Mass Effect Marathon? Hell Yeah!

Getting ready for Mass Effect 2, I'm set to complete the prequel on my PC just so I can get my save game to carry over haha. I never finished Mass Effect 1 due to my 360 suffering a heart attack, so it'll be refreshing to play it at the best settings on my PC (hopefully my e8400 will cope. Heard that you need a quadie for the best possible performance)

Dark Void = Straight to the Void

I'm sorry to say this but it looks like Capcom and Airtight Games' Dark Void is destined to be a complete failure. In fact, the game never even grabbed my attention with the 1st trailers shown last year. I might be talking too early since I've only played through the training and 1st mission on my PC, but from what I've seen (andheard from other people who have tried out the demo), things are not looking good.

Controls are not that responsive (especially during flight), graphics are damn mediocre for a 2010 title even at the highest settings, and the gameplay itself plays like a crippled Gears of War wannabe with Rocketeer-esque sections that just are not enjoyable based on that short training course in the beginning. Plus despite the bad visuals, performance on the PC doesn't make much sense especially with all the stuttering and crap. My GTX 275 should be handling the Unreal engine with ease but that doesn't seem to be the case here!

So what just happened here? Airtight Games is composed of people who worked on one of the best Xbox games released back then, Crimson Skies, so its surprising to see them come up with a game this bad. If you ask me, Capcom should have just developed this title themselves instead of having another company do it since I believe their proprietary engine would have done wonders here (I mean, just compare this to something like Lost Planet, which was one of Capcom's first next generation games lol. Leagues apart in both performance and quality). So sad to see a very cool concept executed so poorly.

Leaked PC Game "Batman: Arkham Asylum" has problems?

Yep, if you are one of those downloading the leaked direct2drive copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum right now, be warned that it contains a lot of game breaking and irritating bugs in it. It might be an early beta copy because some of the core files are actually older than the ones found in the demo. Or maybe its just a part of the Joker's gloriously sprung trap lol.

Anyway, one fix to get physx working was to copy over some of the demo files. Unfortunately, you'll still encounter frequent crashes due to some other files missing. The grappling hook also doesn't work in some key points and there are places where NPCs will just stop spawning. Game breaking indeed.

It might be a faulty crack, or a faulty beta release or whatever. The game is still a few days away from release and its a leaked copy so you can't blame the developers. Just buy it when it comes out, the developers deserve it for giving us the best comic book game ever.

Batman: Arkham Asylum PC Demo Available Now

That's right! Despite the game being pushed back for PCs due to the integration of physX (I doubt that's the reason. More like to even out consoles and pc sales I guess, or prevent piracy. Like that's possible haha), looks like all you dark crusader fans are still in luck. The demo just got released after showing up on PSN and Xbox Live and weighs in at around 2gb. Initial impressions around the web show that this here might just become the best batman game ever (not like it has any serious competition with previous games in the series lol).

I'm pretty excited myself. Downloading the demo right now as I type. Hopefully with physX enabled + AA, I'll still be able to max it out with my GTX 275 ^^. Here's a link to the download:

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/14922/Batman:+Arkham+Asylum+Demo

Zeppelin 2gb Ram Sticks

Just bought some new RAM earlier. I currently have 1x2gb ddr2-800 team elite ram on my rig but found out (after installing Windows 7 64bit and playing Crysis Warhead lol) that my system was basically begging for more. So I went out to the local computer shop and found 2 types of ram available. The Godly expensive Geil Evo One 4gb kit and the Godly cheap looking Zeppelin 2GB sticks haha. I figured I wasn't OC'ing anyway so I went with cheap ones and bought 2 of them (well, at least they had heat spreaders) for a dual-channel config and to bring my total to 6gb (just like triple channel i7 6gb kits haha).

Seeing the specs in the little sticker attached to it, I was hoping there wouldn't be any issues since they were CAS5-rated ram sticks like my Team Elite ones. Unsurprisingly (given their unknown brand), they were CAS5 only at ddr2-667 speeds and CAS6 at ddr2-800 T_T. So I had to run the Team Elite ones a notch lower at 333mhz, unless I loosen their timings to match Mister Zeppelin here.

