a step up and learn how they work, but well-timed basic punches and kicks are just as effective.

Championship mode pits you against similar skill-level online fighters in a pseudo tournament setting.

The single-player mode is robust and has a lot to offer across several components. Arcade mode pits you against a set number of fighters from your unlocked-character roster and culminates in a showdown with Seth. Along the way to your goal, you'll always encounter a rival fight. These are regular fights accompanied by an in-engine exchange with your opponent. They're a welcome mix-up but often add nothing to the character's storyline because some fighters clearly don't even know why they hate one another. Each character's adventure is bookended by an anime-style cinematic movie that explains his or her motivations for attending the tournament. They're quite short and keep story to an absolute minimum, but they get the message across and do a reasonable-enough job of filling in the gaps. Given the amount of additional content shoehorned into this game, we were slightly disappointed to find that no bonus levels have been included, especially since we had high hopes of reliving our car and barrel smashing from Street Fighter II.

Regardless of whether you're down with busting out a tatsumaki senpukyaku at will or think it's some kind of egg-noodle dish, there's a difficulty mode here for you. Eight levels ranging from very easy to hardest are available, so you're sure to find one appropriate for your skill level. That said, even at the gentler difficulties, Street Fighter IV is no cakewalk because your opponents will occasionally mix things up with surprise super and ultra combos. First-timers will have no trouble picking up, playing, and learning as they go. Playing on the medium or above difficulty will also enable score tracking, letting you submit and compare to other players on the game's online leaderboards.

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Posted in: Cartoon

Monkey Island: Special

Forgoing the history lesson on an almost-20-year-old game, The Secret of Monkey Island is a point-and-click adventure in which you assume the role of a wannabe pirate named Guybrush Threepwood. In order to become a pirate, Threepwood must prove himself as a swordsman, a treasure hunter, and a thief, which means you must prove that you can both solve puzzles and move a cursor around a screen--often simultaneously. You can expect to hit a few brick walls when you encounter some of the more baffling puzzles, but the all-new hints system does a great job of pointing you in the right direction if you choose to use it, and the writing is entertaining enough to keep you interested during extended periods of head-scratching if you don't. An option to play the game in its original form or with greatly enhanced audio and visuals is the foamy head on this Special Edition pint of Grog, and you won't want to stop drinking until you can see the bottom of your tankard.

This conversation was amusing in 1990...

The Secret of Monkey Island is easy to pick up, regardless of whether or not you've played this kind of adventure game before. You use the mouse to move a cursor around the screen, and when you're pointing at something you want to interact with or a location you want to move to, you click the left mouse button. Other actions, such as "speak to," "pull," "use," and "give," are assigned to onscreen buttons that, depending on whether or not you're playing with the updated visuals, either appear at the bottom of the screen at all times or in a pop-up window. Actions are also mapped to individual keys if you prefer to play that way, and both the middle and right mouse buttons serve as shortcuts to commonly used actions. Like actions, items in your inventory also appear onscreen at all times when playing with the original graphics, but they are mapped to a second pop-up window in the new interface. It's great that you can switch between the two modes on the fly because there are pros and cons to both. The Special Edition looks much better and is the only way to play if you want to hear, as well as read, what characters are saying, whereas the original game's interface is a little easier to use.

Monkey Island isn't a game that wastes any time throwing seemingly useless items and satisfying puzzles at you. Shortly after starting out on Melee Island, you visit a bar where pirate leaders drunk on Grog (a drink so acidic that you have to consume it before it eats through the tankard) give you three challenges to complete; a surly chef refuses you entry to his kitchen; and a hungry seagull makes it difficult for you to pick up what may or may not be a red herring. Before you know it, you're walking around the island with all manner of items stuffed into Threepwood's physics-defying pockets, and you'll spend the majority of your time figuring out how to combine or use those items. Using the "look at" option on an item will afford you an amusing description that often doubles as a clue to its intended purpose. You might still end up solving some puzzles through trial and error, but you'll also kick yourself for not spotting the clues to the puzzle's solution before resorting to that time-tested technique.

…and it's even better in 2009 because you can hear it.

When you're not attempting to combine a staple remover with a banana or wondering how to get past a group of deadly piranha poodles, much of your time is spent navigating dialogue trees with characters that include belligerent buccaneers, cholesterol-conscious cannibals, and a used boat salesman named Stan. Some of the conversations are laugh-out-loud funny, and while the actors' delivery isn't always up to the standard of the writing, the voice work is such a great addition to the game that it's difficult to go back to the original edition. Lengthy conversations with the aforementioned salesman can be a little irritating when you have to listen to--as well as read--his persistent patter, but he's still an amusing and memorable character in a cast composed almost entirely of amusing and memorable characters.

In The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, meeting and interacting with these characters is every bit as enjoyable as it was almost 20 years ago. The puzzles, the humor, and the Caribbean-sounding tunes that keep you company as you ponder your next move continue to defy their age, and even the original visuals still have plenty of pixel-perfect charm. The Special Edition update employs a colorful art style that's more reminiscent of the style in The Curse of Monkey Island (the third game in the series) than other games, but it retains the primitive (but pleasing) animation of the first game. Switching between the two available art styles is something that you'll almost certainly do from time to time just because you can, and it's interesting to see how faithfully and brilliantly such locations as the Scumm Bar and the cannibal village have been updated.

The voodoo priestess predicts Threepwood's future with minor spoilers.

It's possible to beat The Secret of Monkey Island in just a couple of hours if you go into the game armed with a complete solution. However, if you take the time to enjoy it and solve the puzzles yourself, it should last you anywhere between five and 10 hours. If you have a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, two sticks of cinnamon, a length of rope, and 10 dollars in your pocket right now, the best advice we can give you is this: Spend the currency on The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and then figure out for yourself what to do with the rest of that stuff.

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Posted in: Children

ARMA II

Arma II is a first- and third-person tactical shooter that simulates a military operation in the midst of a growing civil war in the fictitious European country of Chernarus. The sequel to Armed Assault and the spiritual heir to Operation Flashpoint, Arma II sets a new standard for realistic military simulation games. While Bohemia Interactive's games have always been detailed and ambitious, its latest has surpassed its predecessors by adding meaningful interaction with non-player characters (other than shooting them), increasing the number of moral and strategic choices you will face throughout the campaign, and achieving unprecedented levels of detail, openness, beauty, and believability in the setting. Despite an infuriatingly buggy single-player campaign and some artificial intelligence driving issues, Arma II is a triumph. From its fascinating, sophisticated, and unscripted battles to the immersive detail of the gameworld, Arma II delivers a wholly unique and uncommonly replayable gaming experience.

