Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

Fallout 3 Review!

Fallout 3 has released!

Below are 2 video reviews of the new Fallout! Enjoy!

IGN Video Review

GameSpot Video Review

Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns of the Patriots

Another 10/10 PS3 game has arrived. Yes! It is the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. If you are the fan of the Metal Gear Solid series. This is the one not to be missed.

Impressive graphics plus impressive storyline make this game one of the best in PS3 right now.

Be sure you play this highly rated game if you owned a PS3!

Review

If you need a strategy guide, you can buy the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Official Strategy Guide.

Most Realistic Game to date: Crysis

Before any words to be said. Watch this trailer first.

Crysis, published by EA Games has been one of the most anticipated First Person Shooting game to date. The ultra-realistic graphics and gameplay, make this game one of the best games of the year 2007.

From the makers of Far Cry, using the new CryENGINE 2 graphics technology that runs on the advanced DirectX 10 platform. Crysis, is the most advanced graphical game made in the year 2007. The sad thing is, DirectX 10 only runs on Windows Vista, which is often ignored by gamers. Microsoft has announced that DirectX 10 is exclusively on Windows Vista, therefore, Windows XP gamers will have to play with DirectX 9.

Rating given to Crysis:

Gamespot: 9.5
IGN: 9.4

Due to the graphical intensity of this game, Gamespot Review has gave this hilarious ‘negative’ comment: ” Will laugh at every CPU and GPU thrown at it”

It’s true to the present supply of graphics card and processors. The recommended specification for the game is as follows:

OS – Windows XP / Vista
Processor – Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.2GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Memory – 2.0 GB RAM
GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS/640 or similar

From IGN.
Even with the recommended specification, at ‘Very High Quality’, the game is beyond playable at 15 FPS, on a GeForce 8800 GTX and Intel Core 2 x6800.

(from Anandtech)

As you can see, at ‘Medium’ Setting, the latest graphics card from AMD, barely make through the acceptable 30FPS with HD3870.

What can we expect from games in 2008?

Not all developers will make games that ordinary computers can’t run. What we can expect is, the next generation graphics and processors technology that will overcome the upcoming new graphic engine by whichever developers. With Phenom, Core 2 Duo E8000 series and the GeForce 9000 series impending, all we can do is to wait for them to come and thus play these games with more smoothness.

Lineage II Short Review

I just touched on the open beta of Lineage II for South East Asia, and I will give a short review on the game.

Since this game was developed in year 2004, graphics technology was outdated. With your GeForce 6 series or Radeon 9000 series, I guess you can turn on all the details.

Secondly, the interface of Lineage II was similar to many “free” MMORPGs such as Silkroad Online. You can get used to the interface straight away if you are a WoWer before. The interface also lacks the attractiveness, the buttons do not have colours.

Game experience is ok, as they are not many players currently, the latency is not very high.

Overall, it is a game that might attract the non-WoWer. However, it is still on a beta stage, things can be improved.

Final Fantasy XII

Last Final Fantasy sequel in PS2, Final Fantasy XII still boosts strong characters and graphics.

Final Fantasy XII for PS2

The voice overs, whether it is the English or the Japanese are great. There goes the “Haha” that fills with ambigious meaning (sarcastic or real?). The in game graphics engine is as awesome as the CGI scenes. The transition is unnoticeable, and sometimes you might just admire the graphics with your jaws drop.

FFXII comes with the real time battle system, that means that you will no longer bumps onto random encounters and battle on. In FFXII, you can see your enemies while you are exploring around. Now you can avoid your enemies as and when you want or flank them hard. However, you will not see gigantic size monster appearing in front of you. The new introduction, Gambits are sets of instructions for the player’s AI party. It offers more powerful and alternatives to play the game with the real time system. Gambits are earned through each stages of the game, there will be better Gambits that will definitely help you out while you think, for example, heal dying allies first.

FFXII introduces a new skills system, called License. The new system replaced the FFX’s Sphere Grid System. This new system requires players to buy licenses to use items, spells or weapons. The downside of it, players have to rely on FAQs and mind games in order to buy the best licenses because the range of licenses revealed to the players are limited until you open some to reveal to the others.

FFXII will still be a great game. PS2 fans do not need to ditch their PS2 now for the soon to release PS3. Gamespot rated FFXII 9.0. The FAQ is available in GameFAQs.