The good thing is that I didn't really feel any performance decrease with the lower speed. It also eliminated my stuttering problems now in Crysis and I could even run it at DX9 64bit now ^^. Windows 7 feels a lot snappier now too, and a lot more responsive even with multiple things going on. Guess it isn't so bad if you run everything at stock

Mechwarrior 5 Debut Trailer

I'm no big follower of the mechwarrior games, but I did play the Mechassault 1 and 2 on the original xbox and those were some pretty good games. I'm guessing a lot of PC and 360 fans will be anticipating this game a lot. I will too not because of the name, but because of this amazing reveal trailer that was just shown. If you ask me, I'd rate this the same as that old Killzone 2 video. Hopefully, its all ingame ^^

Quake Live now Open!

You read that right folks. For all those who weren't able to snatch a beta key, ID is finally moving Quake Live from closed to open beta stage this Feb 24. There's a timer on the site (7 hours left here) so you know when to start fragging online.

For those of you living under a rock, Quake Live is basically Quake 3 online with some fixes here and there, running straight in you web browser (IE and Firefox for now I believe), all for free! I was able to get into the beta a month or 2 ago and it definitely is Quake 3 in all its glory. Only problem was the missing servers here in Asia, which meant hellish ping times for me (3-second delay anyone?). Hopefully, the people behind this amazing app realize this and put out servers here so we can start joining in as well.

Visit the link below for the website:

Quake Live

Crysis Review

"All images used belong to their respective owners. I will be putting up my own once I get the chance to collect a couple for this review."

Better late than never I guess. My first review is going to be for this one game the entire PC World has been craving for.

Crysis is all about its visuals. Yes, the nanosuit abilities are a nice touch to the gameplay, but no doubt people are buying this game just for the graphics. And who is to blame? One quick look at any screenshot of the game and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Developer Crytek has crafted some of the most finest visuals in a game ever. Just like they're first entry into game development, Far Cry, Crysis literally sets the bar for videogame graphics. Gears of War may have had some really nice texture work and Uncharted might have really good foliage and shaders, but Crysis just seems to have the entire package down. The only downside? System requirements and in-game performance. I ran the game on a pretty average computer and well, it didn't exactly run as good as I've expected. Granted I played it on some pretty demanding settings since yeah I admit, I got the game to see the graphics as well. Amazingly, I was able to fight my through the slideshows produced by the ice level and that final carrier map and made it to the end.

So how was the experience? Despite some very low framerates and sometimes questionable AI, it was great!. It was fun running around the jungles and stuff thanks to some really nice physics with the vegetation. The engine allows you to interact with the plants unlike any other game I've seen. Certain trees can literally be shot down and bushes and other foliage react to nearby explosions realistically. You can even tear down little sheds and buildings with explosives, tanks and other vehicles.

Other than the amazing physics at work, the overall atmosphere of the game will literally make your jaw drop hard to the floor. The sun creates convincing light rays every time its obstructed. Day turns to night and vice-versa. Misty fog gathers around when night turns to morning. Dynamic clouds litter the sky during a sunny afternoon. Realistic depth of field effects come into play while zooming in with your weapon sights. Object motion blur simulates how the eye blurs objects at high speeds. Ambient occlusion combined with the engine's dynamic lighting and HDR gives off an almost realistic look to how the world is lit, and allows literally every object to produce a dynamic soft shadow of its own. Etc etc etc....All these elements fall in the right places to create the most convincing game world ever built.

But enough talk of the game's looks. How does the gameplay fare you ask? Its just your standard FPS-type of game with the added nanosuit powers. The nanosuit gives you 4 modes that can alter your style a bit: Strength mode, Speed mode, Shield/Defense mode, and Cloak mode. All these are pretty self explanatory and are pretty much needed if you want to survive. The Cloak mode though will be your most powerful (and cheapest ability if you ask me) mode as it grants you full invisibility (ala Predator). You could abuse this and almost always get through tight spots with it. The only catch is that using a weapon disables your clock and drains your nanosuit energy instantly so you got to be careful when taking down groups with it since enemy soldiers sometimes do a good job at flanking and shooting you down.

Now my only gripe with the game is the computer AI. Games have come a long way already in providing realistic AI, and with games like FEAR pushing the bar in terms of how enemies should react, I was hoping Crysis would at least get this aspect of the game right. And it does, sometimes. The korean soldiers do a good job at listening to audio cues and will try to surround and flank you. They shoot, throw grenades, even man vehicles. Seems pretty good at first but once you play around longer, you'll start to see some inconsistencies in how they behave. These soldiers tend to get stuck in walls and you could sometimes even see them clipping through buildings. They also react too slow if you ask me. You could knock out a couple of soldiers who are standing just a few feet apart and they wouldn't notice anything. They also seem to have an ungodly amount of health when shooting them from far. At one point, I unloaded an entire magazine clip on just one soldier (and I was sure they were connecting since you have this odd "thud" sound that plays whenever a hit registers from your gun) and that enemy was still running around wondering where to run and hide. These subtract a bit of points from the overall game since everything from the presentation side is so well polished. Well, I guess it's improssible to have a perfect game anyway.

