[MC]Ronin[MC]

With three excellent Shovel Knight games down already, it’s no surprise that the latest, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, is another great 2D platforming adventure with excellent level design, charming characters, and fun new mechanics. What is a bit of a surprise, however, is how King of Cards grafts a well designed but tonally inconsistent collectible card game onto the usual Shovel Knight platforming package, and how that card game is integral to both the story and progression of your new protagonist. As a result, King of Cards is a bit at odds with itself. While this is the largest Shovel Knight game yet (clocking in at about 11 hours for me), with a great refocusing on a higher quantity of shorter levels with alternate pathways, its card game’s intrusion can make it feel like a delicious meal with a strange, unfamiliar sauce poured all over it that I would have rather ordered on the side. King of Cards’ story is fittingly quite silly, but it still serves as a fun prequel chapter that fills in some remaining gaps in Shovel Knight’s interconnected plot that ties together each of the four games. You play as King Knight, a Knight that dresses, acts, and behaves like a king despite not actually being one. The Jerry Lawler of Shovel Knight bosses, so to speak. He so desperately wants to be a king that when he learns of a grand tournament for the card game Joustus that will crown its winner the “King of Cards,” he immediately runs home to his mother, tells her that he’s forgoing his chores and leaving on a great quest to become a king, eats a pie, and then sets out to defeat the three Joustus Judges standing in his way. As always, Yacht Club Games delivers a surprising amount of heart with its storytelling. While King Knight isn’t quite as likable as the noble Shovel Knight, the hopelessly lovestruck Plague Knight, or the dark and mysterious Specter Knight, the arc of his character is still pretty clever – despite anyone who has played the original game knowing where it will eventually end up anyway. Tackle ‘n Twirl King Knight’s twist on Shovel Knight’s retro platforming revolves around the one-two punch of a Wario-esque shoulder tackle, and the resulting graceful aerial twirl that allows him to bounce off of enemies, blocks, and other objects, much like Shovel Knight’s own shovel bounce. It’s not quite as thrilling as Specter Knight’s fast paced aerial slashing style, or as creative as Plague Knight’s bomb jump-centric gameplay, but it still offers a fun new way to overcome familiar obstacles. The magic that makes it work is how you are cleverly restricted. Without an enemy, object, or particular type of wall to shoulder tackle, King Knight cannot bounce back and start to spin – and after that initial hit, he must use his spin to bounce again before he’s able to string it into another dash midair. It’s a great ruleset for an otherwise fairly simple idea that forces you to think on the fly about what order you need to kill enemies or break blocks to get through any given platforming challenge. The magic that makes it work is how you are cleverly restricted “ This is all communicated wonderfully through the level design, which finds a nice sweet spot of being challenging without ever being frustrating. King of Cards is a little easier than prior Shovel Knight games thanks to how generous it is with dropping health restoring hearts, but there are still a ton of bottomless pits, insta kill spikes, and devious enemy placements that presented a good challenge for me even as an experienced Shovel Knight vet. In true Shovel Knight fashion, King Knight also gets a bevy of heirlooms that essentially act as special magic attacks, offering a little extra flexibility in how you’re able to conquer the many hazards it throws at you. There’s a great selection here – one highlight being a flipping sword attack that doubles as a damaging attack, and a way to get extra height on your jump – and even though a lot of them are very situational, like a dash attack that lets you speed across water, they reward you for thinking about how you can best use your tools to make a tough situation much easier. These heirlooms are usually bought with Merit Medals, a currency that can either be found hidden in each level, or commonly won through a game of Joustus, which brings me to my biggest, and really only problem with King of Cards: the cards. The Joustus League Joustus is a grid-based card game that resembles something much closer to Final Fantasy 8’s Triple Triad than the likes of Hearthstone or even The Witcher 3’s Gwent. You and your AI opponent take turns placing cards down on the playing field, using them to push other cards around as you try to claim specific gem spaces. Each card has arrows pointing toward one or more of its edges indicating which directions you can use them to push another card, but those arrows also block cards from being pushed back the same way. You go back and forth pushing cards and setting up others to block pushes until all of the spaces on the field are filled, at which point whoever holds the most gem spaces wins. There’s actually a ton of depth in this simple and easy to understand premise, and Joustus evolves nicely with increasingly powerful cards that introduce new concepts, such as a double arrow that can push through standard arrows, but is stopped by other double arrows; a bomb arrow that can blow up whatever card it gets pushed into; and an arrow that actually flips control of any card it pushes, making an opponent’s card yours or vice versa. As well designed as it is though, Joustus just simply isn’t as fun King of Cards’ platforming, and any Joustus-themed levels that popped up on the overworld essentially served as speed bumps, stuttering my enjoyment of the main game. The tutorial for Joustus also doesn’t go over anything more than the basics, leaving you to figure out the deeper strategy and tactics for yourself. That can be extremely frustrating because everytime you lose a game of Joustus, you automatically lose one of the cards in your deck. You can mercifully buy cards that you lose back, but that costs money that you could be using to improve King Knight with health buffs or new types of armor like in previous Shovel Knight games. This minigame is thankfully entirely optional once you get past the first mandatory Joustus House, but since playing it always offers Merit Medals, you’ll be missing out on a large chunk of the otherwise limited currency needed to buy King Knight’s exciting heirlooms and other upgrades. It’s essentially like if you could reach a level cap in The Witcher 3, and the only way to improve Geralt further was by winning Gwent matches: Gwent is fun, but not when if you’re forced to play it to kill monsters better. [Correction: The developers have informed me that you can skip the first Joustus House by exiting the level right at the start. This workaround is not communicated within the game, hence my assumption that it was mandatory. They also have assured me that you can collect every heirloom, every piece of armor, and every upgrade without playing Joustus, though in my experience, it would take considerably longer considering the amount of medals you'd be passing up by not playing Joustus.] Joustus undoubtedly weighs down the campaign in King of Cards, but the overall package is also lifted up by some smart changes to the Shovel Knight formula that help balance that out. There’s a lot more levels this time around, and while they are shorter, they are also much tighter in their design, allowing for some really cleverly themed levels that never outstay their welcome – like one level that requires you to shoulder charge test tubes in order to shoot out their corks, which can then be used as platforms for a short time. Many of these stages also have secret exits that encourage both exploration and replayability. And, of course, the music is just as incredible as ever. While most of the music is carried over from previous games, there are a couple of new tracks, like the one that plays over the new Troupple Pond level, that are up there among the best in the series. Composer Jake Kaufman is a musical wizard. Verdict Shovel Knight: King of Cards, like previous entries in the Shovel Knight series, is a blast. This is hands down the most ambitious and largest Shovel Knight game yet, with more levels, more dialogue, branching paths, and a completely new and cleverly used style of play centered around King Knight’s unique abilities. Not all of that ambition pays off, especially when it comes to its intrusive Joustus card game, which slows down the momentum of the game – and while it’s not mandatory, it felt like I would be missing out on a huge chunk of content by not participating in it. Nonetheless, King of Cards still wraps up this first era of Shovel Knight with style and flair befitting of a king (knight).

It's been 25 years since John Madden crashed through the front cover of your video game like a moppy-haired Kool Aid Man. That's 25 years of digital touchdown celebrations and the Cleveland Browns making it to the pretend Superbowl, just like in their dreams that never come true. For an anniversary so important it warrants messing up a long-established naming scheme, you’d think EA Sports would do more to celebrate it than just put in some retrospective trivia in the loading screens. Unfortunately Madden NFL 25 SEE DEAL is more of a run-of-the mill upgrade than a big anniversary edition, but it is still a great version. Madden NFL 25 makes a lot of small improvements that build on last year’s big Madden NFL 13 revamp to create one of the finest football gaming experiences available. The differences aren’t huge, and hard to spot at a glance, because most are under the hood. Over a few games, though, it becomes apparent that Madden 25 doesn’t screw up as much. The Infinity Engine 2 physics got a lot of tweaking, and players look more realistic than ever in action. Each tackle feels and looks different, with players tumbling to the ground in myriad ways, but this year they do it without the crazy splaying legs and linebackers comically tripping over a downed receiver after a play. The cartoonish goofiness that took us out of the experience is gone, and Madden feels one step closer to replicating the look and feel of a real NFL broadcast. The other noticeable enhancement to moment-to-moment play is a much better set of tools for the running game. Maneuvers like spins, dives, stiff arms, and hurdles have all been improved and expanded, making great running backs and tight ends more awesome to play with. If you’re playing with a superstar athlete like Adrian Peterson, you can use a new Precision Modifier to really amp up the moves – if a player's stat in, say, Hurdles, is high enough, he can leap greater bounds, jumping over diving defenders. It's tough to pull off, and can only be done with the superstar athletes, but it's so satisfying when it happens. All of the modes from last year's game return, with some new tweaks that add another fun layer on top. Like in Madden NFL 13, each of 31 online players can decide if they want to play as a coach or as a single player (created, real, or legendary) in Connected Franchise. But now Franchise lets you play in Owner Mode, putting you in control of an entire team's staff, finances, and stadium. For the most part this is just a lot of metagame menus on top of Coach Mode, and deciding the price of hot dogs and jerseys isn’t the kind of thing that’s going to be long-term fun for most. But there is some cool stuff in here, most notably the ability to move teams to new cities. I was pleasantly surprised that when I decided to move my St. Louis Rams I was encouraged to pick Los Angeles, and when I did the mode's faux-Twitter stream mentioned the return of LA's prodigal sons. Owner Mode is a novelty to some extent, but it's a well done novelty, and adds a new way to play the already expansive Connected Franchise. When playing Franchise as a created character, the mode has been improved by offering way more opportunities to earn XP and raise your stats. Arguably it might be too big of a boost (I became the best quarterback in the league in my rookie season), but it definitely streamlines your progress. Also returning is Madden Ultimate Team, the combination online season/trading-card game. It features the return of Team Chemistry, which gives you boosts if you match up players’ styles with each other. A Long Pass QB gets a bonus if he has a Wide Receiver who can make it down the field. Again, it's an extra metagame, but I really enjoy it for its strategy and rewards. I wish this mode had more offline play to offer, though I love that EA Sports has used special rare MUT cards to incentivize Madden's new Skills Trainer (essentially a tutorial mode). Learning the finer points of the game is a lot cooler when I'm being rewarded for it. When Madden's presentation is at its best it’s awesome, making me feel like I'm having a real Sunday afternoon experience. But all too often it dips into sub-par territory, and all of those seem like small things that were disappointingly not addressed. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms provide excellent commentary, sounding natural and well-timed. It’s some of the best I've heard, in fact, but there's nowhere near enough of it. By the end of the season I was sick of hearing them, no matter how excited they sounded. Likewise, seeing the same few touchdown celebrations I griped about being reused last year show up again is a tad discouraging, and sucks some of the thrill out of victories. On top of all that the presentation suffers from a few glitchy hiccups. News recaps and tweets occasionally say my team barely won, when the final score is 35-14, and sometimes the announcers get confused about which quarter it is. I love that EA Sports is finally prioritizing the efforts to make Madden NFL look like real football, but it comes up short in those important spots. Other sports games are lightyears ahead of Madden 25 here, and while it seems like a superfluous thing, it makes a big difference. Verdict With its incremental but noticeable improvements, Madden NFL 25 is the best football game experience I've had to date. It shines on a technical level, but the real issue with the series is that other sports games have improved so much faster that Madden 25 looks and feels dated by comparison – fake Twitter streams and pre-game montages are already old news. It would be better if EA Sports did more that was new and interesting rather than bringing back features discarded in previous versions. But the real meat-and-potatoes gameplay is better than ever, and when it comes down to it, we’re here to play some damn football. Madden 25 brings it with bone-crunching intensity.

