http://www.realpoor.com/ Where Internet drama can cost you your job! 2009-11-20 15:11:34 -0500 The developers of Left 4 Dead really struggled with creating a sequel that was a worthy successor to what many have called the best game of 2009 yet, in many ways Valve s latest blockbuster, Left 4 Dead 2, is much like the first game. It s not really surprising since the sequel is on store shelves just a year after the first game took the world by storm. Really, despite a few enhancements, some general tweaks, and better graphics, the game feels more like an expansion of the first game rather than a whole new property. However, that having been said, it s not necessarily a bad thing. Left 4 Dead s hook has been, and will continue to be, mindless slaughter completely, or nearly so, without a storyline to muck up the fun. Players are free to plug in whenever they want, pump lead into some undead, and jack out when dinner s done. What made the game such a hit in the first place is that it does just about everything right. While the game was built for multiplayer (4 player co-op), single players too can have a blast with it. Gameplay All of that remains in Left 4 Dead 2 but Steam kicked things up a notch with less linear maps, a little bit more story, a handful of new weapons, and much better looking zombies. The most note able improvement is the addition of melee weapons that were sorely lacking from the prequel. Among them are fire axes, katanas, guitars, frying pans and even chainsaws! It s hard to believe that these zombie flick tropes were left out of the first game but as lead developers have said the first game was rushed out of the gate and they weren t allowed to include everything they had wanted. This is something they set out to rectify with the sequel and for the most part it works. There s nothing more satisfying than chopping up hordes of flesh eating dead beats with a couple buddies and laughing at the giblets! That s right, you ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Left_4_Dead_2_PC_Game_Review___With_Gameplay_Videos__Screenshots_and_More_a283.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Left_4_Dead_2_PC_Game_Review___With_Gameplay_Videos__Screenshots_and_More_a283.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Left_4_Dead_2_PC_Game_Review___With_Gameplay_Videos__Screenshots_and_More_a283.html Robert Palmer 2009-11-18 06:55:21 -0500 Has it really been eight years since gamers has last taken on the mantle of El Presidente ? After a brief stop off in the pirate infested Caribbean during the 2003 squeal, the Tropico Series has appeared to have been ousted out of office. Fear not, for the people have spoken and El Presidente has returned! Will El Presidente's new term of office be as successful as the previous two, or will the rebels finally be too much? Tropico 3 returns to the scene of the first of the series. Set during the cold war, on an unnamed island somewhere in the Caribbean, it is your job to remain in office through any means necessary while in campaign mode meeting goals to complete the island. Much like the original, you may please your people so they will freely vote for you, threaten them into voting for you, or run a true dictatorship. Each of these choices has an impact on how the island runs. If you choose the run a dictatorship, be prepared to deal with rebels trying to overthrow you. To guide you on your quest for power is the DJ of the local radio station, Juanito, who will alert you to threats or important issues on the island. Gameplay During the campaign you must fulfill certain requirements to successfully complete an island. Completing a set of islands unlocks the next set for conquest for a total of fifteen islands in all to mold to your will. Goals for each island can range from having a certain amount of tourists visit, to simply remaining in power till a specified year. These goals are typically not as straight forward as they seem, due to the new world events that takes place during the course of the game. These range from a severe drop off in the price of some exports, having to deal with inverters wanting to buy out part of your exports for a flat price, to being quarantined due to a llama flu scare. This gives some sense of unpredictability in each mission, forcing you to think about what if scenarios while building up ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Tropico_3_PC_Game_Review_a281.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Tropico_3_PC_Game_Review_a281.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Tropico_3_PC_Game_Review_a281.html James McKinley 2009-11-14 06:05:35 -0500 The Call of Duty franchise has been around for years and has always posted strong numbers but when Infinity Ward once again teamed up with Activision to bring the heat and give us Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, it was almost too much for the world. Released over four consoles and a handful of handheld devices, Modern Warfare has sold nearly 14 million copies and has spawned a faithful following of hardcore fanatics online. When you hit a jackpot that big, it s nearly impossible to hit it a second time but Infinity Ward has stepped up to bat with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and hopes that the enhanced storyline, tweaked multiplayer, and shiny new IW 4.0 engine--with it s awesome capabilities and sophisticate enemy AI--is enough to blow their previous darling right out of the water. However, Infinity Ward may have offended a significant portion of its consumer base by refusing PC users that near-necessity of dedicated servers for