Resistance 2

I happen to be one of those very few people who didn’t like the original Resistance. Perhaps that’s mainly because I played it 1.5 years after its release and I had gone through titles like Call of Duty 4, Half Life 2 Episode 2 and Crysis. After these, booting up Resistance made it feel like a really dated, extremely linear and bland game. My disliking for Resistance wasn’t because of any fault with the game, but with the timing of my first play through. The game didn’t age well. Whatever be the reason, I never got on the Resistance fanboys bandwagon.I wasn’t really hyped up about Resistance2. Luckily, I got into the multiplayer beta and well, to put it mildly, it was good enough to force me to buy this game on release. So I got the game, booted up the single player campaign. I was thrown right into a large valley with a heavy battle on in ambience, sprinting around the legs of a gigantic spider-like tank wrecking havoc around me. Immediately, it became evident that the scale of this game is huge. This metallic beast was so huge that it paid no attention to me and my fellow soldier who were right under its nose. So what did I do? I needed attention like everyone else so I grabbed a LAARK (that’s what they call the rocket launcher in this game) and used it like a true gentleman. It didn’t do much damage, but enough to piss the 4 legged metallic tank off and set it right after me. Oh, and when I said that we were sprinting around, I basically meant using every single weapon in my disposal to fend of dozens of Chimera hybrids and metal heads and running for dear life before they got backup. Not a bad start. I mean, how many games start off with a sort of a boss fight.

There’s a little too much to talk about in Resistance2. You may state it as nothing but a straight up linear shooter where you move from area to area shooting the Chimera. There’s not even a very strong story or plot device to keep you hooked up. The game is even more linear than COD series. Then why is it so friggin addictive and awesome? Pure gameplay baby. Let’s get a fact straight first: I’m a big sucker for long complex stories with a lot of drama. Big JRPG fan and my favorite game is MGS4 (duh). And it’s not really possible for me to love an action/adventure game without a good story. Resistance2 is the first exception.I said moving from one area to other, killing waves of Chimera. This is where Resistance2 is great beyond any other game. On paper, it sounds dull. But when you get those maniacal menacing machines that Insomniac devised as weapons, you’ll get blown away as you blow away the Chimera. The guns, their secondary fires, the grenades, the kick they deliver, the loading up, the charging up, the whizzing, the cocking – every single effect is so polished and their accompanying sound effect feels so real that using them is nothing less than sheer coolness. The core of this game is to use these weapons effectively against the proper types of enemies based on their attack patterns and attack formations. This time round, Insomniac has followed suite with other shooters’ standards of using only two weapons at a time. And I think that was a good decision because some moments got intense only because I lacked the firepower that I thought was necessary to take of the attack waves.

Our own attacking patterns and strategies for any area needed to be re-thought dynamically and quickly as the Chimera’s attacks were also dynamic and their formations varied. Needless to say, the game got more and more intense as we neared its end and therefore, more enjoyable. I will NEVER in my life forget my visit to California in Resistance2. The grims, the splicer and the flying limbs. I walked on flesh carpet only to be greeted by a flesh mountain. Resistance2 has some of the largest bosses you’ll ever encounter in a videogame. And not only that they’re just large; they’re damn satisfying to kill. There were some pretty lame boss fights and unfortunately, the final boss being one. I mean, I’ve seen what insomniac can think up. Just look at Ratchet and Clank. So I was expecting better and unique fights but I didn’t get that. Still, overall it was a pretty satisfying experience.

Visually, Resistance2 looks decent enough. You’d expect an AAA class shooter to look this good AT LEAST. The quality of lightning, texture and surface maps could improve but considering the scale of the scenes and the number of enemies attacking at any given instance, it looks remarkable especially taking into account the fact that there are NO frame rate hitches no matter how intense the on screen action is. The graphics technology does well to project the art style of this game which is beautiful, in a grim sense. It seems that great care has been taken to perfect the ambiance around the player, to really indulge him in the action and portray the feeling that the world is doomed and past the brink of destruction. All the environments have been designed with great attention to detail. We can see those gigantic ships attacking the cities which seem to be spread out till infinity. We can see their invasion taking place right over us, around us. We could see how life was stalled by the Chimera. I mean, I went into a house in suburb area and saw a couple of corpses lying dead on their bed. Though the action was intense, there were moments in the game where you’d stop and look around and absorb the scene around you.

Everything was perfect and stage was good enough, but the story wasn’t told well. They tried to go a little Half Life style, letting the players grab the story themselves from bits and pieces of information lying around. But it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t cohesive enough. They need to work on their story telling mechanics and at the same time, make up a better story for Resistance3. However, there was a nice little touch that I absolutely loved here and it was Harry Stillman on the radio. His voice work was brilliant and his script was very well crafted. I would stop and listen to everything he had to say and that was probably the only part of the game that had any emotional impact what so ever. They should emphasize this stuff more. I loved it.The voice acting overall was pretty decent as well but there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it, neither did I find the script very amusing. It was just enough to get the job done. Same goes with music in this game. Though I don’t know if it’s just me but the music constantly kept reminding me of Call of Duty 2.Resistance2 summed up to be a very good game but what made it good enough to be dubbed great? The multiplayer component. You get almost all types of competitive multiplayer match types here. But Isomniac got a few new surprises here. You see, multiplayer is fun but can you imagine a 60 player team death match? Pure madness. That’s not all though. There’s a cooperative mode here as well. Class based. I actually found this to be more addictive and enjoyable as it kinda reminded of Team Fortress 2 (my favorite online game), mainly because of how the classes were set up and how the medic healed the mini gun dude. And yes, all that without any frame rate problems. Simply brilliant.In short, Resistance2 is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Once you’re through that, you may always play it at harder difficulties and/or trophies. Then there’s the online part. I guess there’s just no reason to miss this game. The sheer content of gaming goodness in it is simply unrivaled. There simply should be no resistance in getting Resistance2.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

