The first project from Kaos Studios (creators of Desert Combat), Frontlines: Fuel of War is very much influence by the aforementioned mod. The story revolves around the time the world’s oil begins to dry up, and involves the nations who must fight for the last remaining territories that have the precious resource. In the single player game has you taking the role of a soldier in the Western Coalition (the United States and the European Union) to face off against the Red Star Alliance (Russian/People’s Republic of China). The multiplayer on the other hand plays out like a Battlefield 2 match, though there’s a few unique twists.
After a Holiday 2007 that was filled with games like Halo 3, Mass Effect, Uncharted and others, the games of early 2008 have a large shoe to fill. Turok is one of those games that’s reception could change depending on the time of year it’s released. Turok itself isn’t a bad game…but it isn’t a great game either. There are times when the game shows a truly awesome moment. And there are times when it’s simply downright frustrating and annoying.
Turok is the 4th game in the franchise. While the first title in the series was fairly well received, the latter titles left much to be desired. The story puts you in the role of Turok trying to track down is old teacher Kane for some unknown reason. Suddenly the space ship Turok is on comes under attack and crash lands onto a planet filled with dinosaurs and other creatures. The original Turok was subtitled “The Dinosaur Hunter” and the latest game is no exception to the rule. There’s a good variety of dinos to hunt, though not all of them necessarily need to be massacred. In fact, by utilizing flares you can use the dinosaurs as weapon to attack an enemy. The other neat thing about the dinosaurs in the world is they will stalk and hunt you. You won’t necessarily see them, but you can hear them, and before you know it you’ll be knocked on your ass fending off the dino attack. There’s a button press mini game that is played to survive every attack, as well as during a few cutscenes in the game. There’s a good variety of animations and differences in the mini games that keep it interesting.
Like I said before, there are several scenes and moments in the game that will simply put a smile on your face. Sneaking up behind enemy soldiers and knifing them in the back is one. Launching explosive arrows into groups of unsuspecting enemies is another. But there are times in the game where things are simply so unbalanced that it’s just downright frustrating. Part of the problem is the screen shake in the game. When you take hits from gunfire your viewport is skewed a bit. The bigger problem is when an explosion goes off near you and knocks you off your feet. You become disoriented, and can’t shoot or move for a few seconds. The even bigger problem here is most times an enemy will be able to get off another rocket or grenade before you even get back to your feet, thereby knocking you back down before you really get back up. Before you know it your screen is a blurry red mess and suddenly you are dead.
The single player campaign was mildly entertaining, as was the story. There’s a solid voice acting cast with the likes of Ron Perlman as the cynical sidekick Slade. The game features a pretty indepth multiplayer mode complete with dinosaurs that roam the playing field. There’s also a small co-op campaign online which consists of 3 short missions. It would have been nice if the actual campaign was co-op, but what we get is pretty solid.
Turok is a game that many people will overlook, and while it’s not something everyone should play, fans of shooters or the previous titles will enjoy what the game has to offer.
The game with the biggest hype of 2007 didn’t disappoint…most. The trilogy came to a solid conclusion, and it took you on some interesting twists and turns along the way. The beauty of Halo though can only be experienced by exploring the lore that surrounds it, which is masterfully expanded in books, comics and other literature. It’s especially well noted in the excellent advertising campaign for Halo 3 in which they depicted real life actors as veterans of the war in which the Master Chief fought in. The multiplayer modes are the richest and deepest we’ve ever seen on a console, and tools like Forge and the Replay Viewer are going to be new staples in console gaming. Did the game live up to the hype? No, of course not. No game could ever do that. But god damn was it a fun as hell ride.
Rock Band is a recent release of the year, but it’s one that should be on everyone’s list. Rock Band is the ultimate party game. Combine Karoke Revolution, Guitar Hero and drums and you’ve got something for everyone to play. The music selection is varied, and the presentation is absolutely top notch. I expect this game to have a lot of legs well into next year, especially with the weekly support of downloadable content.
When you have an actual movie theater in your basement, you tend to consider yourself a fan of movies. So when I heard popular board game Scene It was making it’s way to the Xbox 360 I knew it was time to fire up the popper. Scene It: Lights, Camera Action is also the first Scene It to feature Hi-Def movie clips and unique games. Best of all, the game comes with four easy to use gameshow style controllers adding to the experience.
Those of you that have played the Scene It board game (or one of the 30 variations of it) should feel right at home, but the core of the game is changed a bit though. For one, the Scene It Xbox game doesn’t actually have a game board, instead to win you compete through 4 rounds of play and score points by answering questions as fast as possible. Players don’t take turns answering questions, instead both teams can answer most of the questions at the same time, with the fastest response getting the most points. There are also other challenges where players are required to buzz in and answer, with a wrong answer allowing the other team to answer in too.
Just noticed that XBoxic is showing off a great video of Halo 3’s campaign. And god damn does it look gorgeous. The lighting is especially done well, and the sheer amount of colors makes the game simply beautiful.
I posted the results of my “taste test” a month ago here. Now you can check out the pretty sweet ad regarding the product I’d recommend not consuming through your mouth.
