Crysis demo impressions

After a long run of announcements and disappointments, finally Crysis demo was released today. As soon as I got the news, I started downloading, anticipating decent enough performance and some great visuals and gameplay.
And I must say, Crysis didn't disappoint.





The demo, comprising of whole first level, was huge when compared to some recently released demos (Jericho taking the crown of shortest demo ever).
It looks like Crytek has taken those complaints about Far Cry, of bad voice acting and second grade plot, seriously. Although the story isnt stellar, it has been told in believable manner. The voice acting is pretty good in Crysis. Gameplay is quite varying, but I am quite sure some users will find it a bit empty. Why? I dont know. It is just that I found so. But wait, play it a bit more, just like I did and you will start liking it. Yes I know all of you know about the Nano suit, about the modes and all. Dont worry, I am not going to rant about those. The AI is really something worth mentioning. They seem pretty alive. not like other dumb heads of other games. The best part in my opinion is that they try to bring you out. If you are hiding, they will throw grenades towards you. Since almost everything in Crysis is destructible, even if you are in a room, you will have to come out or the room will be shattered! They are pretty accurate and spot you from a distance. So I think going commando isnt very good option while playing Crysis. Use nano suit as much as you can and try to be as much stealthy as much you can.
And the famous soldier grabbing part. Yes its pretty funny to grab a soldier from neck and then throw him, but that actually can be done only when there are very few enemies around. If there are many, you wont get the chance to go near and grab one of them.



But the heart of Crysis are its graphics, no doubt. And thats where the performance phenomenon comes in. As far as my system was concerned, it ran pretty smooth with about 35FPS average and no slowdowns (8800GTS 640MB, C2D E6600, 2GB 667MHz) at 1280*1024. It looked great and played well. But I am seriously doubtful that users with med-high or medium range machines will be able to play it in its glory. It still looks good at medium settings too, as far as I can see in screenshots. To argue whether Crysis is optimized properly or not will be waste of time. There are so many things going on in this game, so many high end techniques used that it will really be job of a game programmer to tell how well its optimized. I am happy that it runs great on my system.
For users who cant play it on very high settings, I would say one thing. True that graphics are adding depth in this game, but after a while I wasnt looking at them. What I was doing was playing. The core gameplay is still there and Crysis is no slouch in that department. Try the demo and play it for a while. Its not just about the graphics, although it is about the graphics. The gameplay is good and worth giving a try.

Got Hellgate:London demo today. And its utter shit!

I agree that I am not big fan of RPGs. But its not that I hate them. The Elder scrolls IV: Oblivion stands as one of the best games I have ever played and has some of the best gaming moments of my life.
But to say that I was excited much about Flagship studios' long in making RPG Hellgate:London will be a lie. I wasn't must excited, but I was hoping that it was going to be good. So when I heard that a demo was coming out, I waited in anticipation. It didnt come till yesterday night so I woke up today and went to class after putting it on download. It was done when I came so I quickly installed it to see how it was.
And as soon as the character customization screen came, I knew it was going to suck. Why? Because it was all so cheap! I could choose from two classes, and could customize them. While they performed their monkey stunts on side screen.
I fired the game after a quick customization and graphics were...hmmm......utter crap! It felt like I was playing some 2003-04 game! The game is severely unoptimized. I was getting 60FPS in outdoors initially. Then when I went indoors I was getting 80FPS. Then when I came out again I started getting 25-30FPS!!!!! WTH?
And then there is AI which is utter fool. A man who, in a mission, had to follow me, was starting revolving around me whenever I stopped! Other NPCs, whatever the moment, always kept talking trash to me. They were talking something else, related to storyline and serious thing on text and at the same time, they were saying 'will you love me. please done leave me, oh lover!' It was so annoying! I choose my character a female and still the female NPCs in game were saying the same things!
This game has serious issues in every department. I am not sure what will happen to it when it gets launched. I hope that the final game is better and the story line is good to suck the player in. Otherwise, this game will go down shit which was over hyped.

Review- The Orange box

Even before you start reading the review, you probably know that this can be nothing but positive. Probably the best box ever compiled for gamers, Orange box contains everything a gamer could have hoped for. It contains so many games, at a price of only $60. It sure is a bargain on $60, but what if you get it in $25? It would be a steal, wont it? Yes, thats the prince I got it in. In India, it sells at 1000Rs, which converts to only $25!!!!! Lucky we are, right?
Lets review games one by one, cause there is no good reason why we should see Orange box as one game. It contains different games, and each of them deserves a place here is our reviews. Actually, they are so great that I would dare to say that we are honored to have them in our reviews. Sounds over the top? First buy Orange box, and then see how you agree with me.

