#REDSTAR ♪ ♫

game information: Developer:SNK Playmore Publisher:Atlus Release Date:November 22, 2011 Platforms:PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Arcade Regardless of where you stand on the franchise, you can't deny that the King of Fighters series is certainly prolific. Now in its 13th iteration, SNK's flagship arcade fighter has been gobbling up quarters for over a decade, combining the rosters of several SNK fighters, like Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, and even some non-fighting games like Ikari Warriors. The franchise has stuck to its guns, staying firmly set in 2D and offering some improvements here and there while maintaining its general look and feel over the years. The last game in the series, King of Fighters XII, was criticized for its poor online performance and lack of modes. However, The King of Fighters XIII aims to fix the issues that players had, and for the most part succeeds. To make up for the dearth of gameplay modes in KOF XII, SNK has included several new ones this time around, including a Story Mode, a Mission Mode for mastering individual characters' move sets, and a few other new modes. The Story mode is probably the biggest addition to the KOF formula, and includes some cut-scenes that highlight some of the behind the scenes interactions with the characters in the game. The storyline concludes the Ash Crimson story arc that began in King of Fighters 2003, but as it's presented here, is convoluted and hard to follow. The traditional one-on-one mode returns, but the real focus here is on three-on-three combat. However, you won't be able to switch out your characters on the fly as you can in other 3v3 fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Instead, the fights unfold in elimination style matches where you select the order of your three fighters and face them off against another team of three. In order to win, you'll have to take down all three of your opponent's fighters, or vice versa. King of Fighters XIII features more than 30 fighters from the series, drawing the roster from existing fighting games in SNK's fighting library. The characters are divided into specific teams. While you can create your own team of three when playing through the arcade mode, the story requires you to play in pre-chosen groups of three, with each team featuring their own specific relation; for example, there's a team of Fatal Fury fighters as well as a team of Art of Fighting characters and so on. The combat mechanics have gotten some changes from the last game as well. The Guard Attack, Clash, and Critical Counter systems have been replaced with EX Special moves, Hyperdrive Mode, and super-powered NEO MAX moves, with the game emphasizing bigger moves driven by your gauges for attacks. The new Hyperdrive gauge fills up when you perform prompted moves or tasks, and lets you perform Drive Cancels, where you stop special move at just the right time to earn bigger combos and more damage to your opponent. The key to winning matches is filling up your gauges and utilizing special moves like MAX Cancels and NEO MAX moves, which require a decent amount of timing and practice to get right. The game has seen some improvements to the online component, but it still leaves something to be desired. In our online play session, we experienced some input lag during matches. While this wasn't as gamebreaking an issue as it was in KOF XII, it was enough to be an annoyance in online play. The problem was not constant, but it happened enough for us to take note. Another annoying element in KOFXIII are the game's boss characters. Of the two final bosses, Saiki is probably the cheapest in the game, and among the cheapest boss characters in any recent fighting game. Saiki will take every dirty trick out of the cheap boss handbook and throw it at you. Special attacks that fill up the screen and are impossible to avoid? Check. Unavoidable holds? Check. Projectiles that freeze your character in place while he can just pound on you? Check. Saiki is a huge pain, but sometimes you can get lucky and take him out. Graphically, King of Fighters XIII looks great, showcasing some fantastically animated 2D sprite-based characters and detailed environments. While they look a bit pixelated, the character models look quite good, each with their own details and fluid animations. However, the environments really steal the show here. Each one is filled with an insane amount of detail and crazy activities throughout. However, while the environments have a lot going on, they're never distracting from the on-screen action. The game's music is the same brand of cheese the series has been kicking out for years now. The sound is pretty good, but the lack of voices in the story mode is a strange omission. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Windows XP Processor: Intel Pentium4 2.0 GHz and up Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: GeForce 9500 GT, VRAM: 256MB and up DirectX: Version 9.0c Storage: 5 GB available space Sound Card: DirectSound, DirectX9.0c Compatible Audio Additional Notes: Official Windows Media Player Codecs required

game information: Developer:Capcom Publisher:Capcom Release Date:February 15, 2011 Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is an incredibly flashy, fun and kinetic fighting game, one that contains an unbelievable amount of depth. Beloved characters return to the fold while new arrivals, though bearing their own signature styles, have some similarities to classics that did not make the cut. MvC3 also manages to dig up some very obscure Marvel and Capcom heroes and villains, wh ich will no doubt please longtime fans of both worlds. Less impressive, however, is the lack of diversity when it comes to the game's modes. If you're looking for an expansive, varied fighting game experience, it's nowhere to be found. This third entry in the MvC series attempts to be the same addicting game as its predecessor. We're still talking about three-on-three battles, complete with the overly-exaggerated hyper combos that we all know and love. If you're eager to cast fireballs the size of your HDTV, this is the game for you. The basic elements of tagging in partners or summoning them for brief attacks is still here, as is the notion of building up a special meter to execute particularly devastating moves. The core mechanics for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are at once fantastic, familiar and alien. The four main attack buttons have been remapped from two kicks and two punches to a set of light, medium, heavy and special attacks. Other notable alterations to fundamental controls include a common move to pop opponents into the air for combos, and a shift to calling in partners through the assist buttons instead of pressing punch and kick. It all sounds similar, but veterans will find themselves relearning many mechanics because of the changes. Ultimately the alterations help mature the franchise, removing needless complexity - the game has enough depth as it is. The biggest change to the core game is the roster. Unlike its predecessor, which sported 56 playable characters, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 only gives you a roster of 36, four of which are locked when you start the game. While it's true that the basic format of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the same as before, the characters are largely different. Even the few who were also in MvC2 are different in subtle but significant ways. Combatants who seem to have no business in the game (X-23, anyone?) Quickly prove fascinating. I found myself returning to them more than established veterans like Spider-Man and Ryu. Each character has its niche, and no two are alike. You'll never mistake Dormammu's ability to trap and mani[CENSORED]te player movement with the Hulk's more direct, physical style. Even characters that at first seem powerful, like Devil May Cry's Dante, fit well into the balanced roster. What's important here is that this cast of fighters is diverse and incredibly entertaining. As you begin to master a character, you'll wonder how that set of abilities and attacks might mix and match with others. That's a true testament to Capcom's tireless efforts here, and it's also a true sign that the developer has succeeded in reviving this franchise. This game isn't perfect, but it got the most important elements right. However this raises the question of quality versus quantity. Compared with MvC2, we've lost 20 characters. Does the balance and diversity of this group compensate for that loss? In some ways it does. There is something very refreshing about seeing unconventional and original fighting archetypes enter a franchise this established. And yet it's undeniably disappointing that many favorites like Mega Man or Venom are nowhere to be seen. The changes don't necessarily end with the roster. In addition to adding the ability to swap out characters during mid-air combos and adjusting the basic control scheme, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 also introduces the X-Factor mechanic, which boosts the speed and strength of characters. The concept seems simple until you consider every single fighter in the game is affected differently. Moreover, X-Factor activation cancels any attack, including hyper combos, allowing added creativity in combos and tactics. Like everything else in this game, what seems insignificant will take a long time to master. While the Marvel vs. Capcom series is often thought of as a "button-mashing" game, it is anything but that, and a skilled player can quickly cut off a casual player at the knees. Yet it can still be incredibly difficult for the unfamiliar to adapt to the game's mind-numbing pace and move sets. But Capcom, in an effort to attract players who only want to play a few casual games and not worry about complexity, has introduced Simple Mode. Simple Mode re-maps the three primary attack buttons to focus on special moves and abilities instead of strength-based punches or kicks. So instead of having three different punch / kick buttons, you'll now have one. Instead of having to memorize a series of inputs to execute a special attack, you can simply press one direction and one button. Want to use one of those devastating hyper combos? That's also just one button now. This streamlined approach does have its cost - most characters will lose access to several of their moves, including some of the most powerful in the game. It's a handicap that affords you easier, but not necessarily unfair, access to existing special moves. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has an incredible gameplay foundation that is familiar, fresh and skillfully assembled. Hardcore genre fans are definitely going to appreciate the careful construction here, particularly the fact that most of the roster is immediately available. The presence of an extensive training mode, as well as a "License" screen that collects statistics and allows you to "preset" three teams for quick use, will also certainly be po[CENSORED]r. A full suite of online functionality is here, including the ability to play ranked and unranked matches as well as create lobbies for you, your friends and random players from across the globe. You can also allow impromptu challenges from online players while you play Arcade mode alone. At the time of this review, Capcom's servers were firing on all cylinders, and latency during combat was not an issue. With any luck the publisher has anticipated the demand that is about to come. But for all its care in nailing the fundamentals, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 seems to be missing a lot from its total package. Over the years fighting games have added many extras that not only extend the life of the product but appeal to those who aren't necessarily going to want to spend 100 hours in Training mode mastering a half-dozen characters. The Simple Mode control scheme seems custom built for this mass market, but the rest of the game does not. What's a bit bizarre here is we've seen other Capcom games nail these extras. Outside of Mission Mode, which challenges you to execute various special moves and combos, there's not much to the game if you tire of the core battle experience. Even Marvel vs. Capcom 2 extended its life by allowing players to "purchase" characters using in-game points. Let's also not forget you have 20 less faces to look at when it comes time to select your team. MvC3 seems content with galleries of models and art, none of which are that i nteresting and most of which were debuted in the build-up to the game's release. Where's Spectator Mode? Alternate victory conditions? Time Attack Mode? The ability to change costume colors, freeing you from the four that are preset? Crazy, unexpected bonus games? Extra stages? Behind-the-scenes footage? Survival Mode? Several of the ideas I just listed were done by Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which debuted over a year ago on Wii. Once you beat the Arcade Mode a few times, and have unlocked the four hidden characters, you'll find there's not much else to add to the experience. The core of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is incredible - but for many of you that's only going to go so far. Verdict Marvel vs. Capcom 3 doesn’t disappoint as a fighting game, even after a decade of waiting. It’s very much the same insane concept we know and love, which isn’t a bad thing. By drastically revising the roster, what’s old is definitely new again. The balance and depth in the game is astonishing, and even the odd characters have their distinct charms. It’s easy to lose hours and hours exploring team combinations and battle strategies. Graphically the game is solid, particularly when the action is at its most fierce. Some of the effects work and animation is stunning, despite a lack of detail because of the visual style that was implemented. What’s really a shame here is that the developer didn’t manage to find a way to supplement the core experience with extras that would extend the life of the game by adding some variety to the package. If M.O.D.O.K. can be animated so that he presses different buttons on his keypad for every single move he performs, we should have a System Requirements: CPU: Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 2 GB OS: Windows® 7 SP1 / Windows® 8.1 VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX260, or better PIXEL SHADER: 4.0 VERTEX SHADER: 4.0 SOUND CARD: DirectSound compatible (must support DirectX 9.0c or higher) FREE DISK SPACE: 16 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 896 MB

