Filed under: First Person Shooters, PC Culture | Tags: GAMERSGATE, ROCKIN ANDROID, SUGURI
GamersGate, a leading platform for digitally distributed PC games, today announced a distribution deal with indie videogame publisher Rockin Android. GamersGate will offer a lineup of localized indie videogame titles officially licensed from Japan. The first title available will be the Japanese fan-favorite hybrid shoot’em up, fighter SUGURI, scheduled for availability at the end of June. Additional titles from Rockin Android will soon follow. I’m thrilled with this partnership, said Rockin Android President Enrique Galvez. The rock solid reputation and wide-reaching, user-friendly platform of GamersGate will tremendously help to expose some of Japan¹s best indie PC games to an even wider global audience. We have always placed a high importance on offering high-quality indie titles, said Theodore Bergquist, CEO of GamersGate. Rockin Android has made a name for itself by finding some fantastic indie titles and brining them to market. We’re very pleased to help deliver these titles to the GamersGate community.
About SUGURI:
Experience the rush of battle as you wage intensive aerial duels in the fan-acclaimed SUGURI, one of the most unique hybrid shooter/fighter titles ever created by Japan indie game developer Orange Juice. Showcasing beautifully rendered designs, innovative weaponry, rapid-fire combat gameplay action and a cool techno-trance soundtrack, SUGURI is a must-have, must-play indie game.
Filed under: First Person Shooters, MMORPG, Strategy | Tags: pc games, PC games of 09
thanks to pixelsmashers.com for the video
Filed under: First Person Shooters
Fear 2 Project Origin – PC Supplement
By: Mario Garcia
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: Monolith Productions
System: PC, X Box 360, PS3
Overall Score: 7.5 out of 10
Website: http://www.whatisfear.com/
Project Origin is the followup to the thriller horror FPS FEAR. It continues the stoyr of Alma the creepy Japanese schoolgirl from the original. We have a great writeup of the game by John Burrell Jr.on our console site Press Start and i dont want to just repeat everything he said in his article so please check it out http://pressstarttme.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/fear-2-project-origin/.
I felt the game really delivered on the promise of scares and delivered when it came to the intese atmosphere. I had not played beyone the demo in the first game so this was a very fresh experinse for me. The AI’s ability to adapt to the situations was great allowing the enmies to use cover effectively even pulling down parts of the environment to use. Most of the game I tried to play at night lights low headphones on and sound turned way up. That is truly the best way to experience a game like Fear 2. The creepy factor of all the subtle sound and lighting effects really shone through and i could feel my hear racing when a sudden flash of a ghost or monster would temporarily blur my vision or i would see a ghoslty image creep just around the corner then the action would take off when severaly enemies jumped in from various points . The slow motion “Matrix” effect was fun at first but became a bit of a chore and would even feel a bit out of place at times due to the fact that it would light up the enemies like an old arcade shooting gallery game.
This sequel while great fun there were a few shortcomings. The lack of a quicksave was very annoying. PC Gamers are used to being able to save regularly. Having to repeat the same area over and over because you are sent back to a checkpoint can really interrupt the flow of the game. While not a gameplay annoyoance one of the port problems is the checkpoints stop the game and you are treated to a message that says saving game please do not turn off your computer. That was just a huh moment and i honeslty felt a little bit of hey this is a pc not a console is the game trying to save to a memory card. Oh well.
Overall though FEAR 2 Project ORIGIN has a great mix of action, storyline and atmosphere. IT was a great mix of creepy and action. While a few oversights when creating the port from console to PC removed from the immersion a bit i was pretty impressed by the game overall.
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Reviews | Tags: PC review, Enemy Territory Quake Wars, Activision PC games, Quake, Enemy Territory Review, Mulitplayer PC first person shooters
Title: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
By: Anthony Rice (Rice_King)
Developer: Splash Damage
Publisher: Activision
Consoles Available: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Number of Players: 1-32
ESRB Rating: Teen
Review Rating: 8.5
Website: www.enemyterritory.com
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was released by id Software in 2007 and is a child of the Free Multiplayer game Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (ET) that was released in 2003. It is not so much a sequel to ET because ET was based in WWII. It is mainly an online multiplayer game, but it can also be played offline with bots. The point of the game is to enter into a campaign where there are multiple maps and you either have to defend a main objective or attack the main objective. There are many small objectives – such as building a bridge, or destroying generators – that you must first complete before you even get near the main objective. There are two sides you can choose, GDF (Global Defense Force) or Strogg – the alien invaders. Within both of these sides you have five character types you can choose from. Basically you can choose from an ammunitions supplier/target painter, spy, medic, soldier, or engineer. Many of the objectives can only be completed by a specific class, so the teams have to be balanced with classes in order to succeed. For example if you have to build a bridge or repair a vehicle, only the engineer can do this.
