Sunday, June 21, 2009

Drakensang: The Dark Eye Review (2009, Role Playing)

An Epic Adventure game that could have been so much more

Graphics - 8
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 7
Difficulty - 7
Overall - 7.5

First Impressions are one of the most important things in any game. And as far as Drakensang goes the first impression that i got from it was very very poor. For starters the story and the opening movie isn't the greatest you'll ever see. The graphics are pretty decent and the sounds are not that bad. However the awkward camera and the confusing interface really leaves a poor impression.

The world of Drakensang is a wast and beautiful one

Another thing that you come to realize very early is that unlike most adventure games that you have played Drakensang is different in almost every way. The spells, The traits and even the Combat is completely unique in Drakensang. Although most players will enjoy this uniqueness that the game provides, the lack of a proper tutorial will leave you confused about the many things in the game even after playing it for a long long time.

Character creation and progression is something that is out of this world. With so many things to control this aspect of the game is certainly more complex that it should have been. But having said that the amount of character customization allows you to create a bunch of characters that are tailor made to combat any situation.

Character creation can be very complex.

The gameplay in Drakensang is pretty decent. With a fair arrangement of combat moves and spells Drakensang's game play is certainly one of its strong points. However it could have been a lot better if there were more spells and combat moves to choose from. The Quests are pretty decent and completing side quests dish out a fair reqward. However the main quest could have done with a bit more attention to it as it seems linear most of the time.

One more thing that is likely to grab your attention is that you can almost never shake off that feeling of "This game could have been so much better if only they had done this.. or that". For example the world of Drakensang is vast and requires a lot of traveling however this takes a lot of time since the traverl speed is extremely slow.

Another nice feature of the game is the ability to create potions, weapons and Armour. Some of the most powerful items in the game can only be obtained only by creating them. But again even this aspect of the game could have been a lot better by allowing players to tweak with recipes rather than have them unchangeable.

The Bottom line
Although it is flawed in many ways, Drakensang is a rare gem of a game that should be enjoyed by all RPG lovers. But for anyone to really enjoy this game they must be patient.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Battle Stations : Pasific (20009, Stratergy/Action)

A merge of Strategy and Action

Graphics - 8
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 6
Difficulty - 6
Overall - 7

Battle Stations : Pacific takes off from where the previous Battle Station games left over. The game depicts the maritime operations of both the Americans and the Japanese over the Pacific Theater. The game is true to its roots that it seems to be a nice mix of both Strategy and Action. It requires the player to make calculative strategic decisions while at the same time allowing the player to experience some thrilling action first hand.

All hands to deck.. Prepare for battle

One of the good things about this game is the fact that there are two playable campaigns. You can play as the Japanese and try to write history a little differently or you can play as the Americans to keep the history books as they are. The game graphics look great but you need a reasonably high end machine to play the game smoothly. The models are very well detailed and extremely realistic and the visual effects are a thing to cherish. Theres nothing better to watch than to see a enemy battleship blown in half by your torpedoes. The sound also are pretty good and the WWII style cinematics are a treat to watch.

The Strategic element adds value to the game

One more things that adds value to this game is the number of unique unit types that are at your disposal. From Areal Dive bombers to Torpedo boats you get to command a wide array of ships. However some of the controls are also not that great. Asking the players to fly aircraft using the mouse was not a good decision by the games developers.

The game play is the thing that disappointed me the most. The lack of atmosphere and intensity leads to boring missions that seem repetitive. And with the sheer number of units on the battle field at any given time the game can get choppy and a bit confusing.

The Bottom line
Battle Stations : Pasific is a game that does right to its predecessors. Being true to its roots it will appeal to both Statergy game lovers and Action game lovers alike.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

ENDWAR (Statergy, 2009)

The war to end all wars.

Graphics - 8
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 5
Difficulty - 4
Overall - 6.5
When a game is marked by names such as Tom Clancy, You are more than likely to have high expectations for it. And considering the hype that surrounded this game its not surprising that many gamers (Including my self) had high hopes for this game. However I am disappointed to say that End war has failed to reach even the more basic of my expectations.

The game sets off in the near future with the three playable factions "US", "Europe" and "Russia" fighting each other out for total dominance of the world. And yes.. This time also the Russians are the bad guys. The story surrounding the game is extremely poor and provides little motivation towards forcing the player to archive the goals set to them within each mission.

Game play focuses on a set of squads which range from Infantry to Tanks trying to achieve some sort of goal in each mission. The goals however depend on the mission type such as "Assault" which requires the player to destroy all enemies or "Conquest" which requires the player to capture and hold key locations. This lack of variety in mission objectives leads to linear missions. And you cant shake off that "Been their done that" feeling as you keep playing the more and more missions.
Welcome to ENDWAR... no prices for guessing who the bad guys are

The units follow the basic Rock, Paper ,Scissor format. With each unit type having specific strengths and weakness against each other unit type. For example while Tanks do well against APC's they fail horribly against Helecopters. While on the other hand APCs fair well against helecopters. And when you concider the fact that all three factions have the same unit types, Its quite obvious that this strenghts vs weaknesses thing is somthing that reduces the games overall approach.
The graphics just look great

ENDWAR however does have some uniqe features. Mainly of cource is its innovate speech command system that allows you to issue commands via voice. However to truly appriciate this you need a state of the art Headset and the ablity to pronounce words very clearly. The graphics are certainly one of the best with unit animations and visual effects being very good. But the game has such a poor camera that its virtually impossible to have a good look at the battles that take palce.

The Bottom line
End war may provide you with a few new innovative features. But it fails to satisfy the basic requirements that are needed to make this game a truly great game to play.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Sword of the Stars : A murder of crows (Turn Based Statergy, 2008 )

The sword of the stars return.

Graphics - 8.5
Sound - 8.5
Gameplay - 8
Difficulty - 8
Overall - 8
When sword of the stars first came out it provided gamers with a unique and innovative glimpse into the world of Space based Turn Based Statergy . Something that many game companies were reluctant to do.

Two expansions and two added races later we pretty much still wind up with the original game that was addictive in every sense of the word. But Alas the newest expansion falls short of providing many features that were lacking in the original game.

The objective of the game is to manage your empire. While this takes place in a turn based system the player can also choose the fight out the Fleet battles on real time. The game still plays pretty well on low end systems even when the scale of the game is pretty large. The AI however in many ways fails to provide a challenge that is worthy of this game. For example even with the hardest settings many AI factions will still attack you with hundreds of Destroyers (the smallest ships) even if you have the tech to build up Dreadnoughts (the biggest). This often leads to pointless battles where the enemy gets slaughtered. Graphics and game play however have improved very little.

The Battles in SOTS look majestic as always

The game has a unique tech tree that is different each time you play it. This forces the player to change their statergy for each new game. However the tech tree is such that you will likely get lost trying to find a tech that you are targeting. For me this was a headache since i had to research several techs till finally the path to building Dreadnoughts were revealed. The game also lacks a good story line and the fact that like its predecessors there is no playable campaign was a big disappointment to me.

The difference between this and the original is the introduction of the new factions and some new types of technologies that will allow you create new custom ships.

The Bottom line
The game still is a fascinating one that will urge you to play it for endless hours at a time.