game information: DeveloperBungie Software PublisherActivision Release DateSeptember 9, 2014 PlatformsPlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 We've been posting our impressions of Destiny since September 3rd. Our scored review was posted on September 18, 2014.] Within hours, l could tell that Destiny wants desperately to be loved by many different types of players. It attempts to weave threads from many po[CENSORED]r genres together into one interconnected tapestry, but your experience will depend entirely upon which of those threads you tug on hardest. At the very least, it provides blistering firefights and brilliantly crafted worlds to have them in. In fact, the exceptional caliber of its moment-to-moment gameplay is what partially excuses the fact that it never quite realizes its grand design. For as fun as it is, Destiny just doesn't fully commit to all of its disparate parts, making it simultaneously many different things, and none of them at all. Bungie has a history of excellent world-building, and Destiny is a powerful expression of that excellence. From the moment your AI companion wakes you from your long slumber in the shadow of the colossal wall around Old Russia, the world of Destiny feels grand. Picturesque, static backdrops are slyly blended with wide-open spaces and large vertical terrain features, creating an effective illusion of scale. The many stunning vistas go a long way towards making Destiny's world feel like one that's worth saving, despite the fact that you can’t fully explore everything you see. Even if it isn't as wide-open as it initially appears, each of Destiny's four main planets are more than big enough to get lost in. Even atop your speedy, instantly summonable Sparrow bike, which gleefully handles a lot like what I always imagined a Star Wars speeder bike might, getting from one end of a planet to the other takes a while. Factor in all the caves, temples, and other structures housed within, and there's a ton of ground to cover. Perhaps not as much as an open-world RPG or an MMO, but then, despite its similarities, Destiny isn't either of those things - and its overall topography has more character than most games of those types anyway. Even on last-gen hardware, the craft on display throughout Destiny's alien landscapes is masterful in its detail. Every rock face, outpost, and ruin looks lovingly hand-crafted, aside from a few repeating nooks and crannies. Even if I did not always stop to gawk at how roads look physically carved into the terrain, or how gas bubbles to the surface of the iridescent water pools on Venus, these details silently pulled me in and constantly reinforced the idea that that this is an actual place - a special place. Consistently excellent music magnifies that sensation, deftly driving the action forward during big firefights, and conveying a sense of wonder and mystery in between them. Even the somewhat over-indulgent load screen animations between worlds are eye-catching. Bungie made lemonade out of lemons here. Going from one planet to the other takes way too long, but it’s wisely used as an opportunity to double down on the idea that all these places are connected. Sadly, none of that keeps Destiny from becoming the latest example of the friction between open-world design, and tightly directed narrative. Cutscenes are kept to a bare minimum, limiting the story to vague exposition dumps before and after missions. It's not a new, or effective way to unintrusively tell a story though, regardless of how many Emmy Award-nominated actors you have reciting the lines. It says a lot about the quality of Destiny's combat that I gladly continued to move and shoot, despite it never really giving me an emotional incentive to do so. The Art of War Destiny retains the fluid, tactical feel of the Halo series, but with an increased sense of speed and mobility that make its firefights feel more dynamic than those of its direct FPS ancestor. That’s partly due to the ability to sprint and slide in addition to each class' mobility skills, which include gliding, double jumping, and even short-range teleportation. Combined with how powerful grenades and melee attacks feel, thanks again to class skills that modify them, this extra mobility allows you to engage foes in a wider variety of ways. Destiny's intelligently designed combat areas provide excellent opportunities to leverage those options. It’s an impressive design feat when you consider how organically these areas blend with the open spaces that tie them together. I could, for instance, toss out a big vortex grenade to control space and force my enemies to back up behind cover, then sprint towards them, glide clear over their cover to greet them with a shotgun blast, and then catapult up to safety on a ledge above. Cover is smartly placed, and there’s enough horizontal and vertical space to allow for a variety of approaches, even in the most straightforward combat scenarios. You'll face four different races over the course of your journey, and their armies are each diverse and interesting. The cunning, multi-armed Fallen make excellent use of cover, will actively flank your position, and even attempt to lure you into ambushes. Other foes, like the robotic Vex, can teleport directly into combat out of nowhere, and still others have jump packs, cloaking devices, or massive riot shields to aid their advances. The range of different problems they can give you to solve is downright impressive, which keeps the combat fresh, and exciting throughout. That is, with the exception of some of the bosses, who are mostly just super-sized versions of existing enemies with a lot more hit points. The two or three bosses that don't fit that description, like the imposing spider tank, require more from you - you'll have to find weak spots and coordinate with teammates to to stay alive, which resulted in more than one exciting “we did it! ” moment. On the whole, the combat is so well executed that I never once tired of fighting in the multitude of hours I’ve played so far. That says a lot considering that fighting is, disappointingly, the only way you can meaningfully interact with the beautiful world around you. A Class By Any Other Name ... Outside of combat, Destiny postures itself as far more than a simple FPS, but while its various RPG elements add some extra layers on top of its well-done combat, they don't feel fully explored or fleshed out. Part of that is because of what a poor job Destiny does of educating us about all of its moving parts, but it's also because it’s so hell-bent on being all things to all people that it unsurprisingly drops the ball in places. Destiny's class and skill systems are the biggest victims of this. The Hunter, Warlock, and Titan all do the same things (stay alive and kill stuff), just in subtly different ways. Everybody can use every weapon type with equal proficiency, and until you get to the very highest levels of endgame gear, class-specific armor mostly just looks different. Next to how well-differentiated classes feel in Borderlands 2, or even Battlefield 4, none of Destiny’s classes feel like they bring anything indispensable to a party. As a direct result, playing cooperatively with others feels more like “shooting stuff with friends” rather than a carefully coordinated dungeon party. It’s still a good time, especially during the excellent co-operative strike missions, but it lacks the depth I look for in class-based games. The RPG element that succeeds the most is the loot game. It doesn’t overwhelm with any sort of statistical complexity, but rather engages by presenting clear, meaningful choices. It gets off to a slow start though. Drop rates seem abysmal until somewhere around level 11 or 12, and gear has too few unique stats until then either. Eventually though, weapons and armor start dropping with interesting mods, and entire upgrade trees that allow you to tailor their feel and performance in interesting ways. From weapons that reload faster when their clip is completely empty, to ones that speed up your ability cooldowns when you score kills with them, there's actually a decent number of different ways to gear. Especially when you start getting into the legendary and exotic loot tiers after level 20, surprises keep coming from new, even crazier mods. The problem though, is that the methods for earning post-story gear aren't clearly explained or, in some cases, even alluded to over the course of Destiny's 12-hour campaign. You’ll need to coordinate which bounties you take with what patrols you want to do, grind for several different currencies, and rank up your standing with a handful of factions - several of which are tucked away in the dark corners of the Tower hub. There’s a lot of room for post-story progression, but you either just start stumbling onto it ... or you don't. For a game that trips all over itself to be simple and accessible to everybody, that's an unnecessarily confusing curveball to hit. Destiny and Identity The half-baked nature of Destiny's RPG elements are just a symptom of a far larger issue: This is a game that's straddling the borders between too many kinds of experiences, and in its attempts to have something for everyone, it never fully satisfies on any one front. The competitive multiplayer, called The Crucible, is the chief example of this. The few included maps do sport Bungie's hallmark map design - they’re excellent, in fact. But without private lobbies to organize fights with friends, or any ways to customize the handful of game modes, it’s hard to imagine the multiplayer shooter enthusiast who could be satisfied with it. The same can also be said of how Destiny allows players to interact with one another - or rather, how it does not. Bungie calls Destiny a “shared-world shooter,” and the influences from the MMO world are clear in its overall layout and structure. Yet, there’s no way to communicate with anyone who is not in your party, and there's no loot-trading either. Omissions like these become a big problem when you try to do the challenging weekly Heroic Strike missions and raids. Both are part of a healthy endgame, post-launch content plan that’s already delivered enjoyable new modes of play. The first raid, Vault of Glass, has given me plenty of incentive to grind for gear and further develop my character post-campaign. It introduces team objective elements to the PvE, and delivers entirely new locales and bosses that you won't get to see anywhere else in the game world. The problem is, unlike Destiny's other co-op content, neither the Heroic strikes or raids provide matchmaking service, so unless I happen to have high-level friends who are ready to play, finding a party comes down to hitting message boards to look for a group. As someone who played mostly solo, I actually appreciated this sense of separation between me and other players, but people seeking a strong sense of community simply won’t find it here. Why do I need an internet connection for a game that feels so intent on putting barriers between me and other players? Verdict Simplistic “it’s like X mixed with Y” comparisons don’t really add up when attempting to explain what Destiny is, or why it’s worth playing. It borrows from many well-established gaming destinations, but the climate of each is wildly different, and often incompatible. It’s a complex production that boils down simply to this: Destiny is a mechanically excellent, visually evocative FPS housed within an under-developed RPG framework. The endgame might hook you for the long haul once you fully understand it, but Destiny is ultimately unable to be all the different games it’s trying so hard to be. IGN received access to Destiny when the servers went live on September 8th. As such, Destiny was approached as a review in progress. Feel free to check here for a complete archive of our review process. system requirements Memory: 3 GB Graphics Card: Intel HD 3000 CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Destiny File Size: 5 GB OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10