Halo 4* for Halo: The Master Chief Collection comes to PC looking better than ever, including up to 4K UHD resolution and HDR. Now optimized for PC with mouse and keyboard support and other native PC features. The Master Chief returns to battle an ancient evil bent on vengeance and annihilation. Shipwrecked on a mysterious world, faced with new enemies and deadly technology, the universe will never be the same. Enlist aboard the Infinity to experience Halo’s original multiplayer and Spartan Ops - innovative episodic fiction-based co-op missions. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is required to play the (digital only) Halo 4. As usual, of course, the fate of the universe rests on Master Chief’s long-dormant shoulders – the green-armored super-soldier has been on ice aboard the Forward Unto Dawn since Halo 3 faded to black five years ago – but this time our hero bears an even greater burden. Saving humanity is the easy part. In Halo 4, his more difficult task is rescuing Cortana from herself. She is slipping into rampancy – a condition that plagues all UNSC AI constructs after they’ve been in service more than seven years. As their knowledge base expands, they eventually, as Cortana explains, think themselves to death. And that’s the unexpected heart of Halo 4’s greatness. The plot delves deeper into John’s humanity than ever before, but Halo 4 is more about Cortana and the fight for her own – ironically enough – humanity. Amazingly, Halo 4 is not only a success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre. And just how new developer 343 Industries has done it will surprise, delight, and excite you. Familiarly Unfamiliar It starts with a mesmerizing CG cutscene that flat-out knocks you on your ass. The lighting is flawless, subtle movements and animations abound, and it even goes so far that Commander Lasky (yes, the same Lasky we see as a teenager in the Forward Unto Dawn webseries) has crooked teeth – not the usual polygon-perfect Chiclet choppers that every other animated video game human has. It strikes a fine balance between old-school fan service and establishing context for new players, and it quickly segues into gameplay, where Halo 4’s greatest strength becomes immediately apparent: its gunplay. Halo’s weapons continue their trend of working in complementary harmony, where each gun has a purpose, and every situation a fitting firing solution. The inaccurate Promethean Suppressor and undesirable Covenant Storm Rifle proved near-useless at times, but Halo 4 still hits on a ludicrously high percentage of its death-dealers. The short-range Energy Sword or new Scattershot are great to pack alongside mid-range delights such as the DMR or Battle Rifle, which also pair nicely with the ferocious Sniper Rifle if you’re into the long game. In the opening mission, Master Chief is thawed out and immediately put back to work shooting Covenant, evoking both Halo: Combat Evolved (it’s set aboard an under-attack spaceship) and Halo 2 (the stage’s major battle takes place in zero-G on the hull of the ship). Expect your jaw to drop at least once on every level of Halo 4’s eight-mission campaign, especially after crash-landing on the Forerunner planet Requiem, emerging from the wreckage, and ascending a hill whose apex overlooks a gorgeous valley. It is your introduction to the planet you’ll be spending most of the game exploring and fighting the new Promethean enemies on, an obvious callback to the unforgettable moment when you touched down on the Halo ring for the first time in Combat Evolved. Now Hear This Of course, gorgeous graphics are only one responsibility a console’s killer app must bear. Perhaps equal to Halo 4’s monitor-melting visuals is its bar-none, best-in-class sound design. If you think you’ve heard Halo, check your ears and listen again. Nary a gunshot, MJOLNIR boot clank, or Covenant Elite’s “Wort wort wort” passes through your speakers without a significant, authoritative overhaul that lends an aggressive, testosterone-inducing punch to Halo 4’s combat. Few game series are known as much for their music as Halo, and thus much has been made of British electronica producer Neil Davidge taking over for the beloved Bungie incumbent, Marty O’Donnell. It’s a bold shift – and probably wise of 343 to go in a tonally different direction rather than attempt to emulate O’Donnell – but the results are mixed. The trademark monk chants are gone, and Davidge’s moody tunes are complementary rather than additive. The new tracks simply aren’t memorable and never elevate the action happening on the screen the way that O’Donnell’s bombastic scores did, though this may be intentional, as Davidge’s compositions are decidedly atmospheric. Hello New Day Resplendent set-pieces are ubiquitous during your quest, matched by what is inarguably the finest Halo sandbox yet. Halo 4 feels much more open-ended and organic than Halo Reach’s paint-by-numbers sequences because of its massive scale, scope, and freedom for possibility. Go it on foot, or take the Scorpion in front of you? Hop in a Ghost, or take the riskier strategy of trying to get to a heavily guarded Wraith? All of these choices exist in a moment, not a spectacular scene, allowing for emergent encounters dictated by the opportunities you seize. To be clear, Halo 4 certainly has its share of dedicated vehicle sections. The walking two-story Mantis robot packs a high-caliber machinegun alongside a rocket barrage. It’s even sporting a mean foot stomp attack to flatten any Covenant or Promethean scum who dare venture within spitting distance of you. The time you’ll spend behind its controls is both empowering and refreshing. Halo 4 also finally lets me do two things I’ve always wanted to do in a Halo campaign: fight alongside other Spartans and fly a Pelican. It’s a treat to blast Covenant Phantoms out of the sky with the silver bird’s beefed-up Spartan Laser, giving a classic Halo vehicle its long-overdue moment in the sun. Furthermore, an amazing near-final sequence tips its cap to the Halo finales of yore – you’ll know it when you see it and I dare not spoil it for you – even if it’s very obviously reminiscent of another powerhouse pop-culture phenomenon. Digging Deeper All throughout, the Halo 4 campaign is paced better than any first-person shooter this side of Half-Life 2, deftly mixing on-foot combat, vehicle sequences, quiet story moments, and key Chief-and-Cortana interactions. That pacing is most evident on Normal difficulty, where you won’t run into the patience-testing battles for the next checkpoint that define the Heroic and Legendary settings. The series has long been lauded for its brainy bad guys, and they’ve gained a whole host of IQ points for Master Chief’s return. As you’d expect, the full smarts of Halo 4’s brilliant enemy AI are most evident at higher difficulties. Vehicles get brought down to earth – sometimes literally, in the case of the Banshee – now that enemies are proficient at firing ride-disabling overcharged Plasma Pistol bursts. And the new Promethean aggressors are wicked intelligent without being unfair. Watcher units hover above the Knight infantrymen, acting as guardians and medics – if you can get around the protector’s shield or return-to-sender grenade tosses, it can revive its allies. Halo 4’s combat is about efficient prioritization: kill the Watcher before it can get to cover, and turn the Knights to dust before they can escape, all the while dodging fire from swarms of speedy wall-running Crawlers – dog-like denizens of Requiem that can only be shot in the face. An Imperfect Being? The campaign has few failings, but the primary annoyance is that a lot of great story content is left for the eight hidden Terminals. Unlike previous Halos, the Terminal tale here isn’t a side-story, but rather it fills in important backstory for both the main antagonist and a key allied character. Worse, you can’t view the videos within the game. Instead, you’re directed to Halo Waypoint, which serves only to pull you out of the experience, literally and figuratively. On a related note, as much as Halo 4 delves delightfully deep into its iconic characters, it leaves a number of threads hanging. Why is Spartan-II creator Dr. Catherine Halsey in handcuffs in the intro? What did Master Chief’s [spoiler redacted] do to him? How did [spoiler redacted] survive at the end? No doubt these will be addressed in the fifth and sixth Halos, but until then the discussions will be heated and the wait will be maddening. Halo 4’s other drag is one that’s only really evident on Heroic or Legendary difficulties: some of its fetch quest-y, flip-three-switches sequences feel like they artificially lengthen the game because of how long you can get hung up on them when the going gets tough. I spent upwards of an hour trying to trudge through one of them on Heroic, but when playing again on Normal I cruised through on the first try. At one point, Cortana even makes a self-deprecating remark about the repetition, which I recognized and appreciated. These are mostly just scrapes in the paint of Master Chief’s MJOLNIR armor, however. His return in the Halo 4 campaign is a success of mission design, art direction, level design, technology, and story writing. Underpinning it all, though, is that irresistible combat. Some shooters get a few weapons right, or, like Sniper Elite v2, they build their entire experience around one facet like long-range. Halo, however, boasts the best of all worlds. As you’d expect, this plays exceptionally well in Halo 4’s robust multiplayer modes. Great Expectations No console shooter has a richer, deeper, more revered multiplayer history than Halo. So how does Halo 4’s multiplayer suite live up to the legacy in 343’s hands? It’s golden. Halo has evolved, wrapping its multiplayer in an unexpected narrative context – the Spartan-on-Spartan battles are presented as training sessions aboard the UNSC Infinity ship – complete with more of the same visually arresting introductory cutscenes for both the adversarial War Games and the new Spartan Ops co-op mode. With Halo 4’s immaculate weapon balancing and gun-for-every-situation combat strategies, it needs only a great crop of multiplayer maps in order to qualify for classic status. Fear not, as 343 packs War Games with 10 mostly stellar stages and three additional Forge-built battlegrounds. Exile leads the vehicle-heavy Big-Team Battle complement, Ragnarok shines as a Mantis-showcasing remake of Halo 3’s Valhalla, and Haven is among the series’ all-time finest small and symmetrical levels. Oh, and one of the official Forge constructions, Settler, is a smaller, crazier evolution of the franchise’s most famous map that I absolutely love: Blood Gulch. Halo 4 might not have its instant-classic (a la Halo 2’s Lockout), but this is an impressive collection of outstanding battlegrounds, with a seemingly greater emphasis placed on the large-scale, vehicle-inclusive levels that are Halo’s bread-and-butter. Meanwhile, Halo 4 includes all of the same matchmaking, playlists, customization, and social options you’ve come to expect from the series. The more visual lobby screen, where player cards depict each person’s custom Spartan, is a bit more cluttered and difficult to parse through than previous Halos, but that’s the only downgrade. Everything else is on par with what Bungie had previously established. The Theater returns virtually unchanged, as does the Forge editor, with its notable improvement being a magnet feature that allows you to more easily connect Forge pieces. That leaves Spartan Ops, a downloadable series of 10 episodic side missions for Gold subscribers, each of which include a lengthy CG cutscene. The first one spans five chapters, and it took about an hour to play through in four-player co-op on Legendary difficulty. As you’d expect, the more friends you bring the easier it’ll be – and, while it’s perfectly enjoyable and makes for a good excuse to jump online with your pals once a week, once you’re finished with each episode, it lacks the replayability and score-based incentives of the Firefight mode it replaces. However, the incredible pre-episode cinematics make the mode a must-play regardless, and it opens up a number of interesting narrative possibilities for future episodes and seasons. So even if you only play each episode once, you can’t complain about the fact that nine more weeks of downloads await you. The End of the Beginning After soaking in the new game, I am beyond thrilled to be so in love with Halo again, more than I’ve been since Halo 2. Halo 4 is a masterstroke everyone can and should celebrate, and its two guaranteed sequels instantly make the next-generation Xbox a must-own system, with Halo 5 its most anticipated title. Halo has been rebuilt. It has been redefined. And it has been reinvigorated. The Xbox’s original king has returned to his rightful place on the throne. Verdict Cortana once asked Master Chief what would happen if he missed his target, and in the single greatest line of dialogue in Halo history, Chief replied with the coolest, calmest confidence, "I won’t." With Halo 4, he doesn't. Composers: Neil David; Kazuma Jinnouchi Writer: Christopher Sclurf Developers: 343 Industries, Certain Affinity, Splash Damage Awards: VGX Award for Best Xbox Game, VGX Award for Best Graphics Platform: Xbox 360