June 17, 2005 - There's something just a little bit crazy about a guy who dresses up like a bat. Though the Batman battles some true loons, there is an uneasy familiarity between hero and villain. Grant Morrison and Dave McKean explore that connection in Arkham Asylum, one of the finest superhero books to ever grace a bookshelf. When the maniacs in the madhouse are set loose inside of Arkham, they hold the workers hostage. They have a list of demands and topping that list is the Batman himself. Bats agrees and enters the insane asylum, but not with batarangs blazing. In fact, it's a calm entrance, with Joker acting as host. His enemies cause is simple; they believe Batman belongs in the Asylum just as much as they do. The twist -- Batman doesn't necessarily disagree. Parallel to Batman's journey through the Asylum is the tale of Amadeus Arkham, who originally constructed the house in the '20s. His journey into madness notes some rather familiar symbols. At one point he finds a playing card, the Joker, until eventually his madness emerges with the symbol of the bat, tying the Dark Knight to all the other madmen. Of course, this is 60 years prior to the birth of Batman and his Rogue Gallery, which then assumes all of this insanity was predestined. McKean's art is crucial to the tale. No other artist, with the exception perhaps of David Mack, could come close to capturing the claustrophobic psychosis permeating Arkham Asylum. Many of the pages read down instead of across and it's a disorienting experience. Each page feels like madness. The imagery is beautiful with Batman's battle with Killer Croc the most vivid moment. Batman: Arkham Asylum is unlike any other Batman book you've ever read. No one's ever tried to duplicate it. I doubt anyone could. While I can't really buy the comparison of Batman to Jesus (it's first implied with a spear stab to his side, then confirmed with a visual side-by-side), the rest of Asylum is brilliant. Is Batman really just as crazy as the rest, but somehow driven by divine purpose? Let's flip a coin to decide.

Dead Space

The survival horror genre is rife with games in which you are isolated in a hostile environment full of monsters, and Dead Space is no exception. But from the moment you're thrown into the middle of the fray in the heart-pounding introduction until the bone-chilling conclusion, it's clear that this is something quite unique. With its disturbingly twisted visuals, its deeply engrossing story, and innovative strategic dismemberment combat system, Dead Space is a best-in-its-class game that surpasses other entries in its venerable genre in nearly every way and will be the standard by which they are judged for years to come.
When the Concordance Extraction Corporation loses radio contact with its Planet Cracker-class mining ship, the USG Ishimura, engineer Isaac Clarke is dispatched on a routine mission to repair its communications array. However, Clarke is also on a mission of his own, having recently received a cryptic message from Nicole Brennan, a medical officer serving aboard the Ishimura. While on board he intends to reunite with her and learn the meaning behind her strange broadcast. Unfortunately, the moment you set foot on the derelict ship, it's obvious that something terrible has happened.

As Isaac, you are separated almost immediately from the rest of your team by the former crew of the Ishimura, which has been transformed into horrifying monsters called Necromorphs. Forced to fight for his survival, Isaac makes do with the tools at hand to defend himself with, which are for the most part repurposed mining instruments like plasma welding guns or buzz saws. These improvised weapons are put to graphic, gruesome work as bodily damage and even severe head trauma isn't enough to kill a Necromorph--only by severing their limbs can you put them down for good. This nuance, referred to as strategic dismemberment, vastly alters the way combat is approached in Dead Space from the typical "aim for the head"-style gameplay seen in most action games and zombie apocalypse scenarios.
Every class of Necromorph requires a different strategy to handle, and knowing how to combat multiple types simultaneously is an essential skill if you want to survive for long. Though dismemberment is ultimately the key to victory, failing to finish off a monster properly will only send it into a berserker rage and force it to adapt to its new, partially appendageless situation so that it can continue trying to eat your face. Even more alarming than their ghastly appearances and uncouth manners is the fact that they are quite intelligent. Necromorphs attack in packs using loose team tactics, and are capable of traversing the ship's extensive ventilation system to sneak around for outflanking or ambushing. They feign death among the corpses of their peers to rise up and attack when you least expect it, and they often come in waves, leaving you wondering if it's truly over or if they're simply toying with you.
The most basic Necromorphs are humanoid monsters that attack in a frenzy. Horribly mutated undead babies also make an appearance, and they run along the walls and ceilings sprouting tentacles from their backs capable of throwing organic projectiles. Others still are heavily armored but vulnerable from behind, are bloated with dozens of spiderlike parasites that are released upon their host's death, or shriek madly as they carry explosive pods toward you in a suicidal charge. In one fully interactive gameplay sequence that comprises some of the more amazing moments to be experienced in Dead Space, you're assaulted by the gigantic tentacle of an even larger, unseen beast that drags you to a gruesome and bloody death as you struggle to shoot yourself free.
Finally, at several key points in the story, Isaac stumbles upon some of the most incredible and truly terrifying boss monsters to be seen in the survival horror genre. Though revealing the circumstances around which you confront these nightmares would do much to spoil them, it is safe to say that these epic encounters are easily some of the most remarkable seen in years.

