A Brief Updated Look at all the Upcoming Spore Games.

We all know that Spore is coming out pretty soon (if you don't you must have a pretty nice rock to live under) but, until know, we've known little about the spin-off games that will be accompanying it. E3 has given us a lot of new information so I've took some time to go over it and posted the most important things here. Stay informed!

Spore (PC/Mac)


First up there's been new information about the main game itself, especially as it was available for play testing at E3 this week. Most of the coverage seemed to concentrate on the tribal and space exploration stages of the game but there was also new information about the advanced editors.

The space exploration stage allows you to design your own spacecraft using an editor much like the creature creator already released. After your civilisation has celebrated the spacecrafts creation you go through a brief flying tutorial and then off into space it is! In space you can do various missions that extend from discovery (such as finding a downed spacecraft) to diplomacy with other races. Let's not forget the previously seen tractor beams that can abduct other lifeforms, which can then be dumped on other planets. Once you've completed your primary goal (to discover the centre of the universe) you have half a million other planets to explore according to EA. This all sounds well and good but I'm wondering if it will have enough depth to keep you interested in the long-term. There's only so many weird creatures you can take.

The advanced editors include the vehicle editor, which works the same way as the creature creator and allows you to morph and stretch your vehicle's chassis and then add wheels, wings, weapons etc. IGN, for instance, flew around in a spaceship which looked like a magic school bus. There seems to be no end to the creativity allowed and, apparently, this was also extend to buildings allowing you to create magnificent (if you're creative) cities.

There's a lot more to get into so you can check out these previews and impressions:

IGN - 'Next I discovered a world that had a fairly advanced society. It still hadn't reached space stage, but it did have cities full of tiny little Chinook people (the demo was using user-created content pulled from the Internet, and someone had actually made a creature that looks like a Chinook helicopter).'
Gamespot - 'When we first made our jump into space, we noticed that our home planet had a small moon orbiting it. By heading straight to this moon, we were given a brief mission to follow our onboard radar (a toggle-able power in one of our ship's ability menus, which also includes weapons and miscellaneous tools, such as tractor beams that can be used to abduct other life-forms) to a crash-landed spaceship, which we then scanned for data.'
Gamespy -
'For instance, our tribe was prospering and making new friends, but it was time to start dressing like future world leaders. The tribal clothing editor allows players to outfit their creatures with primitive attire. I decided our fish creatures needed a giant gold ring through the nose. And some feathers. With armored shoulder-pads. So far so good: My creatures started to look like extras from the "Road Warrior" movies.'

Spore: Origin


Spore: Origin is the name given to the iPhone version of Spore. With the iPhone apparently as powerful as Sega's old Dreamcast it's fast becoming the perfect casual gaming platform (most portable games are played on a mobile phone) so it makes sense that EA would want a piece of the pie. This is where Spore: Origin comes in and it seems like it will be a decent casual game for those away from their PC's/Mac's or even for those who aren't aware of Spore.

The game itself is a bit like the primordial stage in Spore, in that you direct a cellular level organism around and gobble up the smaller creatures. Controlling your little cellular creature is done by using simple tilt controls on the iPhone. It also infuses the creativity available in the main game you get to evolve your creature every few stages (the game allows you to use the iPhone's pinch controls to morph your creature). However, you have to watch out for the bigger creatures that will reduce the DNA metre you have to fill to complete the stage.

Spore: Origin sounds like Sony's previously released PS3 title flOw but with a little more customisation. While the iPhone will sport the best graphics and the tilt controls the title will also be available for other mobile platforms - meaning that they'll always be a way to get your Spore fix!

For more info check out this short IGN preview.

Spore Creatures



The DS version is taking a unique approach to the creature creator aspect of Spore. Due to the DS' inability to host a creature creator on the advanced scale of the PC version the solution is to piece together body parts. You can still stretch and move these parts around the body but it's nowhere near the freedom allowed by the main game. You can also colour and texture these parts so you're still allowed a fair deal of creativity. Your 2D creatures then move around in a 3D world (similar to Paper Mario) and more body parts can be found through exploring and taking on quests.