Along with top gear, Touran Sky offers the most: infinite upward view and a whole new sense of space. This is the result of the large panoramic roof with opening and sliding features. For added comfort and safety, take care of the standard LED headlights and the automatic ACC distance control. In addition to the great price advantage, the Sky model fascinates with a 5-year warranty³⁾. Panoramic roof with opening and sliding function Great views. The large, panoramic sunroof with opening and sliding features gives you the opportunity to look up at the sky during the day and let in sunlight and fresh air. Keyless Access Open the doors as if by magic. Save yourself the annoying search for a key and just leave it in your pocket or bag. With the Keyless Access car unlock and launch option available, it's easy enough to carry the key with you. When you are less than 1.5 meters away, the system recognizes the key and automatically unlocks the car door and tailgate when you place your hand on the handle of one of the front doors. When you are in the car, it is enough to simply press the start button and the journey can already begin. LED headlights Blinding appearance. Without blinding. It is always refreshing to break traditions - and for the eyes. LED light is much more pleasing to the eyes than conventional light bulbs. For you this means: you travel much more quietly in dark conditions. The best part, though: The optional LED headlights look great, but they don't dazzle oncoming cars. Complementing the family appearance with a solid helping of sports spirit. Exterior & Interior R-Line Package. A family car can't have a sporty look? Your Touran can. With the Exterior & Interior R-Line package, it meets the requirements of family life and at the same time looks sporty. The specific bumpers are lacquered in the color of the car. The rear trim strips are chrome plated and the front bumper features glossy black C-shaped ducts. Threshold extensions and diffuser are also in black gloss, contrasting with chrome exhaust tips (for engines with 110 kW or more). Silver-anodized anchors combine design and functionality. The R-Line logo on the side and door panels, as well as the radiator grille, explain why the family car looks like an athlete. The overall sporty look is complemented perfectly by the 17-inch Salvador alloy wheels1 or the Marseille 18-inch alloy wheels. Not only the outside, however, emphasizes athleticism. When you get into the car, you will also notice the sporting details: for example, the distinctive aluminum aluminum trim with the R-Line logo, as well as the pedals and the footrest made of brushed stainless steel. The multifunctional leather sports steering wheel with aluminum trims, the R-Line logo and decorative seams in gray offer a sporty look to the sporty feel while driving. The R-Line logo is also located on the home screen of the radio navigation system. Comfort seats are upholstered with Race fabric in gray. The inner side supports of the seats are made of anthracite-colored San Remo microfacer, the decorative seams are gray. Optionally, you will get the seats with leather upholstery "Vienna" in black. If you look up, you will see the black ceiling. The interior is finished with Black Lead Gray decorative elements in the door trim and dashboard.

The Cheops telescope embarks on an exoplanet exploration mission Days have been separating the Cheops telescope since the start of its mission to explore planets outside the solar system, AFP and Natchur reported. The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch the first ever telescope, not for search, but for a detailed study of the hundreds of about 4,000 exoplanets discovered so far. Called "CHEOPS" (Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite), the 300-pound unit worth 50m euros will be launched with a Soyuz rocket from the Kuru Space Station in French Guiana on Tuesday. The telescope will be positioned about 700 km above Earth, with its main instrument pointing toward the night side of the planet so as not to interfere with the sun's view of space. They launch a telescope to search for exoplanets Equipped with a single camera, Cheops will stare at the stars around which it is already known to orbit exoplanets. Through the transit method, astronomers will try to determine the size and study their atmospheres, obtaining important information about the formation and evolution of diverse worlds outside the solar system. During his mission, Cheops will study between 300 and 500 exoplanets. Astronomers discovered the first exoplanet about three decades ago with the help of terrestrial telescopes. Since then, several missions have been launched, aiming to discover more new worlds, including the Kepler Space Telescope retired last year and the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) launch in April 2018. Bulgarian Development Bank with almost 50% growth! An exoplanet with three suns can support the atmosphere Cheops is the first space telescope designed not to search, but to study already known exoplanets. Among its objects of observation will be a variety of worlds beyond the solar system - from mini-Neptunians close to Earth's to ice and gas giants, explains David Ehrenreich of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. "Exoplanet detection is now the norm. We need to move on to a new era where we start characterizing them and defining their properties in detail, "says astronomer Matt Griffin. The specialist is part of the team of a future ESA project to explore worlds beyond the solar system.

The Panton Institute has been defining the main color for 20 years The main color for 2020 has already been determined. Specialists at the American Pantone Color Institute have chosen this to be the classic blue. "The unmistakable and unmistakable shade of blue Panton 19-4052 Classic blue is elegant with its simplicity. It is perceived as the color of calm and instills peace and tranquility in the human soul," say experts in defense of their choice. According to them, we can always trust the classic blue, because the hue reminds us of the infinity of the evening sky and prompts us to go beyond the ordinary. The color for 2019 was "living coral". The Panton Institute defines the main color of the year since 2000, taking into account trends in fashion and interior design.