One of the first things to notice in Dead Space is that it features a complete lack of a traditional heads-up display; instead, pertinent information is integrated directly into Isaac's RIG uniform. To see his current health you need only glance at the iridescent meter built into the RIG's spine (or pay attention to his physical cues), and to see how much ammo is left in your current weapon, simply check the display readout visible whenever you raise it into the ready position. If you ever find yourself wondering where you need to be next, you need only press a key for Isaac's RIG to temporarily trace a beam of light on the ground toward your next objective. When called up, menus are holographically projected ahead of you in real time, producing a sense of urgency as you remain vulnerable to attack. These simple yet ingenious systems ensure that you remain firmly within the realm of the gameworld at all times, preserving the horror experience.
Your ultimate goal aboard the Ishimura is to escape from it, hopefully along with Nicole; but to get to that point you must first accomplish a series of dependent tasks. Guided remotely or in person by the remaining survivors of your doomed repair operation, your missions take you from deck to deck in a logical chain of events. For example, early on you discover that the ship's orbit is decaying because its engines are offline, so you must travel to engineering to refuel and restore them. Once they're back online and the Ishimura begins to correct its course, you realize that you're about to pass through an asteroid belt and that the automated defense systems are down, so it's off to do something about that.

Each deck is a self-contained environment in which you run around putting out fires while moving closer to escape, and while your team will remain in frequent contact, you are almost always alone--and most of the few survivors you do encounter have been driven insane by their ordeals. This sense of isolation in such a hostile environment, coupled with bloody visuals and a brilliant sound design, has you constantly questioning your own sanity and wondering when the next attack is coming. Further enhancing this effect are the bone-chilling logs you find left behind by the crew in which their final thoughts and moments are recorded. Though audio logs are nothing new to this type of game and are in fact often used to flesh out the backstory, these are exceptionally well done, and are accompanied by full video logs and text reports, which all together make for a much more compelling narrative.
As you explore the many decks of the Ishimura, you will come across two utilities that will prove to be of endless use: stasis and kinesis. Stasis, a finite resource that must be replenished at recharge stations across the ship or with booster packs, allows you to temporarily slow down fast-moving objects, while kinesis gives you the ability to lift, move, and throw objects in the environment at no cost. Each can be used independently or in tandem to solve puzzles or navigate the ship, and each has useful battle applications as well. For instance, stasis can be used to virtually stop incredibly fast-moving Necromorphs and give you the time to tear them limb from limb, and kinesis can be used to throw explosive canisters or even severed extremities to conserve ammunition.

From engineering to hydroponics and beyond, Dead Space never fails to impress with its visuals. Whether you're watching the torrential rainfall of asteroids across the hull of the Ishimura from the bridge atrium or witnessing the way a corpse spins serenely in a zero-g vacuum, the haunting yet beautiful graphics of Dead Space have a way of sticking in your mind long after you've quit playing. Semi-interactive cutscenes such as the one in which your team's rescue ship explodes within the Ishimura docking bay simply must be seen firsthand, and the tremendous lighting and environmental effects lay the groundwork for an intense horror adventure. VSync is enabled by default, which prevents some really nasty visual tearing but adds about a half a second of lag into mouse movements. This can be compensated for by adjusting mouse sensitivity, so make sure you tweak your control settings for an optimal experience.
What really rounds out the entire experience, however, is the incredible sound design. Throughout the halls of the Ishimura, you are stalked mercilessly by the Necromorphs, and while you can't always see them, you are constantly surrounded by the menacing noises they produce or the eerie pitter-patter they make as they crawl through the ventilation shafts. You'll occasionally hear the distant screams of Necromorph victims or the creepy singing of a mentally unbalanced survivor, and environmental effects such as those generated by the sudden release of a burst of steam will keep you on the edge of your seat. Perhaps the most impressive use of audio in Dead Space takes place in a vacuum: any sounds that originate outside of Isaac's helmet are muffled and barely audible, while those from the inside, including his breathing and grunts of pain, are amplified.

Far Cry 2

In Far Cry 2's chaotic world of mercenaries, gunrunners, and armed militias, you'll find yourself dropped into a dizzying web of shady clients and paper-thin alliances. All manner of names and faces are introduced during the course of the storyline, but the real star isn't anyone brandishing a smuggled weapon in search of blood diamonds; it's the daunting and awe-inspiring 50-square kilometers of African landscape that make up the game's open-world setting. Aside from providing the opportunity to soak up an amazing sunset, Far Cry 2's free-roaming terrain brilliantly harmonizes with the first-person combat. The diverse landscape and myriad environmental factors work alongside a wide assortment of weaponry to give you tremendous freedom to approach each mission. Combined with solid multiplayer, Far Cry 2's sheer breadth of action provides you with plenty of reason to stay lost in the African wilderness despite an underwhelming plot and the occasional sense of tedium in navigating from one location to another on the gargantuan map.

