If you're a fan of the Command & Conquer series, three small words are bound to get you excited: Kane is back. Indeed, so are a good number of beloved series hallmarks, like a huge amount of full-motion video and intense strategic combat. But Tiberium Wars is a lot more than just lip service to franchise enthusiasts, and you don't need the rose-hued glasses of nostalgia to appreciate its polish and intensity. It's simply a superb game that's fun and exciting to play both online and off.
No matter which of the two main campaigns you start off with, you're rewarded with a whole lot of live-action video in between missions, featuring familiar actors getting hammy in near-future command centers. There's never been anything subtle about C&C's full-motion video, and, true to form, the campaigns are loaded with wonderfully overblown sequences filled with intrigue and suspense. Yes, Joe Kucan has returned as Nod figurehead Kane, and he's as irresistibly creepy as ever. He and other familiar actors serve up a heap of extravagant solemnity against a backdrop of flashing lights and important-looking video screens.
If you think it sounds over the top, you'd be right--but it's cheesy in the good way, and it won't take you long to get involved in the story and the characters that drive it. The narrative is structured well, with the Global Defense Initiative and Brotherhood of Nod campaigns telling the same story from opposing viewpoints. There's also a new player in the mix: the alien Scrin race. At this stage in the series, the mineral tiberium has propagated over most of the Earth, but it's more than just an environmental plight--it's a key to future technology. It'll take you a couple dozen hours to get through the campaigns, and just when you think you've finished, there are a few surprise missions in store, and they are well worth the time it takes to unlock them. There are also plenty of reasons to return to the campaign once you're done, since the game rewards you with medals based on your performance and tracks a good number of statistics for you to chew on.
Overall C&C 3 is a return to form for the series and bodes well for future releases. Go get it!
CGM score: 4/5
cgm
Saturday, 31 March 2007
Friday, 30 March 2007
Review: Shivering Isles
This is the expansion pack to the Elder scrolls Oblivion and if you can put up with waiting for 3 hours to download the thing from Xbox live then this is for you. To be honest though it's well worth the wait as this expansion adds plenty of new quests, items and a whole land to explore.
The Shivering Isles is the home of the prince of madness Sheogorath, and he brings you to the isles to stop an apocalyptic event called the Greymarch. The Isles itself are amazing to look at and offer a far more alien and magical looking world to that of Cyrodil. The game offers an extra 30 hours of gameplay so with that added on to a game that offers well over a 100 hours is quite mind blowing. The voice acting of the characters is impressive a much better improvement than those found in Oblivion and some of the script is laugh out loud funny. Overall the shivring Isles is a great expansion adding plenty of new stuff to an already massive game. Definately worth waiting through the download time.
CGM Score: 4/5
The Shivering Isles is the home of the prince of madness Sheogorath, and he brings you to the isles to stop an apocalyptic event called the Greymarch. The Isles itself are amazing to look at and offer a far more alien and magical looking world to that of Cyrodil. The game offers an extra 30 hours of gameplay so with that added on to a game that offers well over a 100 hours is quite mind blowing. The voice acting of the characters is impressive a much better improvement than those found in Oblivion and some of the script is laugh out loud funny. Overall the shivring Isles is a great expansion adding plenty of new stuff to an already massive game. Definately worth waiting through the download time.
CGM Score: 4/5
Thursday, 29 March 2007
PS3 banned from UK prisons
The home secretary John Reid has banned PS3s from being used in prisons as the home office feels they are a security risk and could allow inmates to get in contact with he outside world. The fears come from the PS3s built in wi-fi capability that can connect to the Internet and other consoles wirelessly. Ive a question, just what the hell are the home office playing at giving games consoles to prisoners there supposed to in jail suffering and atoning for there crimes not sitting in a comfy chair playing Grand theft auto!!
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
Turtles top the U.S
The mighty 300 has been knocked off the top of the U.S film charts following the release of the Teenage mutant ninja turtles movie (crap in a half shell). The film took $24.4 million on its opening weekend. 300 was pushed down to 2ND place, but seeing as the film has grossed more than $160 million in the States alone.
In third place is the action flick Bullet with $14.5 million, fourth is Wild Hogs with $14.3million, fifth is The last Mimzy with $10.2million and in sixth is the terrible (candidate for worst film of the year)Premonition which took $10.1 million taking a total of $32 million. Seriously who paid to watch that nonsense.
In third place is the action flick Bullet with $14.5 million, fourth is Wild Hogs with $14.3million, fifth is The last Mimzy with $10.2million and in sixth is the terrible (candidate for worst film of the year)Premonition which took $10.1 million taking a total of $32 million. Seriously who paid to watch that nonsense.