online play and failing to release any special editions for home computer (sorry PC gamer, no night vision glasses for you.) So is Modern Warfare 2, the first true sequel in the franchise, all that it s cracked up to be or has the media turned this prodigal son into an overblown and overhyped mess that s going to flop. Let s just say I don t think Infinity Ward is going to have to worry about making payroll with this one. Gameplay, Graphics and Sound Call of Duty has always been about the action experience. Often developers have tossed realism out the window to give gamers a cinematic and exciting experience and Modern Warfare is no exception. In fact, Modern Warfare 2 has turned the action up to eleven and features situations straight out of a classic James Bond flick. You say you want to race down the side of a Kazakhstani mountain on a snowmobile? How about outwitting hordes of enemies in a Brazilian slum? Maybe you just want to run r ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Call_of_Duty__Modern_Warfare_2_Exclusive_Hands_On_Review_for_PC_a279.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Call_of_Duty__Modern_Warfare_2_Exclusive_Hands_On_Review_for_PC_a279.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Call_of_Duty__Modern_Warfare_2_Exclusive_Hands_On_Review_for_PC_a279.html Robert Palmer 2009-11-10 08:35:05 -0500 The Need for Speed series has been a staple of the racing genre for the past fifteen years, spanning three console generations. Need for Speed: Shift attempts to bring the series back to a simulation style, leaving the police chases and high flying acrobatics for later installments of the series. In development for the past two years, can this installment turn the corner, and bring a breath of fresh air to this aging series? Gameplay Need for Speed: Shift sits in a strange gray area between arcade and simulation. It offers driving assists that opens itself to fans of the series that may not be used to a simulation style of racer. With all these assists off simulation fans may still find the game feeling a bit too arcade like. In its attempts to bridge the gap between the arcade driving fan, and the simulation drivers it will not satisfy either sect. However, those who are not hardcore to either extreme, drivers will find the driving model handles well. It offers enough lead way to bring in new drivers, while offering just enough realism to give a taste of the real car. The damage model for cars also shows this compromise between arcade and simulation. While cars can take damage, the damage model for the most part is cosmetic. The only system that is really affected by damage is steering, and that is only to some degree with full damage on. It is strange to see a car flip several times, and then drive off like nothing happened in this simulation racer. The single player game will mostly take place in career mode. Events are spread across eighteen tracks, with five tiers of competition to work through. The events are very diverse without the same event repeating on the same track twice. Perhaps the most frustrating of these events is the duel, in which you face a single AI controlled car for a single lap, in three rounds. In the first round, you maybe following the computer car, and your goal is to pass it, beating it to the finish line o ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Need_for_Speed__Shift_Game_Review__PC__a275.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Need_for_Speed__Shift_Game_Review__PC__a275.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Need_for_Speed__Shift_Game_Review__PC__a275.html James McKinley 2009-11-03 05:31:50 -0500 Darkest of Days may be one of the biggest disappointments of the gaming season. While it never really got any real attention prior to its release, the gameplay and concept art that was leaked out to the media looked promising. What could more fun than a game that allowed you to bring modern and futuristic weapons to a historical battle field? Take on the Confederate army John McClane style and mow down those rebel soldiers with a machine gun or drop self-guided rockets down on the Hun during World War I. So how could such a cool concept turn sour? Toss in some ridiculously stupid AI, poor graphics, subpar sound effects, and force player to repeat the same actions so many times that they can see them in their sleep. Did I mention the huge gaping plot holes? It s too bad to because I personally had high hopes for 8Monkey Lab s first shooter. It sounded like such a cool concept and the screenshots of a futuristic science lab and the omnipresent female AI (which I now know to be called Mother) looked so great. So where does the game start to fall apart? Right from the beginning. Gameplay You play as a doomed soldier in the command of General Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn but just before you re supposed to die you re saved from your gruesome fate by a fancy-dressed man from the future. Why? Because an apparent clerical error means you re the perfect candidate for a special operations team that uses time travel to maintain the correct historical timeline and safeguard the future. Sure the plot sounds way too much like Time Cop but the game is better than the movie, right? Unfortunately not. While the whole training a soldier from the 1800s to use futuristic weapons and tactics thing is never really explained, I was willing to buy that for the sake of continuity (I mean wouldn t the guy s head just explode if he found out he was living in the fu ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Darkest_of_Days_Game_Review__PC__a273.