Activision PC Games
Offers
Reviews
Activision PC Game Reviews
 |
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)
by Danscomp In a galaxy far, far away -------------------------------- The Star Wars universe has always been ripe for gaming. We've already seen some great spaceship simulators produced like X-Wing and Tie fighter. We've seen some first person blasters like Dark Forces, but then a slew of ho-hum games brought little but ... disappointment. Then Activision and Bioware brought out the seminal Knights Of The Old Republic. Great classic Star Wars locations abound. A republic cruiser, Tatooine, Dantooine, Kashykk (Wookie land) and others. Bounty hunters, Tusken raiders, Sith, Wookies, Twi'leks and more. Blasters and melee weapons, leading to the ultimate hotness; use of the light sabres themselves. Best of all, because the game setting is 4,000 years in the past when compared to the films, there's scope for a universe-affecting plot without the need to step carefully around established canon. Dungeons and Dragons in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaace! --------------------------------------------------------------- Knights of the old Republic (KoTR) uses D&D 3rd edition rules. You can choose between three starting classes which lead into three advanced Jedi classes later in the game. You have your basic warrior class (Soldier), a thief-style class (Scout) and a combination class (Scoundrel, or obvious-Han-Solo), half-way between the two. One of the main differences is that Soldiers will be more durable in combat, with greater access to feats while Scouts have far more skill points to invest. Feats are typically buffing "powers" that affect combat. Giving the ability to strike more regularly or with greater force, and many others. Skills are exactly what it says on the tin. A soldier is not going to be able to open that security gate. A Scoundrel may, while a Scout probably will. Playing as a soldier is the most straight-forward and probably the choice that most players will go for. Because you have the ability to choose from a pool of potential companions, you do have the option to play as whatever you want. More importantly, if your character falls in combat, things continue until your companions either win or join you. A very nice aspect indeed. Later in the game, you become a Jedi. At that point, you get to make the same class choice again. Only things revolve around force points. The soldier-type will get access to more force type attacks, but less force points than a Scout-type. The three Jedi classes are Jedi Consular, Jedi Sentinel, and Jedi Guardian. There's no reason why you have to choose the same class type the second time around. Combat is straightforward. You walk through a level until an enemy sees you, then the game auto-pauses, giving you the facility to issue orders to yourself and your companions. A queue of orders can be generated, such as throw grenade, followed by power attack, followed by use medikit. You can pause the game at any point by pressing the space bar and resume the same way. There are a number of conversation options, and your feats and skill can alter these. You really can persuade someone that these aren't the droids they are looking for with but a gesture. If you chose that power. One of the coolest aspects of the game for me was the way you could personalise your light sabres. You have a choice of colours, and can use either one sabre, two or a two-bladed weapon a la Darth Maul. Furthermore, special crystals could be found or purchased which give extra effects or damage. Another uber cool feature is the facility through free choice to ally yourself with the light or dark side of the force. Your appearance will alter accordingly, as will your cost to use certain force powers. You can still use force lightning if you're nicer than nice, but it will drain your force points far quicker. If you're evil personified, you can cast lightning all day, but healing someone will be very expensive. Spacebook --------------- As alluded to above, the plot is really something special. You begin the game with amnesia, and are quickly drawn into a fight between the old republic and a sith fleet led by Darth Malak, once protégé of the legendary Darth Revan. Locations are well thought out, leading to much raising of gooseflesh as you echo many of the film's greatest footsteps. Once example would be stepping into a dingy bar in Anchorhead on Tatooine. There are plenty of moments that belong to KoTR alone, such as when you masquerade as a Sith in training on their ancient training world, or lead a Wookie rebellion against a rapacious corporation. Not only is the plot great, you develop a pool of possible companions to crew your proto Millenium Falcon. All of them have rich backstories and side quests, excellent voice acting and none of them seem cheap or caricatured. There's something for everyone, though you'll want to go with whoever will compliment your own class choices most of the time. All have items, abilities or specific weapons to be upgraded. Bastila Shan - A smoking hot but rather preachy and slightly arrogant Jedi knight, recently graduated and possessing a unique Jedi power. She represents the first such character you are able to recruit, and is intregal to the major plot. Carth Onasi - A distrustful republic soldier, betrayed by someone he once idolised. A standard soldier class who specialises in the use of blasters. The pilot of your spacecraft. Canderous Ordo - Heavy weapons