Software

Bioshock: Windows

...

Sins of a Solar Empire: Windows

...

Turok: Windows

...

every 2 minutes for me, so the manual save was never used. So if you like dinos and a standard story and FPS gameplay it may be something to check out when the price comes down.

AMD 64 X2 3800
3GB RAM
8800 GT 512mb
WinXP

Assassin's Creed: Windows

...

every 2 minutes for me, so the manual save was never used. So if you like dinos and a standard story and FPS gameplay it may be something to check out when the price comes down.



AMD 64 X2 3800

3GB RAM

8800 GT 512mb

WinXP

Assassin's Creed: Windows

...

every 2 minutes for me, so the manual save was never used. So if you like dinos and a standard story and FPS gameplay it may be something to check out when the price comes down.





AMD 64 X2 3800


3GB RAM


8800 GT 512mb


WinXP

Combat Mission - Shock Force ( Windows )

...

games have been replaced with stunning 3D models, and adequate animations. All the wheels on the tanks turn, men reload magazines, they even give first aid to injured soldiers. And hey, you want to play in real time and forget the goofy turn system, there is a real time option too. And if you still want to stop and catch a breath, you can pause the real time. They fixed the "borg spotting" and now each unit traces LOS independently of others.

So what could possibly be wrong? It's the same old CM, just better, and more features, right?

Unfortunately, no. Aside from the most obvious change - a modern day fictional war in Syria that may or may not appeal - many of the old CM features have been gutted. First of all, the game is so data-heavy, with individual tracking of ammunition and small arms fire, that PBEM files are bloated. There is also no way to play turn-based over the internet. It's real time only. If you were a fan of the Quick Battles - there are no random maps. The data was too much to do be able to do them "on the fly". There are no more point purchase systems for the QBs, either.

In game, there are a lot of handy features that didn't make the transition - LOS tools or ambush or shoot-n-scoot or seek hull down. Some have work arounds (the target command works as an LOS - unless you have an unarmed unit).

The main objection is that the biggest complaint about the old CM - the 3-man representations on the map of entire infantry squads - have been replaced with 1:1 representation. But the individuals on the map don't act like individuals. Just about everything is abstracted; there are no interior walls in buildings - but there are exterior windows and doors (you can tell because the men won't jump through the windows, and the pathfinding is so poor that men will run circles around entire buildings trying to find the doors even if it means exposing themselves to fire to do it). LOS is supposedly drawn to each man individually, but an underlying 8x8m grid of "Action Spots" also controls such things as movement - though there are no visual clues on the map as to what is determined by the action spots, or where they are, exactly. You still control squads as if they were squads - not individuals - which means if you want to replenish your squad's ammo from its APC (another welcome new feature) - you send the entire squad running off the firing line to do it where in real life you'd just send one man back for an ammo can or an armful of bandoliers. There is a serious "scale-mismatch" as one veteran wargamer described it at the official forums. The developers lost sight of what made the original game fun and tried to broaden their retail base to include real time customers while abandoning commitment to crucial philosophies of game design.

Worst, perhaps, the AI has largely been removed. Granted, it was silly to watch platoon HQs and mortars leading counterattacks in the first CM games, but the AI in CM:SF is entirely scripted. The scenario designer now sets the agenda by having the enemy react to the clock, not the tactical situation. There is still a TacAI, but the developers are still working out the bugs, and it mostly determines defensive actions. The AI won't counter-attack you if you take a victory location - unless the script calls for it. There are multiple scripts available for each scenario, but the AI still won't act dynamically to what you are doing except by sheer coincidence.

The "campaign" released with the game replaces the popular Operations model of the earlier CM games. You will never be able to fight over the same terrain as in the early games. Instead, you have a simplistic branch system of linked scenarios with which you have no control to make decisions on which units you will employ - you're there for the ride.

If you're mostly interested in pretty graphics, CM:SF won't disappoint. The night-time effects are good; daytime effects are ok - still some work to be done on shadows, and battlefront has said they have no way to fix the fact that bunkers and trenches are impossible to hide. That's right - you buy a bunker or a trench and the terrain is deformed wherever you put it, and the enemy can see that wherever you place it on the map. Not cool for head-to-head play. Between two friends, not an issue, but perhaps its no small wonder there haven't been any tournament ladders springing up with the same wild abandon they did for the first CM games. As nice as the vehicles look on the move, other animations are silly - inappropriate weapons reload animations (those US troops don't know how to use the hold-open device on a reloaded M4 apparently) and really silly building demolitions - pull you out of the environment pretty quickly.