As a game with possibly the most ridiculous and difficult-to-explain premise of any driving game in history, Driver: San Francisco has a lot to prove. It's difficult to see how a racer in which you can zoom out of your own body and temporarily inhabit any car in the road like a thrill-seeking poltergeist is actually going to work. Happily, Driver: SF brings you around to its way of thinking within minutes of picking up the controller. After spending half an hour or so playing around with the Shift system, you completely understand it – and you begin to see just how many new possibilities it opens up. Driver: SF sees the return of undercover cop John Tanner and his incarcerated arch-nemesis Jericho, who breaks out of prison and puts Tanner into a coma at the very beginning of the game. From then on, events take place inside Tanner's head, which explains how he's suddenly able to possess innocent denizens of San Francisco on their daily commute to work. Tanner himself initially finds this newfound ability – Shifting, as he calls it – as ridiculous and improbable as anyone, sending boy racers leaping off transporter trucks and careening around the city with six cop cars in pursuit just for fun. After an hour or two of that, though, it becomes apparent that there's more to Shifting than meets the eye, and it completely changes how you think about racing. Instead of concentrating purely on driving fast and cornering smartly, you can suddenly send oncoming traffic zooming into opponents to take them out, or block routes with a truck, or traverse the entire city in seconds. As the game goes on, your Shift abilities improve and more of the city unlocks, until you can zoom right out for a bird's-eye view of the whole Bay Area. Driver takes full advantage of its premise, never holding back from ridiculous set pieces. There are chase missions where you're inside cop cars, escort or tailing missions where you have to stick with the same vehicle, missions where you have to contrive insane crashes to help out a camera crew for America's Most Insane Car Chases 4, missions where you're helping earnest Japanese boys to become street-racing heroes and fund their college education, and much more. It has more variety than any other racer I can name. The point is proven by the unexpectedly brilliant selection of online and split-screen multiplayer modes, which show off Shift at its most entertaining and versatile. There are co-op survival missions where the aim is to escape cops or take down street racers as a team, games of competitive tag where your opponents are continually Shifting into different cars and attempting to veer into you, straightforward technical races where Shift is disabled, and modes where you have to tail a target car as closely as possible to score points, Shifting into another car when you drive head-on into a truck. At the heart of it all is an OTT chase-racer, one that revels in damage, crashes, handbrake-heavy handling, wild spins and fishtailing, and high-energy Seventies-style funk music. Every model of car, of which there are a over a hundred, handles differently, meaning that every mission feels different. There's a lot of fun to be had just driving around the city trying out different cars, taking on driving side-missions and earning yourself currency to unlock new ones in garages. There's a vaguely GTA element of larcenous desire to things, too – drive past a nice fast sports car, and you can immediately hop into it and take it for a spin. Driver: SF is actually at its worst when it's trying to be a straightforward racing game. The handling is pretty hand-brake heavy and over the top and there are plenty of things to crash into, and though that's great fun when you're in a chase, it's not so fun when you're trying to beat a time. Fall to the back in a street race and the cops will hassle you so insistently that you've no chance of winning. Also, when you temporarily shift out of a vehicle and into another one, the AI takes over and sometimes sends the car in completely the wrong direction whilst you're away, or gets it stuck up against a wall behind three cop cars, ruining your chances of success. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, learn more. These frustrations are at the heart of some tremendously, fist-eatingly frustrating difficulty spikes that come close to ruining the experience from time to time. I got stuck on a single chase mission near the end of the game for a full hour and a half, getting continually unlucky with the driver AI until one fortuitous run enabled me to dodge my pursuers in time to finish with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. It's a chaotic crash-simulator more than a technical racer, and there is too much random chance inherent in the game for ten-minute long races to be enjoyable. Setting a racing game inside someone's mind also leaves plenty of room for strange and supernatural goings-on. It starts with Tanner hearing disorientating snatches of real-life TV news in his car and seeing cryptic messages on billboards, and only gets madder from there. Driver: SF actually gets more crazy, not less, as time goes on, throwing in one-shot driving gimmicks for the sheer fun of it. One memorable scene has you driving the car from a top-down view with the whole city frozen in time around you. At another point near the end – potential spoiler alert – you find yourself literally flinging cars through the air along the freeway to block an opponent's path. It's difficult to say too much about the game's best story missions without spoiling the plot, which actually isn't half-bad. It's a high-octane, improbable and comfortably ridiculous tale of terrorism and intrigue that carries the game along at a nice pace. It's novel to play a racing game whose primary concern is telling a story. You can tell how serious Driver is about its plot by looking at the amount of effort that has gone into things like facial animation and voice-acting, which are totally irrelevant concerns for most other racers. Characters look great in the cutscenes, right down to the pores on their skin; it's almost Heavy Rain standard, and really adds to the movie-like feel. Outside of the cutscenes, when characters inside the car are having a conversation, you see their faces in the top left and right of the screen, which really helps you to connect with them. Aside from the main plot thread about Tanner's search for Jericho and his struggle with his rebellious subconscious, individual missions tell their own mini-stories too, following rogue undercover cops as they smash illegal meds to bits. The sad thing is that the story comes to an end quickly. The game's impressively detailed recreation of San Francisco SEE DEAL is a big place, and one that I would happily have spent more time in, but the story rushes prematurely towards its climax after around ten hours. There are plenty of side-challenges and collectibles that you can busy yourself with to pad things out, but fun as they are, they're nowhere near as compelling as the actual missions. After the story ends, you're deposited straight back into the city as a faceless Shifting entity to mop up all those loose ends, but it all feels a bit hollow without Tanner's pursuit of Jericho pulling you along. There's a lot of potential in the Shift system that isn't fully explored. On the plus side, though, it means that no given mission type is overused, and that the story is defined by several great missions rather than endless mediocre ones shovelled in for padding. It certainly doesn't outstay its welcome, leaving you wanting more rather than wearied by endless chases or escort driving missions. Verdict Driver: San Francisco has one game-changing, eyebrow-raising idea and it pulls it off with aplomb, infusing the OTT arcade racing with unparalleled variety and a ridiculous supernatural twist whilst staying true to its Seventies chase-movie roots. It looks great, it’s got a lot of personality, it tells an entertaining story and it’s great fun to play. A few frustrating difficulty spikes and the story’s rather premature ending are the only negatives.

Here are the top three models for different age categories, according to TÜV The German Association for Technical Supervision (TÜV) has published a list of the most reliable used crossovers by 2019. It includes cars up to the age of 11. See more in the video from VBOX7's Vip Drift Taxi channel. The results are based on the TÜV-Report 2020 project, which has collected data from technical inspections of 9 million vehicles in the last year. The worst (good) crossovers according to TUV German experts analyzed this data and then published a ranking of the most reliable crossovers in five age categories - cars aged 2-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, 8-9 years and 10-11 years. Here are the top three models for different age categories. Cars 2-3 years old Mercedes GLC (2015 - present) Mazda CX-3 (2015 - present) Audi Q5 (2008 - 2016) Cars 4-5 years old Opel Mokka (2012 - 2019) Audi Q5 (2008 - 2016) Mitsubishi ASX (2010 - present) Cars 6-7 years old Audi Q5 (2008 - 2016) Mazda CX-5 (2012 - 2017) MINI Countryman (2010 - 2017) Awesome maintenance costs for Bugatti Veyron Cars 8-9 years old BMW X1 (2009 - 2015) Audi Q5 (2008 - 2016) Honda CR-V (2006 - 2012) Cars 10-11 years old Honda CR-V (2006 - 2012) VW Tiguan (2007 - 2016) BMW X3 (2003 - 2010) It is clear that the Q5, the hit model of Audi, is in the top three of the 5 age groups. They are followed by Honda (with one model in two categories - Honda CR-V) and BMW (with two models in two categories - X1 and X3). In general, all these models are identified by TÜV experts as sound and reliable - they do not rust and are more difficult to break.

Which germs live on our mobile phone? How to clean it? Many of the objects that surround us are sources of invisible danger. What she is - she spoke to Sputnik Radio Vyacheslav Ilin, a professor at the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, writes BGNES. Tens of thousands of people already die of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world. And by 2050, super-bacteria will kill up to 10 million people a year, scientists predict. But there is still a chance to deal with the situation. The objects and things that surround us can carry dangerous infections. "Champions" in this regard are handrails and handles in public transport, computer keyboards used by more people, non-metal door handles, plastic basket handles in stores and smartphones, said Ilin. According to him, the fault is the biofilm that forms on non-metallic surfaces. "Traditional ways of transmitting bacteria into everyday life are non-metallic surfaces on which the biofilm stays more viable than on metallic formations. All that is not made of metal is covered almost continuously by microorganisms. As part of the biofilm, microorganisms survive for long. Without disinfectant treatment, such surfaces are a reliable way of transmitting dangerous infections. Traditionally, they must be treated with disinfectants every two weeks, as is done in space stations, "said the scientist. According to him, biofilm is most quickly formed on the screens of mobile phones. It contains a huge number of microorganisms, including opportunistic bacteria that can be transmitted from person to person. "There are many biocidal products to kill bacteria - for example, hydrogen peroxide 3-6%. For humans, chlorhexidine is also one. There are reliable ammonium compounds, they affect both germs and fungi if the active substance in the antibacterial wipes is benzalkonium chloride. "It has a good effect on a wide range of microorganisms and fungi. Alcohol itself is also a reliable tool, a good biocidal product, but it quickly disappears, "Vyacheslav Ilin explained.