Can you see the insurgent in this photo? Combat in Arma II often takes place at a range of 100 meters or more.

Arma II’s setting is visually striking, amazingly detailed, and brimming with life. Modeled after regions of the Czech Republic, the landscape is so authentic that you could orienteer by watching the stars move across the sky. The terrain includes picturesque forests, mountains, beaches, and pastures, plus one large urban area and several smaller towns, and in many missions, you'll have free rein to traverse vast tracts of the 86-square-mile gameworld. Alongside the Chernarussian people, wild animals and livestock go about their respective lives. However, the animal AI is disappointingly indifferent to the war. Another element of the environment that can interrupt the immersion is the scarce number of civilians you'll encounter per town, along with how few buildings you can enter. On the whole, however, finding a well-worn trail in the forest or commandeering a farmer's tractor for the occasional joyride makes the world feel lived in and real.

Like the geography, the story is refreshingly complex and believable. In the former Soviet Republic of Chernarus, five factions vie for power, including the US Marines, your faction for the single-player campaign; the Chernarussian military, which is allied with the US; the Red Star Movement, a group of Communist separatists from the ethnically Russian areas of Chernarus; NAPA, an independent group of nationalist partisans fighting the Communists; and the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Although your mission is to help the legitimate government in its campaign to crush the Communist insurgency, it's not always clear which factions are in the right; they're all guilty of corruption and atrocities.

In contrast to many first-person shooter games, the war doesn't stop and start at your convenience. You'll find corpses, stumble upon unscripted battles, and encounter friendly troops on patrol, creating the impression that the fighting will continue with or without you. At the same time, your actions can have a profound influence on the story as the campaign unfolds. For example, at one point, you can become instrumental in forming an alliance between NAPA and the Chernarussian government, and at another, you can follow up on evidence of Communist war crimes to win the hearts and minds of the natives. Civilians can often provide intelligence about nearby enemy forces, rebel leaders, and their hideouts, but don't get too attached to your new friends, because enemy partisans don't take kindly to collaborators. In the campaign, each path you take develops fluidly into new missions, which typically begin with a simple objective, like scouting an area, and lead to additional optional objectives, based on your choices. Will you risk your squad and engage your target on foot, or will you endanger nearby civilians by calling in a missile strike? The ramifications of your actions will bear both on your immediate situation and on how the game unfolds several missions down the line. Other missions will send you deep into enemy territory to scout for insurgent bases, capture rebel leaders, rendezvous with partisans, and take part in a wide variety of other realistic military operations.

Helicopters are the best way to travel across Chernarus. Be careful with the minigun, because the brass frowns on unnecessary civilian casualties.

You start off as a grunt under the command of a squad leader, and you'll play the first third of the game as a straightforward infantry simulation. To survive, you must learn the importance of scanning the horizon before you move, flanking enemies, aiming with your weapon sights, and keeping a low profile. Combat is deadly serious in Arma II; a single gunshot to a critical area will kill you outright, while nonfatal wounds will leave you incapacitated and bleeding out until you receive medical attention. As a result, combat reaches a level of intensity rarely accomplished in action games, and every success is immensely gratifying, whether you are running for cover with bullets whizzing past your head, killing an enemy soldier from 200 meters away, or destroying your first tank with an RPG. You'll find that bullets are typically exchanged at a distance of 100 meters or more, at the far edge of visual contact. Aiming at this range is a ballistics puzzle that rewards intelligence over reflexes, and "spray and pray" tactics will only win you a trip home in an unvarnished pine box. Even though combat is extremely difficult, it's always fair. The average AI enemy, while a good shot, isn't inhumanly good and can be tricked or flanked. Unfortunately, the AI characters on all sides are atrocious drivers and have a knack for causing traffic jams, capsizing vehicles, and flattening allies. AI helicopter pilots, on the other hand, rarely crash, unless you ask them to land in the middle of a dense forest. However, they're an impatient bunch and tend to take off before your whole squad can get in the chopper.

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Posted in: Action

Death to Spies: Moment of Truth

Moment of Truth is an apt subtitle for this stealthy sequel to 2007's Death to Spies--because every move you make is, indeed, a moment of truth. Leaving a corpse where it can be seen, getting caught picking a lock, and sometimes just walking into the wrong room can mean sudden death in this incredibly challenging third-person sneaker. Yet when every bungled deed can lead to an untimely demise, success is all the more rewarding, because while oft-amazing AI makes tiptoeing about highly difficult, the action doesn't usually feel unfair. That doesn't mean, however, that every death feels appropriate. There are occasions in Moment of Truth when gameplay contrivances and a lack of information lead you right to the grim reaper's front door, and you are powerless to avoid his scythe. Nevertheless, there's a satisfying ebb and flow to the game, where long periods of tension are relieved in a single sigh when you accomplish an important objective.

Careful: In this intense mission, if the guards sound the alarm, it's game over.

The setup is similar to that of the original Death to Spies. You're a member of SMERSH, the Russian predecessor to the infamous KGB, and you spend most of the game slinking around Nazis and assassinating vital targets. In some ways, this is a typical stealth game: you watch patterns of enemy movement closely while looking for ways to sneak past them, creep up behind them and slit their throats with a single slice of your knife, and steal their clothing so you can disguise yourself and roam among your foes. Eventually, you'll discover a number of clever ways to accomplish your objectives. For example, in one level, you must eliminate an important target. One way of doing so is to infiltrate a medical office, where you can strangle a doctor from behind in a restroom stall. Disguised as the doc, you can then enter the examination room where your victim waits for medical attention. The treatment you administer, of course, is much bloodier than he expects. Following your target about reveals other options; discovering them takes a keen eye and a little bit of brainpower.