The official forums for the game will inform you far better than a review here. The fact this game went to the clearance bin so quickly should inform you also. Nine months after release and the game has seen 8 patches (one was required on release day) with no official announcement to when the patches will be complete. And yet the game is already retailing for less than 8 dollars. Compare the price of this game to that of its earlier predecessor Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, still retailing around the 20 dollar mark on Amazon.

8 dollars is a fair price for this product and there are enough fans to be found at the official website that you will find plenty of company to enjoy the game with. The developer has promised at least one add-on module to incorporate Marines into the game with additional Syrian units. Best advice is to download the demo and try it out for yourself. Bear in mind the latest patch features will likely not be reflected in the latest demo, as this does not get updated with each patch.

A word to the wise, however - an educated guess is that when this game engine progresses to the Second World War, the modern setting will be quickly forgotten. The developer has only one coder working on their titles, and demand for the WW II version has been high. After a series of mediocre releases (CM:SF, Theatre of War, T-72), BFC will be looking to appeal to new audiences - there will likely be little future in modules for this one after the promised Marines module comes out, if demand for the WWII titles is as high as is anticipated and sales of that popular genre manage to eclipse the modern games.

Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 Suite - Windows

...

games have been replaced with stunning 3D models, and adequate animations. All the wheels on the tanks turn, men reload magazines, they even give first aid to injured soldiers. And hey, you want to play in real time and forget the goofy turn system, there is a real time option too. And if you still want to stop and catch a breath, you can pause the real time. They fixed the "borg spotting" and now each unit traces LOS independently of others.



So what could possibly be wrong? It's the same old CM, just better, and more features, right?



Unfortunately, no. Aside from the most obvious change - a modern day fictional war in Syria that may or may not appeal - many of the old CM features have been gutted. First of all, the game is so data-heavy, with individual tracking of ammunition and small arms fire, that PBEM files are bloated. There is also no way to play turn-based over the internet. It's real time only. If you were a fan of the Quick Battles - there are no random maps. The data was too much to do be able to do them "on the fly". There are no more point purchase systems for the QBs, either.



In game, there are a lot of handy features that didn't make the transition - LOS tools or ambush or shoot-n-scoot or seek hull down. Some have work arounds (the target command works as an LOS - unless you have an unarmed unit).



The main objection is that the biggest complaint about the old CM - the 3-man representations on the map of entire infantry squads - have been replaced with 1:1 representation. But the individuals on the map don't act like individuals. Just about everything is abstracted; there are no interior walls in buildings - but there are exterior windows and doors (you can tell because the men won't jump through the windows, and the pathfinding is so poor that men will run circles around entire buildings trying to find the doors even if it means exposing themselves to fire to do it). LOS is supposedly drawn to each man individually, but an underlying 8x8m grid of "Action Spots" also controls such things as movement - though there are no visual clues on the map as to what is determined by the action spots, or where they are, exactly. You still control squads as if they were squads - not individuals - which means if you want to replenish your squad's ammo from its APC (another welcome new feature) - you send the entire squad running off the firing line to do it where in real life you'd just send one man back for an ammo can or an armful of bandoliers. There is a serious "scale-mismatch" as one veteran wargamer described it at the official forums. The developers lost sight of what made the original game fun and tried to broaden their retail base to include real time customers while abandoning commitment to crucial philosophies of game design.



Worst, perhaps, the AI has largely been removed. Granted, it was silly to watch platoon HQs and mortars leading counterattacks in the first CM games, but the AI in CM:SF is entirely scripted. The scenario designer now sets the agenda by having the enemy react to the clock, not the tactical situation. There is still a TacAI, but the developers are still working out the bugs, and it mostly determines defensive actions. The AI won't counter-attack you if you take a victory location - unless the script calls for it. There are multiple scripts available for each scenario, but the AI still won't act dynamically to what you are doing except by sheer coincidence.