Monday, 26 March 2007
Review: Splinter Cell Double agent (PS3)
Sam Fisher returns to the PlayStation in Splinter cell double agent. The first thing is, this is a direct port of the 360 version with slightly better graphics. To be fair though even the graphics aren't much more noticeable. As this is the same game as the 360 version it also has the same problems. The plot is still poor with the story not making much sense, unlike the one found in the original xbox's version. The cut scenes are impressive as is the action, but for some reason Ubi soft has decided to set many of the missions during the day, most likely to show off the graphics no doubt. Because of this the difficulty is increased as now you can be spotted by the enemy a lot easier. Just why would a spec-ops soldier decided to sneak about in broad day light is any ones guess. If you compare this game to the third installment of the series the brilliant chaos theory then its flaws become obvious. Overall the single player is a fiddly and frustrating experience with a plot that most of the time doesn't make sense.
The games saving grace however is the online multi player which is fast frantic and a lot of fun, a co-op mode would've been welcome as that was one of the best things about chaos theory.
Overall Double agent is a good attempt at putting new life into the franchise, but it pails in comparison to earlier titles. For the next one lets hope Ubi-soft go back to basics.
CGM score: 3/5
The games saving grace however is the online multi player which is fast frantic and a lot of fun, a co-op mode would've been welcome as that was one of the best things about chaos theory.
Overall Double agent is a good attempt at putting new life into the franchise, but it pails in comparison to earlier titles. For the next one lets hope Ubi-soft go back to basics.
CGM score: 3/5
Sunday, 25 March 2007
CrackDown Review
Sometime after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, the popular term used in the game industry to describe open-world, mission-based games became "sandbox." It's kind of a dopey term, but it makes sense and properly conveys the sense of freedom that these games tend to have. But even with the freedom offered by this style of game, most of them tend to have a pretty rigid structure for you to follow if you want to see the game through to its storyline conclusion. Crackdown, from Microsoft and Real Time Worlds, tends to get away from that aspect. The result is an open-world game that feels more open ended than any other game of its type, but that lack of structure makes the game feel half finished and shallow in a few spots.
There's a bit of backstory to the action in Crackdown, but all you really need to know is that you're a new type of supercop that can evolve very quickly, which means your skills improve as you play. You're out to clean up the streets. There are three gangs, each with seven leaders. You can take on any gang leader at any time, but there's a logical order laid out for you that makes the progression scale as your skills increase. There isn't much difference between each individual gang leader--you just need to get to where that gang head is by either working your way through, around, or over the gangsters that surround the leader, then open fire on the boss and take him or her down. Once you eliminate all seven leaders of a gang, a "final crime" occurs, which is really just a mess of street soldiers wandering around in one specific area. When you take all of them out, the gang is vanquished and you'll no longer run into any resistance in that part of the city. Once you've repeated this process through all three parts of the city, you're done cleaning up the city. It's got an abrupt and disappointing conclusion, overall. But before you can have a plot twist, you have to have a plot, and Crackdown has neither.
The weird part is that none of the story really matters, because the whole point of the game is to provide open-ended freedom and a large, interesting city to explore. And on the gameplay side, Crackdown works. The city might not seem huge when you first start moving around, but that's more because you're not thinking vertically. As a man with superhuman abilities, you'll get stronger, faster, and more powerful as you play. The plainest representation of this is your agility rating, which you increase by collecting orbs that are hidden around the city on rooftops. As your agility increases, you can jump higher. So what initially seems like a high, but unimpressive, jump at the beginning turns to your agent flinging himself through the air, from one rooftop to the next, or scaling buildings by clinging to window ledges and jumping up the side. The range of movement you get once your agility is up is really impressive and makes moving around the world a lot of fun. Also, firing from the rooftops or jumping in on your enemies from above is a great way to clean up the opposing gangs, so it's got tactical considerations, as well.
Overall Crackdown offers a fun but often limited experience, with such a short life span its a shame that the developers didnt focus more on the games back story and varyed the gameplay a bit more.
CGM score 3/5
There's a bit of backstory to the action in Crackdown, but all you really need to know is that you're a new type of supercop that can evolve very quickly, which means your skills improve as you play. You're out to clean up the streets. There are three gangs, each with seven leaders. You can take on any gang leader at any time, but there's a logical order laid out for you that makes the progression scale as your skills increase. There isn't much difference between each individual gang leader--you just need to get to where that gang head is by either working your way through, around, or over the gangsters that surround the leader, then open fire on the boss and take him or her down. Once you eliminate all seven leaders of a gang, a "final crime" occurs, which is really just a mess of street soldiers wandering around in one specific area. When you take all of them out, the gang is vanquished and you'll no longer run into any resistance in that part of the city. Once you've repeated this process through all three parts of the city, you're done cleaning up the city. It's got an abrupt and disappointing conclusion, overall. But before you can have a plot twist, you have to have a plot, and Crackdown has neither.