specialist and Mandalorian mercenary. Someone who lives for battle, and has little morals, regarding them as useless constraints. Mission Vao - Twi'lek scout and teenager. Close friend of the Wookie Zaalbar. Bubbly and cheerful. A bit like a care bear with head tentacles and a pistol. Useful for unlocking or decoding stuff. Zaalbar - Exiled as a madclaw by his clan, specialising in the use of his crossbow blaster-thing, but useful with a large blade due to prodigious strength. Jolee Bindo - An amusing old Jedi Knight living in exile deep in the dangerous swamps of Kashykk. Useful as a general buffer / healer for your party. Juhani - A struggling Jedi apprentice that looks a lot like Cheetara from Thundercats. Volatile and hot tempered. Good front combat tank. HK47 - My favourite companion. An at times hysterically funny assassin droid whose memory can be gradually unlocked. Alternates between obsequiousness and insulting. You're both master and meatbag to him. T3-M4 - Basically R2D2. The least developed companion. There's little conversational options to be had with something capable of only a series of beeps and bops. Surprisingly versatile as a companion however. Enemies are pleasingly varied. Sith come in both the foot soldier type and dark Jedi versions. The halberd-wielding piggies make an appearance, as do a whole range of other star wars regulars. Mandalorian mercenaries are a constant, concerted menace and there's a whole host of various beasties indigenous to each location, from the bizarre to the terrifying. Summary ------------- The graphics may have aged, but the game is as good now as it has ever been. And you no longer need a powerful machine to run it at highest resolution. Upgradable items including weapons and armour are rendered nicely, with what was incredible textures at the time. Everything has a suitable Star Wars look and feel to it. Sound effects are great, from blasters to the hum and crackle of Light sabres. Combat music feels instantly recognisable. There is plenty of game here, at least thirty hours of fun to be had. The different locations keep plates spinning, avoiding the feeling of repetition. You even have the choice, once you have your ship, to visit whatever planets you want in whichever order. There's a few sub-games, including racing, gambling and ship combat, but they feel tacked on. The story is a great one and the general game polish is high, something that wouldn't be the case with its successor, the unfinished Sith Lords. If you have a PC and have not played this, and you like Star Wars. It's a genuine no brainer. Buy it now for about the cost of a happy meal. Read the complete review |
 |
Best of Range: Quake 4 (PC)
by Danscomp How to do things properly --------------------------------- Whenever I think of Doom 3, I think of disappointment. It was a first person perspective sci-fi horror game with a huge budget that turned out to be incredibly, utterly boring. The perfect antidote to that disappointment was Quake 4. It was frantic, exciting, had ... an actual storyline and memorable boss battles. It looked great, played great and didn't have fetch and carry quests ad nauseum every five minutes Quake 4 takes the approach towards it's predecessor of pretending it never happened, much like Bobby Ewing's death in Dallas. It is therefore a sequel to Quake 2. Having successfully defended Earth against an invasion by the bio-mechanical Strogg, humanity has embarked on an invasion of the Strogg home world. They use starships, landing craft, marines. For some reason, they choose not to use WMCD's, Weapons of Mass Cultural Destruction - like TOWIE, Bieber and Simon Cowell. I guess the Geneva convention also applies in outer space. Anyhow, Matthew Kane (the protagonist) joins Rhino squad as they are shot down during an attempted landing. Crawling into the middle of a warzone with just a pistol, you are soon encountering some fairly ooky enemies as you struggle to secure a beach head. To add insult to injury, their standard foot soldiers are humans that have been "Stroggified". Alien design is similar, yet different. Alien recharging stations replete with indecipherable hieroglyphics are seen on a regular basis, and will shortly end up being useful to you after one particularly horrible section that manages to be incredibly inventive. Gameplay ------------- Level design is generally good, with some very nice sequences and spot effects littered throughout. Your arsenal will grow as you progress, as will the quantity and type of the enemies that you encounter. The graphics were great at the time. They are still serviceable now. Enemy AI will depend on the type of enemy. I was impressed initially by the standard Strogg, and the way he'd jump sideways and often. Maddening, if you'd just unleashed a hail of lead where he no longer is. You will quickly encounter your first melee enemy in close quarters, the grunt. Back peddling while firing is your only option in such tight surroundings. And this sets the tone as you get assaulted from the front, enemies spreading out to try and flank you. Some enemies are ranged, some are melee. But some are both. The bosses you encounter can be truly frightening in terms of what they do and simply how huge they can be. Your handgun has unlimited ammo, but is as weak as a tin of carling. There are some fairly generic weapons that you get access to, such as a machine gun (more of an assault rife) to a rail gun sniper which can shoot through several enemies at once to a grenade launcher. But