Far Cry 2's story is filled with potential. You're a mercenary working for a client who's sent you to an unnamed African nation engulfed in civil war, and your job is to take out a notorious arms dealer known as "The Jackal." He quickly proves to be an elusive figure, so you'll need to begin working for various warring factions that the Jackal has armed so you can trace the supply line back to your target. The two primary organizations at the heart of all this bloodshed are the militaristic UFLL and the revolutionary APR. You'll spend the bulk of the story working for these two groups, getting to know their power structures, and taking on all of the violent tasks they throw your way. Complicating things is the fact that your character has malaria, which means you'll need to occasionally play nice with the more ragtag Underground, the only group with the medical connections necessary to keep your potentially life-threatening symptoms at bay.
Each story mission can be played in multiple ways. There are 12 potential buddies randomly scattered throughout the storyline who you can befriend (nine of whom are available to choose as your silent protagonist), and they're often keen to tack on their own interests to the quests handed out by the UFLL and APR. Instead of just taking out a target, you have the option to earn extra reputation points by working alongside your buddy to first squeeze any remaining assets from the soon-to-be-deceased. This also earns you the ability to increase your level of companionship with that buddy. It's a neat reward, but it doesn't shed much light on their backgrounds. But that's par for the course; the main story is delivered in such a rushed, quick-and-dirty way that you never feel very involved in the game's overarching conflicts. The plot is less Blood Diamond than it is early Grand Theft Auto, a long roster of changing faces that scroll by far too quickly to capitalize on the politically charged setting.
Although disappointing for a single-player campaign that could easily drain more than 30 hours of your time, any shortcomings in the plot are mostly forgivable thanks to Far Cry 2's overall structure. The game is organized in a way that provides a daunting amount of freedom to explore, earn currency, and wreak havoc on the game's landscape and its denizens. It's all laid out in a manner typical of sandbox action games. Pulling out your map reveals a collection of icons that signify available missions and points of interest that you can meander toward at your own leisure. Among these are dozens of side missions that you can take on, with various forms of rewards. Delivering transit papers to trapped refugees earns you malaria medication, destroying rival convoys for gun merchants unlocks new weapons for purchase, and performing assassinations for mysterious voices at the other end of your cell phone rewards you with diamonds. You can also rough up militias stationed in small camps and turn their dwellings into your own safe houses. The side missions can feel a bit repetitive when played through in rapid succession, but they offer a great change of tempo when sprinkled throughout the main narrative. But what's most clever is how their differing rewards intermingle so wonderfully with your needs in progressing through the story: Malaria pills keep your HP and stamina up, diamonds buy you new weapons and ability upgrades, and safe houses provide temporary shelter to stock up and save your game.

The freedom of choice that goes with selecting which mission you want to perform carries over to how you execute them, and that's where Far Cry 2 really shines. There are a variety of factors that affect the way you approach each mission, from the number of people you need to kill, to the landscape, to the weather and time of day. If your job is to take out a key figure hidden deep within a militia camp in the jungle, you'll do well to take a nap at your safe house until nightfall and silently stalk your prey under the cover of darkness. If it's a windy day and you need to take out a bandit outpost in the dry plains, you can start a fire from far away with a flare gun and let the breeze and arid conditions collude to spread the flames toward their camp, finishing off the survivors with a sniper rifle. Need to clear out a bunch of scattered guards? Why not shoot an oil drum near an ammo stockpile and watch as the bullets erupt in every direction like deadly pieces of popcorn? Of course, you can also get up close and personal with pistols and machine guns, but the moments in which elaborately planned assaults succeed are some of the most gratifying points in the game. The whole process of staging an attack only becomes more intricate and rewarding as you slowly upgrade your safe house into a full-blown armory and unlock new weapon and vehicle abilities--all done through the gun shops.

The sheer variety of weapons plays a big role in your ability to craft a personalized approach to each mission. For every situation, there's a weapon ideally suited to delivering mercenary justice. From the AK-47 to the Molotov cocktail and the remote-detonated improvised explosive device, they all feel like weapons that could easily be plucked from the civil wars of Africa. Furthermore, your weapons will cycle through an authentic level of wear and tear, particularly those picked up from ragtag militiamen; secondhand weapons will show dirt, frequently jam, and eventually break, which means that it's best to buy them from the shop. All of the above makes for a uniquely desperate and makeshift style of combat compared to other first-person shooters.

If there's one drawback to the combat, it's that it tends to be a little too forgiving after the first few hours of the game. Your health is divided into several individually regenerative bars like Resistance: Fall of Man, but once it gets low, you can inject yourself with a syrette for added health (though if it's really low, you'll first need to perform a slick self-heal such as yanking bullet shells out of your leg or snapping a broken arm back into place). You can eventually upgrade the amount of ammo and health you have to further tip the odds in your favor, and even have a buddy rescue you whenever you die (though you need to keep an eye on him because he can be permanently killed in a scuffle). Most of the challenge arrives when you're looking at your map in search of the next mission and then get surprised by a bunch of roadside bandits while you're driving one of the game's numerous run-down SUVs or river boats (which exist alongside hang-gliders, trucks, licensed Jeeps, and dune buggies as the types of vehicles you can operate). However, there are still very few moments when you don't feel like an everyman caught in a nasty situation, and that sort of improvised payback is what makes Far Cry 2's combat so engrossing.
Visually, Far Cry 2 is a stunner. Though not as technically amazing as the jungles of Crysis, Far Cry 2's depiction of the sprawling African wilderness makes up for it with environmental diversity and intimidating scale. Several landscapes are represented here: dense forests, rolling plains, arid deserts, craggy badlands, and even shantytowns and hut villages. You'll see trees swaying, the charred remains of a brush fire, and several forms of wildlife running around. It all looks incredible in the transitional period of the day-night cycle when the sun is falling or rising through the horizon and everything is cast in a warm glow. The game also sounds great, with tribal music accompanying you at all times, from a relaxing ambience in calm situations to a rapidly escalating roar of drums in battle. The voice acting during mission briefings feels strangely hurried (as if it's some trick to squeeze more dialogue onto the disc), but that's largely offset by excellent enemy banter during combat.
Adding to Far Cry 2's value is the 16-person online multiplayer. The gameplay modes on display are nothing terribly special (you'll see variations of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Territories), but the fighting captures a lot of the appeal of single-player, including vehicles, fire-based weaponry, and a great sense of scale in each map. But what sets the multiplayer apart is that you don't need to settle for the included maps; each version of the game comes with a deep but intuitive map editor capable of letting you create everything from dense urban locales to sprawling forests. And downloading new maps is simply a matter of seeking out featured selections or hitting "download" when a Quick Match search lets you know that you don't have that one yet. Such uninspired gameplay modes are certainly a letdown, but the map editor has great potential to inject loads of lasting appeal into Far Cry 2's online component.

