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Medal of Honor: War Chest (PC)
by bettyboop2002
Having played and enjoyed other 'Medal of Honour' games on both Playstation and Xbox I thought I'd give the PC version a go. Some technical information from the box is at the bottom of this review.
This game was released in 2004 and is suitable for players over 12. I think this age guide is appropriate, there is violence as ... it is a war game, but nothing too gory or graphic.
I bought this game for £5 new in a game shop, considering the box contains a manual and 4 discs I think this is very good value. The game Medal of Honour - Allied assault has 2 discs, as well as these you also get 2 expansion packs in the box (Spearhead and Breakthrough).
It can be bought online for around £8 including delivery.
Installation is quick and the install screen pops up automatically when you insert the disc. Once installed, each time you insert the disc you just have to press play on the screen which pops up.
When you start the game your screen will show an office which is your home screen, here you can load games and start new games. You can save more than one game so more than one player can save their progress. You can also select to go online and to play multiplayer on this screen and visit the briefing room, in the briefing room you can replay missions and do training.
This was the first war game I've ever played on the PC, most of my PC games are controlled by the mouse, or the arrow keys and space bar. Without the training available in the game I would've given up on the first day. I found it really difficult to use the keyboard to control the movements and there seems like there are far too many keys to use to remember what each is for, once you get into the game though, you realise that there aren't really that many and you soon learn them. You can change some of the keys you use to make it easier for yourself if you with in the options menu.
You can also select your difficulty, I played it on easy at first while I got used to the controls, I tried a few levels on medium which is the same but with less life available to pick up and the enemies are harder to kill. I tried one level on hard but decided it was going to be a disaster as you can't get hit at all or you will be killed. I'm still trying to finish the medium level.
You also have the option to change the quality and volume of the music and sound effects in the game along with options for lots of visual aspects of the game such as the depth of colour, lighting even down to the detail of terrain and weather effects. I left all of these settings as they started but I would imagine for someone who's really into graphics these options would be good to have. The graphics throughout the game are excellent.
When you've set up your profile and changed your options you can start training which will teach you how to use each weapon and give you some target practice which I definitely need, one of these training missions is to throw grenades into holes in boxes which are different distances away, this took me a long time to get past but really did help as grenades are a big weapon in any war game that I usually avoid because I'm not good at throwing them. After all the practise on this game I had no problems.
On the screen when you start the missions which shows you directions and an arrow to show you which direction you are to go toward, you life and ammo will also be on the screen.
You can pick up life along the way in three sizes, each giving you a different amount of health. Ammunition and weapons can be collected along the way and there are lots of cool weapons to choose from.
I find the levels progress nicely, starting off quite simple and giving you a chance to navigate and get used to moving around and climbing and using extra items such as binoculars. It also teaches you how to take cover and you get plenty of chance to use what you have learned in the training room in the early levels.
The game is based in World War 2, some levels are based on scenes from 'Saving Private Ryan' the film and most missions consist of clearing areas by taking out the enemy, their vehicles and their buildings using the various weapons available. You will also have to travel around and save prisoners. You have a team of soldiers with your team, you have several objectives in each campaign and if you manage to do some secret objective you may get medals. You also get a medal at the end of the game depending on how well you've done. There are lots of objectives and over 50 levels so this game took me weeks to complete. I think even for people who play the game for hours at a time it would last a long time, especially if you play the team game, multiplayer and online features.
If you're considering getting the original game without the expansions, I really think the extras are worth buying the war chest. You get new game types, new maps and new levels. Each expansion adds around 12 new maps as well as new maps and levels. For the price of the expansions and delivery it seems to cost almost as much as this whole collection so it's well worth getting.
Overall
I have to admit that although I really did find everything about the game fantastic, I don't think I'll be in a rush to play another war game on PC without some kind of controller. The keyboard controls were just difficult for me who is used to a gamepad for consoles. For someone who likes war games and has no problem using the keyboard to control their player this game is a must have! The missions and graphics are fantastic and the game alone is worth the price it is available for, the addition of the expansion packs makes it excellent value and it is a game I really enjoyed, so much so that I am playing it again on a harder level.