Unfortunately, the cutscenes and voiced objectives that precede each level don't offer much context for your deeds. The story doesn't matter, and you'll never know much about your own character, which is too bad, because the setup hints at intriguing possibilities. Yet where the deficient narrative leaves some gaping holes, the excellent visual atmosphere will help draw you in. Moment of Truth isn't a showcase for modern technology, but it looks moody and oppressive. Most environments look as if the color has been sucked out of them, which doesn't sound attractive, but it works. For example, the sepia-tinged fourth level is like an old photograph come to life, so it feels as though you are reliving a fading memory while you play. While there are some moments when the light flickers and fades in unusual ways, the softness of the sunlight as it shines through windows is attractive, and the lighting in general looks terrific. The stiff character models and their expressionless glares won't impress you, however, nor will their constant silence. Moment of Truth is a very quiet game, so touches like the music from a creaky phonograph are effective. However, the tension levels could have been further elevated with stronger sound design, and here, the game falters.

That doesn't mean, however, that you won't be chewing your fingernails down to nothing. Moment of Truth is excruciatingly difficult, so it is by no means recommendable to anyone who hasn't played a stealth game before. And even if you have, you may not be prepared for the challenge ahead of you. The artificial intelligence is insanely smart, and it reacts in interesting and authentic ways to your actions. For example, you can change into your victims' clothing, assuming you haven't torn his apparel up with bullets. Should you dress as a mechanic, you may not be able to enter certain areas without arousing suspicion. If guards discover your identity, they'll pass on the word, so you won't be able to stay in that disguise forever. And if you off a high-ranking officer, you can't roam about freely, because everyone will be able to distinguish you as an impostor almost immediately. Once caught, whether it be from poor fashion choices or because you were seen with a garrotte in your hand, a few shots from an enemy or two lead to certain demise.

You won't be dealing with a single enemy most of the time. Your foes are everywhere, and they don't necessarily wander in easy-to-recognize patterns, so you need to pay close attention to cues like vision cones on your minimap. Should the alarm be raised, hordes of heavily armed officers will swarm about, and it's not easy to escape their wrath. However, you will discover that once firearms are involved, enemies become significantly dumber, especially indoors. They're pretty good with grenades, which have an almost impossibly large range of effectiveness. But when they're gazing down their sights, Nazis will run about aimlessly or position themselves in odd ways when they could have simply fired. In some cases, you can hide in a box or behind cover and pick them off as they try to figure out how to react. Moments like these are jarring, and in a few levels, the potential slaughter is so extreme that the floor may be covered with bodies.

This corpse won't be donating any organs--just his clothing.

The levels are intelligently laid out, which gives you a chance to approach situations in a number of ways and tackle your objectives in any order. Of course, this also means you will be frequently saving and reloading as you experiment with the tools of your trade. Every action comes with a potentially fatal consequence, and when you fail, it's usually your own fault; you just need to do better. There are occasions, however, when Moment of Truth doesn't give you enough information to go on. For instance, you might enter an area only to have your backpack examined; if you don't have the proper pass to avoid inspection, you'll be shot to death when your identity is discovered. Yet the game doesn't let you know this is a possibility, which means you'll be loaded with lead very quickly. From the total lack of a tutorial to a few unclear mechanics, Moment of Truth does a poor job of communicating with you.

Death to Spies: Moment of Truth is a nerve-wracking and often fulfilling experience that will give you a headache with its highly difficult stealth action--and cure it every time you successfully leap a seemingly impossible hurdle. The absence of narrative context and mission inconsistencies keep it from reaching its potential, and its tough-as-nails difficulty slams the door in the face of stealth novices. If you're resolute enough to withstand the challenge, however, you'll emerge from a play-through feeling victorious.

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Posted in: Detactive

Out of the Park Baseball X

For a game that's all about numbers, Out of the Park Baseball X is pretty true to life. What else can you say about a sports simulation that dishes out a few dozen stats about your clean-up slugger but also lets you know when his wife lands him on the DL after clobbering him with a frying pan? Little down-to-earth anecdotes such as this make the latest addition to this long-running baseball sim feel awfully human, giving you a few chuckles and making you feel like you're managing flesh-and-blood ballplayers rather than robotically tracking columns of ratings and statistics. The only criticism of this addictive treatment of the major leagues is that it remains daunting for the uninitiated, who still have to ascend a veritable great wall of stats without the aid of a tutorial when loading it up for the first time.

You can't call the game simulation screen eye candy, but it's not bad for a text-based sports sim.

Nevertheless, the focus remains on a rigorous re-creation of professional baseball. OOTPX allows you to take over a ballclub located just about anywhere in the world and then interact with the greater baseball universe however you want. You can play solo against computer GMs, as a commissioner with total control over every team, or online in fantasy leagues with just about as many human opponents as you want. Most players will head right to the majors and take over a big-league franchise, but if your tastes are a bit more exotic, you can run clubs in all of the developmental leagues in the US and Canada, as well as winter league ball in such places as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, and South Korea. Or you can take a trip back in time and start a career at any point in the history of baseball, complete with accurate stat-tracking for the era in question. So if you want to see how good the 1927 Yankees really were, go for it. Detail is spectacular, if a little scary. Thousands of player and team stats track every action taken on the diamond during the season, while extensive player ratings let you scout prospects and veterans alike to get a handle on what they add to your lineups. "Comprehensive" doesn't even begin to describe the fantasy baseball world you can enter here.

But in many ways, OOTPX is more of the same. The above description could be used to describe many versions of the game released in the past decade that this franchise has been with us. This is a new coat of paint, not a renovation. Some of the freshening up is much needed, however. The most notable change is a rewriting of event scripts. Boring, sometimes typo-strewn text has been replaced with commentary showing you that players have lives beyond the numbers. League news and e-mail have been jazzed up with situation-specific lines, as well as additional player and manager quotes. Most of it is the same "We gave 110 percent" nonsense that the real pros fob off on the media in postgame interviews, which isn't exactly thrilling to read, though it sure is realistic. New injury reports are more colorful. While most boo-boos are the usual down-to-earth torn flexor tendons and strained rib cage muscles, in the offseason, players will bang themselves up in fights with the wife and even run from the cops. Different events take place on the field now, too. Brawls result in big suspensions. Players give media reactions to reaching such career milestones as hitting 300 home runs or winning 200 games. You can even follow history in the making through detailed e-mail updates about lengthy hitting streaks. Some of these situations have been recognized in previous versions of OOTP, but never with as much variety. As the seasons fly by, the all-new text keeps the game feeling fresh.

Some of the injuries are, uh, a little offbeat this year.