there are several really fun weapons on offer also, such as a fully automatic nail gun with a homing function, a lightning gun with which you can be frying tonite and the DMG. The Dark Matter Gun. Quake's answer to Doom's BFG. Ammo is rarer than unicorn babies, so only use on the most dire of foes. Weapons are all reasonably satisfying to use, including room shakers like the rocket launcher, the grenade launcher's bigger brother. The plot keeps moving quickly enough that you don't feel bogged down. It's not all constant action. There are times when you can roam through your star ship, listening to squaddies talk and watching scientists experiment on living and dead Strogg. You do feel like part of the war effort. Your companions are just interesting enough that you care what happens to them (and things WILL happen to them) and the voice acting throughout is very good indeed. In a nice change of pace, you get to drive a hover tank through a number of sections. Conclusion -------------- If there is one major drawback to the game, it is with the sudden ending. It feels as if they either ran out of ideas, or had a go to market date that prohibited any further polishing. Either way, the ending is a let-down. The good news is that the journey is so much fun that I have played through the entire game about three times. Released in 2006, the game is still widely available at a tenner or below. If there's one factor that should tell you that this is a game worth playing, that's it. Graphics: 8 Sounds & Soundtrack: 8 Gameplay: 9 Pacing: 9 Fun: 9 Plot: 8 Overall: 8.5 / 10 Read the complete review |
 |
Vampire:the Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)
by Danscomp The party's over, so now take off your face ------------------------------------ Vampire: The Masquerade, Bloodlines is set in a gaming universe where Vampires are very real. Before you start thinking similarities with Sookie Stackhouse, the Masquerade predates it by a decade. It is also one of the best RPGs ever made. ... If you have a PC and like Vampires, you absolutely must have this game - dated or not. In it, not only are vampires literally everywhere, they are organised. They have taken up battle lines, usually against the other Vampire clans. The Camarilla are the largest clan and they operate by a strict code; The Masquerade. The making of new vampires is strictly controlled. The rules for feeding on humans (don't be seen doing it and don't kill 'em) and displaying vampiric powers to the general public (don't) are enforced by game mechanics. Kill too many - innocent - humans by feeding on them till they die and "the beast" inherant in all Vampires takes over for good. Humans that are part of combat missions are fair game. Be seen using powers costs you a masquerade point. Loose 'em all, and Vampire hunters will take you out. There are other clans out there. The Anarchs, who unsuprisingly don't like rules. They're not the bad guys though. Think noble bikers and against-the-establishment types, often disillusioned former members of it. The Camarilla live by rules, each clan within the main clan ruled by a Vampire Elder, one of which in each city is elected Prince. The main bad guys are the Sabbat. They operate like packs of rapid dogs, consider Humans fair game and revel in revealing their power to anyone around. Although the Camarilla and the Anarchs keep their numbers fairly constant, the Sabbat adhere to no such constraint. They are making new Vampires all the time, and although the Camarilla and Anarchs win most encounters, they face increasing numbers and a war of attrition has begun as they attempt to conceal the worst of the Sabbat Atrocities from Humankind. Wolf, Nobleman, Blood mage or Nutcase? ------------------------------------ To begin with, you have a choice of seven vampire bloodlines. You can choose directly, or the game can choose for you based on your answer to a series of questions. Each bloodline is believed decended from Cain, and each has unique powers. As the game does not award experience on kills, just achievement of objectives, you are not tied into any one type. Each bloodline has a unique appearance based on sex and a number of "upgrades" based on clothing. Brujah - Usually members of the Anarchs, Brujah rely on brute power to get the job done. You can stack powers such as unnatural speed (Celerity), Potence (Strength) and Presence (Supernatural Charisma). They get a bonus to unarmed combat, but are more likely to frenzy in combat, which means you lose active control. Gangrel - Loners and wonderers, Gangrel have animalistic traits. They tend to hunch over and the guys (even white) have dreadlocks. I love these guys. Their powers include summoning (Animalism), Fortitude (Damage resistance) and Protean (Claws and infravision, leading up to a kick-ass animal form). They also frenzy, but gain huge bonuses when they do. Malkavian - Fruitloops, nutcases, a few gunmen short of a posse. Malkavians are genetically insane. In the game, this manifests in your interactions with people. There's a lot of talking in the game, and your choice of responses can be utterly hillarious. Street signs also talk to you. Sometimes you will get helpful hints this way. Sometimes you will get rubbish. The character on the game case, Jeanette, is Malkavian. Their powers include Auspex (perception), Dementation (cause other people to go insane) and obfustagate (Invisibility). You also get access to some truly trippy outfits. Nosferatu - What it says on the tin. These guys look like