Half life 2-Episode two-

The most important game of the lot it is, although some people might not agree.
Episode two begins right from the place where Episode one left. Your trains had crashed and you didnt know exactly where you were. So Episode two begins in a train again, something all Half life games are famous for. Your train is now wreckage and it is Alyx (the smart chick who saved your life thousand of times before, and you already know that she is going to give birth to more freemen, just by looking at her love pouring face) once again who brings you out. How she was out already is something we are not interested in. You come out and see a huge portal over the combine citadel which you blew up in Episode one. And after that.....play the game. This is a spoiler free review.


Since I can't spoil anything about the story, it would be wise to go right away on the things which are usually considered in a review.

Gameplay wise, Half life series was never a slouch and Episode two is no exception. It is done almost to perfection. The only problem with it is that it is almost the same as it was in Half life 2 and Episode one. But still, it is leagues ahead than most of the games available today. The sheer immersion Valve's method gives to the player is something no one else can do. It is probably the only game which gives the proper feeling of being 'in game'. The only title I had such experience while playing was Fahrenheit (Indigo prophecy for some).
The gravity gun still is a great weapon and Valve uses it to great extent to create puzzles. There are no mind bending puzzles, only minor ones which really enhance the gameplay. This time you will go to Antlion caves and in huge jungles and this change in setting than usual city 17 setting is really interesting. It is still quite linear though, but that dosen't take away anything.
There are these new enemies called 'Hunters'. They will give you a really hard time, surely. They are tough, fast and agile and usually come in groups. They wont die easily and their attacks are devastating. I always thought that Half life games were a bit easy. Hunters are nice additions which make game challenging.
The AI in Half life 2 was a bit bad when compared to other stellar aspects of the game. This time, it clearly shows that Valve worked hard to fix it. Alyx was pretty good already, but this time she is even better! Where the improvement has come most, is in AI of other characters. Enemies are a bit smarter and helpers too. I took a health crate quickly from a falling trolley and the Vortiguant said- "The freeman is a quick thinker." Funny?
Graphics, although not completely overhauled, are a lot better than previous installments. Valve's 'high detail shader' is in work here. Trees, shadows and animation all look great, but what steals the show are HDR effects. Combined with AA (Although I reviewed game on a 8800, Source engine can do HDR+AA on all cards), these effects are probably the best HDR effects in released games. They all contain a bluish tint, which makes then even better to look at.



But there is one problem with graphics, textures are not of very high resolution. But that is something you wont notice much, so I would say that it dosent affect overall graphics quality much. Couple the graphics from the fact that it is so well optimized that it is very easy to say that this is the best optimized game, and you have a winner here. Why can't other developers optimize as mush as Valve? Does Valve use some kind of magic? Who knows?

The story, this time, is fleshed much more. Episode one was disappointing cause nothing really happened in it. The story didnt progress much. But this time, especially in the later stages, many secrets are revealed. Though we still dont know who G-man is, we know a bit more about him. There is a clear hint that the story lines of Portal and Episode three will merge.

The review wont complete without mentioning the final battle and the ending of the game. The final battle, which I lovingly call- 'the strider buster level', is one of the best gaming moments ever! It is hard, fast paced, engaging and what not? It will keep on your toes for a good while, without frustrating you. Sounds great? Even greater it is while playing.
And then there is the ending. The most emotional gaming moment ever for me. The credit must be given to Valve for making a sequence which could force a weak heart to weep, easily. The voice acting is amazing in the scene and no other sequence in a game is that hard hitting.

There are only two problems with Episode two, and they are obvious. First- it is short. Although longer than Episode one, it is still short. But what would you expect from a episode? It is actually our mistake that we just can't satisfy with the length, we always crave for more.
Second is the ending. Its, once again, a cliffhanger ending. But then again, it was expected. It sets out a great ground for Episode three and assures that the series will only reach new heights in the next installment.

Summing up-

Presentation- 10/10
Graphics- 9.3/10
Sound- 9/10
Gameplay- 9.8/10
Controls/AI- 9.5/10

Overall- 9.52/10.

Portal review-

Review of Portal can't be much long. Why? Cause the game itself is pretty short and the storyline is non-existent. That is not to say that Portal is not good. Portal is quite engaging affair actually. It is a puzzle game and probably the most innovative one to come along in years.
To have an overview, all you have to do is to make portals in walls or anywhere else where you can. One to go in and one to come out, or to bring some object out.
Give you the gun to make portals and out you in arenas where you have to make your way out without dying or doing anything not allowed. That is Portal. But what Valve has crafted is a short, but sweet game. In total Portal has 19 stages (excluding ones to be unlocked). You will clear about 10-12 very very quickly and easily. 12-15 are a bit challenging but nothing tough. It is actually in later stages where the fun begins. They are some mind-bending puzzles there.


The story is that you are "subject name here", an Asian looking girl who is in Aperture Science Enrichment center. You are part of an on going experiment and you have to complete all levels successfully to get 'cake'. The only interesting is that what 'cake' really is and I wont spoil it. You are guided by the famous female AI voice, which is synonymous with Portal these days.

The best part of the game are the credits. I really really loved them and especially the credits song. It is really humorous and sweet. Have a look at the Lyrics-

It was Triumph.
I am making a note here. Huge success.
It is hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture science.
We do what we must, because, we can.
For the good of all of us,
except the ones who are dead.
But there is no sense crying over every mistake,
you just keep on trying until you run out all cake.
And then science gets done and you make a neat gun,
for the people who are still alive.
I am not even angry,
I am being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart and killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because,
i was so happy for you.
Now these points of data make a beautiful line,
and we are out of beta we are releasing on time.
So I am glad I got burned.
Think of all the things we learned,
for the people who are still alive.
Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you will find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black mesa.
That was a joke. HAHA. Fat chance.
Anyway this cake is great, it is so delicious and moist.
Look at me I am still talking when there is science to do.
When I look out there, it makes me glad I am not you.
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done.
on the people who are still alive.
And believe me I am still alive.
I am doing science and I am still alive.
I feel fantastic and I am still alive.
While you're dying I will be still alive.
And when you're dead I will be still alive.
Still alive.
Still alive.

You can download the song here.

Other than this, there is nothing really to be said about Portal. It is a nice addition to the Orange box which injects variation in it. I can't even judge it on normal point basis cause it is so different. So I will give it directly-

8/10.

I couldn't review Team fortress 2 cause our University Proxy dosent allow to play online games. And I didnt play Episode one and Half life 2 again. So basically, this was review of Episode two and Portal.

So many demos and Half life 2- Episode two!

The long wait is finally over. I got Half life 2- Episode two today. Now its time to play, review soon.

Surprisingly, suddenly a Call of duty 4: modern warfare demo popped up tomorrow morning. I started downloading and left for class. But unfortunately, I couldn't download due to server problems. Then I started download again in the evening after 7PM, when the LAN ban was over. And again the server I was downloading died when i was at 30%!!!!! And then from nowhere, UT2007 demo popped up. It was small so I downloaded it before LAN ban. And did I mention a new Timeshift demo? Yeah it too came out yesterday.
No need to day, the best demo was CoD4. It was really really awesome. UT2k7 was disappointing and Timeshift was OK. Now I have Ep2 on the weekend. What can be better than this? I dont think anything.

Saw 'Bridge to Terabithia', and I was moved

It was a cool Sunday morning and there was not much to do. So I decided to watch Bridge to Terabithia. I was planning to watch it from so many days and finally gave it a shot.

The story revolves around a pre-teen Jesse Aarons. He is having a hard time, at home and at school. He is bullied by his sisters at home and by other students at school. On top of that, there is his ignoring father. All he likes and excels in is running. But this too turns upside down when the new girl in the class beats him in an important race at school.
The girl, Leslie burke (AnnaSophia rob), lives the next door. She too, is different than all, and is lonely and never had luck in making friends.
Then, as what you would expect, they become friendship. But this one is different then all other cheesy stories. There is no romantic angle, and what indeed is friendship in its most beautiful and pure form. It begins from giving a juicy fruit and carries itself to the imaginative world of Terabithia. A world, created by two friends, to run away from the outside world. A world where they are the king and queen and nothing crushes them. This movie slowly becomes more and more beautiful and the later part is up to you to watch.



Movie gripped me from the beginning. It was engaging, never boring and so fresh. Characters were very lovable, especially both of the main characters.
Yes, this is probably the best family movie you would ever see, but there is a word of caution. It can be the most depressing movie too. There is something after movie is over more than half, which can make you cry, seriously.
Now I wont write spoiler, but this was something I didn't expect. Believe me, I never felt so much depressed in my life just because a movie. I wanted to weep, seriously.
When the movie was over, I was depressed. Actually that happens sometimes and it is not something very strange. But when I was going to sleep, it was in my mind. I slept and started thinking about it. I tried to throw it out of my mind, but I couldn't. I was so depressed. Scenes of movie kept coming in my thoughts. Especially two or three were so touching, that I wanted to cry just by thinking of them.
I woke up once in between my nap, and all I thought was about Bridge to Terabithia. It is strange, for the first time a movie is keeping me depressed for so much time. Schindler's list was excellent, but I was not depressed for so much time. When I am writing this, it is almost a whole day since I saw the movie, but I just cant stop thinking. I dont know how to escape it, but it just haunts.


