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APB Reloaded (PC)
by djohalo2
APB Reloaded is an Action/Shooter, it is published by Iceberg Interactive. This game could be compared with the Grand Theft Auto series, because it is actually very similar. The game is based on multiplayer and together with your friends you do missions against the others. There exist two groups: the Criminals and the Police. ...
*Gameplay*
The game itself start with of course customizing your character, this is actually quite fascinating. You can edit so much in detail, this is one of the most extensive character customization I have ever seen. You can simply create any kind of character. When you are done, you start out at a person who gives you a mission. In one of the three districts you have joined, there are at the beginning 3 characters who can give you missions. Slowly you start to get higher ranks with those guys and new people will arrive in the district with new and fresh missions. When you join a mission you can do it together with other criminals but also police are doing their duty to prevent you to complete the mission. This is a fun aspect of the game, since there is some kind of rivalry created. With the cash you earn you can buy new weapons, clothes, plastic surgery, cars and much more! There are different ways to get money in the game. Doing missions is one, but also raiding shops and steal their goods. You can transport the goods with a car or a van, after that you can sell it illegaly. Though watch your back, because any police can arrest you for this. In the police perspective, you simply have to arrest or prevent criminals from doing their jobs. This will give you money and a higher status. The gameplay could sometimes be a little repetitive after a while, but it all depends what you choose to do in the game.
There is also the social district which is defined as a large shopping mall. Here you can buy personal designed clothing, cars, songs etc. All these products are created by other people. So this game also includes some kind of designing and socializing. This really makes it appealing to a larger audience.
I would rate the Gameplay 4 out of 5
*Graphics*
The graphics are truly stunning. I was suprised by the quality of the models and textures. The way the characters move is perfect. The price compared to its graphics is almost unbelievable. I don't say these are the best graphics at this moment, but definitely one of the better graphics out there. Also the way the body is made up is good.
I would rate the graphics 5 out of 5
To conclude, APB Reloaded has wonderful graphics, a very varied gameplay for a large audience and most importantly very fun to play!
Minimum required specifications :
OS:Windows XP
Memory:3 GB RAM
Processor:Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13GHz) or AMD Athlon x2 5800+ (3.0GHz)
Graphics:GeForce 7800 with 256MB and support for Pixel Shader 3.0, or AMD equivalent
HDD:7 GB HD space
Internet Connection
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Zeno Clash (PC)
by Grave-Joy
Zeno Clash is made by Chilean indie ACE Team and available through Steam, Valve Software's online content delivery service. I was drawn to it by the unique visual style and its First Person Shooter / beat-em up game play. Zeno Clash from start to finish is an incredibly weird action game; it is a smooth blend of the standard First ... Person shooter with a very unique combat system of its own. The story's dialogue makes sense until towards the end where it goes off on some strange nonsensical tangent. The character and level design are all very quirky and superb, like something out of a very twisted fairytale, involving cannibals and lots of violence. The games constant flow of combat stops it from ever getting boring and the new enemies and weaponry that appear keeps interest and combat fresh.
In the game you play as Ghat who is fleeing his horde of a family who are trying to kill him for allegedly killing their Father/Mother your parent who gave birth to your whole clan Creepy and Pretty weird since your clan is made up of people mutants, rat women, elephant men and many more strange creatures. From the offset you are followed by your equally strange afro headed female partner Deadra who sticks by you even though she has no idea what is going on.
The aim of the game to begin with is to flee the town at great speed, caving the head in of anyone who gets in your way, with your fists, huge sticks, hammers or even very basic firearms. As you progress through the 18 game levels that get stranger and weirder, you often stop for combat with enemies. This is done in a very comic book style; a splash screen appears that show yourself vs. then all of your opponents. Throughout most of these fights you will be using your fists as well as a selection of strange weaponry ranging from clubs to guns that have been made out of wood, bones and sea shells. Ranged weaponry is not a regular occurrence and usually fights are very up close and personal. The weapons are clunky and basic, meaning they take forever to reload and are usually hit from your grasp before you get a chance to blast off a second shot. The game expects you to do most of your fighting with your bare hands as even the large weapon wielding is an awkward maneuver with a mouse. This means the game is about dodging, ducking and landing combos with your fists and once you get the hang of it, it is very rewarding and easy to handle. During combat you can also lock on to your opponents, which make beating large gangs much easier. This locking system then allows you to throw them into each other, giving you more time to dispatch them without being mobbed.
