Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Review - The Escapist

80/100 Elemental: Fallen Enchantress engenders a feeling of real accomplishment, without requiring the investment in time and study demanded by truly hardcore strategy titles. The "sovereign" mechanic is a nice twist and while it's not particularly deep, personally cracking skulls or questing for a pair of dragon's eyes while simultaneously ordering the construction of a granary in New Foozleville is pretty damn cool, and there are enough customization and gameplay options to keep things fresh for a good while.

Alien Logic - Third-Person 2D Action RPG

Alien Logic is a role-playing adventure based 0n the Skyrealms of Jorune game system. Set in a future some 3500 years from novv, the story rewolves around the remnants of several races that share the planet Jorune. The earth colonists on Jorune (in the early 21st century) panicked vvhen Earth vvas totally destroyed by a global conflict and began to exploit the planet's resources to ensure surviwal. War broke out on Jorune and, after almost being vviped out by the Shanthas, humans unleashed a virus that nearly decimated the entire population of all races.


Now, 3500 years later, vvith all ancient hostilities gone but not forgotten, your character is a young human explorer on Jorune who uncovers a sinister plot by the Red Shantha, an ewil and vicious being who has kidnapped and immobilized most 0f your village for purposes unknovvn. Your mission is to find this Red Shantha, discover vvhy he has done this evil deed, and save the villagers by defeating him. Alien Logic features a vvealth of alien creatures and beasts, an imaginative travel system and a genuinely innovative alien concept involving energy and povver sources found on the planet Jorune.

Gameplay Video
 

Chaos on Deponia - Review

91/100 Chaos on Deponia continues the beautiful story of Deponia. The game brings nothing new to the genre, however it has great and funny characters, nice riddles and a fantastic atmosphere. Chaos on Deponia shows how an adventure game should be made.
Teaser Nr. 2 Chaos On Deponia (HD)

Sine Mora PC Review

Loving this game for something quick to jump into. May not be the best Shmup ever made but it has a few interesting ideas, like the ability to slow time in order to avoid catastrophe or grab an extra power up before it floats off the screen.

Definitely suited to a controller and very easy to pick up. Graphics are great and stages are varied and interesting. A range of different craft with different sub weapons are also a nice touch. Boss battles are very frequent and there is an option to practice against bosses you have unlocked outside the normal game mode. Four difficulty settings will keep casual gamers and hardcore enthusiasts happy. The story line is very dark and adult which added substance for me. You can skip or fast forward if you're not interested or on your 12th play through.

XCOM Enemy Unknown Review

The X-Com series dates back to the early 90's - I still remember the hours I spent on X-COM: UFO Defense... In fact, the game is considered by many to be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) strategy games ever developed. With the randomly generated maps -- concept of fog of war and line of sight -- getting shot at from nowhere -- permanent death -- and that fantastically good music that so fit the mood of the game, it's no wonder many still play it, almost 20 years after it was released.

There's been many efforts to remake/redo the game, with how far computers have come since then, but no big game companies decided to take it on, until now, and I do believe I'm in good company when I say that Firaxis really have a winner on their hands...

First the box -- this is the special edition version, so you get the artwork book and a nice insignia thing. I appreciated the artwork book, especially when they showed some of the original designs and the updated ones -- it's really amazing to see how far things have come from the early 90s, in terms of the capabilities of computers. Poster was nice too - but that's all just fluff to me. If you're downloading it, be prepared to wait: there's 2 DVDs in the box, so that's around 13-14 GBs of data. Well worth it.

There's already tons of reviews and videos out there about the gameplay, so I'll stick with some lesser known ones, for some pros and cons:

PROS:
- I really like the addition of new mission types -- the original only had terror, crashed UFOs, landed UFOs, and alien bases. The new ones adds VIP retrieval, bomb disarming, and I believe one other one (turns out its target extraction - there's a difference between it and VIP -- usually, in target extraction, whoever you save actually joins your team). This helps to shake things up, as the old one tended to get repetitive, especially once you researched heavy plasma. Shoot down UFO, send in soldiers, blast away those pathetic alien scum with some heavy plasma, clean up: wash, rinse, repeat. Now, things can still get tense -- even late in the game.
- The soundtrack really stands out to me. Music really has an ability to heighten moments and situations, if done correctly. The original did an amazing job of capturing the creepiness and emotion that danger really could be behind every corner -- and they did it again. Major props to whoever did the sound/music on this one.
- Multiplayer: this one your mileage may vary with. Me personally - it's nice to sometimes play as the aliens. It's also pretty interesting to see how others react in a given situation (some choose to barge, some choose to flank, some choose a decoy, some choose stealth) -- everyone reacts differently. It's also nice to know I'm not the only one who accidentally dashes instead of just moving to get a better shot.
- Medikit: thank you for allowing me to heal the soldier who carries the medkit. If anyone remembers the original, it was a PAIN to have to heal your guys. Had to be facing them -- couldn't heal yourself (had to drop it (throw it) - have someone else pick it up, then use it. Make sure you don't run out of time units. Ridiculous) It gets a whole lot simpler now. Thank you 2K.

Verdict: 85/100

Need for Speed Most Wanted PC Gameplay Screenshots

A great game. Criterion holds a trademark. A fascinating and dynamic gameplay, good physics and beautiful graphics. The multiplayer is very difficult to break avvay. Keep it up!

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

The series hits it's climax with this game. It's too bad that the later games in the series arent' as good. It's absolutely LOADED with comedy, including crude, dark, slapstick, and even dry humor. The game mechanics are PERFECT for once. Players can now lock the strafing ability, turn to First-Person mode (FPS fans rejoice) and can customize camera speed and rotation. The new Gadgetron Max-Out button saves a ton of time (instead of buying ammunition for each and every gun of yours, you can click a single button to max out ALL ammo needed for the appropriate price). There are also lots of bonus (optional) missions, secrets, special bolts, skill points, and more! And there is great replay value, too!
When the game is over, the player may choose to rewind time to just before the final boss, or continue to "Challenge Mode" (a feature that was in the older R&C) where you get to keep all of your weapons... except now, you get to UPGRADE them farther! Enemies get more challenging, etc. Multiplayer: This is a brand new feature in R&C. I have not played online (no network adapter) but offline multiplayer was a blast! Up to 4 players can compete in Seige (my favorite), Capture the Flag, and Deathmatch. You go teams on all of them or free-for-all on Deathmatch. There are plenty of multiplayer-exclusive stages and weapons. Overall, this a an amazing game. I admit... blood would be nice... but if you can deal with fantasy violence, then you should definitely look into this.

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