The stylus is put to novel use by being used in fights with other creatures. Creatures are taken out by effectively 'slashing' the monsters with your stylus. If you want more creatures to 'slash' you'll also apparently be able to share creatures with your friends over wi-fi.

For a bit more information check out these short IGN and Gamespot previews.

Anything Else?

Despite the insistence of a rather annoying girl on Livejournal there has been little information about what's happening with the Wii version (that means there's NO release date yet). It's not a port so this was not the reason for the PC delay but Will Wright did say they're currently in the planning stages.

Other than the Wii Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are still under consideration.

The Sims 3 E3 Trailer

While this trailer for The Sims 3 may look like an episode of Laguna Beach I'm surprisingly looking forward to the game. You see, not only does the game allow your Sim's access to the entire town without those pesky loading screens (and the ability to see what's going on elsewhere at any moment) but it also deals with the problem of one family aging while the others stay frozen in time - something which has always annoyed me.

I'm the kind of guy who loves to create stories so The Sims franchise has always been a favourite of mine. Unlike other people I don't actually care about the constant expansion packs because, hey, it's new content and at least EA are continuing to support the game. Couple that with an excellent community with literally millions of creations and you can have endless fun! Although that endless fun is sometimes pretty mundane...

The Sims 3 E3 Trailer - YouTube.

Morning Coffee - July 11th 2008

With Blogger's magical future posting feature these amazing links (because I only pick the best, of course!) will hit you in the wee morning when I may still be snoring in bed!

Speaking of coffee I remember when I had about 10 cups in one day due to working on a particularly tough university assignment. Let me tell you something, it's really not healthy!

Anyway, here's your links for this morning.

• Tom Francis of CVG boldly vistits three popular MMO's (Eve Online, City of Heroes and World of Warcraft) to see if one can actually find love in an MMO. Wait, there are girls on the Internet? Never!
• Kotaku predicts just what Sony has in store for us at E3 next week. E3 is sure looking pretty good this year.
• Ars Technica asks if free is the future of PC gaming. Apparently not in the US.
• We'll soon be controlling video games with our minds. This will most likely result in 14 year-old males touching the boobs of the women in Soulcalibur.
• There's a trailer out for the upcoming Max Payne film adaption. Thoughts?
• The Washington Post reports on post-it video game art appearing on the city office buildings. Awesome? Yes.
• Finally here's the Wiimote candy dispenser. Candy has never tasted so good (and I'm going to regret using the word 'candy').

That's your lot for this morning. I'm off to drink more coffee, so don't be surprised when I'm hyper posting later.

Zombie Shooter.

Regular readers of this blog (if I have any) will know that I’m very fond of anything to do with zombies, be it films, books or games. I even compiled a post of a few zombie browser-based games you can play on your coffee break. So, it’s with great enthusiasm that I dived into yet another zombie game on the market, which is simply – but appropriately – titled Zombie Shooter.

Well, I say dived but I only touched the waters with my little toe. Due to being a poor graduate I could only play the free version of the game, which only allows you an hour to play around with it. However, an hour is more than enough to experience the massive slaughter of zombies that you will partake in. The best feature of all this slaughter? The blood and zombie corpses don't disappear and continually cover the level in gore! All in lovely isometric glory!

There are three modes in the game; your usual Campaign mode with some sort of story, a mode called Survive mode in which you stand off against increasing numbers of zombies and bosses, and finally a mode called Gun Stand which is like Survive mode but you take control of a fixed gun gunning down the constant hordes of zombies. In this final mode you often end up with something like this:


Told you it was gory, and you'll be knee deep in the undead before you know it.