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Darkest_of_Days_Game_Review__PC__a273.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Darkest_of_Days_Game_Review__PC__a273.html Robert Palmer 2009-10-30 06:41:42 -0400 Halo is arguably one of the most recognizable gaming franchises in the industry today. Halo Combat Evolved was singlehandedly responsible for not only selling an insane amount of Xbox machines and securing Microsoft s place in the console gaming world but also for bringing developer Bungie out of relative obscurity and catapulting them up to compete with the big boys. However, the Halo sequels have often been criticized for being too derivative and for failing to push the envelope. So when Bungie announced the release of Halo 3: ODST fans were excited but game industry gurus were leery. Could Bungie pull off another huge hit with an expansion pack that s not really an expansion pack? Would it hold back the hordes of ravenous Master Chief fanboys until the next iteration of the Mj llnir armor-clad hero? There s no doubting that ODST is a solid game. It features excellent voice acting, bug-free environments, exciting gameplay, and the most engaging storyline in a Halo game to date. However, the playable single player campaign only lasts for 5 hours. This clearly ear marks this release as an expansion pack rather than a true sequel, which is exactly what Bungie always intended the game to be. ODST started out as Halo: Recon but quickly grew into something more as Microsoft pushed Bungie to sell the $20-$30 package for full retail price. They ended up throwing in a bunch of downloadable content (most of which Halo fans already owned) a couple other interesting extras, and crossing their fingers hoping gamers would bite. Microsoft Studios should really have kept their fingers out of the pot ODST would have done much better as what it was meant to be, something to tide Halo fans over until the Master Chief returned in Halo: Reach. Gameplay Gameplay wise, ODST is like nothing else you ve experienced in the Halo universe. Sure it looks and ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Halo_3__ODST_Game_Review__Xbox_360__a271.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Halo_3__ODST_Game_Review__Xbox_360__a271.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Halo_3__ODST_Game_Review__Xbox_360__a271.html Robert Palmer 2009-10-28 08:04:34 -0400 A favorite of game developers, World of War II has been fought time and time again on the screens of gamers the world over. Entering this saturated market is Order of War, a real time strategy game from Square Enix and Wargaming.net made for the PC platform. It promises to bring a historically accurate portrayal of the closing days of the greatest conflict in human history. Can Order of War make it in this already over populated genre? Gameplay The first thing that I must stress is simply the scale of the game. With each side capable of holding up to one thousand troops, it is truly something to behold. Each unit of the game consists of multiple members, such as a unit of infantry holding somewhere between 40 and 50 men. This can quickly lead to some massive battles. A great example of this is the first mission of the American campaign, Operation Overlord the invasion of Normandy. Fitting with the scale of game, are the game's missions. Each mission can take the better part of an hour, and is broken down into several submissions to undertake throughout the course of the level. However, with no mid-mission saves or check points, one mistake late in a mission could bring you back to the beginning to play once again. This is the source of the greatest frustration with the game. With some of the longer missions taking the better part of an hour, having to replay an entire mission due to one slip up may cause some mice to fly in rage. The historical portrayal of the various units and missions deserves a special mention. Many games holding to history accuracy often compromises gameplay. For the most part, this is not the case with Order of War. Those who wish to have a realistic view of how the battles took place are in for a real treat. Before each mission, a montage of maps, war footage, and in game cut scenes gives a sense of history to the mission you are playing, as well teaching you about the mission's real life counterpart. This gives a real sense ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Order_of_War_PC_Game_Review_a269.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Order_of_War_PC_Game_Review_a269.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Order_of_War_PC_Game_Review_a269.html James McKinley 2009-10-26 07:11:32 -0400 If you thought Arma II was the best war simulation ever then you re probably not going to like Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising very much. However, if you thought Arma II spent way too much time letting you run around as animals, had one too many glitches, and some of the worst AI you ve seen yet all while being so frustratingly realistic you wanted to pull your hair out, then Dragon Rising is probably The game for you. The game s prequel was a huge hit (albeit an extremely difficult and frustratingly designed one) and Code Masters picked up the torch that Bohemia lit and ran with it. While the folks responsible for the first Operation Flashpoint were busy populating their Arma world with just about every weapon and vehicle known to mankind (and overlooking some game-breaking glitches and idiotic AI) the gamers at Code Masters were busy making a war simulation for the rest of us. What does