Although the original Far Cry was available only on the PC for the first year and a half of its existence, Far Cry 2 will see an expanded audience with the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions all available out of the gate. However, its roots are clearly on display when taking in the differences between the three platforms. Far Cry 2 looks best running on a PC, with clearer textures, better foliage, and less pop-in. The console versions also suffer from the occasional loading hitch when you're driving into a highly populated city. Another key difference is that the PC version lets you save anywhere you want, whereas the 360 and PS3 games only let you use predefined save points. However, the latter difference isn't quite as lopsided as the graphical disparity; saving anywhere gives you more room for experimentation in approaching your missions, but the console versions provide a more clearly defined sense of consequence that adds extra tension to the combat. You'll definitely want to go with the PC version if you've got a system capable of approaching the hardware requirements, but the differences aren't so great that you won't have a blast with either console version (which are virtually indistinguishable from one another).
Overall, Far Cry 2 is a game in which you can quite literally get lost for hours at a time. But that feeling of exploration is precisely what makes the game so much fun; your creativity never feels stifled when approaching a mission, and the game's overall structure of side tasks, friends, rewards, and upgrades is a diverse ecosystem rivaling the landscape itself. No matter whether you're a PC fan whose played through the similarly structured Crysis or a console owner new to the world of open-ended first-person shooters, you won't be disappointed by Far Cry 2.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

The only real catch is that the single-player is almost shockingly short. If you've been keeping up with this style of game, you'll probably shoot your way to the credits in under five hours. While you can raise the difficulty to give yourself more of a challenge, the main thing this does is make the enemies frustratingly deadly, which sort of detracts from the fun.
While it may have a lack of single-player quantity, it makes up for most of it with its quality. The game tells its story from multiple perspectives, and you'll play as a new British SAS operative as well as a US Marine. The campaign takes you from a rainy night out at sea on a boat that's in the process of sinking to a missile silo where it's on you to save millions from an unsavory nuclear-powered death. Along the way, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments where you'll look around the room for someone to whom you can say, "I can't believe that just happened." In a world filled with war games in which the good guys come out unscathed and the world is left at total peace, Call of Duty 4 will wake you up like a face full of ice water.
The action in the campaign is usually very straightforward. You have a compass at the bottom of your screen, and the direction of your current objective is very plainly marked. But getting from point A to point B is never as simple as running in a straight line, as you'll be conducting full-scale assaults in Middle Eastern countries by moving from house to house, taking out what seems like a never-ending stream of enemy troops along the way. You'll also get an opportunity to raid Russian farmhouses in search of terrorist leaders, disguise yourself as the enemy, and, in one sequence, don a brushlike ghillie suit and crawl through the brush as enemy troops and tanks roll right past you. It's a breathtaking moment in a campaign filled with breathtaking moments. Unfortunately, it's about half as long as the average shooter, and there are plenty of sequences where you wish there were just one or two more hills to take.
Of course, if you're looking for longevity, that's where the multiplayer comes in. Up to 18 players can get online and get into a match on one of 16 different maps. Many of the levels are taken from portions of the single-player and they offer a healthy mix of wide-open, sniper-friendly areas and tight, almost cramped spaces where grenades and shotguns are the order of the day. There are six game modes to choose from. The old standby is team deathmatch, though you can also play in a free-for-all deathmatch, which isn't as much fun as the team modes. The other modes are more objective-oriented, and a couple of those have you lugging bombs across the map to blow up enemy equipment, or preventing the enemy from blowing up your base. Others have you capturing control points. Lastly, you can change up the game rules a bit with a hardcore setting that makes weapons more realistically damaging or an old-school mode that puts weapons on the ground as pickups and generally moves away from the simulation side of things.

In addition to just firing your weapon or tossing grenades, you earn some more interesting tactical moves for skilled play. If you can shoot three opponents without dying, you're able to call in a UAV drone, which basically is an upgraded radar that makes enemy positions show up on your onscreen map for 30 seconds at any time. Normally, enemies blip up onto the map only if they fire their weapon to make their location known. If you can go on a five-kill streak, you can call in an air strike, which brings up a shot of the entire level map and lets you place the air strike wherever you like. When combined with a UAV sweep, this can be really devastating. If you can make it all the way to seven kills--which is actually easier than it sounds--you can call in a helicopter for support. It'll buzz around the map and automatically open fire on enemies, though enemies can shoot it down, too. These additions to the normal first-person shooter gameplay really open up the game a lot and make it superexciting to play.

