Writing a review of Guinness World Records 2013: Gamer’s Edition would be a little unfair, and perhaps disingenuous. Guinness is the finest collection of world records in print today. They have made world records a serious business, but with their Gamer’s Edition, they have proven that they know how to have some fun too.
So rather than post a “review” of the book, we will give our impressions. Here are our thoughts on everyone’s favorite records book, done gamer style. Continue reading
We reviewed Deadlight on the Xbox Live Arcade platform in July. But now a new audience can partake in Tequila Works’ zombie apocalypse survival simulator.
PC gamers get an updated version of the game with a new NIGHTMARE difficulty, as well as some “making of” videos.
And just a short list of tips from those of us who have “survived” Deadlight:
I told you it was short.
Trailer:
2 Dawn Games has a fine lineage. They bring experience from Battlefield and Frontlines. They know how to make things go “bang” and “boom”. Ravaged is the culmination of that experience and then some. If it isn’t already on your radar, get it there now!
Ravaged pits you and your rough-necked marauders against a band of equally rough-necked marauders. Teams square off for some good old fashioned killing and stealing. The game mode available to me at the time of review was Capture The Resource. In this mode, players must travel from their spawn point, moving across the map and capturing bases and eventually, resources that are held in the enemy camp. Capturing bases grants your team the ability to spawn there, while capturing resources nets your team points. Kills don’t count towards your team’s score, but it’s still important to take out those rascals trying to steal your team’s resources.
While on foot, game can be played in either first person or third person perspectives and is swappable at the press of a button. I preferred the first person view, so that’s how I played.
There are five playable classes, and each class has a Primary weapon, a secondary weapon, some type of grenade, and a melee weapon. The classes and their primary weapons are Bandit (SMG), Warrior (Assault Rifle), Bodyguard (RPG), Assassin (Sniper Rifle), Grunt (Heavy Machine Gun).
You start on foot, but like in Battlefield, you don’t need to stay that way. Players spawn with several mobility options including quads, jeeps, pickup trucks, and helicopters, most of which allow you to buddy up with a teammate or two while one drives and the others do the shooting. While you are not completely harmless against opponents who are in vehicles, you are mostly defenseless, so if you find yourself in the middle of the wasteland without a ride, you have a fair chance of ending up as someone’s hood ornament.
Both player movement speed and vehicle speed seemed right on and balanced. Turning in the vehicles with the WASD is a little unnatural, but functional. The vehicle physics have a nice balance of arcade and realistic behavior. Crashing into another vehicle at high speeds doesn’t result in both vehicles crushed into unrecognizable masses. Instead, you get a some thrilling spins and flips as both drivers struggle to be the first to regain control.
While “post apocalyptic wasteland” doesn’t usually beg for beautiful vistas, if you’ve got the video card, Ravaged has the pretty. I loved the details in the vehicles, and the look of the rocky terrain (I know it’s just rocks, but I am a sucker for geology).
Explosions are satisfying Shooting and running animations are natural and realistic, and the look of choppers and land vehicles in motion was glassy smooth.
The level design is also impressive. Hills and long inclines are present where many other games settle for flat maps. This adds to the visual aspect of Ravaged, as well as the playability of the maps. Enemy targets are harder to hit when cresting and falling over the dunes, but it just looks more interesting because of the rolling hills and natural structures that populate the game worlds.
The man-made structures vary from simple, small, single floor buildings to large ramshackle fortresses. All of this fits the mood and setting of Ravaged nicely.
There isn’t much to say about the audio work here. Gun and vehicle sounds are well sampled and executed, and there is some cool echoing and occlusion with the sounds seemingly acting like their real life counterparts would.
There is no epic score here, it’s kind of a “bring your own jams” occasion, but we don’t think you’ll mind the scarcity of tunes, what with all of the ‘shooting and dying’ going on.
The nature of a multiplayer-only game means that it’s only as strong as it’s community. Ravaged has the potential to take off and build a strong community. The folks I played with were helpful and generally good sports. A good start indeed.
