World in Conflict (Review)

World in Conflict is set in an alternate-history version of 1989. Instead of the Berlin Wall falling and communism collapsing, the Soviet Union launches an assault on Western Europe, and the United States rushes its forces in to aid its Western allies. Four months into the conflict, after the US Navy has been battered down, the USSR launches a surprise invasion in Seattle and pushes inland. In the 14 levels of single player campaign, you will play as the US faction trying to stop the advancement of USSR and some battles in Europe as well.

This isn't the standard RTS game, as World in Conflict doesn't follow the familiar model of resource gathering, base building, and swarming armies. Instead it almost feel like an action game in RTS form. This game is all about action. From the moment each level starts, you were straight away given objectives to capture and defend some strategic points in the map. Sometimes, you were given time limits to accomplish failing which you have to restart it all over.

Small group of units marching to the objectives

Since there is no resource gathering, after each of your units die, resource point will slowly accumulate back to the original level where you can then choose which unit to deploy. In this case, you have to be smart enough to deploy the most critical unit to your survival since the deployment takes time.

There were basically 3 types of units which you can use throughout the game: infantry (anti-tank, sniper etc), vehicles ( tank, repair, anti-air etc) and air(choppers). Each has its own strength and weaknesses which perfectly complement each other. The game is also smart enough to limit the number of units you can control. Instead of commanding the entire battlefield, you'll have only a relative handful of units. This makes managing your units a lot easier.

Beautifully rendered environment-realistically looking smokes

The highlight feature of this game is the tactical aids. After you kill certain number of enemy units, your tactical aids point will increase which lets you to use some devastating weapons such as napalm strike, tank busters, artillery, carpet bombing and ultimately the nuke strike. It is wise to plan ahead before you deploy any tactical aids on the map because the deployment takes time. So, you have to predict and anticipate the movement of enemy units. If the enemy is hiding infantry in woods and buildings, making them hard to root out, call in napalm and just burn down the trees or use artillery or smart bombs to blow up the structures. Everything blows up so beautifully!

The unleashing of napalm strike(tactical aid) on the map

In term of graphics, it is the best looking RTS game I've ever played so far. Using my old PC, it really stretched it to the limits where in some heavy battles, my frame rates have been reduced to only a single digit. It renders the environment beautifully, from the billowing smoke, the explosion, the collapse of buildings to the sky reflection on the ocean. The game engine uses Havok physics and you can see the tanks burst into metal scraps beautifully and choppers swinging wildly before plunging down to destruction.

Great narrative

The excellent storytelling, which is spearheaded by pitch-perfect narrator Alec Baldwin. He's backed up by a great voice acting cast that brings the principle and secondary characters to life, along with a story that offers up emotional and sometimes humorous vignettes from a world at war. For instance, you'll hear a soldier's futile battle against Army bureaucracy, the phone conversation of a husband and wife, and the deliberations of the president and his top military advisors. The voice acting is top notch!

and ultimately the aftermath of a nuclear strike

Everything about this game is great, from the addicting gameplay to the amazing visuals. More importantly, World in Conflict offers up a refreshingly new approach to strategy gaming.

Image courtesy of gamespot

The good: Great graphics, new ideas in RTS gaming, great narrative
The bad: A bit too rush, no time to enjoy the beautifully rendered environment, no nuke in single player

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is the upcoming sequel to F.E.A.R. in development by Monolith Productions.


The sequel to F.E.A.R. continues the supernatural suspense story of a powerful psychic child named Alma, whose rage against those who wronged her caused her to begin an escalating paranormal crisis that threatens to devour and replace reality with her own. Instead of playing as the Point Man, the game's protagonist is Michael Becket, a Delta Force operator whose squad is sent in to arrest Genevieve Aristide approximately thirty minutes before the ending of F.E.A.R. At some point in the game, the player character, via surgery, will receive reflex powers exhibiting the same slow-motion ability like the Point Man.



This game will follow the original concept of horror and combat just like the original F.E.A.R.
It will roll out on Feb 2009. For more info , please visit here

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

Like with the previous games in the series, Red Alert 3 will take place during the extended Cold War--in this case, just after the Soviet assassination of one Albert Einstein by means of the recently discovered technology of limited time travel.

