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Aliens Versus Predator 2 Average Customer Review:  CD-ROM (31 October, 2001) list price: $49.95 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review The Alien and the Predator are two of filmdom's most beloved and fearedcreations, and fans have been clamoring for a matchup between the two speciesfor years. Their dreams were teased by a brief shot of an alien skull in thePredator's trophy room in Predator 2, indulged by several uneven pairingsin comic books, and finally fulfilled in Rebellion's underrated Aliens VersusPredator video game. Fox Interactive, teamed this time with developerMonolith, delights these fans again with Aliens Versus Predator 2, andthe result is easily one of the most intense 3-D shooters ever released. Like in the first game, there are three distinct campaigns. One lets you play asthe Predator, another as an Alien, and a third as the overconfident humans theyprey upon. This time out the stories are much more detailed, even crossing overin interesting ways. The plot concerns some arrogant human scientists, a groupof heroic marines, a rogue Predator, and the faceless Alien horde found onLV-1201 (the planet from the first two Alien films). As a human, you play a fearless roughneck sent to check things out and performmissions. This generally involves rescuing fellow marines, recon work, restoringpower to various systems, and trying to stay alive against fast-moving killingmachines with acid for blood and nasty dispositions. You're armed with theincredible pulse rifle from the films, other weapons such as a knife and a smartgun (which automatically locks onto targets for you), a tension-inducing motiontracker, and a shoulder-mounted flashlight that casts eerie shadows. ThePredator is armed with his shoulder cannon, cloaking device, spear, and hisfamous wrist claws. The Alien campaign is the most interesting as it first casts you as thespiderlike face hugger. You've got to roam the corridors looking for a solitaryvictim. Once you implant a human, you play the small and snakelikechest-burster, seeking out rodents and other tiny prey so you can quickly molt andgrow into a full-fledged alien. Then all hell breaks loose as the humans becomeyour prey. You can claw, perform a head bite (which restores health), andexecute a fearsome pounce attack that literally explodes the target. Aliens canalso cling and climb on walls, which takes some getting used to, but the effectis exhilarating, as is the hunt. The graphics are evocative of the films and feature strobe lights, flashing redsand whites, ample darkness, abandoned barricades, sputtering ruined equipment,and horrific scenes of carnage. The music rises and falls with the drama anddraws heavily from the Alien films in particular. And the game is relentlesslycreepy, whether or not you are the hunter or hunted. The audio is equallyeffective, from screaming humans to screeching alien attackers to the familiarPredator purring chuckle. The game is also filled with often amusingconversations between guards, marines, and scientists. The three campaigns offer 21 missions, but the wide range of multiplayer gamemodes deserve special mention. The game has legs, no matter which species youprefer, and already a community has sprung up for challenges between gamers.Unfortunately, the Net code is a bit buggy: be sure to download the latestpatch. Monolith has created a much better game than the previous installment, mainly bypumping up the atmosphere, refining the controls, and making sure the threestories combine into a greater tale of horror and survival. Oh, and mostimportantly to some, the game lets you save whenever you want. Just rememberthis when playing the game--on the Internet, no one can hear you scream, butyour neighbors can. --Bob Andrews Pros:
Features Reviews (133)
Asin: B00005QX4F |
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NEED INSTRUCTIONS! STUCKON THE GAME!
awsome game
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Max Payne Average Customer Review: CD-ROM (26 July, 2001) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review Max Payne, the New York police detective, has had a bad time of itrecently, and it's time for payback. Three years ago, junkies high on amysterious new narcotic called Valkyr slaughtered his wife and child. Thetragedy drives him on a prolonged path of vengeance. It turns him from adetective looking for easy work to a deep undercover vice cop infiltrating theMob to a hardened vigilante. Max Payne is a film-noir-inspired gameabout revenge that is unflinching in every way possible. It's dark and moody,extremely twisted, and turns PC action gaming on its ear by featuringstate-of-the-art graphics, audio, and cinematic action. Aside from its inspired use of photorealistic graphics and unique graphic novel(comic book) panels to further the plot, the game also features something calledBullet Time: a slow-motion toggle, usable for a limited time, that re-createsthe awe-inspiring diving maneuvers made popular by director John Woo and, ofcourse, The Matrix. At the touch of a button, Max can go into slow motionand leap forwards or back, and side to side, while pumping generous amounts oflead into his enemy's bodies. This toggle isn't just eye candy, it's a strategicdevice that evens the sometimes staggering odds the game throws at you. Theaction is made even more visceral by the interactive environments (glassshatters, plaster puffs into dust, and wood splinters) and generous amounts ofblood. The game carries a Mature label, and this should be taken very seriously. Thegame doesn't pull a single punch, whether in flashbacks showing Max's reactionto his gunned-down spouse, or even, somewhat tastelessly, flashbacks thatinclude his slain infant daughter. And he mows down a virtual army of hackneyedJoe Pesci-style Italian mobsters or ski-mask-wearing terrorists with extremeprejudice. The plot is predictable, the script is humorously bad (intentionallyso?), but the action will definitely make a shooter fan drool. Max Payneis the übershooter, and as such, it should be kept out of the hands ofkids. But mature action fans will love it. --Andrew S. Bub Pros:
Features Reviews (342)
Asin: B00002SUOV |
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a very well done game
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Clive Barker's Undying Average Customer Review: CD-ROM (21 February, 2001) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review After making a name for himself with horror classics such as TheDamnation Game novel, The Books of Blood short-story collection, andthe feature films Hellraiser and Candyman, Clive Barker has slowlymoved away from the horror genre toward more fantasy-centric work. Barker hasn'tcompletely forgotten about his first love, however, and Clive Barker'sUndying, a first-person action game from Electronic Arts and DreamWorksInteractive, beautifully captures the type of horrors that populated Barker'searliest works. And not only is this game genuinely frightening, it's also a lotof fun to play. Cast against the backdrop of Ireland in the year 1923, Undying followsPatrick Galloway, an investigator of the paranormal. Galloway has been summonedto Ireland by his old war buddy Jeremiah Covenant to put an end to the strangeoccurrences at the Covenant family estate. What Galloway finds is a house ofhorrors that is populated with Jeremiah's dead siblings (and other ghastlycreatures), all of whom want to snuff out Jeremiah so they can complete a spellcast when they were children. Graphically, Undying is first rate. The Unreal Tournament graphicsengine has been used to great effect and the result is amazing character modelsand environments. The haunted mansion is suitably dark, with wispy draperies andmacabre paintings. The estate's grounds are a mix of lush Irish countryside andcrumbling ruins, all set against vivid skies. Pretty pictures aside, the most impressive thing about Undying is itsatmosphere--this game is flat-out scary. Every element of the game, be it thegothic architecture, eerie story, great weather effects including rain andlightning, or amazing sound effects, perfectly complement each other. The resultis a gameplay experience that rivals the Resident Evil series in terms ofgenerating sheer terror in the player. The great atmosphere isn't Undying's only innovation--it also features avery cool two-handed attack system. Most action games saddle the player with anattack system where one hand controls all the weapons and the other hand doesnothing. In Undying, the left hand (and left mouse button) controls thestandard weapons, such as the pistol and shotgun, while the right hand (andright mouse button) casts spells. This is a great gameplay device and ensuresthe action stays at a frantic pace. Of all the spells in the game, the coolest is the Scrye spell. When cast, itlets the player see and hear past events--some of which are quitehorrific--andoccasionally it shows you how to progress beyond a certain level. This help cancome in the form of highlighting certain objects or unveiling a portal, butwhatever the method it is a very well-designed gameplay element. The only real complaints with Undying involve the long loading timesbetween levels and the system requirements, but even those aren't enough toderail this excellent--and terrifying--action game. --Kilmic Robbins Pros:
Features Reviews (99)
Asin: B000056KDW |
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Hmm...er....
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Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Average Customer Review: CD-ROM (23 January, 2002) list price: $19.99 -- our price: $19.99 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review EA has finally brought its Medal of Honor series (already wildly popularon the PlayStation) to the PC. Set during World War II, Medal of Honor:Allied Assault chronicles the fictional exploits of Lt. Mike Powell as hebattles his way from the shores of Africa to the shores of France to the heartof Nazi Germany. On the PSX, the Medal of Honor games were hailed asrevolutionary, and though Allied Assault never quite merits that level ofpraise, it's still a great game. At first glance, Allied Assault seems to have a lot in common with theWorld War II-themed Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but the similaritiesare strictly superficial. Allied Assault takes a more realistic approachto the action, both in the enemies that you face (there are no zombies ormutants) and in the mission structure. The game unfolds across six real-lifetheaters of war, and the 30 playable missions vary a lot in how they play out.Just like a character in a good army movie, you'll be sabotaging tanks,destroying submarines, and sending false communications. Nearly all yourmissions are very well designed, especially the mission where you land on OmahaBeach. The D-day mission has received a lot of attention, and for good reason--once thedoor on your Higgins boat drops, all hell breaks loose. The men in front of youdrop in a hail of bullets, a Higgins boat to your left is blown to bits, andmachine gun fire rakes the water everywhere. Getting from the boat to therelative safety of the shingles is a truly harrowing experience, although partsof it borrow a little too much from Saving Private Ryan. Since the game is set during WWII, you'll face a wide range of enemies,including tanks, machine gun nests, and even planes. The enemy AI is better thanin Wolfenstein--enemies will duck for cover, lay down suppressing