game information: Developer:Visceral Games Publisher:Electronic Arts ease Date;February 5, 2013 Platforms;PCRel, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 I’m low on ammo and health when the attack comes but I’m not alone. Backed into a corner, my partner and I improvise. Every second counts as we systematically dismember the Necromorph front line, using our Jedi-like kinesis to impale enemies with their own torn off limbs. We stomp their corpses, loot the precious resources, and quickly reload in preparation for the next wave. It’s in frantic moments like this that Dead Space 3 truly shines - its superb combat and addictive new collection and upgrade system brought to life by the game’s crackling production design. The same can’t be said about the frequent errand-running, poor story and overwhelming sense of deja vu that marks much of the 19 chapter adventure. Dead Space 3 consequently becomes caught in the dissonance of the extreme glory of its combat and presentation, and the pervasive tedium of almost everything else it does. Despite its problems, one fact remains: I can’t stop playing it. Allow me to explain. Dead Space 3 follows the galaxy’s unluckiest engineer, Isaac Clarke, as he takes up the fight to protect the human race from the mysterious Markers and its Necrospawn. This begins with Isaac heading off to rescue Ellie, his missing girlfriend who returns from Dead Space 2 with barely a mention about her missing eye (or busty chest makeover). Isaac is joined by John Carver, the first playable co-op character in the series. Few games boast as rich an atmosphere as Dead Space 3. Visceral Games ’highly modified Godfather engine handily renders everything in glistening, crystalline clarity (the game performs best on Xbox 360 and PC, with the PlayStation 3 version suffering some minor slowdown). The haunting depths of space stretch out indifferently in a solar haze, channeling the spirit of ‘80s matte paintings and pulpy sci-fi and horror movies, while the ice-driven snowscapes of Tau Volantis reimagine the Antarctic terror from John Carpenter’s The Thing. The music and sound design are top-notch as well, supporting the world class visuals with crunchy, unsettling noises, and a rousing score from Jason Graves and James Hannigan that traces lines between classic genre soundtracks from Brian May (The Road Warrior), James Horner (Alien), and Hans Zimmer (Inception). The voice-acting is high quality throughout, albeit a bit cliched. Oh, and props to whoever chose Pelican’s “Ephemeral” for the credit roll. Bravo for using metal tastefully. The addition of co-op moves the franchise from the fringes of core survival horror onto the mainstream stage of action thriller. Playing in co-op erodes the sense of isolation, but the scares and the persistent sense of dread the series is known to remain intact (single-player purists can still play alone and enjoy a relatively faithful Dead Space experience). The game responds well to the addition of a second player, and in some of the tougher encounters the help is welcome, especially on higher difficulties. Carver’s presence introduces new lines of dialogue and a bunch of great optional co-op missions that explore his tragic past. These are actually some of the best parts of the story. It’s odd that these missions require an extra person in co-op to access. It would’ve been ideal if Carver’s side quests were also available as separate singleplayer missions. Editor's note: Many of you have asked how long the game is in the comments section below - played slowly and methodically, looking for every artifact, hidden item and Peng !, you can spend between 15-20 hours, including all the optional side missions . Once you beat it and start grinding for overclocked and supercharged weapon parts in New Game +, you can run it in 8-10 hours-ish. Same goes for co-op (it’s a faster playthrough). Combat reigns supreme in Dead Space 3 - physical, viscous, feral combat. The dismemberment mechanic is the equivalent of Dead Space’s headshot. Severing enemy appendages slows them down and kills them faster than a bullet to the brainpan. Other tools like the slow-mo inducing stasis and gravity-mani[CENSORED]ting kinesis put a fresh spin on typical shooter fare. Even if you played the first two games, Dead Space 3’s combat is still some of the most unique and satisfying of this console generation. The new weapon crafting and upgrading systems really adds to the combat experience. You’re constantly on the hunt for materials and resources to build a new weapon, to modify a favorite stand-by, or tune-up the performance of your RIG suit, but everything comes at a cost. Do you craft a Tungsten Torque Bar to access locked rooms (answer: YES) or do you make an Acid Bath modification for your Ripper blade (answer: DOUBLE YES)? Do you upgrade the hit points on your RIG or do you craft a surplus of med packs and stasis kits? This makes for tough decisions and creates a terrific tension all its own. These systems work together powerfully to create a reward structure you’ll want to come back to. This is especially evident in New Game + mode, which I immediately started once I beat the game. And I’m so glad I did. I very soon realized that I love Dead Space 3 for the same reasons I love playing replaying Diablo. Focusing solely on combat, collection and upgrades, the thrill of the fight and Visceral’s exquisite world had me hooked, despite the game’s shortcomings - of which there are plenty. At times Dead Space 3 feels more like Dead Space Again. First and foremost, Dead Space 3’s story feels forced. Isaac has retreated from society, left his girlfriend, and turned his back on the fight against the Markers, but then he sets off to find Ellie when she’s in trouble? Why now, and not the other dozens of times earlier when she called and left messages for him? This leads to a fairly unbelievable love triangle and a long series of increasingly far-fetched events. I won’t get into spoiler territory, but let’s just say there’s no way in God’s green galaxy that the work that Isaac uncovers on Tau Volantis would just go unnoticed for 200 years. With what they found, what they knew, and what it meant in the long-term struggle against the Markers and Necromorphs, it’s just too big. The writers must have known this because there’s an entire Lindelofian prologue dedicated to trying to sell this exact single plot point. But when Isaac and his crew begin to serendipitously put the pieces together in the second half of the game, things just materialize way too conveniently. In addition to the stumbling story, much of Dead Space 3’s progression involves a list of chores and errands. Poor Isaac. Anything bad that can possibly happen does, and the solution is almost always finding some lost thing in a building on the other side of wherever you are. This routine feels so similar to the structure (and weaknesses) of the first game, at times Dead Space 3 feels more like Dead Space Again. This makes it appear that Visceral had nothing really new of substance to say. Isaac is a broken shell of his former self, and as a result he's flat throughout the majority of the game with very little arc. And instead of some of the clever subversive gameplay we saw in Dead Space 2, like the straightjacket intro or the grueling eyeball needle sequences, we’re instead treated to a bunch of middling mini-games and fetch quests. Other nagging issues include a reoccurring boss fight with a creature you must face three separate times, a terrible fight against an angry drill, and a truly generic final boss fight that makes the giant Terminator encounter from Mass Effect 2’s finale feel fresh. Considering the elegance and sophistication of the world, combat and upgrade design, it’s a shame everything else seems so ho-hum. Verdict The combat system and the Visceral world has crafted in Dead Space 3 is so expertly built and well-wrought, I found myself consciously overlooking my main criticisms, because I love playing it and spending time with it. This is an important distinction to make: loving a game while being fully aware of its faults. Dead Space 3, when played the way I've been playing it, on New Game +, is an engrossing and satisfying experience. But it requires ignoring the bad story and the numbing to-do lists. It then becomes all about building up the most powerful, best outfitted Isaac you can imagine. It’s here and here alone that Dead Space 3 succeeds, mostly in spite of itself. System Requirements: CPU: Info CPU SPEED: 2.8 GHz RAM: 1 GB RAM (XP), 2 GB RAM (Vista or Windows 7) OS: WINDOWS XP (SP3), Vista (SP1) or WINDOWS 7 VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better (7300, 7600 GS, and 8500 are below minimum system requirements) ATI X1600 Pro or better (X1300, X1300 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements) PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 256 MB

game information: Developer:Capcom Production Studio 1 Publisher:Capcom Release Date:February 5, 2008 Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC Smashing demons with flashy, extended combo chains has been Devil May Cry's draw since the original came out on Sony's PlayStation 2 back in 2001. For any PC gamers out there, you probably haven't been following along since then. Devil May Cry 3 did come to the PC in 2006, but the game did exactly make a smooth transition to the platform. With Devil May Cry 4, which came out on PlayStaion 3 and Xbox 360 this past February, Capcom has done a much better job bringing the franchise's blistering action gameplay to PC with smooth graphical performance, a new difficulty setting, and a turbo mode to speed things up even more. If you're totally unfamiliar with the series, here's how it works. The game's overall structure isn't all that complicated. You walk into a room, the exits are blocked, and enemies spawn in. Your job is to use all available offensive options to deplete their health bars and snag the orbs that drop once they're vanquished. The higher the difficulty setting, the more damage they can absorb. Stringing together combos without taking damage, completing levels quickly, and snagging as many orbs as possible increases your score at the end of a level, giving you more points with which to buy additional moves and combos. To break up the standard grunt slaying is the occasional boss fight and some light platforming and puzzle sequences, and not all of these work as well as the standard DMC monster killing action. While the boss encounters are entertaining and can vary depending on difficulty setting, with a few you wind up fighting the same creature three times, and considering they're all behaving according to pre-set patterns, the experience loses its appeal rather quickly. The puzzle sequences aren't all that complicated, but they are annoying in some cases (fountain maze, disappearing platform section, mist warping in the forest), preventing you for no good reason from engaging in the much more enjoyable combat. And considering the jumping isn't all that precise, some of the hopping sections are even more frustrating. Those issues take a backseat to the gameplay, though, which works well whether you're playing as series staple Dante or newcomer Nero. Dante retains some of his fighting styles from DMC3, now able to swap between Trickster, Swordmaster, Royal Guard, and Gunslinger on the fly. He's a highly versatile character in this respect, capable of instantly adjusting to whatever types of enemies happen to be assaulting him, giving him better dodging, blocking, sword-swinging, or gun-related abilities. With a few new weapons, like Pandora that transforms into rocket launchers and flying missile platforms depending on when it's used, Dante's gameplay is never boring. Nero plays quite a bit differently. Like Dante he brings swords and guns to battle, but his most unique feature is Devil Bringer, his glowing blue