You'll also always have something to work toward, regardless of mode, because in standard, public matches, you earn experience points for just about everything you do. Capturing control points, getting kills, calling in support, all of these things give you points that go toward your rank. Ranking up unlocks most of the game's multiplayer content.
The class system in Call of Duty 4 is also very interesting. Each class has a different weapon loadout and different traits, called perks. As you rank up, you eventually unlock all five of the preset classes and the ability to create your own class. This lets you pick your own main weapon, your sidearm, attachments for both weapons, what sort of special grenades you want to carry, and three perks. The perks are broken up into three groups to help keep things balanced, and as you continue to level, you'll unlock additional perks. These class traits are one of the game's neatest tricks and, again, really helps to set COD 4 apart from the pack.

Perks in the Perk 1 group are more focused on explosives, letting you get more flashbangs if you like, or letting you lug around a rocket launcher, which is great for taking out enemy choppers. The other two perk groups have traits like juggernaut, which increases your health. There's also last stand, which activates when you are killed by dropping you to the ground and switching you to a pistol, giving you a moment to kill the guy who took you out before he realizes you're still squirming around and finishes the job. Our current favorite is martyrdom, which causes you to drop a live grenade when killed. It adds a healthy dose of mayhem to the proceedings. The perks and other unlockables feel nicely balanced, too, so you probably won't run into situations where one class is just better than the other. As it should be, your ability to point the red dot at the head of your enemy and squeeze the trigger before he does the same is still the deciding factor.
While there are a ton of compelling gameplay reasons to play Call of Duty 4, it also has top-notch presentation. The graphics are fantastic throughout, and they do a great job of rendering wide-open fields, tight buildings or houses, smoke-belching silos, and lots more. Some of the multiplayer maps look like they've already seen a lot of action, with blast craters, destroyed tanks, and other things that you can hide in or behind. It also has terrific lighting, so everything looks as it should. Everything sounds right, too. When you hear a battle raging in the distance, it sounds appropriately muffled, and up close, the crack of an M16 or the full-auto barrage from an AK-47 are appropriately loud and angry sounding. There is also quite a bit of voice work throughout the game, and it's all nicely done. The music, for the most part, is the typical sort of action-movie music you've come to expect from a first-person shooter, except for a rap over the end credits that seems to simultaneously detail the game's story while also acting as a subliminal diss record with some slick talk about how this is the third chapter by Infinity Ward, perhaps lightly inferring that you should ignore Treyarch's contribution to the series, Call of Duty 3. It's great.

COD 4 is available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and each version holds up admirably. The differences between the two console versions feel mostly negligible. Both systems deliver good frame rates and have good, easy-to-use multiplayer setups that most closely resemble Halo 2 and 3's party system and matchmaking playlists. The PC version of the game uses a more traditional server browser to get you into games. Both systems work just fine on their respective platforms. The PC version has the ability to run in a higher resolution, if you're equipped with a PC that can handle it, but it seems to scale quite well. You can also create servers that allow up to 32 players to play at once on the PC, as opposed to a limit of 18 in the console versions, but given the size of the multiplayer maps, putting 32 players in them makes things a little too crowded. Despite listing 1080p support on the back of the box, COD 4 appears to prefer 720p on the PlayStation 3. The only way to get it to run in 1080p is to tell your PS3 that your TV doesn't support 720p or 1080i, but the difference seems minor. Either way, you'd be hard-pressed to tell it apart from its Xbox 360 counterpart. And all versions control just fine, making the decision over which version to buy totally dependent on which controller you like the most.
It's a shame that the single-player is so brief, but you should only skip out on Call of Duty 4 if you're the sort of person who doesn't appreciate great first-person shooter multiplayer. The quality of the content in the campaign is totally top-shelf, and the multiplayer is some of the best around, making this a truly superb package.

Crysis Warhead

In the year 2007 came Crysis, a First-Person Shooter from Crytek, the game that set new levels of excellence for others to follow. Its graphics were the best around, on all platforms. However, it did have its problems which for some people ruined the experience. Still, the game earned a plethora of award for setting new standards in gaming.Crytek promised us an expansion, with better AI and improved performance (PCs costing less than $1000 would be able to run it lol). Did they keep their words? Lets find out.Crysis Warhead is a open-world base FPS that gives you a freedom of how you can approach each tactical situation. Crytek has done a great job in making a fast pace and intense action based game in form of Crysis: Warhead to overcome the previous drawbacks of the Crysis, and this proved that Crytek has the full potential of delivering a intense action game with outstanding visuals.Story OutlineIn Crysis Warhead, you will play as the Sergeant Sykes, also known as ‘Psycho’, one of the most memorable characters from Crysis. More brash and aggressive than his Delta Force squadmate Nomad, players will experience Psycho’s parallel story during the events of the original game, finding that life on the other side of the island is even more intense and explosive than they ever could have imagined.The events of Crysis Warhead take place at the same time as the original Crysis, but on the other side of the Island. No, it’s not confusing at all. It doesn’t ‘advance’ the story, but it does make it interesting. Psycho was mentioned in the original Crysis, as a member of the 5-member team that parachuted onto the Island.Most of the story involves Psycho running after a mysterious container that the KPA is protecting.