China abolishes additional duties on some US goods On Friday, the two sides agreed on a "first phase" of a trade deal China has canceled planned additional duties on some US goods, which were due to enter into force on December 15, BTA reported. On Friday, the two sides agreed on a "first phase" of a trade deal. China hopes to work together with the United States on the basis of equality and mutual respect to properly address the concerns of each country and to foster the stable development of US-China economic and trade relations, according to a statement from the finance ministry's website. The US and China negotiate the first phase of the trade agreement It includes the protection of intellectual property rights China announces the completion of the first phase of a trade deal with the US, according to BGNES. It includes progressive lifting of sanctions and protection of intellectual property rights, but the two parties have not yet signed the agreement. The announcement came a day after President Donald Trump tweeted that the two largest economies in the world are very close to the "BIG Deal" in their ongoing trade dispute. China's deputy trade minister told reporters that Washington has agreed to "phase out" tariffs on Chinese goods without giving details. The deputy finance minister said China would not impose duties on US products that were planned to pay for renewed US duties on Chinese products. He did not provide details on whether China would abolish existing customs duties on US goods. The agreement includes strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, expanding market access and guaranteeing the rights of foreign companies in China - problems at the root of US complaints about Beijing's restrictive economic policies. The US has reached a principled agreement on trade with China US media reports say China will spend US $ 50 billion on agricultural commodities in the US, Trump's main requirement, but Chinese officials did not provide any figures at the Beijing briefing. "The two sides agreed on the text of the first phase of a trade and economic deal," a Chinese statement said at a news conference. "Both parties have agreed that in the next step they will complete the necessary procedures for legal review and translation as soon as possible and agree on specific clauses for the formal signing of the agreement. "After the agreement is signed, we hope that both parties will comply with it and work hard to implement the relevant content in its first phase." China said the partial deal would help expand its exports of agricultural products to the US. "Some of these problems have been talked about for more than ten years and this time we have a major breakthrough," said the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agriculture. Any agreement to increase imports of American agricultural produce will be implemented in a way that will not hurt Chinese farmers, he said. Although Trump has tweeted today that the "phase two" talks will start "immediately," the Chinese side has decided to proceed more cautiously. "As for the next phase consultations, this will depend on the implementation of the first phase agreement," the statement said. The agreement is also in line with China's goal of a more open economy and a move to more high-tech manufacturing instead of remaining the world's "low-cost factory."

Name Game: RPG Maker VX Price: 36,99€-7,39€ The Discount Rate: -80% Link Store: Steam Offer Ends Up After : The offer ends on December 16th

Let’s get it out of the way right up front: Madden NFL 16 SEE DEAL is in no way just another “roster update.” Core gameplay mechanics have seen huge changes that turn the annual football franchise into more of a simulation than ever before. Interesting new additions to throwing and receiving changed the way I play in a meaningful and refreshing way, making Madden NFL 16 one of the best Madden games of recent memory. Building on last year’s improvements to defensive play, this year the focus has been placed on the passing game. Receivers have been given new tools, allowing you to catch the ball exactly how you want, depending on the situation. For example, if your receiver is guarded closely by a defender who is directly contesting the ball, you can use the “aggressive catch” button to attempt an all-out, highlight reel type of catch. If your man is left wide open, you might opt for the “run after catch” option to snag the ball in stride, maximizing the amount of yard you can gain. If you aren't sure which option would be the most useful, a button prompt conveniently flashes above your receiver's head, so you start making use of these handy new features right away. That's not to say there isn't any decision-making involved though, as every option has a logical drawback. It’s important not to overuse the aggressive catch, for instance, as your receiver will be left more vulnerable to big hits. Where the possession catch might seem like the safest option, defenders actually have a better chance of cutting off the ball and making an interception. All told, these receiving options are a breath of fresh air, adding a level of nuance that hasn’t been seen in the franchise since the hit stick was first introduced. On top of the new receiver mechanics, QBs have also been given a few new weapons. Your QB can now attempt a touch pass by double tapping your receiver’s icon. These are great for putting enough air under the ball to get it over the head of a linebacker, but not enough as to where the safety can get to it. Some of the new passing mechanics weren't as easy for me to learn as others, though. You can now choose to throw the ball high or low by holding a shoulder button while selecting your target, but you already have so much to think about after the snap that this felt like one thing too many at first. You already need to keep track of the pocket to make sure you don’t get sacked, watch your receivers to see when they’re open, and gauge how hard you want to throw the ball within a couple of seconds. That said, once I figured it out, putting it to use was immensely gratifying. Quarterbacks and receivers aren’t the only ones with new tools to play with though. Defensive backs can now choose between playing the ball or the receiver. Like the new catching mechanics, there's a risk/reward to each. Playing the ball provides the optimal path to the ball in an attempt to intercept or break up the pass, but if your defender is out of position you'll most likely miss the opportunity to make a tackle. Playing the receiver has the opposite effect. Rather than trying for an interception, your defender will try to dislodge the ball. There's less of a chance for a big play, but you're practically guaranteed that the tackle will be made. In addition to the new gameplay mechanics, Madden NFL 16 adds a brand new game mode, Draft Champions. Over the course of 15 rounds, you’re offered a choice between one of three players, each at a different position that you most likely need filled. After the draft is over, you can either play against the computer or take your team online for a quick single elimination tournament. This simultaneously scratched my fantasy football itch and my Madden Ultimate Team itch, without the long term commitment. Connected Franchise mode returns almost exactly the same. The only notable addition is the dynamically changing drive goals, in which players are tasked with things like picking up multiple first downs on a drive, or completing consecutive passes. When completed, your team is given a slight XP and confidence boost, and gives a fairly realistic feeling of shifting momentum. The microtransaction filled Madden Ultimate Team also returns mostly unchanged, and still feels a bit gross. But the new “ultimate moments,” where your MUT team is faced with bite-sized challenges that put you in specific situations that other teams have faced is a quick way to earn cards and coins. I particularly enjoyed the recreation of the goal line blunder at the end of last year’s Super Bowl. In terms of presentation, Madden 16 looks sharp, despite the fact that much of it has been reused from last year. But the addition of on-field graphical overlays that display live stats and full motion video, as well as the return of licensed music is a nice touch. Regrettably, the commentary remains dull and out of sync. Thankfully, playing online works the way that it should, with only the occasional glitch here and there. Verdict Simply put, Madden NFL 16 changes the way you play the game. The risk vs. reward aspect of the new passing and defending mechanics adds a level of realism the franchise has never seen. You can catch and throw the ball pretty much exactly how you want, and it feels great when you can pull a big play because of it. On top of that, Draft Champions might be the new game mode we’ve been waiting for. Premiere Date: August 25, 2015 Engin: Ignite Developer: EA Tiburon Series: Madden NFL Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Modes: Single player game, Multiplayer game

Call of Juarez: The Cartel is evolving these days, bringing together the best elements of the Wild West and new, modern locations. As a first-person shooter with a fascinating and mature story, the game offers you to embark on an adventure like no other - one that will take you from the heart of modern-day Los Angeles, California to Juarez, Mexico. Follow Cartel and experience lawlessness in the modern Wild West as you travel from Los Angeles to Juarez. Three-player co-op: Play 15-mission mode alone or with up to 2 players. Triple the experience: Play the entire campaign with each of the three characters. It has a variety of gameplay ranging from hijacking, witness protection, rough questioning, undercover missions, car chases and more. XBOX360 Also known as Call of Juarez The Cartel Xbox 360, CallofJuarezTheCartelXbox360 The Call of Juarez franchise always interested me in the past because of its western themes. The previous titles told interesting enough stories, and had engaging enough characters, that they were appealing despite their lack of polish. Call of Juarez: The Cartel, however, doesn't even succeed in this regard. The characters are unlikeable and under developed, and the story is completely forgettable. Beyond that, The Cartel feels rushed, unpolished, and repetitive to the point of frustration. Call of Juarez: The Cartel tells the story of three law enforcement officers put together on a special task force to take on the infamous Mexican drug cartels. Of course, they all come from different backgrounds, making each of the three playable characters a little different. Ben is a typical gunslinger, sticking out like a sore thumb with his predisposition to using old cowboy revolvers. Eddie and Kim, on the other hand, are sassy modern cops who've grown up in the streets, and come with all the clichéd dialogue and one liners you'd expect. Together they form a motley crew, one that has to fight against enemies on the outside and within. The problem is that the story fails to be engaging. The characters are caricatures of American law enforcement officials, with laughable dialogue that makes them hard to take seriously. Moreover, all the intrigue and emotion that developer Techland attempts to seed in the story is pointless because they never create any good bonds or trust between the characters. You don't like them, you know they don't like each other, and you don't really care what happens to them. The Cartel looks like a game from several years ago. Textures are constantly popping in, and it's downright garish at times. On top of this, characters are constantly clipping through things, magically reappearing ahead of you when they were just behind you, and sometimes even speaking when they're already dead. It's hard to even start to get into the story when you're constantly seeing generic, poorly made environments and cloned characters. Call of Juarez: The Cartel's first-person mechanics aren't bad, they're just abused by repetition. The guns are fun enough to shoot and there are always plenty of enemies to kill, but the levels are so utterly repetitive that I could literally predict what was going to happen next. At some point in every level there will be a boring driving sequence, followed by a bunch of guys to shoot, and then several doors to kick in, triggering a slow-motion shooting scene. All of these level components are fine the first couple of times around, but they're overdone to an extent that it feels like the game's length is artificially extended. I appreciate the inclusion of three-player campaign cooperative play, but this isn't really the type of game I'd want to play with a friend. The AI allies are surprisingly adept at killing enemies, and, unlike players, they will never get taken down. Annoyingly, you can only play levels that all the players have reached, so you can't have a friend jump into your campaign if you're ahead of them. You can play through the campaign with each of the three characters to get a unique ending and slightly different take on the story, but it's just not fun enough to warrant the effort. And then there's multiplayer. Yes, it exists, but it's mundane. It includes no modes or does anything that you couldn't get from any number of other, better shooters. The controls work well for the single-player campaign, and feel appropriately calibrated to aim at the AI, but no amount of tweaking could get them to feel good against players. It's just not worth playing. Verdict Call of Juarez: The Cartel is a poor change of pace for the franchise. Taking the story into modern times seems to have robbed it of its passion and charm, replacing it with asinine characters and more cuss words than an Al Pacino flick. It’s not the worst shooter I’ve played, but it’s got all the problems of a budget title and few redeeming qualities to make it worth recommending.