This is a world in which the so-called Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States never ended, and in which all the potential of experimental technology from that era, from the Manhattan Project to Tesla coils, was actually realized as devastating (and in some cases, fantastical) weapons on the battlefield.
The conflict will no longer be confined to a two-sided war between the armies of the Allies and the Soviet forces. Red Alert will now have a third playable faction: the Empire of the Rising Sun, a faction inspired by World War II Japan

This game will come with more than an hour's worth of full-motion video cinematics featuring the kind of Hollywood talent you might expect from a C&C game.

It is built on the modern Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars engine, but with all the over-the-top enthusiasm of a summer blockbuster popcorn movie.
Expect it to released on Oct 2008




Source: gamespot

Crysis Warhead (trailer)

Crysis Warhead is a stand-alone follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed Crysis

It's the first game to be developed by Crytek's Budapest studio, and it will be built on a new version of the German developer's graphically groundbreaking CryEngine 2.

Crysis Warhead puts players into the nanosuit of Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes, who deployed to a different side of the island than the original game's protagonist. Psycho apparently arrived on the island better equipped, given that he will have access to an expanded array of customizable weapons and vehicles.

Warhead is set to launch in North America on September 16, preceded by a European release on September 12. Cant wait for it to come!

Here is the trailer

Far Cry 2 (trailer)

Its the second installment of the famous Far Cry which was developed by Crytek who went on to make the highly acclaimed shooter Crysis.
In this 2nd installment, Far Cry 2 was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and the setting was deep in the wilderness of Africa's savannah. I bet this would be one of the most explosive shooters of the year. It will be available at Q3 08. Here is the trailer for those who cant wait to get their hands on this game.

TimeShift (PC)

Finally, my 1st full review of a pc game. This game has took me almost 1 full month to finish. It consists of 24 levels ( a bonus nowadays ) with more than 12 hours of single player campaign. I will only review the single player part only btw..

First, the whole storyline is an incoherent junk. There is an evil professor called Krone who develops a time-traveling suit. Due to his evil nature, he uses this technology to create an alternate reality where he rules this world. Its time for u to stop him before its too late. Hmm..sounds familiar..yawn...

The story is not the main attraction of the game but the main point is the ability of the player to manipulate time to his advantage. In theory, u can slow, pause and reverse time in this game. Well, only if it existed in real world. Back to the game..

Time slowing ability

Its pretty fun to use time to slow down the action and then take down ur opponents one by one. How about stopping time completely then run towards ur enemy and give him a full blast of a shotgun to his head. And, interestingly u can use time reverse to go back a few moments earlier when u found yourself being thrown a grenade. Sometimes, it feels dirt easy as this is considered a cheat by itself. Nonetheless, this ideal situations has its limitations as this ability needs to recharge itself after every usage. U cant make it alive out of some fight scenes without this time shifting ability as swarms of enemy is after u most of the time.

Special rain effects

The graphics of this game is not amazing but with very nice visual effects if u do not compare with Crysis side by side of course. The 1st level is particularly great as the rain effect is top notch whereby u can feel the droplets of rain slowly moving down ur screen. The animations are great but sometimes u feel the ragdoll physics are overly done. The audio is quite good with decent sound acting and various ambient music to suit particular levels

Blood, gore and limbs flying everywhere! ( a pc shooter must have )

Boring doors upon doors

The weapons are interesting especially the crossbow and the surge gun. U will definitely get a satisfying shot with each weapon. The enemies are varied with some donning the same suit as u. So, u have to use ur time ability to catch up with them. Most enemies AI is not that sophisticated and they will just shoot at u without hiding in cover.

Some vehicular action

Well, as u may imagine, where this game can go wrong as it is full of potential albeit poor storyline ( most games are anyway ). This is a pure linear shooter. To summarize it, u just go from point A to point B and shooting bad guys in between. There is no point C or D where u can take alternate routes to achieve the same outcome. An old classic pc shooter! There are no real puzzles to stimulate ur mind to think differently with ur powers. U just need to either use slow, stop or reverse to pull some switches in order to open a blockade to continue ur missions. Think Half Life and it is a shame!

Finale

Screenshots courtesy of gamepressure

Bottom line: A great game if all its full potentials are unleashed