arm. With this thing he can snatch enemies from afar and perform powerful grab moves which differ depending on the enemy type. Standard scarecrow enemies are simply body-slammed but some, like the game's ice demons, are flung around and smashed into the ground several times, damaging others in the area and acting as a sort of impromptu shield. Another technique useful for Nero is his sword's charge-up ability, called the Exceed system. By hitting the right button just after a sword swing you can increase the sword's damage output, and with the correct power-up you can even max out the charge. So, theoretically, if you're good enough it's possible to have a fully charged Red Queen for nearly every swing. Good luck getting that timing down, though. It's not easy. If you really get in trouble, you can also activate Devil Trigger mode for added damage and a slow health regeneration effect. Instead of Dante, Nero's the star of the show this time around. He gets wrapped up with the mysterious Order of the Sword, a religious group with suspect intentions, chases after his love, Kyrie, and battles demons for around the first half of the game. Then things transition over to Dante which, given how differently he plays, is a little jarring. Once you're no longer able to access the Devil Bringer's reach ability, you're going to have to readjust your combat tactics pretty significantly. To be forced into it right in the middle of the game is a little odd. What's even stranger is the level design, which basically forces you to retrace your steps in the second half of the game, bringing you back to the beginning. You fight through the exact same arenas twice, which is, in addition to a painful dice game sequence near the end, what accounts for all the repeated boss encounters. Devil May Cry 4's story doesn't feel much like a quest at all in this respect; It's more like a tumultuous shopping trip. It's also unfortunate that Nero is the focus here, as he's nowhere close to as strong a character as Dante. Whereas Dante's ego dwarfs even the most gargantuan of the demon bosses he so regularly faces, Nero seems just as likely to whine as to jeer at enemies. By the end he comes off more like a kid chasing a stolen juice box than a fearless hero in pursuit of his girlfriend. When Dante steps into the action, he's so endearingly arrogant that he even manages to soothe some of your concern regarding the challenge ahead. While the story isn't all that thrilling (A furtive order of religious zealots has malicious intentions? No way!), It does have its moments. During one particular sequence where, after being defeated, a mad scientist boss is madly scribbling notes on a clipboard frantically asking Dante for combat tips, I couldn't help thinking of how he's mirroring players who run to game guides for advice. Yet in this case, the scientist is addressing Dante, who is, in essence, you. The game is asking the player for advice on how to better challenge you, and since it can't exactly turn to a guide itself as it's governed by the rules of its AI programming, you can't help but take pity on it, even Although it's trying to kill you. Though these kinds of moments aren't common, it's an enjoyable kind of self-awareness you don't always see in action games like this. And now onto some of the particulars of the PC version. With a game like this so focused on twitch elements, control is a primary issue. With DMC4, you basically have to use a gamepad. There's really no way around it. So while I smashed on Capcom's Resident Evil 4 for PC for not having mouse support, that's different. That game focuses on aiming and shooting, something a mouse is ideal for. Devil May Cry 4 focuses on precise button combos and not as much on accuracy, something I'd much rather control with thumbsticks and face buttons than with keys and a mouse. I was using a wired Xbox 360 controller for the play through and had no issues. It felt quite natural. PC gamers can also use the turbo toggle to speed up the action and, once unlocked, can play on Legendary Dark Knight mode, which turns out to be pretty difficult. I'm by no means the best DMC player out there; In fact I'm nowhere close, yet I still enjoyed the challenge. The sheer number of enemies spawned in this mode ensures that only the best, most dedicated players will be able to make it through. Even if you initially don't care about the harder, thumb-busting challenges, it's nice to know it's there just in case you happen to get sucked in. DMC4's visual presentation is also fantastic, in higher resolution on the PC and in DX9 or DX10 modes. Even on my home system, which isn't exactly a powerhouse, the game still ran wonderfully smooth with most of the graphics options turned all the way up and in 1920 x 1200 resolution. In addition to the action, you're also treated to some fantastically directed in-game cut-scenes that flesh out the story and show off slick, stylish action sequences. For sound, you'll mostly hear grunts, item pick-up effects, gun shots and sword clangs during gameplay. Character voice-overs are generally well done, but why oh why does the battle music have to be so awful? With every fight you're assaulted with trashy electro-rock that really just needs to go away. Verdict So are you going to enjoy Devil May Cry 4? Hardcore actions junkies aren't going to care as much about the wrap-around level progression and repetitive encounters as they'll likely be busy replaying stages for the highest ratings. They're going to love the punishing Legendary Dark Knight mode on Turbo and power through the wonky platforming and puzzle sections. If you're one of those who are just looking for a one-shot action experience, though, you'll probably be more affected by these kinds of flaws. Regardless of how much weight you put on each category, the action gameplay is accessible and possesses quite a bit of depth if you're willing to put in the time. The higher-resolution graphics on the PC shine and flow smoothly, and the fact that a gamepad is the best way to go shouldn't turn you off. This type of game couldn't really work any other way. So while it's not without flaws, it's still one of the better pure action experiences on the platform. System Requirements: CPU: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or better CPU SPEED: 3 GHz RAM: 512MB (Windows XP), 1GB (Windows Vista) OS: Windows XP / Vista VIDEO CARD: GeForce 6600 with 256MB of VRAM (Shader Model 3 Required) TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 256 MB 3D: Yes HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 8 GB

game information: Developer:Kojima Productions [2005-2015] Publisher:Konami Release Date:September 1, 2015 Platforms:Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC Editor's Note: Review updated on 10/15/2015 to include impressions of Metal Gear Online. I had planned it all very carefully. There were way too many guards still looking for me, and with sunrise coming shortly, I had almost no chance of making it out to the nearest safe landing zone with an injured prisoner on my shoulders. But I wouldn’t have to. During the night, I planted some C4 on this outpost’s radio communication equipment, the anti-aircraft battery, and most importantly, their AA radar. So I took a deep breath, detonated all three at once, called in a chopper, and watched it all unfold. After a short while, my ride swooped in, blasting an APC to bits with a ferocious rocket barrage, and cutting infantry down with heavy machine gun fire as I scrambled from my hiding place to the main courtyard, prisoner in tow. I hopped in with my precious cargo, and then jumped on the side-mounted minigun to keep the newly arrived reinforcements at bay as my chopper smoked and sputtered its way out of the hotzon That’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain almost all the time, and what’s truly incredible is that none of this escape was scripted or directed. My mission was simply to get that prisoner out alive. The rest of it, from the time of day I chose to approach to crippling the base’s ability to deal with an aerial assault was a testament to how perfectly all the pieces of Phantom Pain's gameplay fit together. It is, unquestionably, my favorite Metal Gear to play, though I do wish its story delivered as many memorable moments as its sandbox empowered me to create for myself. The number of different factors to consider makes every bad situation you find yourself in a fun puzzle to solve. Right from the moment you’re told to get on your horse and explore the Afghan countryside, Phantom Pain feels intimidating, almost overwhelming in terms of the freedom its open world affords and the number of concepts it expects you to grasp. It’s almost too much, especially given the relative linearity of previous Metal Gears. But what initially appeared to be an overly dense tangle of features to fiddle with instead unraveled into a well integrated set of meaningful gameplay systems that provided me with a wealth of interesting decisions to make. Let’s take another look at my daring prisoner rescue for instance. Phantom Pain's day / night cycle and dynamic weather played a big role in my decision to pull the trigger on that C4. While I knew I wouldn't have the cover of night, I was also fairly certain I wouldn't have fog, a sandstorm, or even a little rain to make my footsteps harder to hear, because my intelligence team back at my base forecasted the weather in advance. I also knew that I needed a closer extraction point, so I sought out that anti-air radar to open one up. Then there was the comms equipment, which I messed up on. Since I didn’t destroy all of the transmitters, reinforcements from nearby outposts came to complicate things at the end. The number of different factors to consider makes every bad situation you find yourself in a fun puzzle to solve. The Greatest Soldier of the 21st Century More importantly though, you’re free to solve those puzzles your own way because of how flexible Phantom Pain’s core gameplay is. The transition between careful stealth and going loud is a lot more organic than in any previous MGS, and getting aggressive never feels “wrong” the way it often does in stealth games. If someone spots you, you get a few seconds of slow motion (called Reflex Time) to take them down silently and prevent a full combat alert. Not only does this create a lot of tense, sweet-looking movie moments, but it gives you the freedom to take calculated risks with room for exciting mistakes. Even when things do get out of hand, missions progress accordingly. Your carefully planned sneaking mission might turn into you chasing down a fleeing target on horseback, or a white-knuckle showdown with an enemy gunship instead, but going “off-script” isn’t a one-way ticket to failure and frustration. The fact that it’s relatively painless to experiment and get a little (or even extremely) aggressive makes playing with the many fun toys Phantom Pain provides a literal blast. I can call in a gunship for close air support, designate targets for a massive sleeping gas bomb, or have a customizable combat walker dropped in for me to wreak havoc with. Gunplay feels responsive, direct, and so very right, and unlike Ground Zeroes, I can use all this stuff guilt-free since it doesn’t completely tank my mission ratings. That isn't to say that playing like a trigger-happy maniac doesn't have ramifications, because it most certainly does, thanks to Phantom Pain's fantastic base-management layer, Mother Base, which is far deeper and and more detailed than it has any reasonable excuse to be. It’s essentially the full realization of all the good ideas Peace Walker seeded. From Mother Base, you manage the construction, staffing, and R&D needs of your growing mercenary group, the Diamond Dogs. Every soldier I kill and every supply truck I mercilessly blow up in the field is missed potential. In other games, enemy outposts are simply filled with threats to be eliminated, but in Phantom Pain they are opportunities to gain resources and new recruits. And as it turns out, it takes a whole lot of money, manpower, and materials to run a successful private military corporation. There's an outrageous number of guns, gadgets, and abilities to unlock for yourself, and for the vehicles and sidekicks you’ll employ throughout the story campaign - and many require you to meet several criteria to snag them. You'll need to keenly assign new recruits to an arm of your infrastructure suited to their talents, send well-rounded combat groups out on side contracts to keep money coming in, and direct research efforts much like you would in an X-COM campaign . The breadth of options to choose from and decisions to make isn’t the most impressive thing though - it’s the fact that all of it has a relevant, meaningful impact when you head out onto the field. Granted, re-assigning newly