My final verdict for this game? If you're a fan of the FPS genre and a hardcore PC owner with the need to buy the ultimate game just to see how many frames your thousand-dollar rig can pump out, by all means get this game. For the average Joe with the average computer, think twice because this game will bring your computer to its knees (and trust me, you do not want to run this game at anything less than medium-high. How good this game looks at high is how bad it looks at low). Plus the AI issues and forgettable story might turn a couple off. It's still an enjoyable game though thanks to the Nanosuit and breathtaking technology at display. Hopefully, Crytek works more on the gameplay-side of things in future games since they got the technology all right and perfect (well, a bit of optimizing too wouldn't hurt).

EGM November 2008 Reviews

Straight out of Neogaf:

Reviews:

Wario Land: Shake it! - C+, A-, C+
Good: Classic Wario playability, sumptuous artwork
Bad: Lackluster levels, tired design

De Blob - B
Good: Simple, colorful fun
Bad: Too-similar levels, unnecessary motion controls

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - B+, B-, B
Good: Endlessly satisfying destruction
Bad: Gimped co-op, lacks polish

Megaman 9 - B+
Good: Old-school aesthetic and challenge
Bad: Difficulty sometimes borders on masochistic

Silent Hill: Homecoming - B, C+, B-
Good: Silent Hill never looked so good
Bad: Slow framerate, clunky controls

Fracture - C-
Good: Terraforming works well enough
Bad: Ridiculously derivative

Midnight Club: Los Angeles - B
Good: Solid controls, addictive leveling system, amazing re-creation of LA
Bad: inconsistent difficulty, some visual glitches and framerate

NBA Live 09 - B
Good: Daily roster updates
Bad: Way too many blocks

NBA 2K9 - A-
Good: 5-on-5 online games
Bad: Complicated controls

FIFA 09 - B+
Good: Improves a lot of stuff that FIFA 09 did wrong
Bad: Goalkeeper A.I. is still frustratingly incompetent

Infinite Undiscovery - B, B, C+
Good: Seamless real-time battles
Bad: Clunky menus and interfaces

Rock Band 2 - A-, A-, A
Good: Enormous setlist
Bad: Unlocking songs is taxing

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - A GOTM
Good: Fantastic action-lite RPG in the spirit of Super Mario RPG series
Bad: BioWare's buyout by EA may mean no sequels

The Legend of Kage 2 - B-
Good: Classic ninja gameplay
Bad: Rudimentary level design

Away: Shuffle Dungeon - B-
Good: Clever core gimmick with solid action on top
Bad: Not much going on beyond the gimmick

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - A-
Good: Deep gameplay, spooky graphics and music
Bad: Confusing puzzles, cut-and-paste levels

Kirby: Super Star Ultra - A-
Good: Plenty of powers to absorb
Bad: Forgettable DS-specific features

Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise - B+
Good: Addictive as always!
Bad: Addictive as always...

Star Ocean: The First Departure - B+
Good: Addictive item creation, relationship bulding
Bad: Archaic storyline and presentation

Spore - B+
Good: Seeing you and your buddies' creations
Bad: An imperfect mix of genres

Source

Review Time

Starting today, I'll be reviewing some of the games I currently own while waiting for the newer ones to be released. I've got quite a number of titles here so I was thinking, why not do some reviews for them? Wouldn't hurt for me to revisit games like Gears of War for the 360 or Twilight Princess on the Wii.

(Speaking of Zelda, damn I still haven't finished that game yet. Guess this is the right time to complete it. That and Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Tales of Vesperia......Oh man, I just realized how many RPGs I still have yet to finish. Wonder if I'll be able to go through them all lol).

Crysis Warhead Launch Trailer - Maximum Goodness!

Looks like the game (or expansion) all you hardcore PC enthusiasts have been waiting for just got released. Now, I'm not exactly a PC guy myself but I'm just as excited to try this game after finishing the original Crysis. Hopefully, Crytek learned a lot from their previous game and improved the performance with this expansion.

Here's the launch trailer for now: Warhead Launch Trailer

Once I get the game, I'll make sure to post my impressions :)