Screenshots: Video: I had originally played this on Onlive, I gave it the 30 minute trial. I don’t exactly remember it starting how it did. I seemed to be going through many more story points then before, but I bet I skipped them in the interest of time the first time around. I was really pleasantly surprised. I got this game after all the holiday game download sale hooplah. I had seen it on Steam, Onlive, Amazon – all had it on major sale, but saw them come and go. However, upon checking up on it on Amazon, the price…
Video: Games of 2011
A great summary of the games this past year: Get More: GameTrailers.com, Game of the Year Awards 2011 – Game of the Year, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Review: Driver San Francisco
Ok, I loved the original driver. It was an entirely new genre at the time. Sure you had a driving around car game, but once GTA III hit anything where you drove and crashed was “just another GTA”. They’ve always been one to spin a story but this latest one is entirely out of the box. It was not what I expected at all. Sure, plainclothes policeman in a muscle car, but there’s a big twist to this one. After a crash attempting to apprehend an escaped convict you’re jumping from body to body. Think Quantum leap meets Messiah (if…
LA Noire PC – Review
Video: It’s a port, a straight port but with an extra tidbit or two of settings and smoothing for the graphics. You have ansiotropic settings, and FXAA (x1, 2, or 3). The textures do appear scaled, as in they look as good at 2560×1600 as I remember them being on PS3 but many of the facial textures appear a bit more blurry. The view distance is still very low – you see the fog and blur on anything further then a block away so you don’t quite get the full immersive city feel as GTA. I like the time period…
Batman: Arkham City – Review
initial impressions – very smooth animation. More then anything else I was amazed at how fluid the animation is – when he’s climbing, soaring, or fighting with handcuffs on… it’s fabulous to watch. The graphics are very nice as well, the lighting is a huge improvement, and ambient occlusion is especially apparent with all the dark shadows around. I’m still not 100% sure on the story, there is a lot going on, and it’s all very compartmentalized into a single building for a single purpose, no more so then Asylum was, but it’s more noticeable due to the open nature…
Video Review: NFS The Run
Here is the intro / first levels of gameplay. It’s interesting because (like many NFS games) it’s nothing like its predecessor. Cars control more realistically. It’s still not a simulation feeling, and you’re restricted to bumper, hood, and behind view. I prefer far behind or windshield view (a la SHIFT) but the hood works well enough. 360 controller worked out of the box. It controlled more like the older games, which is a good thing compared to the latest Hot Pursuit. You can’t go full speed into the corner counting on a powerslide to save you, but it’s still nowhere…
Elder Scrolls Skyrim: Review, Screenshots, Gameplay Video
I wasn’t expecting too much from the latest Elder Scrolls: V Skyrim (Sky-rim) and I was pleasantly surprised. At first I noticed a big degredation in quality… as in half the textures were up to par for the full resolution of 2560×1600 – many were not, most notibly the objects and inner textures. I swear they took some right from oblivion (Elder Scrolls: IV). However, if you put on 8X AA it fixes it. 2X and even 4X was stretching it, and FAXX didn’t seem to do much at all, shadows and transparent textures (fences, brush and greenery) were the…
iCEnhancer 3.5 for GTA
I had installed EFLC 1.0.7.0 on the new system trying to eek the most out of the updated configuration. It all looked great, but after playing a lot of BF3 and watching the GTA V trailer it’s looking dated. I wondered why the quality didn’t look quite like I remembered… then I realized I hadn’t installed iCE! There is even an updated version 3.5 that appears quite recent, potentially spurred by the announcement of GTA V. In any case I was ready to give it a go, installed it over my 1.0.7.0 version but it didn’t like it, it crashed…
Video: IGN – Battlefield Tips
I watched this prepared to be all snarky but it had some good info… for people who have never played Battlefield before. It does bring up a good point about not getting in the helis/jets if you don’t know how to fly them. It’s just common courtesy. In any case if you’re wondering why you keep getting kicked, or want to point some noobs in the right direction, check this out: More Battlefield 3 (Limited Edition %2D%2D Physical Warfare Pack) Videos
Battlefield 3 Review
…impressions at this point, I’ll elaborate further but here are some goodies: Gameplay Video: Screenshots: things to note: things breaking (not servers), animation, jump / prone slides, vehicle sounds, directional audio, graphics, comparison to beta things breaking (servers) – c’mon, first day! Performance – Ultra, full, 2560×1600 – +60fps dips below 60 under pressure, but hardly
Battlefield 3 – PC Retail DVD Install
Battlefield 3 – PC Retail DVD Install FAIL So I am currently copying data.z01 to my temp directory from DVD1 along with data.zip from DVD2.Why am I taking such a weird way of installing this game? EA has either broken something, or they’re nuts. I put in the first disk, it popped up Origin, asked for my code, and proceeded to start the 11G download. Wait… what??? Why did I get the DVDs to save an 11G download when you don’t even install off the disk for a retail copy? I waited for a registration code and two coasters to…
The History of Battlefield #FUEA
My trepidation with EA only extends to the most recent versions published by EA – they exited before them, much like EVERY OTHER fabulous game that has since been snatched up. I’m so glad Rockstar managed to push them off. Here is a history of Battlefield – 45 minutes, a documentary of game footage, history, and the evolution of graphics and gameplay. Thank you Gamerspawn. (oh yeah, F u EA #FUEA – I hate that you control my favorite games)
EA Trumps a Big One
EA is bordering on a national incident citing “A Korean VPN” as being the reason for opening up Battlefield 3 to Origin players “early”. They have complete control to stop the servers at any time, this is complete and utter manufactured BS. Just say “we want to drive a whole bunch of impatient people to purchase another copy from Origin so they can play now” and don’t be so shady about it. They had games scheduled for 11PM EST in the feeds – “Launch Party” so it’s no secret. This just adds to the ire people have for EA. They’re…