conscripted soldiers across different branches of my base sounds about as sexy as balancing my checkbook, but when, for instance, my R&D team threw me a newly modified version of my favorite assault rifle, or when re-routing personnel into support and logistics led to me gaining access to off-map artillery bombardment, I was glad I took the time to sweat the details. The door swings both ways too: just as those back-end decisions become tangible boons in the field, the choices I make during a mission have ramifications for the resource crunch at home as well. Resource management is, in fact, the blood coursing through the veins of this open world, giving its many interconnected infiltration spaces their reason to be. While Phantom Pain's thoughtfully structured sandboxes provided the freedom to sneak by smaller outposts on my way to my primary objective, I rarely did. After all, those unsuspecting guards could have vital intel, and they sure aren’t going to interrogate themselves. They might know the location of a supply truck I could steal to drive into the next base unmolested, or they could spill the location of a talented gunsmith for me to rescue. Sure, it’ll take me out of my way, but I’d finally be able to research that sweet new anti-material sniper rifle I’ve been lusting after. This masterfully woven relationship between the Phantom Pain’s many systems, both management and action-based, elevates its gameplay to a wholly different plane than its many open-world action contemporaries. It's Oh So Quiet ... However, where Phantom Pain's gameplay systems are far richer and meatier than any the series has ever seen, its story feels insubstantial and underdeveloped by comparison. It opens confidently, with Director Hideo Kojima ready to fully embrace the techno-fantasy, live-action military anime identity that Metal Gear has been courting for the better part of two decades. This spectacular opening establishes a mood and a bundle of plot-related questions that are more or less abandoned until the time comes, some 30-60 hours later (depending on which answers you’re seeking and how you play). Though some connect to the greater Metal Gear lore nicely, those answers are generally rushed and unsatisfying, lacking any real build-up or thematic relevance. This is doubly disappointing in a series known for (sometimes clumsily and exhaustively) ex ploring its subject matter. The opposite is true here though. The Phantom Pain brings up topics like the personal cost of revenge, child soldiers, and torture to name a few, but it has positively nothing to say about any of them other than that they exist. Thankfully though, it never wasted my time pretending to say more, as cut scenes were sparse and brief, so as to let me get back to playing. As nice as that might be though, I’d rather have the “problem” that Guns of the Patriots had, where there were “too many” awesome moments and plot twists. For their part, Phantom Pain's story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically. The only real exception to this is the sniper Quiet, whose warm, childlike sincerity and battlefield ferocity cause her to steal every scene she's in. Her preposterous lack of clothing undercuts those qualities a fair bit though: one particular moment later in the game comes off a bit creepy instead of endearing solely because of her outfit. You seriously could have put her in generic army fatigues and she would still have been the most interesting character here - the fact that she’s also required to be a lust-object is disappointing. It’s surprising, though, how little Phantom Pain's story woes actually impacted my experience with it. It takes an almost completely hands-off approach to both story and gameplay, which means that the lion’s share of the takeaway moments will almost certainly be the ones of your own orchestration. But given how readily Phantom Pain facilitates the creation of those moments, it’s difficult for me to feel bad about that. In a decade, I doubt there will be a single mission I'll be able to point to and say “remember when you had to do that,” but I could fill a book with stories about how I dealt with a mission going south, or a brilliant plan I came up with that worked just like I thought it should. This is certainly the least “authored” Metal Gear, but it’s also the most player-driven, and I’d gladly take the helicopter escape story I shared earlier over any scripted event or set-piece. That memory creation doesn’t end with the story missions though. Phantom Pain still has more layers of depth to unfurl with its online Forward Operating Base, which allows you to construct additional fortresses aside from your main Mother Base. You’ll allocate resources, manpower, and fixed defenses that you’ve secured out in the field to defending these bases from online invaders. You’ll also invade the bases of other players in an attempt to secure resources, high-ranking recruits, and most importantly enemy nukes. FOB is, ultimately, about nuclear proliferation, where you can choose to build up a massive WMD stock, or steal and disarm those of others. I only got a couple of hours to mess around with it, but since these extra bases require resources just like your main one, they provides ample incentive to continue to explore and plunder phantom pain's sizeable sandboxes well after the credits have rolled. Metal Gear Online Metal Gear Online could easily have felt tacked on in the grand scope of what Metal Gear Solid 5 achieves, but thanks to excellent map design, and modes that make meaningful use of Metal Gear’s mechanics, it doesn’t. It’s probably too light on modes and maps to compete directly with multiplayer-focused games, but what it lacks in quantity, it mostly makes up in quality. Each of MGO’s modest pool of five excellent maps feels wide open. There’s plenty of room for 16 players to maneuver, as well as a wide variety of encounter spaces within each map. Stairwells lead from dangerous courtyards with 360 degrees of engagement angles, down to networks of tight, narrow corridors. Large, small, day, and night map variants, along with a dynamic weather system add further wrinkles, forcing you to adopt new tactics when visibility is impaired. Plentiful nooks and crannies and a healthy variety of routes from A to B make these maps ideal playgrounds for tactical espionage shenanigans. Tricks like hiding in boxes, sliding down ramps, and luring enemies to their doom with an adorable puppy that forces them to uncontrollably cuddle it are even more fun to pull on humans than against the AI. These maps are ideal playgrounds for tactical espionage shenanigans. Even in its closest analog to team deathmatch, called Bounty Hunter, MGO makes great use of The Phantom Pain's sophisticated stealth mechanics without boiling them down to run-and-gun. The objective is simply to drain the opposing side’s tickets by killing them, but there’s a fantastic twist. Every kill you score raises the bounty on your head, and if someone manages to take you down non-lethally and Fulton you out, all the tickets you’ve claimed go back to your opponent's total. Not only does this create value for using stealthy, non-lethal tactics, it adds a tangible risk to using lethal force, which leads to tense, tactical showdowns with the potential for some thrilling last-second comebacks. MGO’s other two modes are the asymmetrical attack-and-defend Cloak and Dagger and the territory-control variation Comm Control. They aren’t quite as inventive as Bounty Hunter, but they still make smart use of The Phantom Pain’s gadgets and mechanics. Interrogating foes reveals the positions of the entire enemy team, and Fultoning stunned enemies nets your team a ton more points than just killing them. These points decide the winner in a draw, cleverly rewarding players for playing like you would in a Metal Gear game. The one really disappointing thing about Metal Gear Online is that it doesn't tie back into the single player experience in any way, a stark contrast to the Phantom Pain's brilliant FOB mode, which feels like a direct extension of the main campaign's themes and mechanics . By comparison, MGO seems like a really enjoyable, but unrelated side-activity, which feels like a missed opportunity. That said, it still adds yet another well-done element to the Phantom Pain's already impressive gameplay super-structure. Verdict The Phantom Pain is the kind of game I thought would never exist - one where every minute gameplay detail has true purpose. Its lack of story focus is sure to be divisive for the Metal Gear faithful, but the resulting emphasis on my story, my tales of Espionage Action, easily make it my favorite in the series. There have certainly been sandbox action games that have given me a bigger world to roam, or more little icons to chase on my minimap, but none have pushed me to plan, adapt, and improvise the way this one does. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain doesn’t just respect my intelligence as a player, it expects it of me, putting it in a league that few others occupy. System Requirements: CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz) or better; Quad-core or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 7x64, Windows 8x64 (64-bit OS Required) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 card Required) PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 28 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2 GB

game information: Developer:Red Barrels Publisher:Red Barrels Release Date: September 4, 2013 Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Ican safely say that Outlast Made me jump out of my chair more often in its four-hour descent into Hell than any other game ever has. It's a tense, brutal trek that strips you of any power to defend yourself as you try to avoid the deranged mental patients that roam the halls of this horrifyingly gorgeous world.You'll run, hide, and just generally be terrified as you discover the horrors that reside within Mount Massive Asylum. But in between the wealth of scares and beautiful environments, Outlast has a tendency to bog down via uninspired mission objectives and a few disappointing design choices. From the get-go, Outlast is one of the best-looking and sounding survival horror games to date. Everything from the dynamic lighting to a fantastic soundscape work together to keep you on edge every second of the experience. On both PC and PS4, I dreaded entering any new areas or opening any closed doors for fear of what lurked in the dark unknown. Little details that are often forgotten in games, like leaving a trail of bloody footprints after stepping through a pool of blood, really help sell the illusion that Mount Massive is an actual place. But for as great as the world looks, the character models are represented with a bit less fidelity. They're not bad per se, but certain enemies that appear terrifying from a distance lose quite a bit of their terror when viewed up-close. You'll also notice quite a bit of enemy repetition during the latter half of the campaign. That being said, you'll probably be too busy running away like a maniac to notice most of the time. You're ostensibly powerless in Outlast, meaning that your main tools for survival are running and hiding. Barreling down a hallway with a beast right on your heels, bursting through a series of doors when you have no idea what's on the other side, and eventually finding a closet to hide in and evade your pursuer provides a fantastic and terrifying thrill. And once enemies begin tearing apart rooms and opening closets in search of you - yep, you can imagine just how nerve-wracking this game gets. Your guardian angel in Outlast comes in the form of a camera with a night-vision setting. Much of the asylum is bathed in darkness, so you'll be viewing a lot of the world through a bright-green lens. This helps create a great sense of tension, which is heightened by the fact that the camera runs on batteries that need to be found throughout the environment. Outlast forces you to be conservative with your resources, as running out of juice in a particularly dark area forced me to have to reload a prior save file and replay a good chunk of a level. This punishment seemed severe at the time, but ultimately acted as a lesson in how careful planning was essential in order to survive in this world. Where Outlast bogs down a bit is when it tries to shoehorn typical game design elements into the horror experience. Slowly making your way through a dank basement crawling with enemies is great - but having to activate three generators in order to restore power to the area? Not so much. While I'm not against the "find three things" structure of many games, its place in Outlast had a tendency to momentarily pull me out of the experience and squash tension. Also, the fact that your character has no way of defending himself means that if you're discovered and cornered by one of your pursuers, you're probably going to have to restart that section. I found myself dying in specific encounters multiple times until I memorized the level layout and enemy patterns. That's not terribly out of the ordinary for a stealth game, but Outlast's strength is in its well-paced horror, and repetition dulls that power. Instead of being terrified, I was simply annoyed that I had to keep dying in order to figure out how to solve certain environmental puzzles. Thankfully these moments were far outnumbered by long stretches of tense, satisfying exploration which rewards you with a well-written and unsettling story. Diligent searching reveals numerous notes and diaries that help flesh out tragic tales of mental patients tortured by villainous scientists, and that provides a surprising bit of heart to this bloody tale. It's also one of those horror games that works both when you're playing it alone in the dark, as well as having a group of people gather around the television and experience the scares together. Verdict Outlast can stand proudly as a unique and terrifying survival horror game. Unlike many modern horror games, it remembers that the most frightening monsters are those that you can't kill, but have to flee from, and it creates an outstandingly creepy atmosphere that rendered me defenseless against its many well-paced jump scares. Annoying design choices and forced moments of repetition have a bad habit of spoiling the mood, but between them is an experience that's scary as all hell. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7/8 - 64 bits * Processor: 2.2 GHz Dual Core CPU Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX / ATI Radeon HD 3xxx series DirectX: Version 9.0c Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 5 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