Although the two modes are fun you'll quickly bore of them. It's the campaign mode where the real meat of the game lies and the few levels I played were pretty average. I say average because of the awful AI. Once the zombies and other enemies see you they'll track you across the level, but if you go through a door and down the corridor in the opposite direction they'll follow your movements while forgetting that there's a wall between the two of you. This results in the zombies constantly walking against walls and other objects, or the latter enemies shooting at walls. It's pretty dumb and it takes a lot of the fun away from what could be a pretty good game. I also suffered a glitch where I got stuck on a piece of scenery and had to restart the level.

With the AI problems it's an average game at the best. If these problems were sorted out I'd say that it probably is worth the £10 price tag, but I'm saying that without actually knowing how many levels the game has.

You can download the free demo or buy the game from its homepage.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Totem Destroyer.

Physics based games often annoy me. It's not the game themselves, in fact I always love novel ways of making use of physics in games (which is part of why I enjoy the Half-Life 2 games so much), it's the act of having to use your brain. Yes, I'm just lazy at heart.

Thankfully Totem Destroyer isn't too tough and it's actually pretty enjoyable through the act of having to discover just how you're going to get the golden totem down without breaking it. In each level you have to decide which block you want to destroy with your handy bomb. Each level gets increasingly more complex (although some of the complex levels are too obvious) but I often found that you can complete the level through sheer luck and frantic clicking. For example, the totem may luckily land on one of the indestructible black blocks which you honestly didn't mean to happen. Like me, however, you'll probably just shrug your shoulders and move on to the next level.

You can play the game over at the Armor Games site.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Dino Run.

Take a long loving look at the above image. Go on, I'll wait here....

......

Now doesn't that look peaceful and tranquil? Doesn't that yellow blob that passes for a dinosaur look cute? Yes? Good. Now take a look at the image below.


There, my friends, lies DOOM!!! MASSIVE BOILING BLACK DUSTY DOOM!!!! (which I'm apparently running into)

Phew, now that I've got that out of my system let's talk about the game that inspires such rage.

Dino Run's name tells you all you need to know. You're a dinosaur and you need to run, simple eh? Well, not when you're running away from certain extinction as evidenced by the picture above. Along the way you have to avoid various obstacles such as dumb dinosaurs who won't get out of your damn way.....yes, this made me hate dinosaurs! Fortunately your 'cute' little blob of a dinosaur can eat the smaller ones, which gives you points and some sort of DNA upgrade (although this only happened once to me) that allows you to upgrade your dinosaurs stats. You also have to save eggs so, obviously, you can continue your species even when the whole frickin world is covered in a thick black cloud choking the life out of the Earth. See, I don't see what the dinosaur has to gain from running away as it'll eventually catch up to the little dude.

Anyway, you go through the normal routine of levels and different environments while the impending doom gets increasingly faster behind you. For you social types there's also a multiplayer where you can race against friends or strangers.

It's a neat little game, but my poor skills prevented me from seeing the end. So, I hand the task to a good gamer to see if the little guy makes it. I have become attached to Rex, even if he is now burning to death at the bottom of a lava pit.

You can play the game here.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Garden Gnome Carnage.

If there was ever a game that could horrify the good old Gnome it's this one. I must first apologise for this senseless killing of elves (Gnomes must be related, somehow!) for no apparent reason but, unfortunately for the Gnomes kind, it's incredibly fun!

Garden Gnome Carnage is the name of this senseless elf killing machine and it's probably the first game I've played in which you play a building. Endless streams of elves run towards your building and their objective is to reach the chimney on the top of the building. Fortunately your defense is a garden gnome attached to a piece of string (I think the elves are trying to release him) which you can use to fling the elves away by moving the building with the cursor keys. You can also shake the nasty little elves off by shaking the building with the cursor keys, although the gnomes hiding under presents will carry on climbing.

Your garden gnome can also grab bricks from the building and toss them into the crowd of elves, causing small explosions of flying elves around the screen. The problem is, how do you replenish the bricks you've thrown? Well, this little service is provided by a black cat. Yup, a black cat. The cat will climb your building like the elves and, instead of being game over when he reaches the chimney, he'll fill your building back up with bricks! The annoying thing is that it's incredibly easy to knock the cat flying by mistake, although it is pretty funny.