Ending of the movie was a happy one, but was it really? I want to write so much about the movie, about those two characters, about their friendship or love or maybe about anything about the movie. But I just cant write. It is making me depressed. Maybe thats cause I too had a similar friend in the past and I cant be with her for some reason, but that dosent matter.
All I would like to say in the end, is that watch this movie right now if you haven't. And I bet you will be happy, but more depressed.

Review- Rainbow six-Vegas

It is always strange, and we couldn’t stop wondering what Ubisoft saw in the writings of Tom clancy that clicked as potential, ground breaking, video game franchises. Splinter cell, rainbow six, ghost recon. All of these are franchises that rocketed ubisoft on top place of game in industry. The newest game of one of these franchise, Rainbow six:vegas is a game which can’t be counted as degrading the overall quality assurance image of these franchises. In fact, it increases it in some cases.

You play as Logan keller in this game, the leader of the counter terrorist team who is called to operate against terrorists in Mexico (true, the game isn’t only in Vegas and also the beginning is not vegas). What happens after that and how we reach Vegas is the story element and we won’t spoil it for you.

Two most basic things of a game are graphics and gameplay, and this game is excellent on both of these fronts.

The graphics are realistic, very realistic. The flying dust, stunning lightning and shadow effects and great textures create sights to behold.

This game uses UT 3 engine, the same used in Gears of war. But to be true, although it goes down as one of the best looking games out there on PC, it is not as good looking as gears. This may be contributed to the fact that it was Epic themselves who made Gears and to another fact that on PC, there is always a bottom line that if you’re making a PC game, it should run on as many as PCs as you can allow it to. Ubisoft is already getting criticized for using Shader model 3.0 for this game, which makes many Graphics cards unable to play it.

Gameplay, although varying quite much from last Rainbow six, is very satisfying. It is probably the only game which gives you real feeling of being a commando. The animations of taking cover and shooting while hiding, or popping out suddenly and then firing, are just like a trained commando will do.

You can also shoot without coming out, but they will not be accurate. It is just like real life, you don’t where exactly the enemy is , so all you do is to get an idea of his position by his voice and fire blindly. This effect is crafted very nicely, although you won’t be using it pretty much cause of the inaccuracy.

This game do not has any medikit to pick or anything like that. The health replenishes itself after a while, slowly. So there is no need to go mad to find a medipack if you are low on health. This certainly decreases frustration in intense combats. Another effect is that whenever you get hit, the vision gets blurred for a while. So you need to wait until it goes OK to come back in action.

Just like Gears, anything that is between you and enemy is your friend here. You can take cover behind almost anything. And the controls for this are so easy. Just hold the right click and you are covered. Sit down or hide against it, and then use your ammo the way you like.

You won’t be playing alone. You have two buddies with you in almost every level. Everytime anything about AI buddies come and we start to suspect that they will be dumb and won’t be on par. But this times, this is not the case. They are pretty smart in almost everything. They navigate complex paths seamlessly and follow your orders without any double pressing.

Giving them order is one of the easiest things you can do in this ame. Point where you want them to be, and press space bar, they will be there. They take pretty good covers automatically, so don’t worry about there health that much.

There are many other things in the game worth mentioning. Like rope climbing or decending, choosing priority killing for enemies and of course, the weapon modification.

The Multiplayer allows cooperative mode, up to four players. So that creates good fun, and also compensates a bit for short single player part. You can also replay the game in realistic mode, which is much harder than normal.

Then there is normal multiplayer, up to 16 players. Containing almost every type of game. Whether capture the flag or time mode. You can also customize yourself by unlocking new weapons, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

The game features almost every type of real life gun. And you can further customize it, by adding silencer, laser or anything that is available.

And the last thing, but surely one of the best things, is the background score of the game. It is strange in fact. Really dark in earlier ages of the game, and the funky later on. Since you are in casinos, music will be, most of the times, what is being played in casino. Really good score, not if you want to listen alone, but really fits great in setting of game.