A hero with no memory, and with a mysterious mask covering his face, is thrown out into this land of unknown. Reaching to an end of his journey, he discovers a truth that is hard to swallow - something terrifying about his true identity... Explore a huge world with organically connected biomes of more than 300! Terrifying monsters, multiple platform-actions and mysteries await you. Encounter 150+ monsters and final bosses using the aspects of discovered weapons! - Blade-based attacks with an advantage of fast attack speed - Sword-based attacks with massive-damaging attack - Lance-based attacks with long reach and strategic gameplay Collect Occults spread all over the map to use the Forbidden Magic! It is possible to build each player's main character into one's prefered battle type by using Occults and items found during the route. Older games will remember the glorious time when everything was in only two dimensions and wonder how some modern titles would be if they were in the classic layout. As the side-scrolling gameplay was mostly traded in for immersive free-roaming fun, some developers love to take away that freedom and try out your skills in the 2D realm. When you take a difficult unforgiving game like Dark Souls and limit the movement to two dimensions, the first thing you need to relearn is how to evade your enemies. Story Like in many Dark Souls-inspired games the story is hidden deep within the game. You always start out with absolutely nothing and it is up to the player to find out the lore behind your character, the location, etc. Oddly enough your starting point is named the ‘Forest of Old Memories’, which is a subtle name for a game that revolves around a protagonist who has lost his memory. The story of 3000th duel has been hidden very deep, so deep that it just seems that there isn’t one to start with. Although the game has an eye-opening ending, the road towards it is harsh and unforgiving. Graphics Adventuring through the dark forest is something truly majestic. The visuals presented to you are beautiful and smooth and the 2.5D characters and scenery are magical. Characters have simple animations yet this doesn’t really diminish the quality of the overall experience. With the game being filled with more than 150 monsters, you can expect that not each one has a thousand animations. The game is also set in a variety of sceneries that alternate from the lively green forests to deep dark eerie caves. Sound As beautiful as the graphics are, the music in this game is just as magnificent. The soft, soothing melody gives the impression that you are playing a friendly platforming game and that you are safe. After dying a few times, you will smirk at the thought of the misleading melody. There is no spoken dialogue and the game uses fairly standard sound effects to give feedback to what is going on. Gameplay 3000th Duel is a 2D adventure platforming game that has borrowed a few mechanics from Dark Souls. As you start the adventure of your unnamed character, you will have a few moments to get familiar with the very simple control layout of the game. Only a few buttons are needed to navigate through the hell that is 3000th Duel. At first, the game does not seem hard at all and you think that it is just another adventure game until you take the first hit. Enemies do tremendous amounts of damage and getting around the map is far from easy. The difficulty might not be insanely brutal but it is far from easy. You will be fending off enemies while having to jump from moving platforms in order not to fall into the spiky pits as one misstep or hit can mean a swift demise. With the inspiration taken from Dark Souls, you will notice a lot of similarities. When defeating enemies, you gain karma, if you meet your demise and ‘You Burned’ (the 3000th Duel version of You Died), you lose all the karma. When trying to retrieve this karma, you will notice that it has turned into a flying orb which turns hostile when approached. After defeating this orb combat you will regain your lost karma. At shrines you can use your accumulated experience to level up your attributes. These attributes consist of Vitality which measures your health, Strength that affects attack power, Mind for much MP you have for special moves and Activity that measures stamina for dodging. By interacting with a shrine you will heal your wounds but also reset all the enemies on the map. In a classic fashion, you will have to defeat bosses to get past each section and these bosses tend to be very hard for those who fight head-on, yet become doable once you learn their patterns. Another important factor is the selection of weapons. Since there are no classes or various skills to choose from, you can only swap out different weapons to give you other fighting styles. There are three types that each have their own strong points, from swift strikes to high in power or having a large(r) reach. In the beginning, you only have a rusty old sword, but soon enough will you find better tools to get rid of the monsters. One thing that is greatly missed in combat is the ability to block incoming attacks. As we all know, you either dodge or block in a Souls game, but here you can only dodge an incoming attack, which sometimes can be quite tricky, so being able to block an attack with only a slight health reduction would have been a nice feature. Conclusion 3000th Duel is a side-scrolling Souls-like game that utilizes the well-known hardcore gameplay with beautiful 2.5D graphics and a mesmerizing soundtrack. With the story being hidden under some rocks, you might just want to play the game for its challenging gameplay. The overall good performance of the game makes it one that you want to keep on trying, even after you died for the tenth time on the first boss. If you persevere and manage to get farther into the game, this patience is rewarded with nicer surroundings, trickier enemies and better weapons. The controls are very responsive and won’t cause much frustration, maybe only the absence of a blocking skill is a bit of a hassle. MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Memory: 2 GB memory Graphics Card: GeForce 8800GTX DirectX: Version 11 Storage space: 3 GB available space RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5 Memory: 4 GB memory Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 560 DirectX: Version 11 Storage space: 3 GB available space

The new PEUGEOT 208 shows off its youthful spirit with its distinctive sporting form. Its interior reveals the original PEUGEOT i-Cockpit® 3D. In addition, this city car gives you the freedom to choose a gasoline, diesel or electric motor. ATHLETIC AND SENSITIVE DESIGN The new PEUGEOT 208 has a strong character that is apparent at first glance. Its low silhouette with an elongated front cover and sensual curves reveals its seductive sports side. With its vibrant and original body colors, the new 208 really catches the eye! Its strong character is accentuated by the Black Diamondi roof, wheel arches and glass trims in shiny black and diamond wheels and trims i. Bold and daring The expressive front of the new PEUGEOT 208 features a large chrome grille, i with a modern and fresh appearance with full LEDi headlamps with 3 lion fingerprints and always LED daytime running lights. The back has a distinctive style with a glossy black line i and is decorated with full LED lights with lion nails visible both during the day and at night. PEUGEOT i-Cockpit® 3D Discover the latest generation PEUGEOT i-Cockpit® 3Di. Experience flexible and intuitive control with a compact steering wheel with integrated control buttons, programmable 3D digital dashboard, large 10-inch HD touch screens and 7 levers Finally, create your own interior atmosphere with 8 LED RGB colors for even more modern view. Advanced connectivity Let the TomTom® Traffic Services connected navigation system guide you and use the Mirror Screen Triple Playi feature to use your favorite applications. In addition to the keyless ignition, ADML PROXIMITYi offers automatic door unlocking when approaching the new PEUGEOT 208, and automatic locking when away from the vehicle, which is confirmed by an acoustic signal. If the key is yours, you don't even need to touch the door handles to lock your 208! Stay connected to your e-208 through the MyPeugeoti app: You always have up-to-date information on the charge level, the remaining autonomous mileage, the remaining charging time ... Progress towards semi-autonomous governance With the new PEUGEOT 208 city car you have a large number of intelligent and reliable assistants. You have access to driver assistance systems like PEUGEOT Drive Assisti: Track the trajectory to select the position in the lane recognition of road signs speed control and safe distance Parking assistance is also available, such as Full Park Assisti, which automatically parks the vehicle. New modular and efficient platform The new city car 208 uses the new CMPi / eCMPi modular multi-energy platform, offering the freedom to choose between an internal combustion engine (gasoline / diesel) and an electric motor without having to compromise. You will enjoy excellent performance and services: exceptional road behavior, optimized weight, maneuverability, acoustic and thermal comfort are just some of the benefits that will give you an amazing travel experience. New modular and efficient platform The new city car 208 uses the new CMPi / eCMPi modular multi-energy platform, offering the freedom to choose between an internal combustion engine (gasoline / diesel) and an electric motor without having to compromise. You will enjoy excellent performance and services: exceptional road behavior, optimized weight, maneuverability, acoustic and thermal comfort are just some of the benefits that will give you an amazing travel experience. * FUEL AND CO2 EMISSION CONSUMPTION WLTP (1) values: Data in homologation process (1) The stated CO2 values comply with the WLTP Regulation (European Union Regulation 2017/948). Starting September 1, 2018, new cars are undergoing a globally agreed Light Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP), which is a new, more realistic method of measuring fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The WLTP procedure completely replaces the NEDC (New European driving cycle) - the test procedure used previously. Because the test conditions are more realistic, the measured WLTP cost and CO2 emissions are in many cases higher than the NEDC test results. Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions can vary depending on the specific equipment, options and type of tire. Contact your dealer for more information. For more information, please visit the PEUGEOT website NEDC (2) values: Data in homologation process (2) The fuel consumption and CO2 emission values are determined according to the new WLTP regulation (European Union Regulation 2017/948) and the resulting values are converted to NEDC to compare with other vehicles. Please contact your dealer for further information. Values do not take into account conditions of use, driving style, equipment or options and may vary according to tire type.

As much as you are optimistic as a parent, one thing is for sure: this winter the high temperature will visit you several times. And despite the pediatrician's assurances that it is a natural protective reaction that stimulates the immune system, the experience is extremely unpleasant. Do not rush to take medication, especially if the temperature is low and the child is in relatively good condition. She can go down alone if we know how to help the child. The first condition for lowering the temperature is the intake of liquids more than usual. The fever emits fluids through the skin, with secretions (runny nose, cough) and with rapid breathing, and if vomiting and disorder are added, dehydration (dehydration) is safe. The smaller the child, the faster he becomes dehydrated. And at one point it turns out that it maintains temperature not only from infection but also from dehydration. If a sick child does not eat well, is not afraid, then you will catch up. But to drink fluids is a must! The best liquid is water, as desired by the little ones are also given ayran, tea, diluted compote juice. Vinegar compresses are a patent of ours used by our grandmothers. There is no medical evidence of the benefits of vinegar in lowering the temperature, but this method works according to flippant parents. Warm water and vinegar are mixed in a 3: 1 ratio and with this liquid, towels are soaked, which are placed on the child's forehead, hands, feet. After 5-6 minutes, they are replaced with new ones as they have become warm from the skin. Socks soaked in the mixture may also be used. At high temperature and when it is not affected by medication a cool shower / bath / is used. Initially, the water is at a body temperature (37 degrees), then gradually the degrees are lowered to become cool, not ice-cold. Traditional medicine also offers other methods of lowering fever. Raspberries lower the temperature - fresh juice from them, dried raspberry tea and raspberry leaves. Linden and rosehip tea are also recommended at high temperature. Saltless curd also comes into use, put on a gauze and placed on the forehead and limbs. Another effective method is spreading the soles with broken protein. Parents share that lemon slices placed on the soles (put socks on top to hold them) quickly reduce the temperature. Many people prefer homeopathy. The choice of means is great, it is individual and depends on whether the temperature rises quickly, whether there are redness, fever, muscle aches, etc. Medications are important and are usually combined with other temperature-reducing measures. It is important not to overdo them and apply them when you really need them - at high temperatures, at night, when the child's condition is severe.

The EU imposes a "carbon tax" on all imports EU leaders have agreed at a summit to protect European businesses moving to renewable energy by imposing a "carbon tax" on imports from less regulated suppliers, a French official said. The European Commission is preparing legislation to set its growth plan for the Green Deal and the 2050 target for a carbon-neutral economy. The French presidential representative said this would include a mechanism for "taxing foreign products at European borders that do not comply with the same climate rules as European companies". EU leaders today agreed to work to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050, but without the consent of the coal-hungry Poland. Diplomats have confirmed to AFP that Poland is refusing to agree to the deadline after asking that it be allowed to make changes by 2070. "We have reached an agreement on combating climate change. It is very important, it was important for Europe to show strong ambition," said EU Council President and President Charles Michel. The 27 EU leaders approved the deal after an intense debate, and the Czech Republic agreed to accept the plan after it became clear that some EU members would be allowed to develop their nuclear power.

The inscription Arteon The rear demonstrates what the car is capable of: the rear hood's Arteon captures the eye and emphasizes the aesthetics of the body design. Design that you can feel. In the New Arteon R-Line you will find an extraordinary interior that impresses not only with its appearance but also with its sense of touch. For example, thanks to the multifunctional leather sports steering wheel and the R-Line logo with decorative stitches, as well as the optional "Silver Rise" aluminum trim designs. Custom-made Nappa leather seats with Carbon Style side rests, decorative seams and embroidered R-Line front-seat backrest make any trip a delight for all senses. Equipment For those who want even more: Arteon Basis, Elegance and R-Line equipment options offer high-level comfort, design and sporty spirit. Arteon R-Line. Unspoken sports spirit. Power is in the touch that can be touched. Arteon Elegance. Gaze Magnet: Exquisite design of the highest category. Arteon Basis. Confident character. It combines everything that the senses yearn for. Cockpit. Relax and enjoy high quality interiors with exclusive materials and top-level comfort. Optional ergoComfort seats with 14-way electric adjustment and Nappa leather trim in Mistral gray and Raven gray provide extra care for the driver and his back. Multifunction steering wheel and Active Info display. With a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel, you not only control the direction of travel of the new Arteon, but also control all the important infotainment features while driving. In addition to the innovative Active Info Display, all important data is projected directly into your vision: from the speedometer, speedometer and odometer to detailed travel data and graphics from various assistive systems. Trunk with "Easy open" and "Easy close" functions With the new Arteon, serenity conquers you before you embark on your journey. With its 563 liters capacity, the luggage compartment is impressive for the Fastback and provides ample space for your belongings and purchases. With the Easy Open function, it is enough to move your foot under the rear bumper to open the electrically operated boot lid. With the push-button delay function, the power cover can also be closed automatically to make loading and unloading as easy as possible. Assistance systems Attention to detail: the new Arteon shines not only with its expressive premium design but also with the genuine driving pleasure it delivers. When it comes to assistive systems, it is on the crest of the wave. Sixth Sense. Serially on board. Always on your side - enjoy all the benefits of numerous assistive systems, such as Lane Lane Assistant. It helps to avoid road accidents as a result of accidentally leaving the lane. Within its limits, the system monitors the road marking by means of a camera. As soon as the possibility of accidentally leaving the lane outline is registered, Lane Assist alerts the driver and, if necessary, triggers a corrective impulse in the steering gear. This makes driving much safer - especially on long crossings or on uniform road sections.

The funds will be distributed to 17 companies that will invest in the development of lithium-ion (liquid and solid electrolyte) batteries. The European Commission has approved € 3.2 billion in research and innovation across all segments of the development of batteries for electric cars. This money will be distributed to the seven initiators of the initiative, with Opel and BMW taking the money. This is a very important project of common European interest (“IPCEI”) signed by Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Poland and Sweden. Its purpose is to accelerate research and innovation in the field of lithium-ion batteries (liquid or solid electrolyte). These seven countries can now subsidize research projects in the field, with Germany accounting for the largest share (EUR 1.25 billion). Research funding will cover the entire process of creating a lithium-ion battery - from the extraction and processing of raw materials, the production of advanced chemical materials, the design of cells and modules, and their integration into intelligent systems. Finally, the recycling and reuse of old batteries remains. Germany, BASF, Opel, Umicore and Varta will receive funding in Germany. The aim is to create innovative modules that can be used not only in the automotive sector but also in various instruments. These funds will come in addition to the one billion euros promised last November by German Economy Minister Peter Altmeyer, also known as the Altmeyer Billion. It is also intended to finance R&D activity in the field of lithium-ion batteries. Strong in the area right now are Sweden's Northvolt and France's Saft, which works with Manz, Siemens and Solvay. These companies want to develop European-funded solid electrolyte batteries. Currently, the continent is producing batteries from Asian (China and South Korea) CATL and SK Innovation. The € 3.2 billion mega-subsidy will be distributed to 17 companies and will help generate an additional € 5 billion in private investment.

Which professions are considered the most unattractive The answer to this question is given by a British survey Which professions are considered the most unattractive? An answer to this question is given by a British survey that sewage cleaning employees practice the "most stinky" craft, the Daily Star reports. The profession in question was cited as the least attractive by 34% of participants in a poll conducted by PlayOJO. Judging by their attitude, the respondents do not tend to engage in intimate relationships with representatives of this craft. The occupations of cleaners and gravediggers were also considered to be not very attractive, indicated by 12% and 11% of the respondents, respectively. The jobs of garbage collectors, politicians, fish sellers, bailiffs, regulators, pest controlers, prepers, slaughterhouse workers and accountants are also considered unattractive. At the same time, it is accepted that some crafts are sexier than others. For example, firefighters are able to beat more than one lady's heart. The professions of paramedics, lawyers and data processing and analysis professionals are also considered attractive.