Finally you're also under attack by elves flying on sleighs. If they reach the building they'll land on the roof and an elf will try to reach the chimney. Fortunately they can easily be knocked out of the sky (which is great when they land in the crowds of elves below) but presents will parachute out causing you even more problems. If it all gets too much (and believe me it will) then you can just bomb the little freaks with one of your airstrikes.

Garden Gnome Carnage is a strange and wacky little game and, eventually, it will quickly overwhelm you (you'll find out the meaning of the word 'carnage'). Racking up large combos is incredibly addictive and, like with me, it may actually suck a few hours out of your day.

You can download the game from here.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

'It Wasn't Us!' Say Limbo of the Lost Developers.

You can't really say that you're tuned into video game news when you're a few days late posting a piece of news. In this fast-paced world of online media you'll get a cry of 'OLD!' even if you're only a few hours later than everyone else. In the case of this piece of news I read about it when it was first posted on the 24th June but I didn't post about it due to sheer laziness (although, to be fair, I've only just graduate and I've been contemplating my less than stellar result).

Well, for the two of you don't don't already know the developers of Limbo of the Lost (that adventure game that has scenes you clearly remember seeing somewhere before) have finally commented on accusations of plagiarism.

In response to the shocking notification that some alleged unauthorized copyrighted materials submitted by sources external to the development team have been found within the PC game Limbo of the Lost, we (the development team) have given our consent and full cooperation to both publishers who are recalling all units from all territories immediately.

Please be assured that we do not condone in anyway the use of unauthorized copyrighted materials and if we had been made aware earlier, we would of course have ceased development of the product and rectified the issue prior to the publication process.

Sigh.

Ok, so even if some assets were outsourced to some lazy art guy they should really have people who check these sort of things out. Honestly? I think it's a blatant - yet carefully worded - lie and the longer they deny that they stole from others the longer the embarrassment will continue. You see, if they just admit it and disappear then maybe no-one will really care. The longer they drag it out means it's more likely that someone they stole from will take it to court. I'm not entirely sure something like that will happen though, since the game has been pulled from distribution meaning they can't profit from it anymore anyway. Besides, their financial status will be so meaningless that no-one will get anything out of it if they try to sue.

One thing's for sure - these guys will never be getting a publisher again!

Meanwhile you can follow this guys excruciation walkthrough of the game

Limbo of the Lost devs respond to plagiarism charges - Gamespot.

Related Posts: New PC Adventure Game - Limbo of the Lost - Accused of Plagiarism.

A Selection of my Spore Creature Creator Creations.

I've been messing around with the Spore Creature Creator f0r a few days now and I'm loving it. I initially created some creatures with the trial version but I loved it so much that I purchased the full version. The full version gives you full access to all the parts and features of the Creature Creator (though I expect they may be further parts to unlock when the full game, Spore, is released) and it's high flexibility pretty much allows you to create any type of creature that your imagination can come up with.

My creations aren't amazing and, hopefully, I'll get a little better at it. Here are some of the creations I've made so far (you can add the creatures to your own Creature Creator by clicking on the name links, which goes to the Sporepedia):


This guy is known as Yurak (I know, it's a strange name) and the idea was some deformed version of a giraffe. I suppose I should probably have made him yellow but I thought orange went better with the black (it's a tiger giraffe!). Here he is with his kids:



Next up:



Limar!

And...



Deara!

Finally here's my attempt at creating a vaguely humanoid creature:



Homor (not Homer) also has his own video:



Check out my YouTube account for a few more! You can also visit my Sporepedia page.

Feel free to share your own creations in the comments. You can download the free and paid Creature Creator over at the Spore site.

SocioTown's Novel Way of Dealing With Uninvited Guests.