SoundThe game’s music is… Well its there, and its pretty OK. The voice acting is great. O’Neil sounds just the way you expect him to. There are times when the dialogue gets just a bit corny, but that’s all. Just like the original Crysis, if you choose to play the game in the hardest mode, all the KPA members will talk in Korean only, so that you can’t understand a word they’re saying. How cool is that?The other sound effects are all very good. Definitely better than the original Crysis. Now you can hear splashing sounds when you walk/run in water. The weapons sound nice, not very powerful, but still nice and sort of realistic.Oh and there is the occasional use of the F-word in the game.

GameplayCrysis Warhead, just like the original Crysis, plays well. The control scheme is great, and there is full controller support. The nanosuit functionality is just as great. It makes the game very interesting. There are several ways you can kill your enemies. Snipe them from far away (shoot their head off), or sneak up on them using the Cloak Mode. The most fun way to kill the Koreans is to punch them in the Maximum Strength mode. One punch – One kill. You can be really creative that way. I grabbed a Korean and went high up a tower and threw him down from there, just for fun.The enemy AI is better as well. The original Crysis’ enemies were a bit dumb. Especially the aliens. Well the aliens are still dumb, but a little less. The KPA also have some of their old flaws, but in general, they are more intelligent. They hide in bushes more often, flank you, and try to find better cover. The AI in Crysis is better at times that some of the best games around. But then again… All of the KPA fighters seem part-deaf. They can’t seem to understand where the bullets are coming from if you snipe them. Moreover, Psycho can sneak-up on them without any problem. You can run towards them, and they won’t hear you. This is a bit stupid, but like I said, you only notice this at times. The enemies are not Call of Duty like. You can’t kill them with a couple of shots if you shot them in their stomachs. Head-shots are a different matter. One proper shot, one kill.

Oh and there are more enemies with nanosuits on them. The nanosuit enemies also use their powers more efficiently. They use their Maximum Armor mode too (you can tell by the color) to absorb damage.The Alien AI has been improved a lot. In Crysis, some of the Aliens would just float above you without actually attacking you. The ones that did attack didn’t do it with any strategy. In Warhead, the aliens are a bit sensible. They tend to hit you more often with their ice-beams, and their movement is more random, making them harder to target. Still, with the right weapon, the Aliens are not hard to take out. There are less of them anyways.The weapons… Crysis had some good weapons, but according to some, they didn’t FEEL powerful. I disagreed. Anyways, there are cooler weapons in Warhead. I especially like the EMP grenades, which are extremely effective against both the Aliens and the nanosuit guys. There is another ‘experimental’ weapon that you get to use near the end. One word, it’s awesome.The vehicles also handle better. I didn’t really use them much, as I’m more into direct confrontation. But they are good if you want to get to your objective quickly.

GraphicsOh the good stuff. I intentionally kept this part for the ending part of the review. Based on Crytek’s own CryEngine 2 both the Crysis games are graphically the BEST game out there on any platform. There is simply no arguing that fact. Warhead improves on the original Crysis but adding some more cool effects to the game, and by ‘optimizing’ the game so that it can run well on a wider range of computers. The result is awesome. It really is. While playing the game, you’d go WOW at its beautiful graphics. Believe me, the game’s graphics look prettier than some of the hottest chicks at Iqra.The cutscenes in the game could’ve been better in my opinion, but hey, that’s just one thing right? The rest of it is pure gold. There are little additions that make the game look even better. Dive into water, the come out. You’d see the difference. The sunsets somehow seem prettier, the water reflection look better, there are new birds in the game and the explosion look awesome as usual. You can now see frost on weapons, that changes with conditions. I can’t really explain, but anyone who has played Crysis will see various little improvements when they first play Warhead.

The game runs smoothly on a lot of different configurations. Even with the added effects, I ran the game at Enthusiast Settings on an ATI Radeon 4850, getting very playable framerates.ConclusionCrysis Warhead will WOW anyone who isn’t blind, or dumb; graphics being its strongest point. The little tweaks and improvements are just what Crysis needed, and while there are still minor problems that should’ve been addressed, the game remains one of the best shooters released this year. The gameplay is absorbing, the graphics are awesome and the enemies are smarter, all for a very modest price tag of $29 (in Pakistan, you know what is the actual price of the game :P so no comments please..).One of the best games of 2007 just got better. Get it NOW.

Street Fighter IV

The name "Street Fighter" sends one on a long trip down memory lane. Capcom’s series shot to immense fame with its second installment, bringing a simple and accessible one-on-one arcade brawler to the masses. Eventually, console ports and countless spin-offs, followed by a proper sequel, have managed to keep the franchise alive to this date. The third entrant i.e. SF III was criticized for its lack of accessibility and hardcore-centric approach, essentially giving experienced players a massive leverage over newcomers. However, new additions like the ’parry’ mechanic gave it a lot more depth than previous games in the series.Years later, Capcom brings forth its latest installment in the series i.e. Street Fighter IV, with enormous hype surrounding it from the moment it was announced. The big questions: Does it live up to the enormous hype? Does it strike a perfect balance between accessibility and depth? The answer to both is a resounding YES! On the flipside, you may also ask if it bring anything new to the table. That depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re hoping Capcom has reinvented the wheel with it latest iteration, a huge disappointment awaits you. However, if you seek a pure refinement of what you’ve come to expect from the series, this is most definitely the game for you.