Since this is a multiplayer-only game, there is no vast campaign to play through and there is no leveling up, meaning everyone is on the same footing from the start. The only thing that will get your team the win is the skill and teamwork you bring. This is a pro/con feature. On the plus side, you won’t get worked by some level 50 that has unlocked the super sniper or some insanely overpowered killing machine. Unfortunately, this means there is no carrot-on-a-stick dangling in front of those who may come from Call of Duty backgrounds and love their perks and unlocks.
But regardless of what camp you honed your shooting skills at, Ravaged brings a surprisingly fresh take (given the wasteland setting) on the multiplayer shooter genre and is worth a look.
Four out of Five
Preorder/Buy Ravaged here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/96308/
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. Simply based on the title alone, it sounds like we are going to have a good time. We’ve got an enthusiastic name, some anger, and a dead leporid. Throw them all together and it seems like you’ve got party central. Unfortunately, the sum of the parts doesn’t quite add up. While there are some fantastic elements to Hell Yeah! (HY!), a few persistent issues subtract from what could have been a brilliant package.
You know you’re addicted to a game when you close your eyes and are completely mesmerized by images of that game haunting you. Watching yourself running, jumping, and fighting enemies over and over again in just the split second it takes you to blink. I’m sure the true nerds and hardcore gamers can relate to such an addiction. But even then, some of you out there can’t. Just to say the least, this game is epic. This game makes this hardcore gamer excited like a child at Christmas about to open the biggest present under the tree.
Family Reviews are done with the family in mind. In these reviews, the casual player and young ones have a say, as well as the older mature gamers. This allows the reader to balance the comments and come to a more accurate conclusion based on the opinions of a variety of gamers.
Iron Galaxy Studios brings us a delightfully destructive Xbox Live Arcade game utilizing the Kinect sensor. The last few years have seen many Angry Birds games and their clones flocking to our consoles, PCs, and smartphones. But Wreckateer may owe it’s lineage to a different series, Crush the Castle.
If Crush the Castle were a kinect game, it might look like Wreckateer at first glance, but the comparisons end with castles and crushing. Wreckateer brings a creative twist to the destruction genre and it has the potential to appeal to the whole family. Continue reading
It’s 1945. The Germans are very close to implementing their V2 rocket program. I am behind enemy lines. I have no allies here. It’s nighttime and the only lights are from the few remaining working street lamps, some burning buildings in the distance, the occasional burst of light from a distant explosion and some tracer rounds. I spot an Nazi foot soldier. He’s close, so I put him down with a well placed shot from my Welrod pistol. Moving forward quietly, I have a clear view down a ruined city block.
A cathedral stands proudly, though charred and battered. It seems to offer a glimpse of hope. A loud ring emanates from the bell tower. I utilize the next precious seconds to fire a shot at a perimeter guard from my rifle. The sound of my gun is drowned out by the ringing. Another bell strike, another shot. This time, the camera follows the bullet all the way to its target, another foot soldier’s helmeted head. I see his wounded skeletal structure as the bullet passes through, and exits flattened and bent from the impact.
A glint from a scope high on the cathedral signals danger. I take a shot to my shoulder and take cover behind a destroyed automobile. I peek out, and just as the glint signals another shot from my enemy, I fire. The bullet travels 200 meters, soaring through smoke and fog to find it’s victims chest. My name is Karl Fairburne, and I am a sniper.
At work, I was recently upgraded to a new laptop. My former laptop was no slouch in its day, but nearly 4 years later it had started to show signs of aging. For perspective, I was using a Dell Inspiron 1720 with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (2 cores at 2.5 GHz) and 3.5 GB of RAM.
Since this is for work, and the work I do is primarily programming of various sorts. I needed a number cruncher. This isn’t a gaming rig, so it won’t be reviewed as one, but for those looking for a process driven setup, rather than a graphic driven one, you should find this helpful.
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