game information: Developer:Ubisoft Montreal Publisher:Ubisoft Release Date: October 21, 2008 Platforms:PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wireless After spending somewhere around 25 hours getting through Far Cry 2 single-player campaign, there was one question I couldn't quite answer: why is this game called Far Cry? The sequel, developed by Ubisoft Montreal, retains nearly nothing from Crytek's 2004 original or from the Xbox and Xbox 360's Instincts and Predator derivations. The story does not carry over, the characters aren't the same, there's no mention at all of Jack Carver, there are no mutagens, no feral powers, and no Trigens. Instead, it's a struggle between warring factions, called the APR and UFLL, in an unnamed African nation. The game also doesn't give players a pre-determined protagonist. Instead, you select a character to play as, and the rest of the cast appear in the game world around you as friendly NPCs, called buddies, who you can choose to work with. Things begin with a simple tutorial section, introducing you to basic first-person shooter controls and the game's premise. Your main goal is to find The Jackal, a menacing character that supplies weapons to the APR and UFLL to keep lit the fires of conflict. The point is, with this kind of setup, it's odd that the Far Cry name was even used at all, other than for its obvious name recognition value. Pushing that issue aside and accepting that this is basically a totally different game, you'll find there's quite a bit to like. There are few direct analogues for Far Cry 2, as it truly is an open-world shooter. It's a stark contrast to Infinity Ward's unrelentingly linear Call of Duty games, and offers more freedom than what Crytek wound up delivering post-Far Cry with its pseudo-linear Crysis franchise. Perhaps GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R .: Shadow of Chernobyl is the best comparison, though even that game differs, because where it leaned more toward role-playing elements, Far Cry 2 is almost all about shooting. There are still ways to upgrade your character, but the focus here is most definitely on action. IGN Insider's Head-to-Head Comparison of PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 Versions of Far Cry 2 For instance, there's no inventory in the game, just four weapon slots. There's one for your machete, one for a sidearm or accessory, one for a primary weapon (assault rifle, SMG, sniper rifle, shotgun), and one for a special weapon (rocket launcher, mortar, flamethrower). All these weapon types aren't available at the game's beginning; You must unlock them by performing side-quests for weapons vendors located around the world. Much of the game works like this, letting you unlock little bits and pieces here and there to make your journeys across the grassy plains, mountains, and jungles of the world more convenient, and make the process of killing a little easier. Also, unlike S.T.A.L.K.E.R., there's no real quest log. Instead, you basically have one 'active quest' at a time, though the single quest can veer in several different directions. Main quests are most often delivered through the APR and UFLL headquarters, and most of the time, the mission you pick up is predetermined. In other words, you can't pick between APR and UFLL missions every time you go to get a new mission connected to the main quest. There are choices to be made, some fairly major ones too, but those are intermittent and mostly don't crop up until the end of the game. Because of this, it's difficult to care at all about the story, setting, or characters in the game for the first few hours. In all likelihood you'll be distracted by exploration and testing out the boundaries of the game world, but it's quite some time before the story starts to gain any real momentum. Outside of main quests there are several types of distractions for you. You can do the weapon vendor quests, which always involve hunting down a convoy and disabling it. The rewards are good, as you get access to more weapons, but the quests themselves can get repetitive. There are also quests you can get from buddies you find around the game world and assignments from ominously garbled voices transmitted over electrical towers. Ultimately, they all boil down to pretty much the same thing: go to a location and kill a guy, blow something up, steal something, or force someone to do something they don't want to and then kill them. And if you're particularly obsessive compulsive, you can spend plenty of hours tracking down the multitude of hidden briefcases which contain varying quantities of diamonds. You'll also sometimes have to quest for medicine since, surprise, your character has malaria. While the premise of a sick protagonist seems like it could have had some interesting implications, the way it's implemented here makes it seem like more of a nuisance than anything else. Some of the main quests can be fairly interesting, but usually only if you choose to work with an NPC buddy. Whichever buddy you've unlocked that likes you best wil e range to do whatever you want. Assuming you've got some of the more interesting weapons unlocked, you can approach from any angle and choose to engage the enemy with rockets, sniper fire, or peg one of the ubiquitous explosive barrels or propane tanks to start a fire, which isn ' t as useless a move as it might seem to be. Aside from being a pretty effect as it spreads across fields, engulfs trees, and causes chain reaction explosions if there are other combustible elements nearby, fire does play a significant role in the world of Far Cry 2 . It's not always useful - dense jungle underbrush won't burn nearly as effectively as savannah grass - but when you get a large blaze going, it's a workable deterrent against enemy pursuers, as they'll actively try to avoid its rapid spread, Buying you a few extra seconds to heal up, unjam a rusty weapon, or find something to hide behind. l give you a call after main missions are acquired, offering an alternate method of completion. Sometimes it screws over the faction you're working for but ultimately involves the same infiltrate / kill mechanic used in most of the other quests. More rarely you'll get to do something totally different, like using a warhead to drop a bridge on a barge instead of having to infiltrate the barge and killing a target on it. Using buddies like this to complete missions in different ways is also to your benefit, as it gradually upgrades all the safe houses in the game world with ammo stashes, health supplies, and eventually vehicles. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, learn more.So yes, the quest structure can get tedious, but the open-world design helps alleviate some of the fatigue of repetition that might start to set in by giving you fre You'll be doing a lot of hiding in the game as the enemies tend to be pretty smart. This is an important point to make for an open-world game, and even more so because it's a first-person shooter and not a statistic-heavy first-person role-playing game, like the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In a first-person shooter, we expect a play style centered more on twitch skills than character level or item attributes. In Far Cry 2, the gunplay feels great. Shotguns pop and thud with heavy sounds and have a good sense of weight to them. Enemies fly back as they're pelted with SMG fire, crumple to the ground after a well-aimed sniper bullet, and keel over after a headshot with a .50 caliber pistol. There are also unpredictable elements, like gun jams if you're just picking up enemies' guns from the ground, something that can be avoided by using the store-bought models. Rockets don't always fire correctly, but when they explode you get gouts of satisfying flame, trees swaying and underbrush twittering from the shock, debris whirling into the air and floating off in whichever direction the breeze is blowing, and ideally a large-scale brush fire. It's quite a rush, even after 20 or 30 times, to lob an explosive at a group of vehicles clogged on one of the roads after a lengthy pursuit, violently blasting aside any foes who did manage to scurry out of the way beforehand. Scrambling away from grenade tosses isn't the only example of solid enemy AI; foes generally seem to possess a sense of the world. They'll fire at you when you pop out in the open, move around to avoid bullets, toss grenades, hop into vehicles and give chase when you run through their camps, and even try to run you off the road while pelting you with mounted weapon fire or run directly into you if you hop out of the car. While engaged in battle, if you duck behind some cover and run around to a different hiding spot without popping into view, enemies won't know exactly where you've gone. So you'll see them poke around in your original location and call out to each other about what they've found. If the game's not enough of a challenge for you on normal, you can then bump up the difficulty to the two higher settings where you'll get less health-replenishing syrettes and take more damage. The AI isn't perfect, though, as is often the case in open-world games. Like with S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you'll sometimes run into glitched-out foes who stand still no matter how many times you shoot them. At points, enemies in the distance won't recognize that you've hit one of their compatriots, even if there's an explosion of blood right next to them. Others will run right by you in broad daylight without spinning to fire, which may have been intentional, but it's hard to tell. Ultimately they're all forgivable glitches, and certainly less frequent than in a product as bug-riddled as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but they're more obvious because, for the majority of the game, the AI works well. Between random fights against roving patrols, guard posts, and the towns in which mission goals are often set, you'll be doing a lot of traveling in Far Cry 2, which feels more out of place than it probably should. After all, any MMO gamer or RPG fanatic should be used to uneventful travel time to reach specific targets or areas. Maybe it's simply a consequence of Far Cry 2's relatively new design as a first-person shooter in an open world with minimal loading. Still, the first-person shooter genre's longstanding relationship with non-stop action makes the lengthy travel times seem odd here. It's cut down, however, by your ability to hop into trucks, cars or boats to speed across terrain, which you'll be doing fairly often and which, unfortunately, don't have much of a feel to them. There are also fast-travel buses that, after a load screen, bring you near-instantly to another portion of the map. Enemy vehicle patrols and the tendency for other alerted foes to give chase in vehicles also ensures you're never lonely for long while traversing the terrain, which can get annoying, yet a lot of the navigation works against