Fighting is just a case of hitting the left and right mouse buttons to punch and kick, then sometimes hitting the space bar to dodge. The fighting is very easy and in all one on one battles you will be the victor. To combat this easiness the game pits you against multiple enemies all of the time and later in the game this does get mighty challenging, especially when a number of your enemies are armed with firearms in the distance and you are surrounded by thugs with sticks.
The game is short, on the basic difficulty level it took me just over four hours to complete all 18 levels, which for the price is a rather large drawback; however it is also the games saving grace because if the game was any longer it would lose its appeal. While bashing in distorted creepy fairytale creatures is fun it does become all a bit to similar.
What keep the game fresh are the enemies that you face, the human ones have huge noses or large heads with small beady eyes, while the non-human enemies possess animal heads, trotters, multiple teats and many are crippled or disfigured in horrific ways. The more spiritual enemies later on are just as creepy as the nutty cannibals from the start or your twisted family. Visually the game is superb, from the swamps, to the end of the world and the final city showdown. You can tell that a lot of love and effort has been put into the game and through all of the craziness and ugly and brutal nature of the game it is strangely beautiful.
Even once the game is over it is impossible to understand what has actually happened, from the creepy flashbacks about the protagonists past to the last roof tops of Whoville at the end. The dialogue stays with you much like the visuals, with lines such as "Gable ate people, that's just what he had to do." The whole game is very atmospheric and is relentless in its surreal and twisted journey. Despite this if you were to ignore the narrative entirely and purely focus on the game mechanics it would not be as original or as appealing.
Zeno Clash is certainly a unique experience and is well worth a try but sadly the game does get repetitive and relies too heavily on being weird, while this did maintain my interest it is certainly not for everybody. With a gripping fast paced and rewarding combat system it is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of your PC shooters, I hear that it is also available on the Xbox arcade now with some added content. So maybe if you are not a PC gamer check it out there instead.
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Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder (PC)
by Burning_Darkness
Released in 2007, Darkness Within is a point-and-click adventure of the kind generally not made any more, absorbing, intelligent games nowadays being eschewed in favour of lowest-common-denominator efforts like Gears of War and Halo instead.
Darkness Within sees you take up the role of a private investigator who was taken on ... the case of the mysterious disappearance of a man who, it soon becomes apparent, became involved in a dark and mysterious Lovecraftian universe of ancient, unknown terror and all-encompassing madness. You start off investigating said individual's remote home, searcing for clues in the study and crawling through basement spaces to the brink of unexplained subterranea beyond, though the story also develops back at your own apartment too, as your character's mind begins to unravel as relity seems to cave in around him.
The game is in the first person, however rather than being a free-roaming first person game it instead consists of a series of old-faashioned static screens through which you navigate the gaming universe, each of which are phenomenally detailed and beautifully lit. The visuals really are superb, and perfectly suited to the pace of the game, and the voice acting is excellent too, whilst the minumalist piano/synth/ambience-driven music is brilliantly executed and adds to the atmosphere immensely.
The game relies on problem solving, sucking you into its universe brilliantly and making for a positively cinematic gaming experience, albeit one that absorbs by virtue of taking a firm grip on your mind rather than being a pretty but passive experience like, say, the new resident evil game for example. The puzzles are engaging and challenging without being so tough as to become infuriating, and the atmosphere is unparallelled, and the game can be genuinely terrifying in places, especially if played alone in the wee hours, sitting bathed in the screen's ethereal glow as Lovecraftian horrors look just beyond the veil of reality.
Highly recommended for anyone who remembers what pc games used to be like before the pc market merged with the console market and all was lost.
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