Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Crysis
Release Date: 2007
There are two reasons why Crysis is great. One: it’s smart. The suit powers are a clever way to give you wonderful choices about how to approach the game, letting you play as a cloaked killer, a speeding train, or a human wrecking ball. They’re all fun, and when used in combination make you a free-running tank. Two: it’s so, so dumb. Like a lot of games, Crysis has the subtlety of a Bruckheimer action movie, but it’s unique in having the scale to match. As you travel across the game’s tropical paradise, mountains crack open, space ships blot out the sun, and nuclear explosions astonish.
Mirror’s Edge
Release Date: 2009
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Release Date: 2005
Splinter Cell: Convicton came pretty close to digitally heisting my heart in the action-spy genre I love, but while the action is sharper, more brutal, it misses Chaos Theory’s wonderful characterisation of Sam: he threatens a man with death if he says “monkey” and has funny little chats with his boss. And the wonderful, tactile co-op is still the best of its kind.
Max Payne
Release Date: 2001
Last year: New entry
Right when you start, you discover Max’s murdered wife and child in his own home at the hands of drug addicts. Has there ever been a beginning of a game more powerful or emotional? Exceptional noir writing and a gritty NYC underbelly setting made Max Payne one of the greats.
Assassin's Creed 2007-2011
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical science fiction third person action-adventure game series that as of 2011 consists of four main games and a number of supporting materials. The games have appeared on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS X,Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, HP webOS,[1] Android, WiiU[2] and Windows Phone 7 platforms. The main games in the franchise were developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with the handheld titles developed by Gameloft and Gryptonite Studios, with additional development by Ubisoft Montreal. All games in the franchise are published by Ubisoft.
The main story arc of the series revolves around a bartender named Desmond Miles as he is captured by secret megacorporation Abstergo Industries. Using a machine known as the Animus, Desmond is forced to relive the memories of his ancestors, who were all assassins, in order to recover artifacts, called the "Pieces of Eden", for Abstergo. While the original assassin ancestor of Desmond is Altaïr Ibn la-Ahad (Arabic for "Altaïr, Son of One"), the most recent games feature another assassin from Florence, Italy named Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Assassination targets are mostly actual historical figures, although the timelines for their lives and causes of death have been changed to suit the games' plot (in-game these inaccuracies are attributed to the Templars rewriting history to cover up their actions, as well as honest mistakes on the part of historians).
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the title for the previously code-named "Episodes." The game was announced by Ubisoft and was released on November 16 (USA) and November 19 (UK), 2010.[4] The game is a continuation of Ezio Auditore's story, the Assassin's Creed IIprotagonist, as he returns to the city of Monteriggioni.
The Godfather: The Game 2006
The Godfather: The Game is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second video game in the Godfather series and based upon the 1972 film of the same name. Originally released in March 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox andMicrosoft Windows, The Godfather has since been released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360and Wii. A smaller variant of the game has also been published for the PlayStation Portable.
The game is notable in that it features the return of several original actors from the original film to lend their voice. The participating actors are James Caan as Sonny Corleone, Robert Duvallas Tom Hagen, John Martino as Paulie Gatto, and Abe Vigoda as Salvatore Tessio, with the most notable absences being Marlon Brando (because of his ill health and his late death, the audio producers found that the quality of the recordings were not good enough and hired an imitato.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction 2005
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is a video game developed by Radical Entertainment and based on Marvel Comics' Hulk. The game was released on August 24, 2005 in the United States and in September 2005 in Europe. The player controls the Hulk in an open world environment in which the player can visit most locations and interact with the environment while not engaged in missions. The game's bosses include Devil Hulk and Mercy, and the game's main villain is the Abomination.
Boasting "Unstoppable Movement" means Hulk can run across walls and other vertical surfaces, climb any wall by digging his fingers into concrete, leap huge heights and distances all under the player's control. Hulk's combat abilities also reflect this increased power; cars and buses are simply smashed out of the way while fully charged attacks will toss vehicles, enemies and unlucky pedestrians into the air. At his most powerful the Hulk can perform one of five different ultra-powerful Devastator attacks including the Critical Atomic Slam and the Critical Thunderclap.
Prototype 2009
Prototype is an open world action video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. The game was released in North America on June 9, 2009, and in southwestern parts of North America as well as Oceania on June 10, and was released in Europe on June 12.
The game is set in New York City, where a virulent plague known as Blacklight is spreading through Manhattan. Those infected are mutated into hideous monsters of varying form, with an uncontrollable urge to kill all uninfected life-forms. The United States Marine Corps, under the command of the black ops organization Blackwatch, is dispatched to contain it. At the center of it is the protagonist, Alex Mercer, an incredibly powerful shapeshifter with no memory of his past. Alex has the ability to absorb other individuals, taking on their biomass, memories,experiences, and physical forms.
Burnout Paradise
Grand Theft Auto IV
Release Date: 2008
REVIEW: I can’t stand Grand Theft Auto’s cruel, dull missions, so I used to be reliant on its buggy multiplayer if I wanted to have fun messing around in Liberty City. Thanks to a persistent modding community turning the game into a giant toybox, that’s no longer true. Now, when I visit the city, it’s packed with cars that can travel at infinite speed, and I’m a superman who carries a gravity gun. That the best way to enjoy this game has changed so much two years after its release is the perfect example of why PC gaming is great.
What Makes a PC Game Great?
PC games are best when they deliver a transcendent gaming experience that is possible only with the aid of a personal computer: They don't simulate board or card games, reproduce real-world sports, or try to approximate movies. They are an art form unto themselves.
I surveyed dozens of PC game developers, asking them to share their picks for the ten greatest PC titles of all time. In addition to weighing their opinions, I took into account factors such as influence, innovation, design, and replay value.
To be considered, a game must have achieved most of its prominence on a PC platform. (This explains why Tetris, for example, didn't make the cut: It was clearly the Nintendo Game Boy's killer app). I defined a "PC" as any consumer computer that has a keyboard the user can program with arbitrary code--not just a PC of the IBM variety.