Community Game Reviews

[fRACTAL 0]

This thread is a place to write up a review of a game you're playing now, be it an old one you've picked up again dating from 1989 to a new one released last week.

This is the preferred format:

Game title

Platform(s)

 

Story

 

Gameplay

 

Sound

 

Graphics

 

[Any other comments]

 

Conclusion

 

[Grade]

Look forward to seeing the reviews

~Doom

[fRACTAL 0]

World In Conflict

Genre: Real Time Tactics

PC

 

Story: 4.75/5

The basic premise in World In Conflict is a fairly implausible one, that the Soviet Union has begun an all out (non-nuclear) world war, starting with an invasion of Europe and then an invasion of America's west coast and Seattle. Although this seems unlikely the excellent voice acting helps you forget that, and makes it seem much more believable. Along with the main story, in between each battle you will see the stories of individuals caught up in the war, from one front-line soldier's battle with the bureaucracy, to the family problems of one of your fellow officers. There is one weird occurrence of gospel music, which is a out of place, and somewhat spoils the mood at that moment.

Gameplay: 4.75/5

The gameplay in World In Conflict is by and large beautifully balanced, and challenging, even on normal difficulty, you are placed in command of a section of American armed forces, and given a certain amount of points to spend on units each battle, which are regained (but over time) when a unit is destroyed, which means if you force is wiped out you will most probably lose before you can call in reinforcements. You are given control over a mixed force of infantry, vehicles, and helicopters, along with "tactical aids" which you can call in periodically. The beauty of the gameplay in World In Conflict is that any force too specialized to one area (helicopters, infantry or armour) will be quickly cut to pieces by a balanced force. It is a carefully made rock, paper, scissors. Infantry will triumph over heavy armour and helicopters, while they in turn will be beaten by light armour and helicopters, while the same light armour and helicopters will be beaten by heavy armour. As I mentioned above this necessitates a good mix. The tactical aid system is a method for calling in air strikes, paratroopers, tactical nukes, precision bombing, artillery, basically any long range support you can think of. This system is controlled by "Tactical Aid Points" which are accrued either over time, from securing objectives, or destroying enemies, usually a mix of the three. My only complaint in terms of gameplay is that helicopters are slightly too vulnerable and that light helicopters and basic infantry seem rather pointless compared to, either other helicopters, or anti-tank infantry and snipers. Also the AI pathfinding when attacking is sometimes poor as a unit does not always attempt to go around something that blocks its line of sight to the unit you wish to attack. However this is fixed in a patch, so no worries there

Sound: 4.5/5

There's not a lot to say about the sound in the game. It features some excellent voice acting, and well done battle effects, although some of the unit voicing is irritating, namely the infantry who sound like your local IT administrator who spends no time outdoors

Graphics: 4.9/5

The graphics are beautiful. That just about sums it up, blowing stuff up has rarely been as beautiful as it is in World In Conflict, and the battlefields are well detailed and the units so good that they use the in game graphics for the movies, which is fairly unheard of in strategies. In fact the individual troops look better than people in some shooters I can think of

Explosions are pretty, its official!

However that picture includes my one quibble with the graphics, the fact that the sky looks considerably better in DX10 (as in that photo) than in DX9 where its rather dull and lacking in clouds, I'm sure there must be some way it could have looked nicer in DX9, but you won't be looking at the sky all that much so its not very important

Conclusion

All in all I think this game is easily the best strategy/tactics game I have ever played that is based around modern weaponry, it is most certainly worth buying and even more so if you can run it in DX10 where the visuals will be even better.

18.9/20

A must buy

[bhj 24]

I just had to sew together something

 

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (as iam only playing on a PVP server this is based on that)

 

Genre: MMORPG

 

Platform(s): PC and very soon Xbox 360 (but we get more players so I guess its ok.........ish)

 

 

Story: 5/5

well the story is based on the world and works of acclaimed author Robert E. Howard so its of the scale

 

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) based on the world and works of acclaimed author Robert E. Howard. In Age of Conan, players enter Hyboria with thousands of their friends and enemies to live, fight, and explore the dark and brutal world of King Conan.

 

Age of Conan's features include:

 

* An advanced combat system lets you choose every cut, thrust, and swing in real time.

* Groundbreaking graphics and advanced DirectX 10 features plunge you into a world of breathtaking beauty.

* A massive fantasy world based on over 75 years of books, movies, art, and music, developed in close collaboration with Conan Inc. to ensure the most realistic Conan experience ever seen.

* An unprecedented character development and customization system with combo attacks, skills, special abilities, and deadly spells ensures no two characters are exactly the same.

* Massive Player Versus Player combat. Capture battlekeeps and wage epic warfare between players and guilds, or hire yourself out as a mercenary and battle for pay!

* New and exotic classes, such as the Demonologist, Herald of Xotli, and Dark Templar, along with incredible twists on classics like the Ranger and Assassin.

* A detailed and engrossing crafting system, allowing you to make everything from armor and weapons to an entire city!

* Hundreds of unique quests for combat and crafting with extensive NPC interaction and voice acting, immersing you in the living world of King Conan.

* An extensive story-driven single player adventure to start the game drawing you deep into the scheming, seduction, intrigue, and betrayal of Hyboria.

 

Gameplay: 4.85/5

What sets Age of Conan apart from any other MMORPG on the market at the moment is its patented "real-time" combat system. Combat is no longer auto-pilot or easy street in MMO gaming! Yes, for once in an MMORPG you actually have to think about where you're going to land your attacks. Thankfully, despite this level of player-combat interaction, the learning curve is relatively insignificant. At the start of the game, combos are simplistic, but as you progress through the levels combos scale and higher ranks of certain combos increase in intricacy. Furthermore, there's the element of mob shields (an area of their body that they are protecting: left, middle, or right side), and of course you do a lot more damage to the mob when you finish the combo on a side with little or no protection.

 

As an added bonus to exploiting your opponent's weak spot(s), if triggered in perfect timing and under the right conditions, you have a chance of pulling off a fatality move. A fatality move will also grant the player a buff to their health, stamina, and mana regeneration plus increasing their damage output and chance to trigger successive fatalities. This buff is quite brief though (think of it as a "rush of blood").

 

Ranged combat also utilises the real-time combat system, as bow and crossbow users are able to direct their attacks in the given direction. You are also able, as a bow or crossbow user, to enter into first-person shooter mode, a sort of "sniper mode". This makes Ranger-type characters very deadly and very accurate

 

Offensive spells are cast much in the same way they are cast in other MMORPGs, but at level 50, spellcasters unlock their Spellweaving ability, the spellcaster's answer to the melee combo system. Spellweaving allows spellcasters to combine their spells and other effects to make them brutal against opponents, beneficial for teammates, or better for themselves. The player must be cautious, however, as Spellweaving has many risks which may be fatal for the spellcaster or his/her teammates. A fellow guildmate showed off his Spellweaving infront of me on his Priest of Mitra, and without giving too much away, the franticness of it due to the sheer risk vs. reward element it was offering brought a unique dynamic to spellcasting as a gameplay feature.

 

Regarding PvP, PvP and RP-PvP servers allow free-for-all PvP, which means that you can attack and can be attacked by any player at any time, all with the exception of "hub" cities, namely: Old Tarantia, Khemi, and Conarch Village, the central cities to Aquilonia, Khemi, and Cimmeria, respectively. In my honest opinion, free-for-all PvP is how Age of Conan is meant to be played. Forget the potential for ganking and griefing for a moment, and remember that Howard's Hyboria is a cruel, harsh, unforgiving, and unpredictable world. This, in its truest sense, is reflected in the PvP and RP-PvP servers; they are not for the faint of heart. This is not to say that play on the PvE server is mundane or flowery, no, as players on any server type can still engage in PvP either in the PvP mini-games (CTF or Team Annihliation) or through the Border Kingdoms, the siege warfare zones of the game.