another of Far Cry 2's potential strengths: immersion. When you're low on health and in danger of bleeding out, you're required to perform grisly self-surgeries. Ripping bullets out of your arms and legs with pliers and short knives is a regular occurrence, and you'll also witness gruesome events like yanking long shards of glass or twigs from limbs. The game puts a heavy emphasis on keeping you in a first-person perspective, keeping you rooted in that view throughout practically the entire game. If you sprint for too long, your screen blurs as you catch your breath. You'll see ferns bend in front of you as you walk over them, instead of just passing through them like a hallucination. If you aim down the sights of your gun, the edges of the screen blur to represent a more focused vision. The perspective can be especially powerful when determining if wounded friendlies should live or die. During missions you'll find your buddy NPCs will sometimes get shot down, and you'll have a choice of whether to inject them with a syrette to save them or kill them right there, all with your view directly in front of their pleading face . Yet, a lot of this sense of immersion is hacked away by features implemented to make the game world easier to move around. Your magically updating map accounts for this, which you'll need to consult regularly, as do street signs posted around the plains and forests that include colored highlights for the direction of your mission goals. While they're certainly helpful and cut down on time wasted aimlessly wandering, they don't allow the player to really get drawn in, and represent a clash between elements that are realistic and those that are flat-out magical. Something else longtime shooter fans are likely to notice is the lack of enemy type progression. One thing we're all used to seeing is, as we move from level to level, the introduction of new and more powerful types of enemies. It was a mechanic in place back in the days of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, it was in the original Far Cry with the Trigens, in Crysis with the aliens, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as you moved zone by zone, but not so much in Far Cry 2 . Enemies will gradually use better types of weapons, but you'll be fighting the same shirtless guys near the end of the game that you were near the beginning, meaning you lose that element of new types of enemy tactics to diversify gameplay. In Half-Life, for instance, things felt drastically different when you were fighting aliens than when you were fighting marines, and required different approaches. In Far Cry 2, you're always killing the same types of guys. They'll have different weapons, but their attack patterns seem largely the same throughout the game. So, excluding the occasional incoming rocket or barrage of mortar fire, it's your different approaches to combat that serve to keep things interesting, not necessarily the tactics of the enemy. There's also the odd issue of save points, which is one of the major differences across console and PC versions. In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, you can only save at the designated points, which appear as blue, wall-mounted boxes and are located in and around safe houses and a variety of other locations. In the PC version, you can hard save anywhere as well as quicksave and quickload, yet the save points are still littered around the landscape for some reason. It could significantly significantly alter potential play styles, since PC gamers will be free to hit F5 before they try something crazy, whereas console gamers might be more reticent to experiment for fear of reloading a save point from 15 minutes prior. Another noticeable difference between PC and console versions is the drop in visual quality. Ubisoft Montreal's Dunia Engine proves to be quite scalable on PC. Even on rigs closer to mid-range the graphics settings can still be set relatively high and the performance is smooth. On consoles, the lighting effects that sparkle so brilliantly on the PC aren't as pronounced, the framerates more jittery, the edges on weapon models not as smooth, and some of the shadowing nowhere near as detailed. That being said, it's not like the game looks bad on consoles. You still get a wide open expanse of terrain, from waterfalls to swamplands to desert plains to dense jungles, and full day night cycle and dynamic weather systems that can, sometimes, produce some spectacular vistas as fog moves and the sun burns angry orange before the sky goes dark. The character models aren't going to win any awards with any version of the game, and overall it certainly isn't up to the level of visual brilliance of Crytek's Crysis or Crysis Warhead, but Far Cry 2 ran better on our rigs. Sound is another strong element. Weapon effects are crisp and distinct, from the pop of the most feeble pistol model to the mechanical chunking of the rapid-fire shotgun. The music of battle meshes well with the setting, but it's the ambient effects, like the swishing of grass under a breeze or wildlife croaking amidst human-sized ferns, overturned trees, and a thick jungle canopy that really drives home what this world is supposed to feel like. Character voices aren't as strong, but they don't do all that much damage to an otherwise impressive overall audio package. And, for the truly hardcore (or perhaps completely insane), this game supports amBX. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it. Finally there's the multiplayer element, which is by no means insignificant in Far Cry 2. It is, however, far less novel than what's present in the single-player. You get your standard assortment of deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag modes. There's a hybrid territorial control / VIP mode, as well as a progression mechanic through which you earn diamonds to unlock more powerful weapons and upgrades. Players will also need to take fire into account here, since it can be used to temporarily defend capture points and the like, provided the map allows for it. Really the best part of the multiplayer is the map editor, which requires a bit of a learning curve, but ultimately should be usable by pretty much anyone who buys the game. Compared to other, more hardcore editors that come packaged with games, this one's a breeze to use, with little to no technical knowledge required. It's a different setup across PC and console versions, but all allow players to create, publish, share, and download created maps from across the community and use them for multiplayer matches. So, if you're unsatisfied with the multiplayer maps Ubisoft bundled with the game, you can start building your own almost right away. Far Cry 2 also has a few interesting multiplayer frills, such as leaderboards, trophy support on PS3, multiple console controller layout presets including 'lefty' settings, thumbstick sensitivity calibration on console, an aim assist for snap-to targeting on console, and easy -to-access community sharing features for user-created maps. Though the multiplayer modes themselves aren't all that unique, the feature set surrounding them has been well thought out. Verdict Ubisoft Montreal has done some great things with Far Cry 2; the product of putting a gigantic development staff and what must have been a gargantuan budget behind developing a new kind of first-person shooter on a new engine. The formula still needs work in terms of enemy AI, quest structure, and giving the player more to do to fill in all that open space, but as it is, it's still a standout achievement. More importantly, it has nowhere near as many bugs as something like S.T.A.L.K.E.R .: Shadow of Chernobyl, a title that bears many similarities. Add to the roughly 25 hour single-player campaign a remarkably easy-to-use map creation tool and a full multiplayer suite, and you've got one of the most complete overall gaming packages of the year, as well as one of the most ambitious. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista (64 is supported) Processor: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better Memory: 1 GB Graphics: 256 MB, Shader Model 3 required, NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better * Hard Drive: 3.5 GB (Multiple saves and user created maps will increase the amount of needed hard disk space.) * Supported Video cards: NVidia 6800, NVidia 7000 series, 8000 series, 9000 series, 200 series. 8800M and 8700M supported for laptops. ATI X1650 - 1950 series, HD2000 series, HD3000 series, HD4000 series

game information: Developer:Tango Gameworks Publisher:Bethesda Softworks Release Date:October 14, 2014 Platforms:PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 After my 23.5 hours with The Evil Within on its standard Survival mode, I was informed I had been eaten alive, had my head shattered, and my torso sliced into thirds a whopping 218 times. This wickedly creative, tense, and yes, tough game does not suffer fools gladly, yet I was compelled to return to it after the screen bled to red every time. That, I believe, is the definition of a great survival horror experience. The Evil Within is aesthetically, functionally, and spiritually in step with director Shinji Mikami's last foray into the genre, the iconic Resident Evil 4. It's not simply a rehash of that game, though, as Mikami and his new development studio Tango Gameworks have delivered a harder, bleaker game this time around. Not that the plot is a strikingly original work for the horror genre. The Evil Within is an investigation of what appears to be a multiple homicide at Beacon Mental Hospital in its fictional Krimson City, before you realize things are not as they seem (an understatement). While its central mystery starts off as compelling, it gradually veers off course, and eventually buckles under the weight of its own unfocused ambition. I found its ending in particular, complete with an unnecessary boss battle apparently inserted only to serve the story, disappointing. In part, this narrative wrapper is undermined by the rather lifeless player character, Detective Sebastian Castellanos, who is emotionless and cool to the point of parody. Sebastian still quips mundanities like “what is going on here?” after hours of facing the kind of monsters that would drive the average person into a jabbering wreck. It’s hard to care about the stakes when it appears that he doesn’t, even if his calm detachment - “I must be losing it!” - is on occasion darkly comic. While far from subtle - this is about as excessive as a horror game gets - Tango has created some incredibly strange and wonderful places in the Evil Within's 15 chapters. Even the usual horror cliches have been twisted and contorted in imaginative ways; meat lockers, clanging industrial interiors, and mannequins have been granted new and ghastly life. Zooming in, these places are small and linear level designs, yet with the aid of excellent lighting, they become claustrophobic and labyrinthian. Despite a little roughness around the edges - I noticed texture pop-up and clipping issues in the PS4 and Xbox One versions - the game has been beautifully designed. Tango has employed a keen eye for composition in the Evil Within, and interiors are grimy, full of looming shadows, ornate architecture, and ominous escape routes. They create a terrifying mood of expectation. Once or twice I found myself ducking to avoid an attacker that was revealed to be my own (harmless) shadow, or running from an unseen enemy only to realize nobody was chasing me bar the groans of some distant foe. Otherwise, the threat here is very real. Enemies that pepper these places are plentiful, unpredictable, and smart. Initially evoking Resident Evil 4’s shambling ganados, they get weirder as The Evil Withth progresses; not quite The Infected, more The Perverted; Designed with an eye toward childhood nightmares and heavily inspired by Japanese horror movies. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these foes - in particular, the unforgettable Keeper boss - come to define the Evil Within as time moves on, cosplayed for years and endlessly re-imagined in fan art.It is the Evil Within's most unnerving juxtaposition that combat with these terrors is so grounded in reality. You are given only a modest but well-balanced arsenal - the usual pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle, grenade and crossbow combo - with which to fight, as well as basic melee. And while the crossbow caters to a variety of special attacks (freeze, electrocute, harpoon, etc) and shooting is as satisfyingly crunchy as you would expect from Mikami, you have little ammo, first aid, or even stamina at your disposal. Cruelly, for a game where I spent a lot of time running away, Sebastian runs out of puff very quickly. Checkpoints are scarce, so the stakes in this hostile world are high, making for exhilarating experiences regardless of whether you decide to flee or fight as these creatures run - screaming - towards you. The Evil Within does cater somewhat to those who wish to choose the stealth route, although the AI feels unfairly tuned in on you. You can lay traps or distract enemies by throwing bottles and sneak up behind them for a stealth kill, but more often than not they’ll turn around at the last second, or will have already spotted you several seconds ago. Playing stealthily works in fits and starts, but I did not find it the most accessible gameplay style to adopt. Of course, you’re not completely powerless. One of The Evil Within's most enjoyable mechanics is its simple upgrade system. ‘Green gel’ is the limited resource that you use to improve your abilities, weapons, stock and crossbow bolts while in safe houses, and it’s dispersed throughout the world like hidden gold, becoming your most sought after resource. While cashing in this gel makes for strong dilemmas of choice - do you upgrade your shotgun damage, or do you want to be able to run for longer? - I liked how it let me shape my own gameplay style and gave me a brief, if generally illusory, sense of control of the situation.Such pockets of calm are welcome because it's chaos, not control, that is the point of the Evil Within . The pacing of the action and horror propels you forward at breakneck speed, moving from one climactic encounter to the next with little to no reprieve. Throughout my playthrough, I always felt on the backfoot, and the times when I was really on the backfoot - I'm talking six in the sniper rifle chamber facing a close-combat boss, here - produced some of the most incredible moments I ' ve experienced in any video game for years. It had me sweaty-palmed, heart in my throat, for most of its duration. PC Version - October 16, 2014 The PC port of the Evil Within plays much the same as the console versions, and as such is locked into a cinematic 2: 35: 1 aspect ratio. That's a bit of an issue - I played on a small 22-inch monitor, and the thick black letterbox bars at the top and bottom of the screen eventually did impede my enjoyment of the Evil Within by simply not allowing me to see enough of it . This was a problem I did not experience at all playing on my 40-inch TV screen, and it's something to take into consideration when deciding which version to pick up, depending on your home set-up. Another thing to be aware of is that The Evil Within on PC is locked at 30fps by default. Video options in the menu are slim, but you can change this to 60fps via (unsupported) debug console commands. Running at the latter framerate, I did notice stuttering when moving the camera around swiftly from left to right - not ideal when in the midst of a breathless firefight. All things considered, I preferred it at a steady 30fps. Verdict The Evil Within is a brutal, challenging, and remarkably fun game. Its eerie world and imaginative enemies are genuinely frightening, and the scares are heightened significantly by the scarcity of resources at your disposal. It keeps the odds stacked against you to the point that they often feel insurmountable, yet it’s finely tuned to ensure that they never really are, as long as you can keep a cool head and a steady aim in the face of building panic. While its story ends up buckling under its own ambition, there is little here that takes away from the joy of experiencing survival horror under the steady hand of a master of the craft. System Requirements: CPU: Core-i7 or an equivalent 4+ core processor CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 7 / 8.1 VIDEO CARD: GeForce GTX 460 or an equivalent 1GB VRAM card PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 50 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 1.0 GB

game information: Developer:Tango Gameworks Publisher:Bethesda Softworks Release Date :October 13, 2017 Platforms:Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4 After finishing The Evil Within 2 I was exhausted, like I’d been through an ordeal. Thinking back on my 20 hours with it, I had. The Evil Within 2 is an ambitious, genuinely tense, and at times brutally difficult experience, but one that left me exhilarated. Like the original before it, The Evil Within 2 may not know how to deliver convincing dialogue or maintain a consistent tone, but it does know that the mark of pure survival horror is to leave you feeling like you only just survived, time after time after time. Developer Tango Gameworks has done a good job at a cleaner set-up this time around by sending protagonist Sebastian Castellanos to rescue his thought-dead daughter from the Evil Within's version of the Matrix, called STEM - adding some vital emotional stakes that were lacking in the original. Sebastian himself, on the other hand, is somehow even more dull three years later. Despite having gone through all this once before, he still regularly quips mundanities at the weirdness of it all. Pedestrian lines like “What the hell?” and “Ugh, who comes up with this stuff?” break the horror spell, and most of the time I just wanted him to shut up and let the creepy world around him speak for itself. The wider cast doesn’t fare much better. Aside from one interesting character you meet later on, they are merely serviceable archetypes there to push the plot forward (the psychologist’s running gag is that she is a psychologist). The awkward dialogue can sometimes lend a certain B-movie charm, but it feels like a missed opportunity to not let them have a little fun in such an eccentric setting. This is still The Evil Within, though, and its world remains delightfully malleable and weird: mirrors take you to safehouses! Burning paintings make barbed wire disappear! A cat gives you green gel so you can upgrade your abilities! There’s a shooting range in the world through the mirror run by a nurse! The sense that the world could change the rules at any moment keeps things interesting, despite, or perhaps because of, its inherent ridiculousness. This is still The Evil Within, and its world remains delightfully malleable and weird. The Evil Within 2’s story travels an unusual road, as its first half is tonally very different from its second. Sebastian begins his journey preoccupied with a deranged murderer inside STEM, which is a meandering mystery punctuated by a weak boss fight (an easily dodged primary attack made this one genuinely boring) that made me miss the non-stop climactic encounters and big moments of the original. Its second half, on the other hand, travels at a breakneck pace and is deadeye focused on the broader task at hand and its personal implications for Sebastian. The latter's strength and surety made me wonder what the first half was even there for, and left me feeling like the Evil Within 2 was telling two completely distinct stories, one much stronger than the other. would never accuse it of being inconsistent in its mood, however. At every turn Tango has done a great deal with lighting, and dimly lit corridors feel claustrophobic, creating a sense of inevitability; of course there’s something waiting for you around the corner! Oddly shaped shadows become crouching monsters while swathes of darkness promise either loot or death. I jumped for no reason more than once I jumped for no reason more than once. It’s a much bigger mini-sandbox this time around, too, and you have more freedom in exploring it. Union - aka “Anytown, USA” - is a sprawling post-apocalyptic mess of diners, picket fences, and a main street that ends at a gaping Silent Hill-esque chasm, its other half lost to the atmosphere. Though not every building can be entered or clambered up onto, there are a welcome number of nooks and crannies that offer unique enemy encounters, side quests, and loot that feel organically baked into the world. Once I stumbled upon a lost agent who’d found himself surrounded by enemies, and after I saved him he gave me a further two quests that took me to the far reaches of Union’s underground tunnel system. Another time I was checking out what I thought was an innocuous diner before its interior changed with the click of a jukebox track and I was suddenly being chased by a screaming ghoul. I loved the promise that such discoveries could be around any or every corner. In every instance, exploration in The Evil Within 2 is worth it, and in the case of scavenging for loot it’s absolutely vital. Green gel (used for upgrading Sebastian's health, athleticism, recovery and combat prowess), gunpowder, and weapon parts (used for crafting ammo and upgrading your arsenal) are scarce but necessary to stay alive, so I was frequently putting Sebastian in ridiculous amounts of danger just to find enough weapon parts to add another bullet chamber to my handgun. Blindly sprinting towards a glimmering light in the distance as the sound of enemies roaring at my heels with the Evil Within 2’s excellent score pounding in my ears was a rush each time. If you’re caught by a mob, particularly early on before you’ve upgraded your arsenal, you’ll die more often than not. Like The Evil Within before it, enemies in The Evil Within 2 are plentiful, relentless, and delightfully gross in their attacks. The Lost are its familiar raging shamblers, but there are also monsters that vomit acid onto your face for a one-hit kill if you get too close (as I did often), monsters with burlap-sack masks who wield flamethrowers, and various composite bosses that are seemingly results of a brainstorming meeting where someone said “What if we mixed X with Y?” Though these don’t quite match the creative lunacy of those in the original - The Keeper remains the series ’highlight - there are still some brilliant encounters here. An early boss is made out of body parts held together by a backbone and a buzzsaw, while a later one is part camera. While deranged, these monsters will still chase you if they spot you, and if they lose you they’ll search the area for a while, so it’s important to keep moving. More, they’re quite erratic in their movements, so sneak kills aren’t always the best option if you’re not close to your target. I got right behind a flamethrowing Harbringer after five minutes of stalking him before he suddenly turned around, immediately spewing flame into my face. Their credibly unpredictable behavior made every encounter a tense one. You don’t always have to fight. Like its predecessor, The Evil Within 2 allows for a stealthy approach, and it’s slightly more feasible this time around thanks to a bigger playground and a new stealth upgrade path that allows you to increase the ‘quietness’ of your footsteps or pace while crouching. Though I found shooting enemies in the head was a more accessible option on the whole, stealth was still a viable option depending on the circumstance. You don’t always have to fight. Like its predecessor, The Evil Within 2 allows for a stealthy approach. “n classic survival-horror style, much of the exhilaration in The Evil Within 2 comes from being spotted and having to suddenly launch into a fight, making do with whatever sparse resources you have at hand. I was frequently forced to experiment with the lesser-used weapons in my arsenal, such as the crossbow and its variety of creative bolts, and found myself delighted as a freeze bolt stopped a rampaging lunatic in his tracks before his head was shattered by my shotgun . Other times it was a case of absolutely needing to land every single headshot with my handgun while desperately searching for respawning ammo in the near vicinity before landing that final, crunchy blow. With scarcity of ammo in mind, though, I would have liked more visual or audio feedback from the enemies themselves to let me know when a shot was actually counted. I found one boss fight particularly frustrating as he appeared to not even register my sneaky headshots - there was no grunt of pain or step backwards that would indicate progression in the fight. When every bullet counts, you should know when your shots do, too. Verdict The Evil Within 2 gives you more options to play your way in a much bigger survival-horror playground than the original. Although a disjointed plot and weak protagonist make it slow to get started, being pursued through an intriguingly bizarre world by plentiful and disturbing monsters kept my palms sweaty and my heart in my throat thanks to a strict adherence to the most important survival horror rule: you should always be on the back foot. System Requirements: CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 / AMD FX-8320 or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 8 GB OS: Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10 (64-bit versions) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD 7970 3GB or better PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 40 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2 GB (3 GB AMD)