Category Archives: Reviews

Flawed Beauty

When I first started playing Arx Fatalis, I was hoping for an RPG along the lines of Morrowind. I was looking for a huge non-linear campaign world that would keep me entertained for weeks at a time, maybe months. I also wanted sheer beauty, incredible sound and an engaging plot. I guess my sights were set a bit too high. Arx Fatalis is a good game, but it is very short-lived and the many flaws with both the game interface and the mission outlines were constantly competing with my ability to enjoy the game. I ended up playing the game … Continue reading Flawed Beauty

Follow the Call

All I can say is – WOW! If all of the next generation of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, popularly called MMORPGs, are as good as this then we are indeed in for a real treat. Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings (herein after called AC2) takes place in a land called Dereth which is comprised of three Islands. Osteth is ancestral home of the Humans. Omishan is the ancestral home of the magic using Tumeroks. Linvak Massif is the ancestral home of the lumbering Lugians. You start your life, after choosing race, sex and how your character will look; … Continue reading Follow the Call

Freelancer Boldly Goes

For fans of the spaceflight genre, freelancer is probably the most anticipated game of the year. The title follows in the tradition of both the Wing Commander and Privateer series, and is more closely related to Privateer. This is a good thing, since Privateer II remains one of my all-time favorite games. What was so good about Privateer II, and what shows promise in the beta of Freelancer, is the completely non-linear nature of the gameplay. You can play a good guy, taking missions that help the police or the military. Or you can become a pirate and lie in … Continue reading Freelancer Boldly Goes

Tribunal Adds Creativity to Creation

I was so happy having just completed about 300 hours of role-playing, easily the largest amount of time I have spent on a single non-online only game in my life. Super bad guy Dagoth Ur fell to my blade, well, actually he fell to an earthquake after I completed the game-winning ritual, but I’ll take the credit for his death. I sat back to breathe a sigh of relief. Nothing to do now other than travel around the world fighting minor baddies like bandits living in caves or the occasional marauding Kagouti. And my manor home is decked out in … Continue reading Tribunal Adds Creativity to Creation

Content is King in Camelot

You asked for it and now you have it – more content for Dark Age of Camelot. I do not know how many articles I have read that listed the biggest drawback of Dark Age of Camelot as the lack of content and then go on to base this on a comparison to a game that has been on the market nearly four years with four expansions under its belt! So, hopefully Shrouded Isles may quiet these critics for awhile. What do you get? Shrouded Isles brings an upgraded graphics engine, with the down side being you need a relatively … Continue reading Content is King in Camelot

Icewind Dale II is Cool Combat

Normally I review the so-called hardcore RPG games. You know, the ones where you have about 30 different quests going on at the same time, have to concentrate on party interaction, follow main, romance and side quests and generally take a lot of notes. I never got into the Icewind Dale series because I was told they were hack and slash titles, with lots of combat but not much role-playing. Another staff member told me that they were actually pretty good and wanted to know if I wanted to try my hand at reviewing it. He assured me that I … Continue reading Icewind Dale II is Cool Combat

Space for Nonspace Jockies!

Finally, Earth and Beyond is a space-based shoot em up that does NOT require you to be a certified pilot to enjoy! To say I am jumping for joy is an understatement. As way of background, I am one of those "flight challenged" gamers that can not get the hang of pushing the joystick forward to go down and backwards to go up. Crashed many a flight by going in the wrong direction at the wrong time before I realized I was just not cut out for flight controls. But throw that out the window as Earth and Beyond has … Continue reading Space for Nonspace Jockies!

Neverwinter Means Never Bored

I am impressed with Neverwinter Nights, but I did not start out that way. I guess it’s just a matter of perception. Given the long development time and the many, sometimes conflicting press releases and various other information I read about the product, I really did not know what to expect. Some people thought, and based on the feedback I get from our readers still do, that Neverwinter was a massively multiplayer game in the realm of Ultima Online or Asheron’s Call. Its not, though you could hardly blame gamers for thinking the wrong thing. Basically, the development of the … Continue reading Neverwinter Means Never Bored

Morrowind is (Finally) a True RPG

We have been waiting a long time for Elder Scrolls: Morrowind to be released by Bethesda Softworks, and the longer we waited and the more we read about the game, the more our expectations grew. To our great relief, Morrowind is everything that we were expecting and more. It is at long last"a true RPG for the computer. Chris is the primary reviewer on Morrowind and has experienced the game on the Xbox. John is going to chime in on his experiences with the PC. He has also had the chance to play longer, as the PC version came out … Continue reading Morrowind is (Finally) a True RPG

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (BGII) is as fine a sequel as any game company could ask for. This follow up to the award-winning Baldur’s Gate has the same great graphics, the same wonderful sound effects and the same great game system. That being said much has also been expanded on and improved. First of all BGII has been designed to run native on OSX for Mac, having originally been a PC title. This is terrific because OSX is the most stable GUI I’ve ever dealt with and you can push the game in both single and multi-player modes … Continue reading Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn