Yay, Devil May Cry 4 is finally released on PC. This game was released earlier on XBox360 and PS3. I never really played any DMC games before, therefore I can’t comment much on the plot and gameplay. Check out the following sites for more info.
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Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a tactical first person shooter video game and the sequel to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas. It was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 2008 while the PC version was delayed until April 15, 2008. I was rather excited when I finally got hold of the game because I am a huge fan of Rainbow Six Vegas. Too bad when I finished Vegas 2, not much excitement was left in me.
The main reason is the lack of new features. In my opinion, the game is released just for the sake of finishing the story. The notable feature added in the sequel would be the “sprint” feature, which is really useful when running from cover to cover in tight situation. Other features include customization of the main character, Bishop, which is quite interesting considering you can make Bishop a he or she. Other than that, I couldn’t notice anymore new features.
The developers claim that the AI is vastly improved in the sequel, as they will cover each other when they advance. But for me, I can’t notice any improvements. They seem to be even more more stupid sometimes. Feel like slapping them when they are like idiots standing at a corner doing nothing while I get pinned down by some crazy terrorists.
Other than that, the graphics is very demanding as well. You will need a really good rig to play the game in smooth frame rate. This applies to low graphics settings too. Heavy actions on the screen can really eat your machine up. I had a tough time finishing this game due to the poor frame rate and partly because of the occassional crashes. This really kinda spoils the experience.
However, do not let the above comments discourage you about the game. Vegas 2 is no doubt an excellent game if not compared to Rainbow Six Vegas. You will really enjoy it if you are new to Rainbow Six Vegas series. You can still hide around corners and shoot at enemies while exposing only a minimal part of your body. You can still order your teammates to break into a room with flashbang or grenade. Vegas 2 allows even more weapons to play with, but this time, you have a limitation. You must unlock it with the XP you earned in the game. Well, since I have no patience for such shit, I juz download a save file which unlocks all weapons, hurray! I love my M468!
In Vegas 2, as the name suggests, most of your fights happen in Las Vegas. However, the environment kinda change a bit as this time the fights will happen mostly in outdoor areas. Previous Rainbow Six Vegas fights happen mostly in indoor casinos or lounges, so you get to fight in some new outdoor areas. Action is still very intense as usual, enemies come from everywhere, they flank you, they come in groups, and they are sometimes limitless. Proper coordination of your teammates will ensure that even an entire army will die by the hands of a Rainbow team. Yay!
The story of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 serves as a prequel and a sequel to the first game. I can’t really listen to what they say sometimes. The lack of subtitles feature and the poor speakers built in my laptop ensure that I was constantly in a “blur” mode throughout the game. The plot of the game is too predictable for me. You can roughly know what’s gonna happen most of the time. I wish the story could have more twists with more dramatic events.
That roughly covers it all for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2. It is still a very good game, just that it falls below my expecation. Guess I shouldn’t have such high expectation for this game.
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By Travis
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Assassin’s Creed is a game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. For me, it is possibly the best game in 2008. It was released in November 2007 in PS3 and XBox 360 and in PC version later during April 2008. I finished the game roughly a month ago, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It is so impressive that I could hardly forget the game.
Assassin’s Creed features one of the best game’s graphics but its system requirements can be a problem as it is originally a next generation console game. Such consoles can easily support Assassin’s Creed with maximum graphic settings, but not my poor laptop. 
Although my settings is between low and middle, the graphic still impresses me and I kinda drool when thinking of playing it in a console with a FULL HD LCD TV. :D:D
The game takes place in Holy Land during the Third Crusade. You play as an assassin called Altair, a member of The Assassin Brotherhood. Due to his arrogance, he caused the death of his friend and angers the whole brotherhood. His penalty is to be demoted to the lowest rank and lost all his skills and weapons. You will start from scratch like any other game’s main hero. Accomplishing missions given by the Brotherhood will let you slowly recover your skills and weapons, aiding you in your journey ahead.
Altair has superb agility and reflex, making him like the male version of Lara Croft (can even win Olympic’s gymnastic gold medal 
). You will be jumping from buildings to buildings, climbing towers or jumping from ledges to ledges during the majority of the game to avoid guards or any suspicious eyes. It’s kinda like Lara Croft jumping around, but this one is done in a busy city. Altair is excellent with weapons as he can take on 5-6 guards without any problem. This seems to kinda spoil the game because in such a stealth game, I was hoping that being discovered by guards will have heavier consequences like in Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, where you MUST avoid guards instead of killing them.
The game’s environment is the best I ever seen in a game beside BioShock. You will explore cities like Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf, with Jerusalem the most impressive of them all. Lots of people walking around carrying their goods, merchants selling their products in stalls, beggars begging for coin (very annoying), and also drunkards pushing you around (the most annoying type of civilian, I basically just stab them when they push me :D). The environment blends together wonderfully and you will feel like you are really walking in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Although to fully utilize this, you will need quite a beefy PC.