RAGE – First Impressions and Review
First impressions: Setting – Fallout 3 Story – Fallout 3 Jumpsuit – Fallout 3 Enemies – Fallout 3 Hunters – Fallout 3 Mutants – Fallout 3 Textures – Fallout 3 Wasteland – Fallout 3 Vehicles – a plus FPS Mechanics – a plus Control – a plus So just hopping into it briefly I get much the same feeling as I got with Fallout. Everything is a mess, and there are many reused textures. It’s hard to make a post-apocalyptic world. I don’t deny that. However – the mechanics of the shooting was uniquely id. It felt like no other…
Game Review: Off-Road Drive **updated**
Don’t get me wrong, I love driving games. I love offroad, I loved Dirt and all its successors, they finally made Rally racing fun for me. Off-Road Drive on the other hand is the most frustrating “racing” game I’ve ever played. I got stuck in the mud repeatedly, and not like “oh, just spin your wheels and get out…”. No, it’s a “simulation” so I’m going to simulate getting my truck stuck in the mud. Thereby, I need to make sure I’m in low gear and I have the right combination of differential and slip on which tires and… It…
Battlefield 3 PC Beta
Here is some great information about the new engine (Frostbite 2) that powers Battlefield 3. Battlefield 3 Blog: Frostbite 2 Engine Presentation It is very impressive in demos. The Beta does not quite realize the quality of the demos, but there is some clipping and collision that needs to be worked out. You can still lay prone halfway into a wall, for one. There is a small list of fixes already slated but overall it’s very true to the original. I have it running at 2560×1600 max and I’m not seeing anywhere near the quality of the demo videos, though.…
Dead Island – Not Just Another Zombie Game – PC
Dead Island immediately draws you in, from the opening cinematic you’re the guy (or girl). It’s all first person, boozing and abusing, falling down drunk and groping… finally passing out in your room… amongst some odd attacks and blood splattering around you. When you finally wake you’re in your room, but everything outside is in shambles. At first I thought there was a little too much collecting – suitcases all over have a couple bucks here and there, alchohol, med packs, and random bits of seemingly useful objects (rubber hosing, glue) are scattered all around. It’s fairly easy to collect,…
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
My initial impression: Looks ok. It seems like another Duke Nukem where the idea and gameplay were ported from their 90s originals, but their roots are showing in these sequels. There is lots of details (papers, coffee mugs, detailed computer screens, interaction with faucets, etc) so far in the first level but I notice a different level of textures between objects, people, and the surroundings which breaks the otherwise immersiveness of the story and camera work. The “cover” is awful so far, but I think that’s primarily due to defaults conflicting with my mouse configuration but I never seem to…
SplitSecond PC – It’s Almost Too Exciting
My initial impression of the game was that it was way too arcade for my tastes. I saw things blowing up, and a bunch of sliding around the “racetrack”. My first impressions weren’t too far from that. It’s an arcade racer, there’s no denying that. You can’t really focus very well on driving well when stuff is blowing up all around you. You end up veering left and right and taking your chances with spinning out to avoid the explosions of which will get you… if you’re close enough, so you just try and stay far enough away even if…
The Witcher 2
Some screenshots to start. Things I want to get into – graphical glitches (patch 1.3) – control / camera – why can’t I jump on this stump? There are two pictures of the puddle. I’m not really seeing it in the screenshots but his foot went through a 2D puddle and I could see his foot clearly underneath the puddle on the ground… not a big deal, but make sure all the ground around something is higher then the plane of the puddle. To be fair it’s at the start of the game, so hopefully they got better with the…
iCE for Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City – Up Your Realism
I am a big fan of Grand Theft Auto. I’ve had every one since the original top view on PC. It’s not that I like stomping on babies… I just love crashing cars. I like demolition derby games too, so the added story and other tasks just make it all the better and with GTA III onward, I love the real word feel to it. You can just as easily drive along with traffic as weave through it trading paint with all the cars along the way. It’s always the best test of new hardware, and when a new one…
Dirt 3
If you’re a fan of racing games I highly recommend Dirt 3. I had a ton of fun with Dirt 2 – and it gets better (for the most part) with 3. Plus: + Graphics + Level Design + Better AI then Dirt 2 + Better Reward / XP System then Dirt 2 + Integrated YouTube to upload replays Minus: – The control feels a little looser then Dirt 2 – More arcade feeling IE: If you lose a tire, you should not be able to go another 3 laps and finish 3rd Overall I’d recommend it, but don’t pay…
Crysis 2 DX11 Pack Now Available
Crysis 2 DX11 “Ultra Upgrade” Pack Now Available! From NVidia’s GeForce.com When Crysis 2 hit stores on March 22nd it became Crytek’s first multi-platform game to be developed solely by their studios throughout the world. Because of the level of work required to ensure that all three versions of the game were equally as good, Crytek ultimately ran out of development time, preventing them from implementing planned DirectX 11 features before launch. Post release, the studio’s developers were free to focus only on the PC version of the game, and so for the past few months they have been beavering…
Get Yourself An N-Control Avenger
Check out the N-Control-Avenger On Facebook, like them to win one this weekend! http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-N-Control-Avenger/162468090457709 It’s an amazing controller add on for your 360, also works when using a 360 on Windows since it’s actual hardware appurtenant. They’re giving away 2 controllers for Facebook fans if they make 2500 likes by midnight on Sunday! If they get 500 followers on Twitter they’ll be giving away 2 to their twitter followers as well. Sign up on both for a chance to win twice! Also they’re running a Black Ops Annihilation DLC contest. Best voted video of the Avenger being used in game!…