Info (from the box)
OS - Windows 98/2000/ME/XP (also works on Vista)
PROCESSOR - 733 MHz
MEMORY - 128 MB RAM
HARD DRIVE - 3.2 GB
CD - DVD - 8 Speed
VIDEO CARD - 16MB OpenGL
DIRECTX - Version 8.0
SOUND CARD - DirectX 8.0
MULTIPLAYER - 1 CD per PC
NETWORK - TCP/IP Compliant (2-64 players)
INTERNET - 56.6 Kbps (2-32 players)
INPUT - Keyboard / Mouse
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The Sims 3 (PC)
by k444tmc
I have been a big fan of the Sims franchise since I discovered the first Sims series as a teenager - and then on to the improved Sims 2 and around 3 years ago the latest game - Sims 3 was released... Today I will be reviewing the latter.
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To the few who have no idea what The Sims is about - in a knutshell ... its a virtual doll town - and in the previous versions virtual doll houses because you were a bit more restricted to one house and having to change to other households... in the current version you can explore into other households and into the town... You start by creating the family - everything from clothes to eye colour... create children by playing with genetics of the parents and you can move them into a pre-built house or build them a house from scratch... decorate as you like with a huge choice of wallpapers and floors (extras can be downloaded from The Sims website) and different furnitures. The people in the game are called "Sims" hense the name of the game... and they have their own language which sounds a bit french to me... but its interesting to see how they react and you normally get an idea of what they are talking about / thinking about due to the cute little speech bubbles above their head!
The aim of the game is you can pretty much do whatever you like in your little doll town - make your sims happy, sad... fall in love, become serial cheaters... have large families... become career focused or party animals. The sims can be created with a lot of different traits and lifetime wishes which are constantly being updated by EA (the creators) and you normally see a downloadable update for these changes on average every two months. To get through their life you can get them jobs to earn money so they can spend their money on what they like. The Sims age, grow up from children and eventually throughout the game they do end up passing away leaving the younger generations behind to start it all over again! However when Sims die depending on where you place their grave stones or urns they can often come back from the dead as ghosts which is always quite funny to see the Sims reactions!
There is so much stuff you can do in the game its unreal. Like the previous Sims games, you learn different skills, but unlike the previous Sims games there is more choice in Sims 3 as to what skills you can actually do. Skills include fishing, handy (fixing things), cooking, writing and many more. You use these skills to better their Sims in their jobs to earn promotions or you can be asked to do different tasks which earns you better skills in the field or money (in Sims world money is known as simoleons). In the game you can also go looking for objects such as bugs and rocks - some of which are rare and if you sell them you can earn extra coin for your little people! Other things you can do include visiting neighbours and venturing into the town which comes complete with a sport stadium, cinema, resturants and shops - your town your rules. One thing I love is that you are not restricted and can modify everything just the way you like it!
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There has been a few things removed from the latest game which has been in the earlier games which is a bit dissapointing... These include getting abducted by aliens (and inpregnated by them?!) which produced a lot of half sim/half alien babies in Sims 2... Very random but I thought this was a brilliant thing in the old games... also in Sims 2, when an elder Sim dies the money from their house and bank would automatically be given to the most liked family members outside of the household - this would be known as inheritance in the game but sadly doesn't exist in Sims 3 - hopefully these two losses will be added to the game in a future update though!
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My thoughts?
Obviously Sims 3 is the best out of all the Sims series - even with the loss of some of the features above the game overall is a lot better and once you get used to it, is very easy to work. The graphics are a lot better and I like how original you can make the Sims with their features which is something you couldn't do in the previous games - facial features are completely custom-isable such as nose shape, eye shape, face shape... you can make everyone different and in previous versions you had to make do with different hair colour, style and shape and that was it!
Like the previous versions you can get add on games for this which require the regular Sims 3 game to work - these add on's create new jobs within the game along with new clothes, hair and furniture.
Another thing I like is how socialable the game is - when you register online you can download content made by other players such as Sims, new hairstyles, homes and clothes - and in turn you can also share your creations online!
Overall I highly recommend this game and have to say until they bring another Sims game out this is my top favourite of all time.