The "campaign" released with the game replaces the popular Operations model of the earlier CM games. You will never be able to fight over the same terrain as in the early games. Instead, you have a simplistic branch system of linked scenarios with which you have no control to make decisions on which units you will employ - you're there for the ride.



If you're mostly interested in pretty graphics, CM:SF won't disappoint. The night-time effects are good; daytime effects are ok - still some work to be done on shadows, and battlefront has said they have no way to fix the fact that bunkers and trenches are impossible to hide. That's right - you buy a bunker or a trench and the terrain is deformed wherever you put it, and the enemy can see that wherever you place it on the map. Not cool for head-to-head play. Between two friends, not an issue, but perhaps its no small wonder there haven't been any tournament ladders springing up with the same wild abandon they did for the first CM games. As nice as the vehicles look on the move, other animations are silly - inappropriate weapons reload animations (those US troops don't know how to use the hold-open device on a reloaded M4 apparently) and really silly building demolitions - pull you out of the environment pretty quickly.



The official forums for the game will inform you far better than a review here. The fact this game went to the clearance bin so quickly should inform you also. Nine months after release and the game has seen 8 patches (one was required on release day) with no official announcement to when the patches will be complete. And yet the game is already retailing for less than 8 dollars. Compare the price of this game to that of its earlier predecessor Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, still retailing around the 20 dollar mark on Amazon.



8 dollars is a fair price for this product and there are enough fans to be found at the official website that you will find plenty of company to enjoy the game with. The developer has promised at least one add-on module to incorporate Marines into the game with additional Syrian units. Best advice is to download the demo and try it out for yourself. Bear in mind the latest patch features will likely not be reflected in the latest demo, as this does not get updated with each patch.



A word to the wise, however - an educated guess is that when this game engine progresses to the Second World War, the modern setting will be quickly forgotten. The developer has only one coder working on their titles, and demand for the WW II version has been high. After a series of mediocre releases (CM:SF, Theatre of War, T-72), BFC will be looking to appeal to new audiences - there will likely be little future in modules for this one after the promised Marines module comes out, if demand for the WWII titles is as high as is anticipated and sales of that popular genre manage to eclipse the modern games.

Bioshock: Windows

...

games have been replaced with stunning 3D models, and adequate animations. All the wheels on the tanks turn, men reload magazines, they even give first aid to injured soldiers. And hey, you want to play in real time and forget the goofy turn system, there is a real time option too. And if you still want to stop and catch a breath, you can pause the real time. They fixed the "borg spotting" and now each unit traces LOS independently of others.





So what could possibly be wrong? It's the same old CM, just better, and more features, right?





Unfortunately, no. Aside from the most obvious change - a modern day fictional war in Syria that may or may not appeal - many of the old CM features have been gutted. First of all, the game is so data-heavy, with individual tracking of ammunition and small arms fire, that PBEM files are bloated. There is also no way to play turn-based over the internet. It's real time only. If you were a fan of the Quick Battles - there are no random maps. The data was too much to do be able to do them "on the fly". There are no more point purchase systems for the QBs, either.





In game, there are a lot of handy features that didn't make the transition - LOS tools or ambush or shoot-n-scoot or seek hull down. Some have work arounds (the target command works as an LOS - unless you have an unarmed unit).





The main objection is that the biggest complaint about the old CM - the 3-man representations on the map of entire infantry squads - have been replaced with 1:1 representation. But the individuals on the map don't act like individuals. Just about everything is abstracted; there are no interior walls in buildings - but there are exterior windows and doors (you can tell because the men won't jump through the windows, and the pathfinding is so poor that men will run circles around entire buildings trying to find the doors even if it means exposing themselves to fire to do it). LOS is supposedly drawn to each man individually, but an underlying 8x8m grid of "Action Spots" also controls such things as movement - though there are no visual clues on the map as to what is determined by the action spots, or where they are, exactly. You still control squads as if they were squads - not individuals - which means if you want to replenish your squad's ammo from its APC (another welcome new feature) - you send the entire squad running off the firing line to do it where in real life you'd just send one man back for an ammo can or an armful of bandoliers. There is a serious "scale-mismatch" as one veteran wargamer described it at the official forums. The developers lost sight of what made the original game fun and tried to broaden their retail base to include real time customers while abandoning commitment to crucial philosophies of game design.