If you've ever played Second Life or Habbo Hotel - as two examples - then you'll eventually have to deal with the problem of uninvited guests appearing on your 'property'. Sure, you could just allow certain people in or, as in the case of Habbo, simply set a password but those are just totally boring, right? Why block people from entering your virtual home when you’ll miss out on the fun of punching or swinging them out of the room? Before you know it you’ll be punching your friends outside just because it’s funny!

If you want to try these nifty moves for yourself SocioTown is now in public beta. I'll be posting some of my impressions soon.

Related Posts: SocioTown - A New 3D Browser-Based MMO.

New PC Adventure Game - Limbo of the Lost - Accused of Plagiarism

Pretty much all ideas today are influenced by a previous idea in some way or another and, to an extent, this is completely acceptable. This is especially true in the video game industry as there are already established genres that are simply adapted to create something new. For example, the first FPS game (commonly thought to be Maze War) established the conventions that thousands of games since its development have used. No-one can be accused of directly copying the game in this sense as each successive game (for the most part) has built upon the genre in its own unique way. However, there is a difference between being influenced by a previous game and directly copying off a previous game - which is where the recently completed Limbo of the Lost comes into play.

You see, Limbo of the Lost is a point and click adventure game which, of course, has been done a countless number of times before and, of course, there is nothing wrong with this. What IS wrong with the game, however, is that it directly steals parts of level designs from other games. This includes backgrounds, textures, and even text. Let's see an example:


This is a scene from Limbo of the Lost which looks innocent enough, right?


Well, not when you compare it to a scene from Bethesda's 2006 game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Even the painting in the background is exactly the same as the painting in Oblivion.

Here's another example:



It's pretty much blatant theft of copyrighted scenes and textures and it makes it especially worse when Oblivion allegedly isn't the only game that has been stolen from. Other examples include scenes from Thief III, Unreal Tournament 2004, Painkiller and Diablo II amongst others. You can find them all over at this forum post on NeoGAF.

The US publisher, Tri Synergy, told Kotaku that they have "discontinued distribution" of the game and are "just as shocked as everyone else" following the revelations. I still don't see how they - Majestic Studios - could have got away with this in the first place. Secondly, they did really think that the gaming and Internet community wouldn't notice this? We have way too much time on our hands.

The game looks pants anyway (check out the two incredibly awful trailers) and, hopefully, legal action may force this sham of a company out of business. I have absolutely no respect for people who are so uncreative that they have to steal other people's creations just to make some money.

Limbo of the Lost stole from Oblivion, Morrowind, UT2K4, Diablo, Silent Hill, more? - NeoGaf (Via Kotaku)

Sporepedia Is Now Live!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Spore was vaporware because, after-all, we haven't been hearing all that much about it lately. This makes it all the more surprising when, seemingly out of the bloom, the previously announced Sporepedia is suddenly released by EA.

The Sporepedia is basically an encyclopedic collection of the millions of creations that players have made in their own copy of the Spore universe - well, that is what it's supposed to be eventually. For now the Sporepedia is only populated by the creations the people of Maxis have designed but, once the game is released, you'll eventually be able to easily download them and add them to your own copy of the game.

The release of Sporepedia comes just a week before the Spore creature creator will be in the players hands (on June 17th). I for one can't wait - especially now that the system recommendations show that my aging PC can handle it!

Sporepedia - Maxis/EA

Spore Release Date Finally Announced!

The Gods have finally seen fit to grace us with a Spore release date, leaving their masses of worshipers moaning in ecstasy (I should so write erotica). One of the Gods, of course, is the legend himself, Will Wright. From EA and Will comes the official release date of September 7th for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS and mobile phones (I wonder if every single version can make the same day).

"We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore," game designer Will Wright explained. "And the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year." - Gamespy.

The biggest game of the year? It better damn well be!

Spore Release Date Announced. - Gamespy.

Analyst Believes Spore Will Be Delayed.