For a game that was released two years ago, the graphics are very clean. The humans are very realistic, while the Strogg, who are abominations of flesh and metal, look quite evil. The game is great in the way that everyone who plays gets to play a part in the success or failure of the team. You can choose your class in-game so you don’t get stuck with the character you chose. You can also gain campaign experience which will give you abilities like faster arming of mines or more clips of ammo. Now it’s not the eternal war between the US and the Nazis, it’s the other eternal war between alien oppressors and humans is just as good when executed correctly.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has a strong Evolution factor because of its strong class based objective game play. The very fact that it forces cooperative game play and you to need to either support the people fulfilling objectives or be the person fulfilling the objectives gives a strong sense of teamwork and community that bring many gamers back for hours of fun. The replay value of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is very high; every campaign you play will bring new and refreshing experiences. Many people still do play this game; I was surprised to see how many servers were full when I first logged on. Now you can find this game for less than ten bucks on Amazon, I definitely recommend spending the cash to get this game.
RATING: 8.5
Evolution Factor: High
Filed under: First Person Shooters
By Mario Garcia
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: EA Games
Review Rating: 8
Website: http://crysiswarhead.ea.com/
Crysis: Warhead is the Sequel to 2007’s awesome first person shooter Crysis. You are now on the other side of the island playing as Sergeant Michael “Psycho” Sykes. Rather than being a sequel taking place later Crysis Warhead takes place in parallel to the events of the first game.
Crysis: Warhead is visually amazing. The jungle environment is lush and has a very alive feel to it. Watching a flock of quail run across the road was unexpected. The trees and many other objects are destructible and the physics make the gameplay very interesting since you don’t always have to rely on your guns to take out enemies. A large box thrown with super strength or a bunch of logs rolling down a hill work very nicely indeed.
Gameplay in Crysis: Warhead is fast an furious with intense firefights and challenging enemies. The suit powers are nicely implemented and come in handy without being too overpowered or annoying, eg. requiring a split second maneuver that is critical to progressing. The interface is very nice you can use a center mouse click to bring up the power controls as well as being able to use the mouse to modify your weapons. I personally liked adding a sniper scope to the Gauss cannon since it was especially handy at taking out the aliens. The enemies early in the game did feel like they blended into the environment a bit and occasionally while looking at the radar to find and enemy I ended up stumbling right over them.
Overall Crysis: Warhead is a great standalone expansion to Crysis. Fun Gameplay and good storyline . The cutscenes and in game dialogue really fleshed out the story along with the flashed of backstory. Using less system resources makes it play very well on a decent system though to really get the pest experience from the game a high end gaming rig is preferred. Also Cryengine 2 takes advantage of DirectX 10 and Multi-core processors so windows vista is the preferred OS on this one.
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Reviews | Tags: First Person Shooter, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead Review, Left For Dead, PC review
By Mario Garcia
Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher: Valve Corporation
Review Rating: 10
Website: http://www.l4d.com/
Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter zombie survival game. However in my opinion it is more of a zombie movie simulator. The premise is Four Survivors trying to escape from the relentless hordes of undead infected. They fight their way across farms, hospitals, subways and city streets.
We have to start with the true stars of the game the Infected. The normal infected are fast moving cannon fodder zombies, not at all tough 1-2 shots puts them down but there are a lot of them and its easy to get overwhelmed. Then there are the specialty infected. The Boomer, a disgusting blob of gelatinous gross. The boomers have 2 attacks one is a vomit attach in which they projectile vomit bile which attracts infected and the second is getting within range and then getting show so the bile spray out all over any survivors in the vicinity. The Smoker is a Gene Simmons wannabe with a tongue that can be used to entangle survivors who then need to be rescued by their teammates. The Hunters are fast and vicious pouncing on any survivor foolish enough to stray from the group and again once pinned you will need your teammates to rescue you. The Tank is a huge hulk that can throw cars and chunks of concrete as well as easily knock survivors across the way or off a rooftop. Finally The Witch who is the toughest of the infected. Luckily she just hides and cries to herself until she is startled by a flashlight or is shot at.
There are four Survivors, Francis the tough biker, Zoey the college student, Louis the working man, and Bill the grizzled old war veteran. They are pretty much interchangeable with no special powers or difference in abilities. They all have access to a good variety of weapons. The basic pistol has unlimited ammo though the reload time can be your undoing. A second pistol can be found in places and the characters can dual wield. Then there are shotguns, hunting rifles , uzi, and machine guns that can be used to dispatch the various infected. The respawns are also interesting since you have to be rescued from a closet by the other teammates rather than just dropping back into the combat that offers a nice extra bit of realism.
There is a hidden character that really makes this game stand out. The AI/Director changes elements in the game dynamically. The changes can be made to locations of enemies or extra weapons. The AI calculates the perceived stress levels of each characters and adjusts the difficulty accordingly. The 2 shambling zombies that were in the subway tunnel last round can this time be a horde of zombies that come charging from the tunnel without warning. The Director portion changes the music to increase and maintain a great level of tension. Playing a fast paced soundtrack while fighting waves of zombies and brass hits when attacked by a smoker or hunter and the somber death music when you are taken down and killed and finally the triumphant ending music if you make it to the rescue.
Freakin awesome. This game is one of the most fun First Person Shooters i’ve played in a very long time. It is exciting and fresh and truly a cooperative multi player game. Zombies shooting is always fun. Playing with friends or a pick up group is a blast, whether you are playing survivors or infected. I really like the fact that you can play ths game for a quick log in an blow stuff up session or play for a long time with a group of friends and have a good time. Valve should be releasing the SDK for it soon too so look for mods in the near future.