Worst, perhaps, the AI has largely been removed. Granted, it was silly to watch platoon HQs and mortars leading counterattacks in the first CM games, but the AI in CM:SF is entirely scripted. The scenario designer now sets the agenda by having the enemy react to the clock, not the tactical situation. There is still a TacAI, but the developers are still working out the bugs, and it mostly determines defensive actions. The AI won't counter-attack you if you take a victory location - unless the script calls for it. There are multiple scripts available for each scenario, but the AI still won't act dynamically to what you are doing except by sheer coincidence.





The "campaign" released with the game replaces the popular Operations model of the earlier CM games. You will never be able to fight over the same terrain as in the early games. Instead, you have a simplistic branch system of linked scenarios with which you have no control to make decisions on which units you will employ - you're there for the ride.





If you're mostly interested in pretty graphics, CM:SF won't disappoint. The night-time effects are good; daytime effects are ok - still some work to be done on shadows, and battlefront has said they have no way to fix the fact that bunkers and trenches are impossible to hide. That's right - you buy a bunker or a trench and the terrain is deformed wherever you put it, and the enemy can see that wherever you place it on the map. Not cool for head-to-head play. Between two friends, not an issue, but perhaps its no small wonder there haven't been any tournament ladders springing up with the same wild abandon they did for the first CM games. As nice as the vehicles look on the move, other animations are silly - inappropriate weapons reload animations (those US troops don't know how to use the hold-open device on a reloaded M4 apparently) and really silly building demolitions - pull you out of the environment pretty quickly.





The official forums for the game will inform you far better than a review here. The fact this game went to the clearance bin so quickly should inform you also. Nine months after release and the game has seen 8 patches (one was required on release day) with no official announcement to when the patches will be complete. And yet the game is already retailing for less than 8 dollars. Compare the price of this game to that of its earlier predecessor Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, still retailing around the 20 dollar mark on Amazon.





8 dollars is a fair price for this product and there are enough fans to be found at the official website that you will find plenty of company to enjoy the game with. The developer has promised at least one add-on module to incorporate Marines into the game with additional Syrian units. Best advice is to download the demo and try it out for yourself. Bear in mind the latest patch features will likely not be reflected in the latest demo, as this does not get updated with each patch.





A word to the wise, however - an educated guess is that when this game engine progresses to the Second World War, the modern setting will be quickly forgotten. The developer has only one coder working on their titles, and demand for the WW II version has been high. After a series of mediocre releases (CM:SF, Theatre of War, T-72), BFC will be looking to appeal to new audiences - there will likely be little future in modules for this one after the promised Marines module comes out, if demand for the WWII titles is as high as is anticipated and sales of that popular genre manage to eclipse the modern games.

Half-Life 2: Episode Pack: Windows

...

will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.

Turok: Windows

...

will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.

Overclocked: A History of Violence: Windows

...

will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Windows

...

will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Windows

...

how many players and how big of a game you wanted. Personally, I enjoy the option of having a "big game" rather than simply the small map 15-minute skirmishes most RTS games offer.

The AI is pretty good and actually pretty amusing to have on your team. AIs will communicate with each other through standard chat and will try to coordinate with you and each other. (Enemy AI, on the other hand, tends to be annoying by making constant demands. This is the "diplomacy" aspect of the game and frankly it would probably be more fun without it.)

Graphics are very nice, should you choose to zoom in far enough to see them all, although the only reason to zoom in that far is to look at the graphics. It's generally more practical to be zoomed out far enough that ships are dots.


I think the bottom line for me is that I see this game as a good start. It's really nothing new. Real time space based empire games have been done before and arguably have been done better. However, I see this game as having a strong potential as a platform that they can build on. I don't regret my purchase but I'm more keenly interested in what they have in mind for Sins of a Solar Empire II. Deeper tech trees? More races? Customizable ships and races? There's a lot of room to expand and I hope they continue to build on it.

Bioshock: Windows

...

dark corridors.

