Category Archives: Game Reviews

Game treats that will add thrill in Christmas vacations

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During Christmas holidays, people usually get bored due to intense cold and snow outside so they prefer to stay inside. Christmas celebrators can surly rejuvenate their festive time by having newly launched action packed games. Here are some most awaited games to be launched during Christmas time.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Almost all of the gamers must have played call of duty but Modern Warfare 3 is surly a refined and improved game with completely new experience and graphics. It can be played on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Modern Warfare has adopted latest technologies to ensure the highest quality of graphics with in depth detail of everything. The game is quite complex and completely new player will take time to understand full controls. The game is developed after experimenting on real time warfare. The player will be playing role of a soldier fighting infantry fight, driving through dangerous routes, dropping supplies through aircrafts and much more. This is a must play game for every gamer.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is the latest installment in the Elder of Scrolls Series. The player is thrown out to fantasy land in northernmost country in the very middle of the earth. The developers have created a superb fantasy land where dragons are flying and other monstrous creature are dwelling. This is a full adventure game which keeps the player alert at all times while fighting with beastly creatures.

Dark Souls

This Christmas no game like Dark Souls is released. This game is full of crumbling clock towers, knights in tarnished armors and ferocious fights. The player is literally spell bound by the game really feels like he have travelled times and now in medieval age where skeletons are patrolling and ice giants are gate keepers. Player has to collect souls of the enemies he kills as a currency and once killed himself all currency is lost. This game really challenges the player and no newbie can easily play this game. To succeed in this game the gamer had to have guts.

All these games will add thrill, adventure in your cold Christmas celebrations and warm you up for next year.

 

Need for Speed: The Run will bring the racing to the new level

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Need for speed is probably one of the most popular and old games as it has been entertaining people from around the world by bringing them behind the wheels of highly pimped and hot super sports cars. On 15 November 2011, the latest installment of NFS will launch named Need for Speed: The Run. It will be the eighteenth installment in NFS franchise by Electronic Arts Black Box.

The plot of the game is also adrenaline packed, as the player will be in shoes of the hero Jack who is in heavy debt of underground mafia. He is also declared as most wanted person by police, which makes him in troublesome situation as he have to run from mafia lords, police and other crooks. To pay all his debts and settle matters with police, he needs a lot of money. In order to get money, jack participates in an illegal off-the-grid race worth $25 million across the country from San Francisco to New York.

This is the first time that NFS has used real locations like Denver, Los Vegas, Detroit, New York, San Francisco and much more. The player races through different kinds of terrains and types of races. There are races through dense urban traffic, sloppy icy mountains, narrow and breathtaking canyons where racers race at breakneck speeds and even a second’s mistake can make them loss their lives, cars and off course race.

Need for Speed: The Run is powered by Frostbite 2 engine, which makes it the first non-shooter game. Graphics, visuals and car physics of this game are extremely high and the player is meant to feel what it is like to race under great pressure in real world. This game has employed a large number of real world vehicles including racer cars, muscle cares, exotic cars and street race cars.

This is the first time in NFS history that players are allowed to travel on foot, attack, sprint, run and jump in certain situations and missions. Game has also included three exclusive cars, Lamborghini Aventador, Porsche 911 Carrera S and Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Racing and sports cars’ enthusiasts are eager for the arrival of this game, as people just cannot wait to get their hands on Need for Speed: The Run.

Tomb Raider’s attempt at regaining its glory

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Tomb Raider has long been one of the Edios finest arcade games. Many experts attribute the massive popularity of Sony solely to Tomb Raider Series, which single handily lead Sony Playstation to the victory stand amongst all other gaming consoles. Sadly though, the situation changed a decade after the release of the first part.

While the game held its charm for most fans for a long time but a few really disappointed parts prove to be a kill joy even for the most ardent fans. The release of The Dark Angel back in the early 2000s was no less than an excruciating experience for the lovers of the game which completely buried the whole theme of the game. With the release of Legend however, developers were successful in lassoing Lara Croft back to the ruins and out of the corporate buildings, elevators and offices.