When the original Max Payne SEE DEAL came out in 2001, it was hailed for its storytelling, visuals, and gritty noir setting. The eponymous hero wreaked bloody vengeance upon the corporation responsible for the murders of his wife and daughter, but Max was painted as a hero thanks to a powerful man named Alfred Woden, the head of an inner circle of Illuminati-type power players. Yet although Max found some closure, the years have not been kind. He is still a haunted man, now living in a hole-in-the-wall, run-down apartment and back to working for the NYPD. He thinks his past is behind him when he responds to a police dispatch regarding shots fired at an old warehouse. Unfortunately, he couldn't be more wrong, and he will end up tumbling through another long rabbit hole into a Wonderland of mayhem and drama at least equal to what he waded through many years before. Along for the ride are our old friends Chief Bravura, Vladimir Lem, Vinnie Gognitti, Mona Sax, and a couple others, but I don't want to give too much away. You'll notice some immediate improvements over the original as the scene opens at a city hospital. Close-ups of faces are remarkably realistic. A lot of animation has been motion-captured. You can knock things over like chairs, stools, boxes. Puddles of water give accurate reflections of their surroundings. People have funny conversations. Your first firefight will be different as well, thanks to some adjustments in Bullet Time. You'll still be able to do those slow-motion dives, but you can actually stay on the ground until you've stopped firing. However, there's another button that will put you in the new Bullet Time, and with each kill during this phase, your enemies become slower, until you can easily dodge bullets at medium range. It doesn't last for very long, but it's enough to get you through some tough spots, especially when a van pulls out in front of you and spills out more people than even Rambo could handle. You still get a boost in your hourglass when you take someone down, but the meter also gradually refills while you're not using that mode. Also, the slow-motion dives don't use up the meter. If this makes things sound too easy, well, let me tell you, these guys are quick on the draw and very rarely travel alone. Plus they will all be wearing body armor eventually, forcing you to aim right at their heads if you want to take out two or three people in one dive. Once you've finished a dive and are getting back to your feet, they better be dead, or you'll get a deadly lead salad before you've gotten all the way back up. Thankfully, the new Bullet Time mode also gifts you with rapid reload, which you will perform with a dramatic whirl and a swooping camera. It's pretty cool. There are some interesting changes in the arsenal, speaking of which. The grenade launcher is gone, but you now have the MP5, a versatile assault rifle with a short-range scope. There are so many fully automatic weapons, though, that a few get lost in the shuffle. You have the Ingrams, three assault rifles, and two machine guns. You'll forget the Ingram ever existed once you start wielding the Kalashnikov AK-47. Each round does some vicious damage, and you can cut someone down with only a couple bullets if you aim right. But they can also cut you down with it too. Since many of the bad guys camp positions waiting for you to appear, you'll find yourself enabling Bullet Time before bursting through a lot of doors. Save often, folks. Although AI difficulty adjusts somewhat to your skill level, an AK is an AK and it's hard to not put some serious hurt on someone. Another nice tweak is dual Desert Eagles. I didn't use the single style Desert Eagle in the first game much, because of its slow rate of fire and smaller clip. Here, though, they pack a satisfying punch that, in combination with some Bullet Time, will allow you to put some hurt on a much better armed enemy. Plus, with the 2.0 mode, you get those wicked-fast reloads. You may have noticed that I didn't specify Max when I mentioned all the things you can do in the game. That's because you'll actually get to play Mona Sax, the femme fatale contract killer from the original game who survived a bullet wound to her head and resurfaces early once you start digging around what was going on in that warehouse. Playing her is almost the same experience, except she has a Dragunov sniper rifle she'll be putting to heavy use about midway through the game. I don't want to give too much away, but it was probably the most tense and exciting segment in the game. Their star-crossed love story plays a major part in the game, and pulls Max Payne 2 SEE DEAL head and shoulders above the action game style. Combine that with Max's own haunted past, and you have a story that stands on its own in terms of drama. From what you know about the story in the original Max Payne, it's clear that Mona Sax is probably the only woman who could break through Max's shell of loss and heartache. She's like him--violent and lost, but a soul struggling back onto a better path. Max can identify with this, and lets her in. However, this is a crime story, a mystery of sorts, and Max Payne 2 brims with a cascade of revelations about who these people are that you think you knew from the first game. Some of those revelations are pretty Shakespearean. And since Max Payne 2 opens with an alarming but obscured montage of death, you don't know who is going to make it out alive, who the red herrings are, and what will become of Mr. Payne himself, and this veil doesn't fall away until the very end. Along the way, Max will struggle with his alliances, his enemies and himself before he finally finds freedom. If there's any downside to the game, it's the length of it. I managed to mow my way through in less than a dozen hours, and many have claimed finishing it in less than half that time. It's in three parts this time, and a few of the chapters are just comic book panel vignettes bookended with in-game cutscenes. But you really should stop and smell the roses. There are some long overheard conversations really worth hearing through to the end, especially at the police station. The TV shows are worth lingering for as well, and you'll have a bunch of answering machine messages you can go through. There are a few dream sequences, but, thank God, they don't involve any instant-death jump puzzles or aggravating, endless mazes. Instead, the dreams illustrate the mind of Max Payne, the world inside his head. These are strange, often disturbing segments, but they are very engrossing and illuminating. For the most part, the actual game world is far more grounded in sanity. The new Havok 2.0 physics engine, which was supposed to make its debut with Half-Life 2, is pretty darn cool. Instead of taking time to record death animation motion capture, you can just plug this thing in and watch the fur fly. Bodies go flying, tumble brutally down stairwells, and go flying off precipices with satisfying realism. A particularly good hit will give you a slow-mo rotating camera close-up of the bad guy getting flung back by the killing shot, but this feature is used sparingly enough so that it never feels like a gimmick. There's also some partial map destructibility--you'll actually have to blow some stuff up in order to make progress towards your destination, but keep clear of the explosives when you do. There's a lot more explosive stuff lying around than in the first game, so you can use that to your advantage when a bad guy decides to duck behind a stack of ammo boxes. You can even set off a chain of explosions that will clear out an entire room. You'll also have a couple more "get out of the burning building" areas, but they aren't nearly as frustratingly difficult as the restaurant back in the first Max Payne, which was loaded with a string of explosives that made it impossible to linger in a single room for more than a couple seconds. There also some particularly tough spots, even in the standard difficulty mode. Early on, you have to rescue an old friend from a horde of mobsters, and you'll have to clear out a wave of about a dozen of them before the game allows you to progress. They come from all angles and pack some serious heat. Also, the final fight is particularly troublesome, even after you've figured out how to defeat this last guy. Your only clue on how to get past him is in the title of that chapter, and it's a vague clue at that. Thankfully though, there is nothing like what you experienced when entering the high-rise office building near the first Max Payne, when several people at multiple elevations were firing some suspiciously accurate and long-range rocket grenades. In fact, there are no rockets or grenade launchers at all in Max Payne 2 SEE DEAL . However, the enemy AI is handier with grenades and Molotov cocktails this time around. But they're not completely competent and will sometimes blow themselves up with a bad throw, or they won't run away when you throw one at them from a sufficient distance. For the most part, you will be dealing with quantity over quality, and they will be no match for your Bullet Time. They are still whip-fast, though, so you won't be able to go in guns blazing and expect to come out without a scratch. Thankfully, they will randomly drop painkillers, unlike the first game. You'll never be without some of those for too long--but you won't be walking around smugly with a full load of them for too long either. Damn that AK-47! Another problem I feel duty-bound to point out were some significant sound issues. This game was tested on two different computers with three speaker setups: stereo speakers with subwoofer, a 2.1 setup, and a 5.1 setup. Both of the setups with a center channel had random drops in volume for dialogue and some sound effects. A person talking right in front of you would be almost impossible to hear. All of Max's in-game comments come through this channel, and during the middle of the game, Max and Mona will be using headsets through this center channel as well. If you can't hear what one of them is saying, you'll have some frustrating guesswork ahead of you, and this mid-game segment is very time-limited. I used one system with a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 and another with an Audigy 2, and occasionally experienced some harsh, repetitive clicking that could only be cured by restarting the game. Remedy recommends lowering audio hardware acceleration in Windows if you have problems, and you can also disable multi-channel audio and go with standard stereo. Your subwoofer should still kick in with this mode, but the environmental sound won't be nearly as cool. This wouldn't be so bad if the game, then loading the saved game, didn't take so long. It seemed to be related to Bullet Time, which dynamically lowers all sound effects to a low pitch, then raises them up again when you go back to normal mode. However, since the rest of the game is of such high quality, I'm giving the developer the benefit of the doubt, and hopefully a patch will come out to address this. The game also crashed to the desktop a couple of times when loading the game, but was otherwise stable and lockup-free. Other than that, the sound was great, especially with surround sound. You get environmental noise like televisions and conversations panning around as you rotate, and there's also the drone of steady rain on the rooftop (the game takes place during autumn), and footsteps that sound different according to the floor surface. Every weapon sounded slightly different. The Desert Eagle packs a lot more punch than the 9mm, the shotgun has an appropriate boom, the AK-47 has a dry, mechanical stutter, and grenades clink and clatter to a stop before they explode. It would be nice if grenades didn't always make fiery explosions (since standards ones almost never do in real life) but hey, you're playing this game for the explosions, right? Believe me, there are plenty to go around. Max Payne 2 also takes advantage of a lot of high-end features, like triple buffering (which smooths out framerate to avoid the slideshow effect when your rig can't keep up), radiosity lighting, cubic environment mapping, and tone remapping (a color effect that, in this game, increases contrast during Bullet Time). If any of these sound like Greek to you, each one has an informative tool tip in the Options menu. Unfortunately none of these features can be adjusted while the game is running--not even the resolution--so start conservatively. The game has uniformly excellent textures throughout, and detailed character models. Max's jacket looks like leather and swings back and forth as he runs, and Mona's blue jeans are pretty easy on the eyes as well. Voice synchronization isn't as advanced though, with only a few basic expressions for different sounds. But almost all of the dialogue comes through the comic book vignettes, so it doesn't stand out much. The voice acting, though, is truly excellent stuff. Not only did I not cringe, but I genuinely enjoyed all of that aspect of the game. Although Max Payne 2 is a short game by any standard, it is thick with drama and action. And once you've played through the first time, you'll have higher difficulty levels, including all the modes from the previous installment. You'll also have Dead Man Walking, where enemies endlessly spawn while you try to stay alive as long as possible. There's also no multiplayer to speak of, but we suspect you'll see some life-extending mods once the tools are released. Verdict If you didn't like the first one, there's probably nothing new or different enough to pull you in this time. The love story adds some dramatic depth to Max's haunting story, and somehow makes what's going on more important and interesting. Wreaking havoc is nice, but it's great to also have a love interest complicating things, and Mona Sax is definitely up to the task. The visuals are excellent, the voice work is superior to what we usually get dealt in the action genre, and I only wish the game was a bit longer. A lot longer actually, but it's more because this kind of game is such a rare find than because that find is relatively meager. SPECIFICATIONS Developer Remedy Entertainment Platform PCPS2Xbox Release Date October 14, 2003