Other tweaks to the OOTP formula are less obvious. But that's not to say that they don't alter gameplay in significant, subtle ways. The interface has been adjusted a bit to be more intuitive, although the game is still in need of an interactive tutorial that leads you through all the menus. About the only big change to the interface is the use of "widgets" in one of the game-sim modes, which allows you to resize and move stat windows while games are being managed or watched. It's a nifty frill, but one that seems wasted on the management screen when most players sim 99 percent of their games. MLB rosters are remarkably complete, right down to the inclusion of accurate farm-team rosters. Pitching mechanics have been redone to finally provide ratings for each individual pitch in a hurler's arsenal. This adds another layer of micromanagement to a game that hardly needs it, although control freaks will love being able to fine-tune pitching staffs and scout free-agent signings right down to the velocity on their heaters.

Speaking of added micromanagement, arbitration has been thrown into the mix for contracts, making the offseason a lot more involving than the old method of either signing guys or letting them go. As in the real majors, you can offer arbitration to potential free agents, with the game deciding on the amount of compensation awarded. Cash paid out seems to be a bit on the high side, however, so you would be advised to ink your top free agents before season's end to avoid unpleasant surprises. Arbitration-eligible players who sign elsewhere also bring in compensatory draft picks, which adds a layer of strategy to the offseason. If you're rebuilding, for instance, you might want to let your lesser lights go just to stock up on picks.

If you bought last year's game, you'll find OOTPX to be more of a baby step forward rather than any sort of major reworking. This sequel might not be the major overhaul you have been hoping for, but the compelling additions and changes on offer here are hard to leave behind once you experience them.

Read more »

Posted in: Sports

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Review

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a fun and fascinating game with a bit of an identity crisis. In one corner you have an explosively intense multiplayer real-time strategy experience, brimming with savagely satisfying competition. In the other, you have an odd and somewhat enjoyable single-player campaign that plays more like an action role-playing game than an RTS. The relationship between these two disparate entities is superficial; the structure and gameplay of the campaign has little in common with that of your skirmishes against other players or the computer. It's a bizarre dichotomy that doesn't always work, but online play is so deeply rewarding that the scattered campaign missteps are easily forgiven.

Slugga boyz are no match for the gigantic carnifex.

The first question that you might ask yourself as you play Dawn of War II's lengthy campaign may very well be: Where does the strategy come in? It's certainly not your typical RTS experience, putting you in control of up to four squads of Space Marines (and only Space Marines) and sending you off to exterminate your Ork, Eldar, and Tyranid foes. You won't be building a base or churning out units, but rather maneuvering your few commander-led squads around the map (likely as a single group) and beating up the beasties that stand between you and your mission objectives. Your goals may entail capturing a particular structure, recovering a stolen object, or even defeating an end-level boss(!). How's that for defying genre conventions?

This relatively simple gameplay is not what you'd expect from a strategy game, and strategy fans, including those who adored Dawn of War II's illustrious predecessor, will be disappointed that the "S" is missing from "RTS" in this instance. That's because the campaign is more akin to an action RPG, and if you look at it from this perspective, you're more likely to enjoy the journey. The game isn't going to dissuade you from that approach; the elements of a role-playing game are all accounted for. You will level up your squads and earn new abilities and bonuses, collect items and loot on the battlefield, and spend time between battles equipping your commanders with the various armor sets and weapons that you earn. With these RPG mechanics come the usual addictive loot-hoarding and unit personalization, what with various skill paths from which to choose and usable items that your commanders can equip.

Thus, Dawn of War II's single-player campaign isn't really strategic at all, but you will make tactical decisions that move beyond simple mouse clicking. In a mechanic pulled from the developer's own Company of Heroes, some squads can lay down suppressive fire, which slows your targets and hinders them from a quick escape. Units can be garrisoned or take cover behind certain objects, a mechanic easy to implement thanks to a slick interface and simple but effective visual feedback. However, the most important facet of a successful battle is your familiarity with each commander's unique abilities. Whether it is one's rally cry or another's jump-pack-powered stomp, effective use of skills (along with items such as grenades and satchel charges) is not only your key to victory, but also a visual and sonic delight. Seeing a dreadnought squash a ripper swarm, or a lictor alpha yank a powerless assault marine with its lethal flesh hooks, is enjoyably violent and makes battles fun to watch.

The campaign may be limited to one race, but it sends you to three different planets, including Typhon Primaris.

It takes a while for the campaign to rev up, but even once it is in full swing, some tedium will eventually set in. You'll visit the same maps many times and fight the same enemies, and though the prospect of loot and new abilities will keep you pushing forward and trying out new options, you'll long for some more traditional RTS gameplay to mix things up. You'll also wish for a stronger tale to glue it all together, but in a surprising move by a developer known for great storytelling, the yarn unravels one or two interesting threads (including the surprising origins of your dreadnought commander) but is little more than a reason to throw a bunch of Warhammer 40K units together and watch them tear each other to bits.

For a different approach, you can invite a friend to play campaign missions cooperatively, and though this option is welcome, its implementation could have used some tweaking. Dawn of War II provides no co-op matchmaking option, so you'll need to know the Windows Live ID of your prospective companion to explore that possibility. Also bear in mind that though the game's host will reap the persistent experience and loot rewards, the guest will leave everything behind when returning to his or her own campaign. It's fun to play with a friend, though. You split command duties with your partner, so the moment-to-moment gameplay requires less micromanagement but gives you more leeway to play around with tactical options.

Read more »

Posted in: Action

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Review

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a fun and fascinating game with a bit of an identity crisis. In one corner you have an explosively intense multiplayer real-time strategy experience, brimming with savagely satisfying competition. In the other, you have an odd and somewhat enjoyable single-player campaign that plays more like an action role-playing game than an RTS. The relationship between these two disparate entities is superficial; the structure and gameplay of the campaign has little in common with that of your skirmishes against other players or the computer. It's a bizarre dichotomy that doesn't always work, but online play is so deeply rewarding that the scattered campaign missteps are easily forgiven.

Slugga boyz are no match for the gigantic carnifex.

The first question that you might ask yourself as you play Dawn of War II's lengthy campaign may very well be: Where does the strategy come in? It's certainly not your typical RTS experience, putting you in control of up to four squads of Space Marines (and only Space Marines) and sending you off to exterminate your Ork, Eldar, and Tyranid foes. You won't be building a base or churning out units, but rather maneuvering your few commander-led squads around the map (likely as a single group) and beating up the beasties that stand between you and your mission objectives. Your goals may entail capturing a particular structure, recovering a stolen object, or even defeating an end-level boss(!). How's that for defying genre conventions?