Mike Hickey, an analyst at Janco, believes that Spore may be delayed due to recent share underperformance at Electronic Arts. I didn't mention this before but the game was reported to be roughly ready for release around March/April. Potential delays would mean the game wouldn't see the light of day until the second half of 2008.

I think the popular saying 'No shit, Sherlock!' applies here. I say this because we've pretty much grown accustomed to seeing Spore being delayed and, hopefully, all these delays can only be a good thing. Personally I wouldn't mind if the game was released after Summer because I will have finished university then and, thus, have more time to spend gaming and creating a race of male genitalia.

Analyst: Spore To Be Delayed To Fall/Winter 2008? - Gamasutra (Via CVG)

Turok - Demo Impressions.

The Turok games are one of those cases where it would probably have been better leaving it alone after the success of the first game. Of course, video games are still a business and any successful game is more than likely to get a sequel. Turok spawned a franchise, and while the first is widely seen as one of the best games for the N64 the franchise flopped when the fourth installment (Turok: Evolution) was released on Playstation 2 and various consoles in 2002. Since then, thankfully, nothing has been released. Well, until now of course.

Buena Vista Games (yup, that's Disney) acquired the rights back in 2005 and have eventually managed to produce a game using the Unreal Engine 3. However, this is no Gears of War. They've gone back to basics and simply called the game Turok, whether that's an attempt to start afresh remains to be seen. The demo weighs in at about 1.2GB on Xbox Live but, unless you've got nothing better to do, it's probably not worth it.

Turok comes at a time when the 360 has enough decent FPS games to keep you occupied without shunting another one on you. If the game offered something completely original and unique then maybe it could stand on it's own but, at least in the demo, there's nothing more than a generic FPS with pretty dinosaurs. Sure, it looks good (not great but good) but what are fancy graphics if the game underneath it all is nothing special? Some people may say you can't judge the full game off the demo but a demo is supposed to show off the games strong points and, if that's what it's doing, then there's nothing particularly strong about this game.

The dinosaurs seem a bit thick but I have to admit it's pretty neat when they charge at you from all sides. However, sometimes you get knocked down so many times (since you often don't see them coming until the last minute, and if you do you don't see the one coming from the other side) that the screen turns blurry and red like you've just been poked in both eyes. It can be a very frustrating experience. You can get the dinosaurs to fight each other and the generic futuristic soldiers that appear (who totally suck at getting into cover by the way) but this doesn't really appear in the demo. What's the point in these features if you can't try them out before hand? Surely that's what a demo is for? Propaganda Games really needs to read these tips on how to make a decent demo.

Another gripe I have is the crossbow. I can deal with not being able to aim down the sight on the rest of the weapons but simply zooming in a bit when you aim the crossbow (which doesn't even zoom in any more than the other weapons) is unacceptable. For a start this is supposed to be the future, and even when crossbows were first invented they had a sight to aim down. Using the weapons just isn't fun, even dual-wielding has been done to death. Apparently the game will have some unique weapons but the demo shows nothing more than your generic shotgun and machine guns.

I wasn't expecting much from Turok and I didn't get much. Demo's are supposed to make me feel excited about the game and leave me wanting the full game to come out as soon as possible (like Bioshock) but Turok doesn't even come close to this. If you like generic FPS games with a few dinosaurs thrown in then you'll probably enjoy Turok but, for everyone else, there's so much more games of much better quality that you could be spending your hard earned cash on.

Turok will be released for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on February 5 in the US and February 8 in the UK. The demo is now available for download on Xbox Live.

Spore to be Released on the Mac. Still no Sign of it.

Yesterday it was announced that EA are 'bringing its highly anticipated game Spore to the Mac sometime in 2008'.

"We couldn't be happier to bring Spore to the Mac at the same time as the PC version. Spore is a highly creative game and I look forward to seeing what the players come up with to fill the universe they design," said Wright in a statement. - Macworld

I don't really care much for this news but I would if I owned a Mac. So few developers both to bring out a version of their game for Mac's so this is exciting for people who own a Mac.