fire,and throw back grenades--but too often it's obvious that enemy actions arescripted. At times you can actually tell when you've triggered the next wave ofenemy attacks: stay still and nothing happens; silently creep a foot forward andthey all come rushing out. This kind of heavy-handed scripting is a throwback tothe days of Doom, and more than a little bit of a disappointment. Graphically, Allied Assault looks quite sharp. It uses the QuakeIII graphics engine and the character models, vehicles, and textures arewell done, especially if you have a high-end video card. Unfortunately, thereare some glitches, such as clipping and collision detection problems. It's notuncommon to see enemies walking halfway through a door or a wall. Also, in a(successful) effort to get a "T" rating, there is absolutely no blood or gore.When you a shoot a Nazi infantryman with your captured MG-42 machine gun, hesimply falls down. The weakest part of Allied Assault is its multiplayer component. Thereare four game types, all of which are exceptionally average, and none of them isas compelling as Wolfenstein's multiplayer. Still, it is undeniably funto wage war in bombed-out French villages and other World War II battlefields.Allied Assault offers a fun single-player game and its D-day mission willgo down as a classic gaming experience. --William Harms Pros:
Features Reviews (425)
Asin: B00005N7YR |
$19.99 |
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Serious Sam Average Customer Review: CD-ROM (21 March, 2001) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review Serious Sam places gamers in the role of special-forces veteran Sam "Serious" Stone. Sam Stone travels back in time to an ancient Egyptian world with the mission of assassinating a great evil: Notorious Mental. Mental has set forth to wipe out Earth and all humans for sheer fun, just as it did with all of the other civilizations throughout galactic history. Players can defend the world in either single player or multiplayer modes. Multiplayer modes support two to four players in split-screen action on a single computer. In cooperative mode, gamers can join forces against the hordes of enemies. In Serious Sam, players will travel through beautiful and realistic terrain, both indoors and outdoors. Serious Sam's powerful 3-D technology, based on the company's proprietary Serious Engine, offers directional lighting and realistic-looking daytime scenes. In addition, the game's technology also allows for multidirectional gravity, dynamic volumetric fog and haze, and destructible objects. Players wishing to create their own levels can use the free Serious Editor and Serious Modeler, which are powerful real-time editing tools that include tutorials. ... Read more Features Reviews (83)
Some of the remarks Sam makes are very funny and the enemies come in all different sizes, from small zombies to giant insects! However, sometimes the game gets difficult and it has you tearing your hear out. So many enemies coming at you and no cover at all means you have to be quick on your toes and quick on the trigger. Plus it gets repetitive as well. Simply going in, killing everything and going out gets boring after a while. Plus, the enemies all have the same attacks. And they just run blindly at you with no regard for anything else... which doesn't make a challenge. However, if you can turn a blind eye to these flaws then Serious Sam is a classic shooting game which has everything a trigger happy guy would like. GOOD BITS BAD BITS The Verdict: 4 out of 5 ALTERNITIVE'S: If you like this then try Duke Nukem.
Asin: B00004ZB7P |
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Return to Castle Wolfenstein Average Customer Review: CD-ROM (26 November, 2001) list price: $29.99 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review It's been nearly 10 years since Wolfenstein 3D foreverpopularized the first-person shooter, and at long last everyone's favorite Nazikiller, B.J. Blazkowicz, is back in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Setduring World War II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein finds the Nazisdabbling in the black arts in an effort to create an army of supersoldiers.Naturally, Blazkowicz is the only thing standing in the Nazis' way, so he's setbehind enemy lines in an effort to end the madness. On the surface, the single-player game seems like pure gold--after all, everyoneloves killing Nazis. But the story jumps all over the place, the enemy AI isless than impressive, and most gamers will be able to finish the game in a mere10 to 15 hours. The single-player game falls short of the standards set bytitles such as Half-Life and No One Lives Forever. In fact, the best thing about Return to Castle Wolfenstein is itsteam-based multiplayer mode. Each multiplayer adventure features Axis vs. Allies, andboth sides offer four character classes: engineer (removes obstacles), medic(heals and revives teammates), lieutenant (calls in air strikes and replenishesammo), and soldier (only class able to use sniper rifles, flamethrowers, andother unusual weapons). The game includes only eight multiplayer maps, but theyare all perfectly designed, and in order to be successful teams have to worktogether. The result is a great gaming experience that fans ofCounter-Strike or the Day of Defeat mode for Half-Life will reallyappreciate. Graphically, Return to Castle Wolfenstein looks amazing. It uses thepowerful Quake III engine to great effect, and the character models,explosions, and lighting effects are all perfectly done. Alas, pretty graphicsand a great multiplayer game don't quite make up for an exceptionally averagesingle-player experience. --William Harms Pros:
Reviews (227)
Asin: B00004U55E |
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