As the name suggests, this game is all about assassination, and I hope any assassination-based game in the future would refer to Assassin’s Creed. Unlike the old games, you don’t just rush into the place and start killing everyone there. This game goes for realistic and stealth instead of one man action. Before you kill a person, you will need to obtain information about your target. You shall start by climbing towers (other than Olympic gold medal, he can also climb KLCC if given the chance :D) and look at the surrounding area to locate people that might have useful information about your target. The visual at the top of the tower is insanely beautiful and surely you will be impressed when you see it. There are many ways of forcing them to talk. Some is through the traditional way, interrogation. You just follow him to an alley and starts beating the shit out of him. Some is through pickpocketing (our hero can also join Ocean 14 soon :D). Some is through eavesdropping. There are around 7-8 ways of obtaining information although some of them are a bit boring. Their information often includes how to get near your target, where does the target go, or how guards are stationed around, etc.
Assassination phase begins after this, where a few cool cutscenes will be shown in the process, slowly revealing the plot of the game. The cutscene shown when you finish off your target is very cool and lets the soon-to-be-dead person speaks his last words. The game also features some very exciting sword combat, with some very brutal finishing move as well.
Although the game sounds excellent, it does have some flaws. The major flaw would be the repeatitive gameplay because you need to do the same thing over and over again for every target. The ending is kinda confusing and will only be concluded in its sequel. This type of ending seems to be the trend now as Crysis, Halo 2, and Rainbow Six Vegas all have such ending. It totally leaves me hanging
Overall, Assassin’s Creed is an excellent game and highly recommended for everyone, especially people with strong interests in the Crusaders era. If you have a high end PC, go get it NOW!!!!
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By Travis
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed MMORPG game launched on 20th May 2008, developed by Funcom. It is set in the Hyborian age, a fantasy setting created by American author Robert E. Howard in 1932. Age of Conan itself takes place within the continent of the Hyborian kingdoms, a year after the events depicted in Howard’s sole Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. Funcom has really done a great job in the settings and the environment of the game. You won’t feel strange as to why something is there. Everything is done naturally and blends into the environment very well.
As I am writing this review, I am only a Level 22 female Conqueror. Conqueror is a melee DPS class, has insanely high melee damage and ability to buff groupmates. When you start the game, you will feel that the game’s character creation is excellent. You can customize your character from head to toes easily. Customization has lots of choices to choose from as well. I am surprised by the character creation system because I never expect it to be done in so much detail.
I don’t know much about this game’s end-game experience since I am only level 22. I am writing based on my low-level to early mid-level gameplay experience and so far its been done very well, except that its really buggy and not very user-friendly. If you can take all that, then you will probably find AoC one of the most best MMORPG so far. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for roughly a month more. Don’t worry as Funcom has been fixing these issues very quickly and by now most of the bugs should be fixed and new features are being implemented in the upcoming patches.
Prior to the release date, I watched a couple of demos showing the game’s incredible graphics. It’s excellent, no doubt about it. However, you’re gonna need a rather high-end PC to make the game shine. Otherwise, the game’s basic requirement is still quite low, so don’t worry about it.
AoC features a really impressive feature, the “Real Combat” system, which is used for melee combat. It is based on six directions of attacking an opponent. Unlike most of the MMORPG in the market, no matter how you swing the weapon, only the selected opponent will be damaged, provided its not an Area of Effect(AoE) skill. In AOC, everytime you swing your weapon regardless of normal attacks or AoE skills, it causes damage if the opponents are in the radius, causing it to be much more dynamic and realistic. And of course, lots of blood spill out when damages are done!! Hooray!! Melee skills are all about combos, pressing several directions at successful sequence will trigger the combo, dealing more damage than normal attacks. Also, killing opponens with combos instead of normal attacks might show you the “Fatality” move, an insanely cool and brutal finishing move. The satisfaction of executing your opponent is high, although the percentage of it triggering it is quite low. I’ve only seen it a couple of times. The “Real Combat” system really impresses me and convinces me to choose a melee class rather than mages.
This game is rated M 17+ because of its brutality, nudity and language. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first MMORPG game that gets a Mature rating. Funcom want a game that’s more violent and brutal to match the Hyborian Age. The language is also rougher considering almost everything is settled by swords in such a tough world. I like the direction Funcom is going because I always think that ordinary MMORPG is way too cartoonish. How can you slay a person without any blood around it? Sometimes the language is even more polite than me speaking with my friends. This easily makes AoC the most brutally satisfying MMORPG so far.
Another feature worth mentioning is its questing system. The map display is excellent. Never have I felt lost not knowing where to go for the next step. I hope they can improve the interface, especially the Feats and Combos menu. Sometimes, I don’t understand what these feats or combos do. The explaination should contain more details. However, these are just small parts of the game and can be improved easily. As long as the core gameplay is nice, it is definitely worth playing.
This is definitely one of the best MMORPG game I’ve ever played so far. I prefer the approach this game takes instead of WoW. This is definitely my type of game and highly recommended to everyone.
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by Travis