So why did I bother blogging this news if I don't really care? Well, it says 2008 so, even though there's not an official release date yet, it makes me more confident the game will be out this year. I'm getting increasingly worried about whether or not my rig will be up to it so I'm hoping the system requirements are on par with The Sims 2 (and providing smooth gameplay of course). Also, let's face it, we hear very little news about Spore so I'm taking it upon myself to report the news that does appear.

Mac owners shouldn't get too excited though. Considering how long this game is taking I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped into 2009. Still, fingers crossed eh?

(Via Kotaku)

2007 'Game of the Year'.

I know this is a little late but university work comes first and I had bucket loads of it. Wait, did I just say that? Anyway, I’m updating this at least every weekday from this day forth as I need something to keep me sane while I work on my dissertation. I also seriously need to start thinking about my future and I want writing to play a large part in it. Updating this blog can only help in that sense.

I’d like to say that doing this was easy, partly because I’ve played so few games this year, but it really wasn't. With that said from the few games I have managed to play through I’ve played some cracking ones because, often, I’ve only had time to play the best (or what I was told was the best) of what’s been a stunning year. It’s easier to choose from a group of sub-standard games that only include one or two amazing standouts but it’s almost impossible to choose a winner from a bunch of A-listers. I’m still going to try though, and you can see below that I really couldn’t decide. So, this year (and for the first time on this blog) my game of the year goes to:

Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
The Orange Box (PC)

‘Three games? Three????’

I know, it kind of defeats the object of ‘Game of the Year’ but I went over and over this in my head and I really couldn’t decide. Yes, each of them has their own problems but this is what balances the three out. This means that there’s really nothing that puts one below the other. Basically these three games are the most fun I’ve had in the video game world in 2007.



When I see a game get 10/10 or 100% I’m more than a bit sceptical. However, Bioshock may be one of the only games I’ve played that received these awards that really deserved it. From the moment the game begins – when your plane crashes into the freezing Atlantic Ocean – I was stunned. The world of Rapture is so believable, and so beautiful; that every step I take through it grabs my senses and assaults them with the feeling you get when you eat ice cream too fast. There’s a difference between playing Bioshock and eating ice cream too fast however. You don’t rush through Bioshock because you don’t want it to end. I spend ages on each area because I want to see everything; I want to take in every little detail, read everything on the walls, and listen to every sound you can hear in the distance. The moral implications the game presents aren’t as rampant as it may have first been presented but I found myself saving every Little Sister in the game – even when I was incredibly low on Adam! I just couldn’t bring myself to kill them. Bioshock is, without a doubt, one of the finest FPS games I’ve ever played. Not the finest game, but nearing that goal.


I’m never going to deny that the RPG is my favourite genre. I love a good story and if you put that in video game form then I’m probably in heaven. I’m going to come right out and say this first, Mass Effect is not the best RPG I’ve ever played but it’s one of the most enjoyable. There’s RPG’s out there with far better stories and there’s others out there with far better gameplay. Mass Effect, for me, strikes a balance between the two. I don’t care what people say about the active combat battle system. Yes, it wasn’t perfect, but I never expected it to be. While I do love a good turn-based RPG or a hack and slash romp they have got a little boring and Mass Effect provides a refreshing new perspective on the genre. It’s not perfect but I never expected it to be, hopefully it will have been refined in the next installment (Mass Effect is supposed to be a trilogy). The story, and the sense that you have some input in creating it, is what really makes this game one of my best of 2007. Like Bioshock I just couldn’t be the ‘bad guy’ in Mass Effect. I felt bad if I did something that made me a ‘renegade’ and the fact that video games now make you feel genuine emotion makes you wonder how people can’t consider it an art form. All this is portrayed with some of the best graphics you can see on the Xbox 360, it's just a shame they've often not loaded properly in order to cut loading times. I’m looking forward to the next installment of Mass Effect more than any other game at the moment.