Crystal Dynamics was really able to inject ecstasy in the veins of fans of Classic Tomb Raider with the release of Anniversary. The stellar graphics and the too good to be true game play made it an almost addictive adventure. This not only rejuvenated some of its previous glory but also gave the fans some new hopes for the upcoming parts.

But as ill luck would have it, Underworld popped the bubble as it completely failed to live up to the expectations of the fans. The trailers released for the upcoming Tomb Raider seems promising enough and it has been successful in rekindling the fire amongst the stirred fans already. The game is scheduled to be released in the third quarter of 2012 which is a long way but the very idea of seeing a much younger version of Lara Croft, lost and bewildered is enough to keep the gamers hooked.

The question arises here is if the franchise will be able to meet the expectations of the fans and regain its lost glory? We will have to wait and see.

Is there any need of violence in video games?

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The ingredient of violence is like always on the rise in games. Most of the games that have been marked as blockbuster releases are usually associated with violence in one form or the other. The debate to adding violence in video games is a never-ending one. However, a new twist has recently been added to the playing of violent video games.

As it is a known fact that in the days of recession, the crime rate around the world surges. The recent statistics however show a decline in the crime rate over the last two years. There has been a talk relating reduction in crime to playing violent video games. The idea has been supported by the notion that violent video games have been able to channel the frustration in the youth and other to be criminals. As the new video games not only involve the players into themselves but also have a lot of fire power to gust out the aggression. This may make things easier for the violent game video makers, which usually face a lot of public criticism for the ever-increasing violence in their newer released versions.

The flip side of the coin is the struggles that concerned circles of society are making to ensure that violent games are not sold to minors. In U.S, California’s governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attempted to stop the sale of the violent video games to minors by signing a law back in 2005. The attempt had been unsuccessful because of the opposition met by the case from the video game industry. The law was abolished as an infringement on the law of free speech. It was also argued then that a rating system based on the violence of the games and some other key characteristics was already put in place so there was no need to put additional measures on that.

The decision of the court was appealed against but the court retained the original decision of the first court. At last the state has gone to the Supreme Court which has decided a hearing of the case in spite of already made court decisions. The video game markers are sceptical about the hearing as they fear that the decision might turn against them because they think that if court had been satisfied by already made decisions it wouldn’t have asked for another hearing.

Electronic Arts Shank – Game Review

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It seems that gaming industry hasn’t yet ended its surprises for newer types of games. Risks are always taken for making things more complex; however, EA has reversed the trend by being risky for trying something too simple. EA is about to unleash its latest action game for Xbox users called “Shank”. When we hear of things going more of 3 D, EA is going for a 2D game experiment.

Shank is a fighting game with a comic style background for each fight scenario. The game which has already started receiving applause in demo, is grabbing a lot of attention towards itself. Shank is a single player game with a lot of fighting scenarios. Shank is a side scrolling action game with a story that primarily revolves around a revenge plot netted around Shank. The story also explains in part the reasons for his extreme desire to take revenge. The demo of the game showed a duo version however as mentioned earlier, in the release version of the game it will all be on you to fight through the game single handedly.

Don’t get eluded by the term 2 D. The game has a lot of fight in it for you and you also have a lot of weapon choices to combat your enemy. Stabbing your enemies, shooting them in the head, or killing them in any other way you like can soothe your ravaging nerves. The game looks too simple and cartoon like to you, but there have been special effects added for the death and fight scenes with blood flying all over the screen. An amputated head remains on the screen for some time before it disappears to remind you of what just happened. The game also includes some strip violent scenes which is why it is advised that parent’s have a clear understanding of what they want their children to see before allowing them to play the game.

Free Games for Ubuntu Users

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If you are the Ubuntu operating system user, and you haven’t been introduced to the gaming options that are made just for you, then you must be feeling dejected and disappointed that in spite of having such a world class operating system without paying any cost, you are trapped and you don’t have the right to enjoy. Well for that, we have brought a lot of light to light up your darkened, saddened, and without any games life. Linux shifted from text to a graphic based operating system long ago, but people using Windows only for games don’t realize that now they have a lot of free games just built for them that they can play in Ubuntu as well. Don’t get me wrong by thinking that we are talking about some old style games which aren’t any fun to play.