Nosferatu. The mere sight of them by humans in a non-combat situation casuses an automatic Masquerade violation. As a result, while other bloodlines can walk among humans, they spend most of their time in the shadows or underground. It can be challenging because of this to play as one. Their powers include Animalism, obfustagate and Potence. They also get more blood from feeding off rats (yes, really) than other bloodlines do. Their appearence can never be greater than zero. No charming humans into feeding off them. No chance to talk your way into information. You will have to resort to lock picking and hacking. Toreador - The pretty vamps. Think Brad Pitt in Interview with a Vampire. Other bloodlines often find them horribly pretentious and as shallow as a puddle. Their powers include Auspex, Celerity and Presence. Humanity rewards for protecting humans are doubled. Costs for killing innocent humans are also doubled. Tremere - Blood mages. Warlocks. Generally untrusted and feared by other bloodlines for their unique power, Tremere can be a hoot to play. Powers include Auspex, Domination (mind control) and the almighty Thatamurgy that can cause those about them to vomit blood or even explode. None of their physical stats can rise above 4. Ventrue - Your traditional I-Vant-to-Suck-your-blood Vampire. Usually of noble birth, they can be haughty and spoiled. They tend to be the rulemakers and are never far away from positions of influence or power. They are unique among the bloodlines in having no powers that will cause a masquerade violation. They have Dominate, Fortitude and Presence. They are also the most likely gaming choice to resort to guns. They cannot feed off rats, and feeding off vagrants often causes spontaneous vomiting. There are a whole host of skills that you can also invest points in aside from powers. You can boost your unarmed or armed skills, firearms, dodge, standard perceptive skills, hacking, finance (lowers item costs) and others including appearance. Books are also scattered throughout the game. Your powers cost blood. You can replenish it through buying (or finding) different grades of blood bags or feeding. If in a non-combat situation, you must not be seen feeding. You can ambush someone or charm them into willingly letting you, in which case people assume heavy petting! Dead by dawn ----------------- You begin life in L.A., sired by a Camarilla member with no permission to do so. Your first waking hours are spent in front of a council debating whether to execute you or not. It is no spoiler to say that they decide against it. You may think this a long review (the longest I've written), but I've barely scratched the surface. The game is extremely violent. When it says 18 on the cover, it means it. The plot is excellent, the characters you encounter well thought out with some marvellous voice acting. It has great, atmospheric locations with some great jump out of your seat moments, and varied quests. The graphics were wonderful at the time. They are still servicable now. The score is good, if not great. The length of the game is very generous, even before you factor in the myriad subquests. It also has multiple endings. Released in 2004 on the same day as Half-Life 2, it was eclipsed by that Game's huge success as well as some intial bugs that were subsequently fixed. It never got the recognition through sales that it and the talented team behind it deserved, though it has gone on to become an absolute classic. New physical copies tend to be expensive (£60!) though used copies abound for under £20. If you are worried about getting a duff disk set, Games downloads direct offer it for the same price. Read the complete review |
Activision PC Game |
||
|---|---|---|
|
1 review Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / Video Game for Windows NT / Windows 98 / Windows 2000 / Windows Me / Windows XP / ESRB Rating: Adults Only / Release Date: 2004-11-19 / Published by Activision |
|
|
1 review Genre: Action & Adventure / PC Game / DVD-ROM for Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows XP / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Driving & Racing / PC Game / Video Game for Windows XP / Universal, suitable for all / ESRB Rating: Rating Pending / Release Date: 2010-05-28 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / DVD-ROM for Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows XP / Mac OS X / Suitable for 15 years and over / Release Date: 2012-05-15 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / Video Game for Windows Vista / Release Date: 2008-10-24 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / DVD-ROM for Windows Vista / Windows XP / ESRB Rating: Rating Pending / Release Date: 2010-11-05 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / DVD-ROM for Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Release Date: 2012-11-13 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / Video Game for Windows XP / Release Date: 2007-05-04 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Action & Shooter / PC Game / Video Game for Windows NT / Windows 98 / Windows 2000 / Windows Me / Windows XP / Suitable for 18 years and over / Release Date: 2003-11-28 / Published by Activision |
|
|
Genre: Strategy - Military / PC Game / Video Game for Windows XP / ESRB Rating: Mature / Release Date: 2006-09-15 / Published by Activision |
|
| Activision PC Game Recommendations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... next | ||
| dooyoo Results 1 - 10 of 103 | ||
