PC Reviews

Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword Review

May 2, 2011 | | PC Reviews

I hadn’t had much experience with the Mount and Blade series before, but as I eased into Sich Studio and TaleWorlds’ With Fire and Sword, I discovered a game with great scope, but also deeply flawed with poor gameplay mechanics and low production values. Jumping into the skin of a nameless character in 17^th century Eastern Europe, it is up to the player to develop himself in a variety of different fields and negotiate politics to achieve dominance. Unfortunately, lots of flaws drag down the experience to result in a very deep game with a focus on freedom, but also regrettable frustration.

7.8

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Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 1 Review

Apr 27, 2011 | | PC Reviews

The adventure game market has gone from on its deathbed to putting out more titles than ever before in a matter of years and you could probably credit Telltale games for this. They’ve revived classic adventure gaming franchises like Sam & Max and the Monkey Island series, and to this day are one of the few games developers who have mastered the episodic content model (Glares at Valve). However, Telltale aren’t the only ones making adventure games now, Jane Jensen returned to the genre with the recent Gray Matter and last year Strandlooper entered the adventure game market with Hector: Badge of Carnage for the iPhone, Strandlooper have since teamed up with Telltale to bring the twisted and hilarious world of Hector to PC and Mac.

9.6

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Portal 2 Review

Apr 21, 2011 | | PC Reviews

Portal has become a household name in gaming, the first iteration being nothing more than an experiment which became a phenomenon that Valve, and the student developers of Narbacular Drop, could never have predicted. Portals, cakes, and science (because we can) quickly became the memes of the year and beyond as Portalpermeated gaming culture in a profound way. Valve was pleased with this, and set to work quickly on a sequel, promising a lot more than a small experimental game with its second coming. Has Portal 2 lived up to the expectations produced by the original? Read on to find out.

9.0

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Portal Retro Review

Apr 19, 2011 | | PC Reviews

When Portal released in 2007, it was a great day for gaming and internet memes. The hit first person puzzle-platformer quickly gained speed and won numerous awards for its innovative gameplay and clever writing. It was intended to be a test product released alongside the other, less risky, offerings in The Orange Box, Valve was greatly surprised by the game’s critical acclaim. It quickly became a staple to which other puzzle platforming games were compared, and continues to be today.

4.5

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Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops – Review

Apr 16, 2011 | | PC Reviews

Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops has a lot going for it. It combines old-school shooters with stealth gaming to put players in control of two operatives who try to take down bad guys in the year 2025. Because it’s set in the near future, it gives gamers access to sci-fi spy equipment, while also employing cover-based gunplay. However all of these great ideas don’t pan out due to numerous tech issues, and some bad design choices.

8.0

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Sanctum Review

Apr 15, 2011 | | PC Reviews

Tower defense games started out as a mod for Warcraft 3 and have since become a vast genre that is represented on almost all gaming platforms. From Plants Versus Zombies to Defence Grid, there are as many different kinds of tower defense games as there are car crashes in Smallville. Independent developers in particular are having a ball when it comes to this genre and the latest indie tower defense game to hit the digital shelves is Sanctum.

8.9

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Gray Matter Review

Apr 7, 2011 | | PC Reviews

Jane Jensen is a respected name among fans of classic adventure games; she’s the woman who brought us the Gabriel Knight series back in the 90’s. It has been over ten years since she made a new game, but she has finally brought her latest opus to the market. The new project, Gray Matter is a terrific example of Adventure gaming, and will delight gamers looking for a good story.

6.8

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Homefront PC Review

Mar 28, 2011 | | PC Reviews

The hype was high for Homefront, a title that revolves
around an alternate reality future in which North Korea invades the mainland of
the United States. This invasion scenario was written by John Milius (who also
wrote Red Dawn) and was developed by Kaos Studios, formerly of Frontlines: Fuel of
War. It is clear from the start that the single-player of Homefront was not the
primary focus of development, as it sags in many areas and comes off as a weak
Call of Duty clone than anything else. The one uptick is the decent multiplayer
that combines common deathmatch and capture objective modes with the ability to
buy equipment based on performance mid-battle, allowing for more diverse
strategies. However, the presentation of the bleak occupied lands is pretty
much the primary driver that makes this title stand out; everything else is
fairly unimpressive.

8.5

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Crysis 2 PC Review

Mar 28, 2011 | | PC Reviews

I had high hopes for Crysis 2, a game that had a lot to live
up to, considering its predecessors essentially set the bar for freedom and
graphics in first-person shooters. What’s more, the original Crysis was a
PC-exclusive, allowing all sorts of graphical extremes to be attempted. Crysis
2, however, is a console-centric title, with a port to PC; the possibilities
are more limited by static hardware requirements. Fortunately, this hasn’t
stymied the developer Crytek, as Crysis 2 is a fantastic looking game, and
brings forward essentially every innovation from the original, albeit with some
limitations in map size and an annoying inventory system. The sheer length of
the quality campaign, matched with a decent deathmatch-style multiplayer may
prove Crysis 2 to become a console classic on par with other greats of the
genre.

8.8

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Crysis Retrospective Review

Mar 22, 2011 | | PC Reviews

With Crysis 2 coming out this week, it only seems appropriate to look back at the origins of the series: the original Crysis exclusive to PC. Crysis was a graphical tour de force for its time, and offered players tactical shooting bolstered by the “Nanosuit”, giving choice to the gameplay. It’s a landmark for PC gaming to be sure, but does it hold up today 4 years later? The short answer is yes, but Crysis may have gotten even better with time.

Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword Review

Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 1 Review

Portal 2 Review

Portal Retro Review

Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops – Review

Sanctum Review

Gray Matter Review

Homefront PC Review

Crysis 2 PC Review

Crysis Retrospective Review

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