The game’s story is set during the timeline of SF II and III, taking place a few years after the former. The central plot involves the returning shadow organization, Shadoloo, which creates circumstances for another fighting tournament to serve its own ulterior motives. Character specific storylines unfold via animated cut scenes and in-game conversations.It isn’t shocking, then, that you get to see quite a few returning faces. There are plenty of favorites, ranging from Ryu and Ken to Sagat and Bison, all boasting significantly enhanced move sets. In addition, there are several new characters, all having their own unique fighting styles. There’s C. Viper, who is somewhat of a Terry Bogard rip-off in terms of gameplay. Then, there’s an obese-looking street brawler, Rufus, who’s deceptively quick for his size and weight. Ryu and Ken’s Sensai, Gouken (no, not Sheng Long), is seen for the first time as a playable character. Another new addition is Abel, a martial arts specialist with an extremely wide grab range. There’s even a Mexican pro-wrestler, El Fuerte, who’s a little goofy, but at the same time has some deadly maneuvers. All in all, the roster comprises of 25 diverse characters that should keep you busy for quite some time to come.

If I were to describe SF IV’s gameplay in one word, it would be "perfection". Not because there isn’t room for evolution, but because the game succeeds at what it set out to achieve, tweaking its age old characters to make them as evenly balanced as possible. There are always going to be top tier/bottom tier characters when it comes to competitive play, but the advantages/disadvantages of picking one over the other have been reduced to a minimum. Whether you win or lose will solely depend on how good or bad your actual skills are. The developers appear to have found the perfect sweet spot between SF II’s simplicity and SF III’s complexity, making the game accessible for the masses, and at the same time, making it rewarding enough for the pros. Being able to effectively perform EX versions of your moves gives you an advantage over casual players, albeit not a significant one. Learning to do Super/Ultra moves isn’t difficult and performing these moves can quickly turn the tide in your favor. Similarly, breaking free from a combo is as easy as getting trapped in one.The greatest new addition to the gameplay comes in the form of the all new focus attack, replacing SF III’s parry system. Depending on how long you have the medium punch/kick buttons held, it lets players absorb one blow from their opponent and counter with an attack of their own. It’s extremely easy to perform, even for the inexperienced, though hardcore enthusiasts are rewarded for well-timed counters with greater damage and a free hit advantage. The mechanic adds a whole new layer of depth to the gameplay, dramatically shifting the tide in one player’s favor.

The game modes are fairly robust, in the sense that there’s pretty much every option available that you’d expect from a current generation fighter. There’s a story mode, an offline and online versus mode, and a training dojo to hone your skills. You do get to unlock a decent amount of goodies from the single-player modes alone, which helps to enhance the longevity of the solo experience. However, the real "bread and butter" of any fighting game comes from its multiplayer experience and thankfully, SF IV doesn’t disappoint.Whether you’re on Xbox Live or PSN, online matches are as easy as flipping a coin down an arcade machine, provided you’ve got the broadband muscle to sustain a lag-free game. The standard matchmaking options are all present, with the game finding an opponent most suitable to your skill level. Interestingly, in an attempt to emulate the ’arcade experience’, the developers have incorporated a neat little touch by letting online opponents challenge you while you’re playing a single player game. It actually works quite well considering that once you’re done, you return to where you left off in your single player game, just as you would with a real arcade machine. Surprisingly, the game is currently lacking an online tournament mode, something that would’ve really added to the entertainment value. Here’s hoping Capcom eventually adds it into the game via some future DLC. Don’t expect it to be for free, though. Nothing’s for free these days (Not even horse armor).

The game boasts some brilliant visuals that give it a unique hand-drawn/artistic look. Similar to the EX Alpha games, even though the fighting takes place on a 2D plane, the fighters and backdrops are in 3D, letting the game cover the action from some glorious camera angles. Character models look very detailed, sporting a more realistic look compared to previous iterations. The environments are varied, showcasing quite a lot of background activity. Animations and facial expressions are also top-notch, making every move look all the more menacing and effective. The added on-screen artistic flair while performing special moves makes them all the more fun to watch. The music, while not as catchy as that of SF II, works well within the context of the game. It’s also nice to occasionally hear remixes of some of those classic tunes during rival battles, though it would’ve been much nicer if there had been an option to let you set your personal favorite playlists. Sound effects are just as satisfying as the animations, making every character sound like they can pack a punch. Believable sound effects for background objects and people make the experience even more captivating. Voiceovers are decent enough and get the job done.Amongst the two console versions, there are a few minor differences that are worth mentioning. Visually speaking, the PS3 version appears to be faithful to the arcade game. However, the X360 version goes a step further and boasts a few minor improvements, mainly in the form of a slightly cleaner look and more depth in color/shade. Also, character models appear slightly sharper on the X360 during close up instances. However, these differences are only visible if you’re really looking for them, comparing the two versions side-by-side. The frame rate seems to stay constant in both versions and that’s where the real fun is at. In fact, even with the minor technical shortcomings, it can actually be argued that the PS3 version is the way to go, as the X360 controller d-pad is absolutely hopeless whereas the PS3 controller holds its own, probably even against the official SF IV game pad. I personally found it a LOT (and I do mean a LOT) easier to consistently perform super moves and combos using the Sixaxis controller.

Bottom line, SF IV is a hardcore fan’s dream come true. At the same time, it’s accessible to the casual crowd. If you’re looking for the game to take an evolutionary step for the genre, steer clear of this game. On the contrary, if you’re looking for a brawler that’s been fine-tuned to absolute perfection, then this is the game for you.