that mean? Dragon Rising s playable map is smaller (though it s still 220 square kilometers). There are not as many guns lying around. There are not as many vehicles waiting to be commandeered. But if you re thinking that Dragon Rising is some dumbed down version don t the gamers at Code Masters just managed to make a simulation and keep the gameplay fun! Gameplay The basic principle behind Dragon Rising is pretty simplistic and we ve seen variations of it a hundred times over. Some big military/political power (in this case China s People s Liberation Army) decides to move in on territory that s not really theirs (the Russian island of Skira), all hell breaks loose, and your unit is sent in to pick up the pieces. You re not going to get much of a plot than that but you don t need it. The gameplay itself really sucks players in and the level of realism, graphic detail, and audio c ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Operation_Flashpoint__Dragon_Rising_PC_Game_Review__a268.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Operation_Flashpoint__Dragon_Rising_PC_Game_Review__a268.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Operation_Flashpoint__Dragon_Rising_PC_Game_Review__a268.html Robert Palmer 2009-10-23 04:39:48 -0400 Just when you think the world doesn t have enough MMORPGs along comes yet another to toss its glove down in a challenge to reigning champion WoW. So what makes NcSoft s Aion stand out from the rest of the pretenders? You can fly and that s about it. The market has become completely saturated with MMORPGs that are trying to break the stranglehold WoW has on people s time, minds, and money but none of them really ever stood a chance. Will Aion? Maybe but I doubt it. The biggest thing that Aion has going for it is that the game is extremely solid even though it just launched not too long ago. Both the gameplay mechanics and multiplayer platform are rock steady and it s easy to see that NcSoft built on the foundation that others have laid before it to create a game that just works right out of the box. Other than some initial connection problems (too many people to log onto too few servers at once) the game is as close to perfect as it can get. However, NcSoft refused to shoot for the stars and Aion really doesn t break any new ground. Graphics Gameplay Another benefit is that Aion uses the CryEngine that Far Cry used to become one of the most visually stunning games ever. So how does Aion hold up graphically? Surprisingly well. The colors are great, the character models are beautiful, and animations are crisp and responsive. You won t find the level of detail that Far Cry enjoyed but Aion looks better than pretty much any other multiplayer game out there. The best part is that the level of detail can easily be dialed back to support smooth gameplay on even fairly weak PCs. So the game works and it s pretty but what s it about? Aion put players in the shoes of either an Elyos or and Asmodian (demigods of sorts) who inhabit a dual world of light and shadow. While the Elyos were lucky enough to inherit the sunny ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Aion__The_Tower_of_Eternity_Game_Review_a266.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Aion__The_Tower_of_Eternity_Game_Review_a266.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Aion__The_Tower_of_Eternity_Game_Review_a266.html Robert Palmer 2009-10-16 06:27:39 -0400 People loved Cryptic s first foray into the world of comic book superheroes City of Heroes so one would expect there sophomore attempt to compete with heavy-hitters like the Marvel Universe to be build on that framework and become something truly spectacular. While Champions Online does fix many of the annoying kinks players found in COH, it also brings with it its own crop of niggling disturbances that keep gameplay from becoming truly epic. Heroes Powers One of the most refreshing abilities in Champions Online is the near complete freedom you have in creating your own hero. Unlike many MMOs where you have a few choices to pick from and a couple of variations to tweak, Champions, like COH before it, offers a stunning array of options from visual tweaks to power choices that make it easy to create and intricately detailed character that feels uniquely your own. You ll find a staggering amount of buttons, knobs, and sliders during character creation that may make you feel as if you ve accidentally loaded a Sims game but fear not, when the superpowers come out there s no comparison. Another unique quality of Champions is the ability to choose any powers you want from all of the available choices. There are classes in the game but placing your character in one does not limit the choices you have. Also, the moral orientation of the powers you choose really has no bearing on your character. Opting for a grittier approach to heroism, your good guys are free to use darker powers and vice versa. Unfortunately, all of this creative freedom may lead to some issues when you have to weigh uniqueness with practicality. Although developers had promised that the power trees would be fair and balanced, many players find themselves using avatars who are completely overwhelmed simply because they chose the road less travelled. If you do so, expect to get a healthy pounding from characters ... http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Champions_Online_Game_Review_a263.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Champions_Online_Game_Review_a263.html http://www.realpoor.com/articles/Champions_Online_Game_Review_a263.html Robert Palmer 2009-09-29 05:54:28 -0400