The weird part is that none of the story really matters, because the whole point of the game is to provide open-ended freedom and a large, interesting city to explore. And on the gameplay side, Crackdown works. The city might not seem huge when you first start moving around, but that's more because you're not thinking vertically. As a man with superhuman abilities, you'll get stronger, faster, and more powerful as you play. The plainest representation of this is your agility rating, which you increase by collecting orbs that are hidden around the city on rooftops. As your agility increases, you can jump higher. So what initially seems like a high, but unimpressive, jump at the beginning turns to your agent flinging himself through the air, from one rooftop to the next, or scaling buildings by clinging to window ledges and jumping up the side. The range of movement you get once your agility is up is really impressive and makes moving around the world a lot of fun. Also, firing from the rooftops or jumping in on your enemies from above is a great way to clean up the opposing gangs, so it's got tactical considerations, as well.
Overall Crackdown offers a fun but often limited experience, with such a short life span its a shame that the developers didnt focus more on the games back story and varyed the gameplay a bit more.
CGM score 3/5
Saturday, 24 March 2007
Review: 300
Ive just two things to say before i start this review, 1. How the heck was this film classed as only a 15 and 2. this film is absolutely brilliant! The film tells the story of the battle of Thermopylae, an event that took place in 480BC, a battle in which the Greeks led by 300 Spartan warriors faced down the vast Persian empire and that is where the films relationship with historical accuracy ends except for the names and places used. If your expecting an historically realistic epic then you'd be disappointed, but this film never claims to be that. Its inspired the Frank Miller graphic novels and is shot in a style that makes the movie appear more as a cartoon than a regular picture, and it does this with great affect. The visuals are stunning!.
Now back to the question of its age rating, the battle scenes are brutal and when the Spartans go into battle they don't hold back on the violence, with their swords swinging limbs are lobbed off and heads go a flying, blood sprays all over the place, in a sense the director has captured the brutality of battle in all its horror. So to all those critics who say this film glamorises violence id have to say to you, you guys must be a bit sick because what is shown is by no means glamorous and as for this film supposedly being a meaning for American dominance over the east i say that is utter tosh.
This film, although more stylised and fantasy based is a tribute to the 300 who stood their ground and does a good job of showing its audience just how tough the Spartans really were.
Overall if you want to see a fantasic looking film go and see this now, you wont be disappointed.
CGM score: 4/5
Now back to the question of its age rating, the battle scenes are brutal and when the Spartans go into battle they don't hold back on the violence, with their swords swinging limbs are lobbed off and heads go a flying, blood sprays all over the place, in a sense the director has captured the brutality of battle in all its horror. So to all those critics who say this film glamorises violence id have to say to you, you guys must be a bit sick because what is shown is by no means glamorous and as for this film supposedly being a meaning for American dominance over the east i say that is utter tosh.
This film, although more stylised and fantasy based is a tribute to the 300 who stood their ground and does a good job of showing its audience just how tough the Spartans really were.
Overall if you want to see a fantasic looking film go and see this now, you wont be disappointed.
CGM score: 4/5
Friday, 23 March 2007
Shivering Isles
Shivering Isles features more than 30 hours of new gameplay and allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion – the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles adds to the existing world of Oblivion so you can continue playing with your existing save game/character, or create an all new character just to explore the new content.
“We’re thrilled with the response that Oblivion has received to date and feel that Shivering Isles will offer a whole new and different experience to anyone who played and enjoyed Oblivion,” said Todd Howard, executive producer for The Elder Scrolls.
Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the god’s madness – the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?
The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides – Mania and Dementia –filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You’ll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you.
Xbox gamers will be able to download the Shivering isles from the 26th of March and it will be on retail sale for the PC on the 30th.
“We’re thrilled with the response that Oblivion has received to date and feel that Shivering Isles will offer a whole new and different experience to anyone who played and enjoyed Oblivion,” said Todd Howard, executive producer for The Elder Scrolls.
Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the god’s madness – the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?
The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides – Mania and Dementia –filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You’ll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you.
Xbox gamers will be able to download the Shivering isles from the 26th of March and it will be on retail sale for the PC on the 30th.
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Mass Effect delayed!
The highly anticipated sci-fi RPG Mass effect has been put back once again. Originally listed for release in the middle of February by on-line retailers it has suffered a string of delays. It was pushed back to March and now according to Amazon it wont be out for general release until the end of July. Ideal for killing some time over the summer holidays, lets just hope it doesn't get put back again!
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
The Devil turns to 360
Yet another PS3 exclusive has jumped ship and landed in the lap of the Xbox 360. This time its the amazing Devil may cry series. Good news for xbox owners but a massive kick in the pants to Sony. Capcom revealed that Devil may cry 4 will now be released on the same day for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. According to Capcom "each version of the game will be maximised to take full advantage of each platforms strength". Mysteriously theres been no info on what this might entail.
The loss of DMC is not the only former exclusive Sony has now lost, at E3 last year it was confirmed that Grand theft auto 4 would also be appearing on both formats. Whats next to lose its exclusivity Metal gear solid 4 perhaps? 360 owners live in hope.
The loss of DMC is not the only former exclusive Sony has now lost, at E3 last year it was confirmed that Grand theft auto 4 would also be appearing on both formats. Whats next to lose its exclusivity Metal gear solid 4 perhaps? 360 owners live in hope.
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Halo 3 promises to be the game of 2007
