It has been a long time since I’ve journeyed to the Sword Coast via the magic of a Dungeons and Dragons game. Computer RPGs have never really been able to capture the flavor of a pen-and-paper role-playing, with several friends sitting around a table drinking sodas, eating chips, solving problems and slaying dragons. (well, only occasionally slaying a dragon) But that all changed with the release of Baldur’s Gate. Black Isle studios, a development arm of Interplay, has a great deal of experience with computer RPGs, and for the first time, someone has gotten it right. Most computer RPGs, especially … Continue reading Baldur’s Gate→
I had the opportunity to be a beta tester in the final phase of beta testing for EverQuest, which was released by Sony last week. Being in on the ground floor of this one, I can say that I think it will challenge Origin System’s Ultima Online for the title of the most popular online role-playing game. The first time I logged on, I was thrilled to see all of the options for creating a character. Everything from the usual gender, and class to race and religion was included as a changeable option. As a long time Ultima Online player, … Continue reading An insiders report from Norrath→
It is rare indeed to see the sequel to anything — movies, television shows or games — actually turn out better than the original. Sequels usually fall into either the category of either a hastily made game that relies too heavily on its predecessor for plot, or a simple add-on pack that is not really a new game at all. I was relieved and pleased to find that this was not the case with Myth II: Soulblighter. The folks at Bungie were smart enough to keep basically the same interface as the original Myth, and pack the game with enough … Continue reading Myth II: Soulblighter will conquer strategy gamers→
Valve Software’s Half-Life has been hyped for the past three years, claiming that it has the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) found on any first person shooter. It was supposed to be the AI that would surpass Half-Life form its competition. Fortunately, I am able to say that as far as the main game goes, that hype is proven to be true, as the final release provides the most challenging, involving single player action there is to offer. Half-Life, published by Sierra, centers on Gordon Freeman, doctor of Nanotechnology and Charlie Sheen look-a-like. What appears to start off as a … Continue reading Half-life aims to kill other first person shooters→
Humongous Entertainment has developed a game that will surely give young soccer enthusiasts a kick. Backyard Soccer takes players into realistic neighborhood soccer competitions with a variety of great features that any sports fanatic (young or old) will enjoy. This game is marketed for kids from ages five to ten years old. This game has a number of clever player-controlled, customized features. The game allows players to choose from a group of thirty neighborhood children to build their teams. The designers of this game made sure to give the neighborhood children a touch of realism by making the children each … Continue reading Backyard Soccer scores with young gamers→
Lucas Arts’ Grim Fandango already earned some lauds from other gaming publications and I hate to be the one to tarnish what may become another Myst. Grim Fandango does contain a captivating atmosphere with a certain film noir meets Antonio Banderas quality. My primary complaint stems not from the remarkable interface or the ambiance or even the general plot. Believe me, the music, a jazz soundtrack, is nearly enough to warrant buying this title. It’s just that someone forgot the basics of an adventure game. You may consider me a purist, but adventure and strategy games contain a kind of … Continue reading Don’t Fear the Reaper→
Acclaim’s Iguana team has pulled off yet another great blood-chilling, action-packed, first-person shooter as the sequel to last year’s highly praised Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. This one will leave you nothing less than impressed. Turok 2 is the first of many games designed to work with Nintendo’s new 4 megabyte expansion pak, a hardware add-on used to enhance graphics, sound and gameplay of titles designed for its use. This new expansion pack takes Turok 2 to a higher plateau of gaming as it increases resolution, enables smoother animation, heightens artificial intelligence and tweaks the sound of the game. Though Turok 2 … Continue reading Turok 2: Seeds of Evil uses N64 memory expansion to fullest→
As far as I am concerned, this is the best King’s Quest yet, as well as one of the best adventure games ever created. The puzzles in King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity are tough, yet solvable. The interface is easy to use, the plot is well thought-out and the graphics are very good. In fact, this game gets my highest rating yet. The part that I most enjoyed is that even though the gameplay takes place on different worlds, I never found it necessary to go back through and get something I missed on the first run. Given, I was … Continue reading Roberta Williams does it again→
A few years ago LucasArts released Shadows of the Empire as one of the flagship Nintendo 64 titles. It was a mixed bag, consisting mostly of mundane corridor shooters. However, there was one stage which stood out among the rest: the snowspeeder battle at Hoth. Critics such as myself wished that Shadows could have been more like the first stage, nothing but exciting ground-level flight sequences. LucasArts took our ideas to heart, and incorporated German based developers Factor 5 (known primarily for the Turrican series on the 16-bit systems) to create Rogue Squadron. Rogue Squadron takes place right after the … Continue reading Rogue Squadron will woo Star Wars fans→
Settlers III is not a game that will leap out at players as the most fascinating thing they have ever played. In fact, looking at the online help book can be quite daunting. But once you start to understand how to build your settlements into thriving colonies, Settlers can become quite addictive. The premise in this latest installment of the Settlers series finds your tiny hamlet on a vast unexplored world. This is not unlike the hundreds of other resource gathering and conquest games out there, but the beauty of Settlers is in the details. Settlers III has the most … Continue reading Settlers III will grow on you.→
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