With so many plus points, is there anything that goes wrong with this game? Well…nothing is perfect. The biggest flaw of this game is that it requires a very Godly machine if you want to play it in full glory. Ubisoft said that there was no possibility of same experience as of Xbox360 if they didn’t include Shader model 3.0, so we can consider that. But still, there are others who want to play the game, without upgrading to a Rs.15000 ($375) graphic card. Now it is all up to you to think about what was right. To degrade the graphics, and hence experience of game, or to allow some more people to play this game.

Another minus points comes from the fact that you can’t save the game anywhere you want. There are several checkpoints where it will get automatically saved. So, if you die a bit too far away from previous check point, get ready to be frustrated cause now you have to do it all over again.

The final words are- if you have the hardware to run it, go get it. Even if you didn’t like earlier Rainbow six games, give it a shot. And if you liked, we don’t need to say buy it, do we?

Review- Call of Juarez

It is rare that I get an urge a hell lot about any game. As u may have seen, my reviews are short, if not one of the shortest out there.
But this time, it is different. Being completed Call of Juarez, I am dying to write about it. It may happen that ultimately I will end up not writing much, but still, I intend to make my thoughts clear.
In a few words- this game is awesome. Techland has made a game which can stand on par with the best ones out there, in any sense.
The question is- how?
The impression we get from a game is from presentation, and Call of Juarez has top notch production values, no two words about it. On the loading screen of the first level, you get introduction to the one of the character you will be playing- Billy, from himself. As soon as you listen the voice, game puts right into the setting. Whoever did Billy's voice over (it turns out to be David E. Taylor), did a fantastic job (and same goes for all voice overs of the game). Billy is a Mexican boy, who is on the run after leaving home because of his stepfather. When the game begins, you are near your your hometown called 'Hope' (but as Billy's says- 'pretty much the most hopeless town I have ever seen').
As soon as you see your hometown, one thing you just can't remain without thinking is that it looks gorgeous.



Hope is gorgeous

After a while, you will miss a blow job (really) and well known western style action will kick in. And after that, there is no stopping. The game is a non stop action ride after that point for most of the time.

After a few stages, you will be introduced to the second avatar of you. Reverand ray, a father in church of hope, finds his brother dead and somehow, it all comes to you. He thinks you have killed his brother. He will leave the obvious merciful image of a father and will become 'wrath of God'. The transformation of a father in a death angel is sudden, but wonderfully executed. Marc Alaimo has done hell of a voice over. The things he says are awesome. The voice really feels like voices of a death angel. He is fearsome, no doubt about that. Reverend ray, in my opinion, is one of the best game characters ever made. He (and that obviously means you) will hold gun in one hand a bible in other, only to read phrases from bible on dying thugs. This might not sound that interesting this way, but indeed is.
So, you are now after Billy (catching yourself is awesome, believe me). Game will process like this for quite a while now. You on the run, and you then catching yourself. There is something really interesting in the way these sequences are executed. Billy is all the way a fearful, scared guy (even his primary weapon is a whip) and Reverend ray is probably the most bad ass guy out there. So when you complete a level as Billy, you will be hiding from enemies, more in a stealth way. And then when you do it as Reverend ray, you will be a killing machine. There is something really satisfying about killing those bastards we were running scared of a while ago.

OK-OK. I forgot, I should not spoil the game for you. But one question which surely will come in your mind, that what is Juarez then? Well, Juarez is a legend in game (which actually will turn out something else in later stages of the game) who had a great treasure of gold, which Billy's mother described as-

There is one candle and three graves,
the gold of Juarez belongs only to the brave.

You sure want to know about graphics (and I have already given a hint). Graphics are breath taking, to say the least. As game progresses, they only improve. Jungle are rendered flawlessly. HDR creates almost real lightning effects and shadows are as perfect as they can be in any game. Jungles are lush and are full of flowers, butterflies and wolves. Dust is in the air everywhere and water is simply great. Simply put, these are one of the best graphics out there.



And in later stages of the game, you will be treated with even more beautiful vistas, when the game puts you into the desert, where the Gold of Juarez lies. This desert is so beautifully rendered that one can only admire the greatness of Techland's Chrome engine.




And then there is this awesome gameplay, which constitutes of horse-riding, dual gun fighting, slo-mo kind of effects and even killing by a whip. And all of them are executed wonderfully (although the horse riding can be a bit frustrating sometimes). The best part is that changing characters do not affects flow of story at all. The game does have many mini quests, which include crazy quests like watering a fire, bringing a eagle feather from insane heights and even killing rabbits!
Game is long enough. There are 15 episodes and each should take around one hour, with some being shorter or longer.
So all in all, Call of Juarez is an awesome game which succeeds in almost everything it tries hands in. A must have for every gamer out there, but with only one warning- get a good gaming comp first.