This relatively simple gameplay is not what you'd expect from a strategy game, and strategy fans, including those who adored Dawn of War II's illustrious predecessor, will be disappointed that the "S" is missing from "RTS" in this instance. That's because the campaign is more akin to an action RPG, and if you look at it from this perspective, you're more likely to enjoy the journey. The game isn't going to dissuade you from that approach; the elements of a role-playing game are all accounted for. You will level up your squads and earn new abilities and bonuses, collect items and loot on the battlefield, and spend time between battles equipping your commanders with the various armor sets and weapons that you earn. With these RPG mechanics come the usual addictive loot-hoarding and unit personalization, what with various skill paths from which to choose and usable items that your commanders can equip.

Thus, Dawn of War II's single-player campaign isn't really strategic at all, but you will make tactical decisions that move beyond simple mouse clicking. In a mechanic pulled from the developer's own Company of Heroes, some squads can lay down suppressive fire, which slows your targets and hinders them from a quick escape. Units can be garrisoned or take cover behind certain objects, a mechanic easy to implement thanks to a slick interface and simple but effective visual feedback. However, the most important facet of a successful battle is your familiarity with each commander's unique abilities. Whether it is one's rally cry or another's jump-pack-powered stomp, effective use of skills (along with items such as grenades and satchel charges) is not only your key to victory, but also a visual and sonic delight. Seeing a dreadnought squash a ripper swarm, or a lictor alpha yank a powerless assault marine with its lethal flesh hooks, is enjoyably violent and makes battles fun to watch.

The campaign may be limited to one race, but it sends you to three different planets, including Typhon Primaris.

It takes a while for the campaign to rev up, but even once it is in full swing, some tedium will eventually set in. You'll visit the same maps many times and fight the same enemies, and though the prospect of loot and new abilities will keep you pushing forward and trying out new options, you'll long for some more traditional RTS gameplay to mix things up. You'll also wish for a stronger tale to glue it all together, but in a surprising move by a developer known for great storytelling, the yarn unravels one or two interesting threads (including the surprising origins of your dreadnought commander) but is little more than a reason to throw a bunch of Warhammer 40K units together and watch them tear each other to bits.

For a different approach, you can invite a friend to play campaign missions cooperatively, and though this option is welcome, its implementation could have used some tweaking. Dawn of War II provides no co-op matchmaking option, so you'll need to know the Windows Live ID of your prospective companion to explore that possibility. Also bear in mind that though the game's host will reap the persistent experience and loot rewards, the guest will leave everything behind when returning to his or her own campaign. It's fun to play with a friend, though. You split command duties with your partner, so the moment-to-moment gameplay requires less micromanagement but gives you more leeway to play around with tactical options.

Read more »

Posted in: Action

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Review

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a fun and fascinating game with a bit of an identity crisis. In one corner you have an explosively intense multiplayer real-time strategy experience, brimming with savagely satisfying competition. In the other, you have an odd and somewhat enjoyable single-player campaign that plays more like an action role-playing game than an RTS. The relationship between these two disparate entities is superficial; the structure and gameplay of the campaign has little in common with that of your skirmishes against other players or the computer. It's a bizarre dichotomy that doesn't always work, but online play is so deeply rewarding that the scattered campaign missteps are easily forgiven.

Slugga boyz are no match for the gigantic carnifex.

The first question that you might ask yourself as you play Dawn of War II's lengthy campaign may very well be: Where does the strategy come in? It's certainly not your typical RTS experience, putting you in control of up to four squads of Space Marines (and only Space Marines) and sending you off to exterminate your Ork, Eldar, and Tyranid foes. You won't be building a base or churning out units, but rather maneuvering your few commander-led squads around the map (likely as a single group) and beating up the beasties that stand between you and your mission objectives. Your goals may entail capturing a particular structure, recovering a stolen object, or even defeating an end-level boss(!). How's that for defying genre conventions?

This relatively simple gameplay is not what you'd expect from a strategy game, and strategy fans, including those who adored Dawn of War II's illustrious predecessor, will be disappointed that the "S" is missing from "RTS" in this instance. That's because the campaign is more akin to an action RPG, and if you look at it from this perspective, you're more likely to enjoy the journey. The game isn't going to dissuade you from that approach; the elements of a role-playing game are all accounted for. You will level up your squads and earn new abilities and bonuses, collect items and loot on the battlefield, and spend time between battles equipping your commanders with the various armor sets and weapons that you earn. With these RPG mechanics come the usual addictive loot-hoarding and unit personalization, what with various skill paths from which to choose and usable items that your commanders can equip.

Thus, Dawn of War II's single-player campaign isn't really strategic at all, but you will make tactical decisions that move beyond simple mouse clicking. In a mechanic pulled from the developer's own Company of Heroes, some squads can lay down suppressive fire, which slows your targets and hinders them from a quick escape. Units can be garrisoned or take cover behind certain objects, a mechanic easy to implement thanks to a slick interface and simple but effective visual feedback. However, the most important facet of a successful battle is your familiarity with each commander's unique abilities. Whether it is one's rally cry or another's jump-pack-powered stomp, effective use of skills (along with items such as grenades and satchel charges) is not only your key to victory, but also a visual and sonic delight. Seeing a dreadnought squash a ripper swarm, or a lictor alpha yank a powerless assault marine with its lethal flesh hooks, is enjoyably violent and makes battles fun to watch.

The campaign may be limited to one race, but it sends you to three different planets, including Typhon Primaris.

It takes a while for the campaign to rev up, but even once it is in full swing, some tedium will eventually set in. You'll visit the same maps many times and fight the same enemies, and though the prospect of loot and new abilities will keep you pushing forward and trying out new options, you'll long for some more traditional RTS gameplay to mix things up. You'll also wish for a stronger tale to glue it all together, but in a surprising move by a developer known for great storytelling, the yarn unravels one or two interesting threads (including the surprising origins of your dreadnought commander) but is little more than a reason to throw a bunch of Warhammer 40K units together and watch them tear each other to bits.