Sitting in my dark office, different pieces of the game suddenly turn out to be part of a single hidden puzzle, which reassembles the story. And this is only one of a series of themes, turns and adventures which kept me playing from dusk to dawn. As derivative as the game is, the execution means *BioShock* isn't your typical trapped-in-a-maze shooter.

Rapture clanks and hums with vending machines that supply health and equipment--all of which cost money to buy. And when your wallet is slim--as it will often be--players can gather components to assemble at crafting stations. Most critical, however, are the Plasmids and Gene Tonics that boost the player character's body. These systems introduce economic, mechanical, and genetic strategy, which in turn affects the player's tactics.

In most shooters, the enemies beeline for the player as if they can see through walls; but in *BioShock* you can actually sneak up on enemies, or evade them altogether. Gene tonics even provide abilities such as camouflaging or backstabbing bonuses, though I was disappointed the player couldn't teleport as some NPCs can. Cameras, bots, and turrets can also be outmaneuvered, destroyed, or even hacked to join your side, while you can seduce Big Daddies into protecting you with the right plasmid. So I like the tactical options given to the player.

For the most part though, the gameplay is old-school FPS. You can't lean, lie prone, pistol whip your enemies, or use alternate fire modes (though you can select different ammunition types). Monitors display still pictures instead of FMV, there's no GUI interaction with computers, and the skyboxes are limited to 2D mattes. The design scheme is further reminiscent of the darkness of *Doom 3*, but ups the shadowy ante by omitting a flashlight altogether.

Like D3, the game world is a hermetically-sealed community, divided into a series of theme-levels, such as The Medical Pavilion or Fort Frolic. Though similar to Mars City in principle, Rapture doesn't feel claustrophobic or monster-populated to an annoying degree like *Doom 3*.

Yet the design is even more conservative. I wondered at the absence of escalators, ladders, cables, and bridges. There are no vehicles to ride or combat; the bathyspheres act mainly as level exits. And for a submarine environment, I was surprised the game never puts the player onto the ocean floor. Indeed, we are blocked from any body of water deep enough to submerge in.

Otherwise, BioShock displays more mastery in atmosphere than just about any game I've ever played, on both subtle and garish ends. To begin with, the game never breaks from the first person view until the end cinematic. The comical vending machine recordings juxtapose with period music and propaganda announcements. Realistic water leaks into the maps in a variety of forms, from drips, to steady streams, to outright waterfalls; the fire and electrical effects are mediocre, but fog and smoke effects look great. Even the footwork is good, as splicers scrape their bludgeons on the floor, and diving suit monstrosities shake the floors with their stomps.

Explorers will get the biggest dose of this environment, for the developers added extensive side rooms and even whole buildings filled with loot, battles, and tableaus. Fort Frolic is a particularly artistic exploration, if also chilling. Moreover, players can backtrack to most of the levels in the game.

Finally, the gradual revelation of back-story ties up the experience. Tape diaries, radio logs, and enemy chatter provide this illumination in period slang and voice inflections. Several of these logs chart the fates of denizens at various caste and class levels, and they also accompany many of the tableaus, thus functioning as subplots.

However, *BioShock* strikes me as an alienating game. It teases the player through brief interactions with a cast of otherwise intriguing characters. Whenever the PC does meet up with an NPC, a barrier tends to stand in between. This alienation, in which the player can only experience other characters at arm's length, creates a psychological message that would not register in a game that simply didn't have friendly characters. But it also dampens the heroics. At one point, a villain questions why the PC is trying to save Rapture. I had to agree because the game establishes too little connection between the plight of the city and the plight of the character.

In my review for *Doom 3* I wrote, "It is awesome when it isn't repetitive." I gave it three stars. For all the RPG elements, *BioShock* is also a horror-survival FPS, yet the overall effect is a four-star performance. And far from repetitive, it immersed me in an obsessive weekend of gaming. That's as ringing an endorsement as I need to give.

ESET NOD32 3.0 Antivirus System - Windows DVD

...

have a gaming machine, or any other multi-media machine, it is important to not have any programs running in the background that impact performance. NOD32 runs as though it is not even there. Also, on the subject over all performance, if your like me, you have massive amounts of stuff on your Hard drives. In my experience, if you do an entire system scan, it goes by really fast compared to Software such as Norton. I have about 400 gigs of stuff on my hard drive, and an entire scan only takes about an hour and a half.
NOD32 also updates every day. So when ever there is some kind of viral outbreak, NOD32 is quick to respond.
The Only complaint I have, is the fact that is has a fairly complex user interface. However, this is really only a problem if you are uncomfortable with a computer to begin with. So it really is not that bad.