I’ve already covered Half-Life: Episode Two but The Orange Box wouldn’t be complete without the other two (new) amazing games. Both Episode Two and Portal give new meaning to the saying ‘short but sweet’. Portal’s big idea executes flawlessly and the short span of the game means you never get bored, especially since the portal gun is used in increasingly more novel ways. I’ve not tried any of the user created maps yet but I’m sure they offer more frustrating and brain racking experiences. The ending? Absolutely brilliant! Team Fortress 2 is probably the most balanced multiplayer FPS available at the moment. Every single class is useful and they all play a part in the ongoing battles. Of course, they all have their strengths and weaknesses but – at least to me – these all seem equal (although the spy is bloody annoying!) It’s visual style offers something different and unique compared to the drab or futuristic settings that plague some online FPS games. It also brings amazing character to the game, something that is lacking in the online FPS arena. I don’t play it as much anymore but I have played a lot of multiplayer FPS games last year and Team Fortress 2 (even Halo 3) is by far my favourite. Three great games (and two great old games) for such a low price. You really can't beat a package that contains such class.

2007 was a great year and there’s a number of other games that could of made the grade. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare gets a mention because it was incredible fun. However, I didn’t feel it surpassed the other FPS games I had on the list. It did, for me, beat Halo 3. Halo 3 is overrated in my opinion and while I still enjoy it and play it online it’s not a ‘Game of the Year’ entrant. On the 360 side I have missed out on a few of the A-list (or just highly rated) games, because I’ve only just bought one, so I do feel like some of the great games of the year have passed me by. Thankfully I’ve managed to at least try a few of them, even if it only includes the PC and 360. Here’s hoping that 2008 will be just as great.

3000 Barrels Fall Down in Crysis.

Although Crysis itself would probably make my PC explode so much it would level my entire town I can still appreciate the wonders of what it's beautiful engine can do. The above video is simply breathtaking (considering I was once amazed at what Garry's Mod could do, and still am to some degree) and you have to wonder how a system can possibly exist to do all that without any slow down. Well, in simple terms, no system does exist. The video below shows what such a feat actually looks like in the game (not very exciting, apparently) and what can be done to combat it and make such impressive videos. The video also shows more amazing set-ups, but this time with boxes instead of barrels. Where is the explosive barrel love? WHERE???



For those of you who are lucky enough to be able to run the game on full and want a more detailed - and textual - explanation just simply go here.

Crysis '3000 Barrels' video - GameVideos.com (Via Kotaku)
Crysis: Mass Physics - YouTube

New Spore Information.

Whatever happened to Spore? I hear you cry! Well, the game was notably absent from last weeks E3 and the throngs of journalists hoping to play the game were denied. In comes IGN with the reason.

IGN has a new video, screenshots and an interview with Maxis VP of Marketing Patrick Buechner. If you don't want to bother reading it (although if, like me, you're so interested in this game that you devour every last piece of information then you will) I'll summarise it here:

• The game is in the Alpha stage of development, meaning most of the games main features are done and it's coming down to tweaking and polishing.
• The team are getting extremely positive feedback from play testers (to be fair wouldn't a guy who's job is marketing say this anyway?)
• There are so many genres mixed into the game that the player has to adapt their play style and gaming experience of each genre to fit each one.
• Since the team are already committed to making the game playable at the Leipzig Games Convention in August they didn't want to fit it into multiple events by showing it off at E3 as well.
• The press will be able to play the game at the Leipzig Games Convention but it will be behind closed doors.

Patrick also talked about the DS version of Spore:

• The DS version of Spore will be out around the same time as the PC version.
• You won't be playing the whole evolutionary arc on the DS version but the main focus will still be customisation.
• It won't interact with the PC version in any way.
• Both versions should be out sometime shortly after April 1st 2008.
• The creature editor portion of Spore will be released several weeks in advance of the core game.

So, sorry Spore fans but it looks like we're going to have to wait until August for new information on the game. Let's hope it will be worth the wait.

E3 2007: Spore Update - IGN.