For a different approach, you can invite a friend to play campaign missions cooperatively, and though this option is welcome, its implementation could have used some tweaking. Dawn of War II provides no co-op matchmaking option, so you'll need to know the Windows Live ID of your prospective companion to explore that possibility. Also bear in mind that though the game's host will reap the persistent experience and loot rewards, the guest will leave everything behind when returning to his or her own campaign. It's fun to play with a friend, though. You split command duties with your partner, so the moment-to-moment gameplay requires less micromanagement but gives you more leeway to play around with tactical options.

Read more »

Posted in: Action

ShellShock 2: Blood Trails Review

Vietnam shooters apparently need more than just Charlie creeping through the jungle these days. ShellShock 2: Blood Trails takes a sharp left turn away from its gritty, realistic 2004 predecessor, ShellShock: Nam '67, and throws zombie hordes into the expected mix of AK-47s and rice paddies. Combining horror with stereotypical first-person shooter combat does little to make the game stand apart from the crowd, however. While there are a few thrills and chills here, this is too much of a shooter-by-numbers to be engaging to anyone but the least discriminating twitch gamer.

Taking down another refugee from 28 Days Later.

The plot introduces ravenous zombies into what is otherwise a standard Vietnam War movie storyline about a kid experiencing the horrors of war for the first time. If you tossed Platoon and 28 Days Later into a blender, this is pretty much what you would get. You play as Nate Walker, a raw recruit who touches down in country and is immediately shipped off to a border base under siege by the Vietcong (cue the usual angst about war being hell). But then the game shifts suddenly from one stereotype into another, with Walker being introduced to his zombie brother, Cal. As you might expect, this isn't much of a family reunion. Just as you're coming to terms with a brain-chomping bro who won't be interested in eating turkey on Thanksgiving anymore, the VC crash the party. Your brother escapes, and soon you're running through the jungle to battle the zombie plague and figure out what the mysterious Whiteknight is before the godless Commies do.

Sound like a decent basis for a shooter? It is, and the Source-engine-based visuals are reasonably good, though a long way from something modern like Crysis. The level design is attractive too, even if it seems like you're running from one Vietnam movie set to another. One moment you're racing through a misty jungle, then you're dealing with booby-trapped VC tunnels, and then you're in a run-down village. You get the picture. At least much of the scenery is chilling. Bloody streaks (trails?) are everywhere, and it seems like you can't walk two feet without encountering a beheaded soldier mounted on a wall, a buddy with his legs blown off, or some poor guy impaled on a bunch of bamboo spikes. The audio is serviceable. M-16 and AK-47 fire sounds like it should, although there isn't any thump to the rat-a-tat-tat or explosions. Most of the voice acting is well done, at least by B-movie standards. The actor playing Walker sounds a lot like a young James Woods, which adds a bit of Hollywood class to the proceedings.

But there isn't much game here. ShellShock 2: Blood Trails is very short. The solo campaign can be blasted through in four or five hours, and there are no multiplayer modes, so when you're done, you're done. Replay value is nonexistent due to the simplistic nature of the level design. Actually, "design" is probably too strong a word for how these levels have been slapped together. There isn't any artistry here. Every level is a straight run from point A to point B, with pauses along the way at choke points where you have to hunker down for a few minutes and gun down respawning enemies. Basically, you run along until you meet up with a bunch of fellow Yanks, then you stand still and help them shoot the horde of VC and/or zombie wannabes that start spawning from nearby rooftops, jungle pathways, and the like. Enemies never give any thought to what they're doing and typically just run out of their spawn locations like clowns out of a funny car. You can simply line up these spots in your sights and blast away at the respawning bad guys until the showdown ends and the game tells you to get moving.

You know it's bad when even the hot USO chicks get it.

About the only intriguing aspect of combat is a minigame that pops up whenever you get into close combat or you trigger something like a VC booby trap. If you encounter one of these situations, the game surprises you with a quickie challenge where you need to quickly hit a a number of specific keys to avoid certain death. For instance, to avoid a zombie's clutches and give him a beating, you might need to press W-S-A, then A-S-D, and then W-A-D. As the game progresses, you have less time to input these combos. In the early levels, you can almost leisurely type in the letters requested, while later you have to key them in almost instantly or wind up perforated by something like a VC spike pit. These moments are kind of intense and often serve to underline startling moments like a zombie lurching out of a darkened corner. But they also tend to be few and far between, especially in comparison to the mundane run-and-gun combat.

Chances are good that you won't hate ShellShock 2: Blood Trails. But odds are also high that you won't particularly enjoy it, either, and will likely forget playing the game in less time than it took to blast your way to its conclusion. Even if you're interested in the Vietnam War and have a zombie fetish, you can likely find a better use for your $30.

Read more »

Posted in: Horror

ShellShock 2: Blood Trails Review

Vietnam shooters apparently need more than just Charlie creeping through the jungle these days. ShellShock 2: Blood Trails takes a sharp left turn away from its gritty, realistic 2004 predecessor, ShellShock: Nam '67, and throws zombie hordes into the expected mix of AK-47s and rice paddies. Combining horror with stereotypical first-person shooter combat does little to make the game stand apart from the crowd, however. While there are a few thrills and chills here, this is too much of a shooter-by-numbers to be engaging to anyone but the least discriminating twitch gamer.

Taking down another refugee from 28 Days Later.

The plot introduces ravenous zombies into what is otherwise a standard Vietnam War movie storyline about a kid experiencing the horrors of war for the first time. If you tossed Platoon and 28 Days Later into a blender, this is pretty much what you would get. You play as Nate Walker, a raw recruit who touches down in country and is immediately shipped off to a border base under siege by the Vietcong (cue the usual angst about war being hell). But then the game shifts suddenly from one stereotype into another, with Walker being introduced to his zombie brother, Cal. As you might expect, this isn't much of a family reunion. Just as you're coming to terms with a brain-chomping bro who won't be interested in eating turkey on Thanksgiving anymore, the VC crash the party. Your brother escapes, and soon you're running through the jungle to battle the zombie plague and figure out what the mysterious Whiteknight is before the godless Commies do.

Sound like a decent basis for a shooter? It is, and the Source-engine-based visuals are reasonably good, though a long way from something modern like Crysis. The level design is attractive too, even if it seems like you're running from one Vietnam movie set to another. One moment you're racing through a misty jungle, then you're dealing with booby-trapped VC tunnels, and then you're in a run-down village. You get the picture. At least much of the scenery is chilling. Bloody streaks (trails?) are everywhere, and it seems like you can't walk two feet without encountering a beheaded soldier mounted on a wall, a buddy with his legs blown off, or some poor guy impaled on a bunch of bamboo spikes. The audio is serviceable. M-16 and AK-47 fire sounds like it should, although there isn't any thump to the rat-a-tat-tat or explosions. Most of the voice acting is well done, at least by B-movie standards. The actor playing Walker sounds a lot like a young James Woods, which adds a bit of Hollywood class to the proceedings.