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System requirements
FOR WINDOWS XP
*Windows XP (Service Pack 2 *2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
*1 GB RAM
*At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
*128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
FOR WINDOWS VISTA
*Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
*2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
*1.5 GB RAM
*At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
*128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least: Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above. 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent 0.5 GB additional RAM.
FOR MAC
*Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher
*Intel Core Duo Processor
*2 GB RAM
*6.1 GB free hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
*ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
Supported Video Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce series FX 5900, FX 5950, 6200, 6500, 6600, 6800, 7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950, 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800, 9300, 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800, G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150, GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295.
ATI Radeon series 9500, 9600, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950, 2400, 2600, 2900, 3450, 3650, 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870.
Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series.
This game will not run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems, or the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards.
* As taken from Amazon. I run mine on a HP laptop with total 4gb ram and Windows 7 and never encountered any issues with the game.
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At present you can buy Sims 3 from Amazon for £27.95 including P+P which hasn't changed much in price in the last 3 years and is quite expensive - but worth it.
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The Sims: Livin' It Up Expansion Pack (PC)
by bettyboop2002
When the game 'The Sims' was released for PC all those years ago, soon after came the release of expansion packs. There are now lots and lots to choose from and this was the first one released.
The idea of the expansion packs is that they update your original Sims game with new features.
This game is for over 16's, it's ... up to parents if they would allow children younger than this to play the game. The only thing that I can see in the game that would justify this rating is the romance aspect which I'll explain a bit more in a while.
There are different editions of this game, it is available for Windows 95 / 98 / 2000. My copy says Windows 98 or 2000 but it also works on Vista. I haven't tried it on other operating systems.
To install the game only takes a few minutes and you only need to insert your expansion disc and not the original Sims game.
Outside Europe the game is called Livin' Large but it's the same thing just in case you see this version for sale online.
What's new?
There are 4 new neighbourhoods which you can build up to 50 houses on. When you build these houses there is new and funky or spooky decor (including skeleton and vegas themes) and architecture available on this disc.
When you've built your new houses with new themes you can then get a brand new robot which acts as a maid and does all the housework for you which is good and leaves you more time to concentrate on......
Five new career paths including a journalist, musician and paranormal investigator, each path has plenty of different jobs so the expansion gives you over 50 new jobs in total. This means you will need to upgrade your skills, find and apply for the job and then send your Sim to work with it's needs fulfilled to excel in their career and gain promotions. This is one of the goals I enjoy doing in the game.
New characters can visit your houses and neighbourhoods including some welcome ones (Santa and Servo the robot) and some unwelcome ones (Grim Reaper).
There are lots of new items including the following: A magic lamp (with genie which grants you wishes such as skill points), a crystal ball, chemistry set (to make and drink potions that each have different effects), an easel for paintings, a wood bench ( to make and sell gnomes) and finally..........
The Love Bed - This is a heart shaped bed which your Sim can sleep in. Or if you want you can get your Sim to go in the bed and vibrate. When they get in the bed the bed will blur and you can get another Sim to join them by sending them to also vibrate in the bed. The Sims will then "woohoo" and sometimes may even create a baby. The two sims in question must, of course, be in love with each other.
Thankfully you can't see any of the "woohoo"-ing or baby making take place as the whole area is blurred, so I don't think this is a reason not to let younger players play the game. To be honest they probably wouldn't have any interest in the love bed but would be more interested in the monsters, aliens and the normal aspects of the game!
There are over 100 objects in total but I have had this for so long and played it so much that I can't remember which of the rest were there originally and which came with the expansion!
There are lots more features including aliens, monsters, a clown and even a clone of your Sim which provide lots of fun and I think this expansion pack is a really good one.
Overall
I think this is a good expansion pack, the new career paths and neighbourhoods offer a few more challenges and more hours of entertainment in a game which I had pretty much finished and wanted some new challenges.
I enjoyed playing the new parts that the expansion pack offered but I did find that when I bought this years ago it was a bit expensive. The same applies for a lot of the other expansion packs, some costing as much as the original game. This expansion pack is only £1.95 on Amazon including delivery which is really good value. This one definitely worth buying at this price to add a bit more interest to your Sims game! Some of the others offer very little to the game, with only a couple of new outfits and objects but this one is a really good one and definitely worth getting!
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