Let’s look at some of the games that developers have developed for us with a lot of hard work that we can play on Ubuntu and enjoy as well.

Flight Gear

To start with, we have put in Flight Gear at the top. Flight gear is though primarily been made for flight simulation and academic as well as research purposes, but the depth it has in its graphics, you can also enjoy flying as well.

Planet Penguin

This game is for those who are real fans of Linux and Ubuntu. In this game you will be handling the mascot of Linux (yes the penguin) in a snow slide and the aim is to increase the speed of the penguin while collecting the goodies on your way down the hill.

Nexuz

For action lovers this is a pure action based game that is based on death matches through which you will have to pass in order to go to the next level. This is one of the most favorite of all games in Ubuntu and its official site claims a huge download figure of 1.5 million downloads.

This purpose of this short introduction to Ubuntu games was that if you are using Ubuntu as your operating system, just stick to that and you don’t need to through in the towel for using Ubuntu. There are literally thousands of games and most are free. Developers dedicated to Ubuntu and Linux platform are making Ubuntu based games on a daily basis. Therefore the next time you are bored as a Ubuntu user, just go to Google and search for the new arrivals of Free Ubuntu Games. Things have even got easier after the graphic interface being unrolled and you will have the best support of the community behind it. Have a good time playing Ubuntu Games.

Transformers War for Cybertron – Game Preview

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Getting tired of seeing the transformer movie again and again, you are not alone. Millions of transformer fans are waiting to get their hands on Optimus Prime and company. Well if you are thinking that the game follows the story being already told in the movies, then you better think again. It is a complete make over of everything that you have ever seen. One key thing before we indulge ourselves into the preview is that you can play as the bad guys AKA the Deceptions as well as the Autobots.

This game has been built based on the same philosophy of good against the bad, which is the inherent phenomenon of all action games including Transformers. The game is said to share some of its control mechanism and viewing angle with Gears of War. The game offers all the usual controls in which you can control your bot like you do in ordinary shooting games which include running, jumping, aiming, shooting, and of course fighting. The game maker has tried to make things easier for us so that we are able to control the giant things in a usual manner. Transformation or conversion from one form to other is also very easy and you don’t have to worry about anything. Just a click of the mouse will make things happen. When playing transformers you should remember that while transformation from one form into another, you can move in between. This gives you an additional advantage to keep moving while you are being fired at from all the sides. A key feature added to the bots is that we can apply our turbo charger to the bots as well. When we do so, this helps us move faster then in the usual routine, but can affect our handling ability a bit. When you are completely immersed in the game, don’t forget to use the built-in abilities of each of the transformers. These abilities give your bot a new set of abilities to handle the situation according to its own strength. However, by reading these, don’t fall into any false impression regarding the level of difficult because who knows what surprises it has packed for all of us.

Autobots get ready!

Money saving tips on Video Games

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Video games are the passion of hard core gamers who are after every title that is about to come out. There are different genres of gamers which spend different amounts of time playing games. Whenever a new game is released people just flock up to the stores and try to buy the new title being announced. This way they usually end up spending a lot of money. There some other unexplored options that gamers might use to save a lot of money without lessening the amount of game play. Lets discuss what these simple to follow tips are that would help you save money on games.

The first thing to remember is that always be 100% sure before buying a title that the game is worth the money. Often gamers who want to remain ahead of the competition try to buy the new games as soon as they are announced. It is better to instead borrow a game from any of your friends or just buy a used game especially when you are not sure about the game play.

Another very good option is waiting for the games to get old. This is however a tough call on gamers that can’t really wait to get into the game and who really want to be part of the discussion what happened where in a certain game. However as a simple rule always remember that the more you will wait for the game, the lesser you will really have to pay for it and vice versa for purchasing the game too soon.

There are certain sales that may be offered by stores. Many of these sales are seasonal like on Christmas. If you get lucky, you can also see new titles on sale too. This way you can also save a lot of your money and buy more games from less money.