But there isn't much game here. ShellShock 2: Blood Trails is very short. The solo campaign can be blasted through in four or five hours, and there are no multiplayer modes, so when you're done, you're done. Replay value is nonexistent due to the simplistic nature of the level design. Actually, "design" is probably too strong a word for how these levels have been slapped together. There isn't any artistry here. Every level is a straight run from point A to point B, with pauses along the way at choke points where you have to hunker down for a few minutes and gun down respawning enemies. Basically, you run along until you meet up with a bunch of fellow Yanks, then you stand still and help them shoot the horde of VC and/or zombie wannabes that start spawning from nearby rooftops, jungle pathways, and the like. Enemies never give any thought to what they're doing and typically just run out of their spawn locations like clowns out of a funny car. You can simply line up these spots in your sights and blast away at the respawning bad guys until the showdown ends and the game tells you to get moving.

You know it's bad when even the hot USO chicks get it.

About the only intriguing aspect of combat is a minigame that pops up whenever you get into close combat or you trigger something like a VC booby trap. If you encounter one of these situations, the game surprises you with a quickie challenge where you need to quickly hit a a number of specific keys to avoid certain death. For instance, to avoid a zombie's clutches and give him a beating, you might need to press W-S-A, then A-S-D, and then W-A-D. As the game progresses, you have less time to input these combos. In the early levels, you can almost leisurely type in the letters requested, while later you have to key them in almost instantly or wind up perforated by something like a VC spike pit. These moments are kind of intense and often serve to underline startling moments like a zombie lurching out of a darkened corner. But they also tend to be few and far between, especially in comparison to the mundane run-and-gun combat.

Chances are good that you won't hate ShellShock 2: Blood Trails. But odds are also high that you won't particularly enjoy it, either, and will likely forget playing the game in less time than it took to blast your way to its conclusion. Even if you're interested in the Vietnam War and have a zombie fetish, you can likely find a better use for your $30.

Read more »

Posted in: Horror

Empire: Total War Review

Like diving into a murky lake from the rocky cliffs looming above, plunging into Empire: Total War is an intimidating prospect but an exhilarating experience. As with previous games in this strategy franchise, there's an overwhelming amount of content to unearth, though now the clock has been spun forward hundreds of years. Technological advances have made bows and arrows weapons obsolete, the British colonies strive for independence, and major empires approach their inevitable collapse. These historical waters are deep, but also a bit turbulent. Empire is the biggest and broadest Total War yet, and like an aging historical parchment, it's brilliantly ambitious in scope but somewhat tattered at the edges. Nevertheless, the game's historical breadth, turn-based tugs-of-war, and enjoyable real-time battles (both on land and at sea) will transfix series fans and newcomers alike.

You'll put a lot into Empire: Total War, but it gives a lot in return.

The grand campaign is the meat of Empire: Total War, and it's there where you're likely to spend the most amount of time. The game stretches across the 18th century and lets you choose from a number of world powers, from Great Britain and Russia to fallen domains such as the Maratha Confederacy and the Ottoman Empire. Once you choose an empire, you can select from a few different campaign types that determine victory conditions and campaign length. Whichever you decide, be prepared: Even a short, 50-year campaign can take a good amount of time to complete, given that each turn requires strategic thinking on multiple fronts. Battles usually determine how regions are won and lost, but diplomatic relations, economic strangleholds, assassinations, and many other subtleties must be tweaked and considered at each turn, and they have noticeable impact as the years progress. If this sounds overwhelming, or if you're an American history buff, you'll want to check out the Road to Independence campaign before jumping into the grand one. This is essentially a long American tutorial that slowly introduces you to the basics and culminates in a grand campaign of its own.

The factors you must consider run the gamut, starting with an important new feature: the technology tree. Three areas of research and multiple subtrees let you improve your military, industry, and philosophy; in turn, your choices may benefit your economy or your success in battle. The benefits may seem minor at first, but as the campaign wears on, their effects are more noticeable, and your choices within these trees must be informed by the strengths and weaknesses of your particular empire. Do you concentrate on industry and use sheer numbers of troops to overwhelm your enemies, or do you focus on naval improvements and reap the ensuing benefits of successful trade-route blockades? As your campaign wears on, your needs may shift, whether because enemy blockades require a stronger navy, because you are spreading quickly across land, or because your economy is unable to sustain your growing army. Technology is also a limited diplomatic option, given that it's a commodity that you can not only trade during negotiations but also steal from foes. Additionally, it's not easy to convince a friendly nation to offer technology. Even when offered multiple technologies or monetary compensation, your closest allies rarely accept a request to share even a single technology, which makes it a limited political tool. In Empire: Total War, knowledge is more easily stolen than shared.

In fact, your more successful political dealings are the underhanded ones. Your agents may differ between nations (for example, gentlemen and rakes for the British, scholars and hashishin for the Ottomans), but the tasks are similar: covertly disrupt the affairs of your enemies and potential enemies. Religious agents such as missionaries will slowly but surely convert the populace, staving off potential rebellion in newly captured regions. On the other hand, the impact of religion is not as deep or impactful as in the Europa Universalis series, in which social and diplomatic events are more fully explored. Regardless, it's great fun to cripple whole economies, especially when your strategies work in tandem with each other. Sending in a naval fleet to seize enemy trade supplies, sending another directly into an enemy's port (and therefore obstructing incoming goods), and dispatching an agent to sabotage commercial ports can have profound effects. In cases like these, an angry, resource-deprived public and cash-strapped armies then ease the way for a quick triumph.

The puny Austrians are no match for the might of the Ottomans.

Nevertheless, this is Total War, and though assassinations and sabotage lighten your wartime load, there are no diplomatic, religious, or technological victories. Might is right, and as such, your armies and navies drive the quick spread of your domain--and if you want to meet the campaign's success requirements, you'll want to be aggressive, right from the start. The artificial intelligence doesn't always take sensible steps; smaller countries may declare war, only to be quickly steamrolled, whereas major foes can seem almost oblivious to your spread across their regions. However, campaign AI is good enough to keep you occupied across multiple theaters, and minor nations and rebels can often keep your hands full, leaving room for major foes to invade. You will review every fleet and army at every turn, and now that army recruitment, resource production, and other aspects of play are spread across multiple locales within a region, mobility (and therefore, roads) is an important strategic asset.