Pros:
One of the Only Anti-virus Programs compatible with x64 systems

Really good costumer/technical support

Entire Systems scans are extremely fast

Unnoticeable background application

Updates Daily.

Cons:
Unusual user interface.

The Orange Box: Windows

...

have a gaming machine, or any other multi-media machine, it is important to not have any programs running in the background that impact performance. NOD32 runs as though it is not even there. Also, on the subject over all performance, if your like me, you have massive amounts of stuff on your Hard drives. In my experience, if you do an entire system scan, it goes by really fast compared to Software such as Norton. I have about 400 gigs of stuff on my hard drive, and an entire scan only takes about an hour and a half.

NOD32 also updates every day. So when ever there is some kind of viral outbreak, NOD32 is quick to respond.

The Only complaint I have, is the fact that is has a fairly complex user interface. However, this is really only a problem if you are uncomfortable with a computer to begin with. So it really is not that bad.



Pros:

One of the Only Anti-virus Programs compatible with x64 systems



Really good costumer/technical support



Entire Systems scans are extremely fast



Unnoticeable background application



Updates Daily.



Cons:

Unusual user interface.

Bioshock: Windows

...

have a gaming machine, or any other multi-media machine, it is important to not have any programs running in the background that impact performance. NOD32 runs as though it is not even there. Also, on the subject over all performance, if your like me, you have massive amounts of stuff on your Hard drives. In my experience, if you do an entire system scan, it goes by really fast compared to Software such as Norton. I have about 400 gigs of stuff on my hard drive, and an entire scan only takes about an hour and a half.


NOD32 also updates every day. So when ever there is some kind of viral outbreak, NOD32 is quick to respond.


The Only complaint I have, is the fact that is has a fairly complex user interface. However, this is really only a problem if you are uncomfortable with a computer to begin with. So it really is not that bad.





Pros:


One of the Only Anti-virus Programs compatible with x64 systems





Really good costumer/technical support





Entire Systems scans are extremely fast





Unnoticeable background application





Updates Daily.





Cons:


Unusual user interface.

Crysis: Windows

...

have a gaming machine, or any other multi-media machine, it is important to not have any programs running in the background that impact performance. NOD32 runs as though it is not even there. Also, on the subject over all performance, if your like me, you have massive amounts of stuff on your Hard drives. In my experience, if you do an entire system scan, it goes by really fast compared to Software such as Norton. I have about 400 gigs of stuff on my hard drive, and an entire scan only takes about an hour and a half.



NOD32 also updates every day. So when ever there is some kind of viral outbreak, NOD32 is quick to respond.



The Only complaint I have, is the fact that is has a fairly complex user interface. However, this is really only a problem if you are uncomfortable with a computer to begin with. So it really is not that bad.







Pros:



One of the Only Anti-virus Programs compatible with x64 systems







Really good costumer/technical support







Entire Systems scans are extremely fast







Unnoticeable background application







Updates Daily.







Cons:



Unusual user interface.

Riddle Of The Tomb - Windows

...

lighthouse. There are a couple of brief visits to Cleopatra's palace, but no significant gaming action takes place there. There is a system of choosing astrological sign which tailors the puzzles as easier or harder. In practice there is not much difference. The puzzles remain almost the same as does the length of the game. I estimate roughly 18 hours game play if you are as slow on the uptake as I am.

The game ran without problems on an older computer system. I liked what I saw, but wanted more for the price.

Overclocked: A History of Violence: Windows

...

lighthouse. There are a couple of brief visits to Cleopatra's palace, but no significant gaming action takes place there. There is a system of choosing astrological sign which tailors the puzzles as easier or harder. In practice there is not much difference. The puzzles remain almost the same as does the length of the game. I estimate roughly 18 hours game play if you are as slow on the uptake as I am.



The game ran without problems on an older computer system. I liked what I saw, but wanted more for the price.