Knowing your neighborhood can also be very advantageous at times. For example if any of the stores that used to be in your neighborhood is going out of business and selling all its inventory then you can have a lot of games for a lot less.

One other less common but yet very plausible option is renting out a video game. However, you have to keep in mind the cost of the game and the time for which you are renting it out. If you rent for too long, then the rent might accumulate more then the original cost of the video game.

Saving money on game is a bit tricky but think of the cost versus the huge benefit and variety of game play you have.

Sniper Ghost Warrior – The Game Preview

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Sniper Ghost Warrior has been on the talks for some time. Gamers have been anticipating a lot about the possible outlay and game play of Sniper Ghost Warrior. The first official trailer of Sniper Ghost Warrior has been launched. The story revealed has been very interesting yet adventurous as well. There are a lot of twists and turns added to the game. To begin with, the story is about (yea as usual, save the world thing) US military’s special forces that are sent in to save an imagined island in South America named Isla Trueno where an Army General named General Vasquez has overthrown a democratic government to control the whole island. The game has been added with a lot of different scenarios to make it look different yet enjoyable to play. The game has got extremely near to realistic graphics capturing breath taking views of a jungle surrounding. As the guerilla war is on, so are the tactics. From the choice of weapons to aiming and firing, everything needs full concentration.

The thickness of the forest makes it difficult for you to just climb up anywhere near the target and shoot off his head. Going straight back to the barracks. This is not that game. You will have to plan in order to execute successfully. This is one of the many difficulties I have just talked about. There are different types of missions. Some are about snipping while others are of one to one combat through the use of different weapons. The guns in the game have to be earned throughout each level. You will start with a basic old style rifle which will be difficult to shoot with and need a lot of patience to operate. As you will progress you will be given better ammo and guns to match the increased difficulty of the later levels. There are many game scenarios in which either you are alone or you are given a spotter to help you combat the enemies. You will not only have to find a place to fire at the enemy but you will also have to get out of there once you have successfully shot at the hot target.

For this you will not only be given different kinds of weapons other then a sniper weapon but also some indicators on the screen to show the status of enemy’s alertness regarding your presence. The game is said to be released for the Xbox and PC. The price of the game for Xbox version is said to be around $40, while for the PC it is $30. This is what we have seen but once we will actually give ourselves into the game then we will know more about the game play and the impact it will have on us.

EA vs. the used gaming industry

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Ever since I was a child, I always thought of playing video games. When I grew up I started thinking of saving money on games. As the second hand games exchange industry took shape, it was really a delightful event for my pocket. As the trends for used games started setting in, things changed for good and people with lesser money could wait to get the game they wanted to play for less. A recent move by EA has seriously threatened the existence of used games industry. It isn’t only bad for the game exchanges throughout the world but it is also very threatening for the gamers.

In the earlier business models the game makers would only get the money once they had sold the games. Whatever happened in the secondary market of these games wasn’t much of their ball game. Things have started to change as the game makers want more out of their sale. The problem lies in the online games. Earlier online games were free to access. The trend has moved into a different direction now, where you have to pay for the game to access it online. Yes, additional payment to access the game through a code that will be given to you for accessing the game makers’ server to play the game online. The move has already started to make an impact as Mass Effect 2 requires the owners of the games to pay in order to access the game online. EA has recently declared its intention to include a code required for all its newly released games after a month for each of which you will need a code to access them. But that doesn’t here. If you have purchased a copy that was already owned someone else and you want to access online using that copy, you will have to pay 10 dollars for that.

The SVP of EA sports further illustrated, “Every game will come with a game-specific, one-time use registration code with each unit sold new at retail. With your Online Pass, you’ll have access to multiplayer online play, group features like online dynasty and leagues, user created content, and bonus downloadable content for your game including, for example, a new driver in Tiger.”

The reason that has been put forth by EA in EA’s words is, “We want to reserve EA Sports online services for people who pay EA to access them.”

Well some might say that what’s the big deal? Think beyond the obvious. In the past business models that have been introduced by one company and if lucrative as well, are quickly adopted by the other companies. So be prepared for more surprises. Though its yet unclear how will the gamers react to that.