Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (2001,RPG) Review

An RPG Classic

Graphics -5
Sound -7
Gameplay -7
Difficulty - 8
Overall - 7

 In a time where all adventure games for the PC seem to be console ports or have been designed keeping consoles in mind I decided to search for a true PC adventure game. And that search resulted in me finding Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. I know.. I know even the name doesnt sound too cool and even i was skeptical at first. But having played the game i must admit that it was a true suprise package filled with a lot of good and a lot of bad stuff.

Set in a alternate universe Arcanum's setting is by far one of the most unique settings i have come across. Elves, Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes and all other types of humanoid creatures live in the world of Arcanum along with hideous monsters that you would expect to see in a Dungeons and Dragons adventure game. But the game is set in a industrial age where these creatures have either accepted or rejected the advancement of technology.

Technology plays a important part in the world of Arcanum

 As the player, you get to create a character from among one of listed races above. You also have to define your stats in such a way that's either tech heavy, magic heavy or in the middle. Gameplay wise its similar to classics such as Fallout and Ice wind dale with a heavy reliance on adventure based questing. Combat can either be done on a turn by turn basis or in real time. You get to adventure along with a set of party members that are not fully under your control. And as you gain more experience you can choose to improve the set of skills that you have chosen. This sounds very typical of a role playing game of the early 2000s. But for me Arcanum seems to have done a bit too much in trying to incoporate a lot of new concepts while not sacrifising existing aspects. This leads to the creation of a game that at first can be both interesting and overwhelming for the player. The lack of a tutorial of course can further confuse new players and you may have to rely on your experience of playing similar games to move forward.

Arcanum is full of weird and dangerous monsters.

The world of Arcanum is open and huge world. And if you decide to complete most of the quests its likely to keep you entertained for a very long time. The story is at best mediocre and really serves very little purpose. The game tries to lure you into a interesting and compelling storyline, but with too many loose ends and a very high degree of complexity you end up wondering what your purpose was in the first place.

The other aspects such as graphics and sounds aren't that great. And i would rank the graphics and sounds of Arcanum lesser than games such as fallout and Ice wind dale. To give credit to the game it has very few bugs so you should expect smooth gameplay. But the game is broken in other aspects such as leveling and combat that tarnish its image.

The Bottom line:
Arcanum is not the best game out there. But it should appeal to players who like old school RPG Games.

Supreme Commander 2 Review (2011, RTS)

Sequel to the epic scaled strategy game Supreme Commander

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

 

In 2008 Gas powered games introduced us to a new genre of strategy that allowed us to wage large scale open warfare on land, sea and air.  That was the core of Supreme Commander (SC)... That was what made it so good and addictive. Hence it may be no surprise that SC2 may fail to meet your standards as it seems to deviate slightly from this very important core element.

Expected to meet the high standards of its predecessor SC2 is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game set in the distant future where 3 warring factions battle it out for universal supremacy. A huge difference in SC2 is the removal of 1st and 2md tear units from the game. Many felt that it was a unnecessary component of SC and the game devs have designed SC2 with a much more limited amount of units. The three sides all have unique units, but these are more or less the same  with some minor adjustments. Buildings and another tear of units named "Experimentals" however are very different from faction to faction.

 Expect to see some familiar and unfamiliar units

The campaign it self is nothing to write home about. With a decent storyline continuing on from where the previous game left off , it acts more of a necessary evil that binds the single player campaign together. Graphics, Sounds and Controls and Camera do not provide anything out of the box but are good enough and can be scalable on even low end systems.  Multilayer and skirmish modes add some replay value but again there's nothing new or unique about them. These make the game a stable and enjoyable one however its not without its flaws.

One of the biggest disappointments for me was that many of the SC2 missions have omitted sea based strategy. So your basically stuck with using both land and air units for your warring needs. This puzzles me a lot as i believed sea based warfare was one of the best selling points of SC. Furthermore the scale of battles have been toned down. So if you were expecting to see battles larger than those in SC (Or at least on a similar scale) then again you might be disappointing. Now these might not be noticeable for someone who is new to the series but as a hardcore fan its difficult not to notice them.

The Bottom line
Whether you are a fan of the series or not Supreme Commander 2 is a game that you should  play if you love RTS games.

Avancast : Rise of the mage Review (2007, Roleplaying)

Reminds you of Never Winter Nights...But its not Never Winter Nights

Graphics - 7
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 6
Difficulty - 7
Overall - 6.5

Avancast : Rise of the mage, is a action based roleplaying game developed by lighthouse interactive. One of the first things that you notice about it is the fact that it seems very unfinished. You also get the a very familiar feeling as you play the game for in certain ways it resembles the Never Winter Nights games. However it is a far cry from the supreme quality that Never Winter ever was.

It looks like NWN.... But it aint NWN

The game is about a young wizard studying in .... well you guessed it... magic!. And of course the game deals with how that young wizard is able to utilize his training and face the dangers of the world while at the same time trying his very best to realize his destiny.

While the graphics and sounds are pretty decent they arn't mind blowing. The story it self is somewhat interesting but again fail to deliver that finishing touch that would have made it a lot better. The gameplay is all about spells... lots and lots of spells. And due to this the game can be feel a little awkward as it tries to mix the action elements of a traditional D & D game with spell casting.



The Bottom line
Avancast, does have the potential but it falls short of being a truly great game.

Demigod Review (2009, Statergy)

A game worthy of gods....... not quite

Graphics - 8
Sound - 8
Gameplay - 8
Difficulty - 8
Overall - 7
Demigod is a very interesting new game, produced by "Gas powered games". The people who brought you games like "Space Siege" , "Supreme Commander" and "Dungeon Siege".

Demigod has a variety of new concepts and ideas that you cannot find in a lot of games. You choose from one of eight hero characters called demigods, And through a tournament you and your fellow worshipers must battle the other gods to become the One true god.

The tournament is fast and furious.

The tournament consists of 8 rounds, Each having 2 sides. The dark side and the light side. After each round the gods change teams such that it is likely that your teammates in the current round would be your opponents in the next round.

The tournament it self is fast, fun and requires a lot of quick thinking. After each round each god gets points allocated to them. The number of points earned depends on the achievements made during that round. From capturing critical points to buffing up your god with items each round in the tournament can be a lot of fun. But alas this fun doesn't last long, with each round ending up in about 20 minutes and the entire tournament only having 8 rounds you can play through the entire game within a matter of hours. Having said that Demigod offers decent reply value as all the gods have different abilities and attributes.

The Bottom line
Although its more or less classified as a RTS game, Demigod dishes out a more of a arcade gaming experience and is likely to appeal fans of both arcade style gaming and RTS based gaming.