Unlike with most turn-based historical games, battles can be played out in real time, and though the autoresolve option may look tempting, you should, at least on land, manage any battle in which you have a reasonable chance of winning. The most obvious reason is that they're enjoyable to command and enjoyable to watch. Thousands of units clash in a dizzying mass of artillery and bullets, camels and swordsmen, and as in prior Total War games, it's more about position, formation, and geography than about unit micromanagement. Garrisoning musketeers, and taking heat off of cavalry by keeping enemy gunmen occupied with melee infantry, are just a few of many possibilities to consider. Once armies clash, these prebattle decisions generally have far more impact than any midskirmish choice, and it's as enjoyable as ever to zoom in close to your troops and watch them engage. The landscapes are on the bland side, but soldier animations and the general amount of model detail make for a wonderful visual treat.

Read more »

Posted in: Action

Empire: Total War Review

Like diving into a murky lake from the rocky cliffs looming above, plunging into Empire: Total War is an intimidating prospect but an exhilarating experience. As with previous games in this strategy franchise, there's an overwhelming amount of content to unearth, though now the clock has been spun forward hundreds of years. Technological advances have made bows and arrows weapons obsolete, the British colonies strive for independence, and major empires approach their inevitable collapse. These historical waters are deep, but also a bit turbulent. Empire is the biggest and broadest Total War yet, and like an aging historical parchment, it's brilliantly ambitious in scope but somewhat tattered at the edges. Nevertheless, the game's historical breadth, turn-based tugs-of-war, and enjoyable real-time battles (both on land and at sea) will transfix series fans and newcomers alike.

You'll put a lot into Empire: Total War, but it gives a lot in return.

The grand campaign is the meat of Empire: Total War, and it's there where you're likely to spend the most amount of time. The game stretches across the 18th century and lets you choose from a number of world powers, from Great Britain and Russia to fallen domains such as the Maratha Confederacy and the Ottoman Empire. Once you choose an empire, you can select from a few different campaign types that determine victory conditions and campaign length. Whichever you decide, be prepared: Even a short, 50-year campaign can take a good amount of time to complete, given that each turn requires strategic thinking on multiple fronts. Battles usually determine how regions are won and lost, but diplomatic relations, economic strangleholds, assassinations, and many other subtleties must be tweaked and considered at each turn, and they have noticeable impact as the years progress. If this sounds overwhelming, or if you're an American history buff, you'll want to check out the Road to Independence campaign before jumping into the grand one. This is essentially a long American tutorial that slowly introduces you to the basics and culminates in a grand campaign of its own.

The factors you must consider run the gamut, starting with an important new feature: the technology tree. Three areas of research and multiple subtrees let you improve your military, industry, and philosophy; in turn, your choices may benefit your economy or your success in battle. The benefits may seem minor at first, but as the campaign wears on, their effects are more noticeable, and your choices within these trees must be informed by the strengths and weaknesses of your particular empire. Do you concentrate on industry and use sheer numbers of troops to overwhelm your enemies, or do you focus on naval improvements and reap the ensuing benefits of successful trade-route blockades? As your campaign wears on, your needs may shift, whether because enemy blockades require a stronger navy, because you are spreading quickly across land, or because your economy is unable to sustain your growing army. Technology is also a limited diplomatic option, given that it's a commodity that you can not only trade during negotiations but also steal from foes. Additionally, it's not easy to convince a friendly nation to offer technology. Even when offered multiple technologies or monetary compensation, your closest allies rarely accept a request to share even a single technology, which makes it a limited political tool. In Empire: Total War, knowledge is more easily stolen than shared.

In fact, your more successful political dealings are the underhanded ones. Your agents may differ between nations (for example, gentlemen and rakes for the British, scholars and hashishin for the Ottomans), but the tasks are similar: covertly disrupt the affairs of your enemies and potential enemies. Religious agents such as missionaries will slowly but surely convert the populace, staving off potential rebellion in newly captured regions. On the other hand, the impact of religion is not as deep or impactful as in the Europa Universalis series, in which social and diplomatic events are more fully explored. Regardless, it's great fun to cripple whole economies, especially when your strategies work in tandem with each other. Sending in a naval fleet to seize enemy trade supplies, sending another directly into an enemy's port (and therefore obstructing incoming goods), and dispatching an agent to sabotage commercial ports can have profound effects. In cases like these, an angry, resource-deprived public and cash-strapped armies then ease the way for a quick triumph.

The puny Austrians are no match for the might of the Ottomans.

Nevertheless, this is Total War, and though assassinations and sabotage lighten your wartime load, there are no diplomatic, religious, or technological victories. Might is right, and as such, your armies and navies drive the quick spread of your domain--and if you want to meet the campaign's success requirements, you'll want to be aggressive, right from the start. The artificial intelligence doesn't always take sensible steps; smaller countries may declare war, only to be quickly steamrolled, whereas major foes can seem almost oblivious to your spread across their regions. However, campaign AI is good enough to keep you occupied across multiple theaters, and minor nations and rebels can often keep your hands full, leaving room for major foes to invade. You will review every fleet and army at every turn, and now that army recruitment, resource production, and other aspects of play are spread across multiple locales within a region, mobility (and therefore, roads) is an important strategic asset.

Unlike with most turn-based historical games, battles can be played out in real time, and though the autoresolve option may look tempting, you should, at least on land, manage any battle in which you have a reasonable chance of winning. The most obvious reason is that they're enjoyable to command and enjoyable to watch. Thousands of units clash in a dizzying mass of artillery and bullets, camels and swordsmen, and as in prior Total War games, it's more about position, formation, and geography than about unit micromanagement. Garrisoning musketeers, and taking heat off of cavalry by keeping enemy gunmen occupied with melee infantry, are just a few of many possibilities to consider. Once armies clash, these prebattle decisions generally have far more impact than any midskirmish choice, and it's as enjoyable as ever to zoom in close to your troops and watch them engage. The landscapes are on the bland side, but soldier animations and the general amount of model detail make for a wonderful visual treat.

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Posted in: War