 

Needless to say, there is lots in Age of Conan to keep you busy for a long time, and there is strong replayability value in all of the gameplay features Age of Conan has to offer. Sieging and raiding offer players strong end-game content, and now that trade houses are fully functional again, the player-base can begin driving the in-game economy and raise their fund to either deck out their own character(s), or pave a path to glory with an awesome guild city and battlekeep.

 

Funcom has implemented elements from other MMORPGs into their game and have managed to add just those little bit extra bits to make them unique in Age of Conan. With innovations such as the "real-time" combat system, combos, fatalities, Spellweaving, mounted combat, and much more, Funcom has made Age of Conan vastly unique and so are to be congratulated for trying something new and delivering something both fresh and exceptional.

 

Sound: 4.99/5

Sadly, I'm one of these people that still has stereo sound/speakers on his desktop computer, but thankfully, I have managed to experience Age of Conan in 5.1 and 7.1 digital surround sound. The audio engineering team at Funcom is to be applauded for their amazing ability to bring such sound to life for players on every-day home computers. The sound effects and music in 7.1 is mind-blowing, to say the least; in 5.1 it still delivers; and even in stereo sound with my humble Altec speakers and subwoofer I am still able to sink myself in to the audio environment of Hyboria and its distinct sounds.

 

It may be a minion of the undead lurking up behind you, an arrow whistling passed your ear or the crunch of the snow beneath your feet in the Eiglophian Mountains; it's a refined, clear, and crisp sound that accompanies it. Furthermore, all sounds are in-sync with the according action. Drawing your sword from its sheathe is accompanied with its perfectly timed sound effects, and it sounds completely authentic. Funcom have gone to great lengths to ensure that as a player you are pulled in and immersed even by the audio elements of the game, and this is an important feature, because, like the movies, sound consists of half of the experience.

 

Regarding the music, every nation and every zone has a theme attached to it. It's difficult to describe the music in words, but take that epic orchestral sound that you might find in movies like Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Conan the Barbarian (of course), Braveheart, and Highlander, and that's what you might find in Age of Conan. Not to mention the combat-dynamic music that has a tendency to get your pulse racing as your cutting down a Nemedian soldier or slicing through a Vanir Skulker. Mounted combat even has its unique combat music, and for both types of combat music, the longer you're in the fight, the more intense the music gets; a bit like one of those fight scenes in a movie where the fight between the good guy and the bad guy is topsy-turvey, both combatants are frantically doing their best to out-best each other, and the music tells this story! For those of you fortunate enough to own the Age of Conan Collector's Edition, you'd know that you are the proud owner of an Age of Conan soundtrack. My advice: take the CD and play it in your car, put the tracks on your iPod, make A Hymn for King Conan the bridal waltz at your wedding, what ever! Just listen to it in and outside of the game.

 

For outstanding music and sound effects, and for making the game enjoyable to listen to even on stereo sound, Funcom has pulled-up trumps with their audio engineering.

 

The only "bad" thing about the sound is that some of the sound effects its just too loud That why it gets 4,99 and not a 5 (but it can be adjust so its not a "problem")

 

Graphics: 4.95/5

First of all, let's start with the disappointment: No DX10 at launch. Age of Conan, from January 2007, was tagged to be one of the flagship games for Windows Vista's DirectX 10; a game that, for users with DX10-capable GPUs and systems, was going to be completely run on the DX10 engine and not just "feature" a small portion of DX10's capabilities. I'm not a DX10 user myself, but I do know several people that bought/upgraded to new systems specifically for Age of Conan in order to play the game on using DX10, and to wait a bit longer for the DX10 Age of Conan experience, as you can imagine, would be rather frustrating. We're told that Age of Conan in DX10 will go live some time in fall (northern hemisphere).

 

Despite this blunder, Funcom, with their patented DreamWorld Engine, have managed to create a world as if it were meticulously painted, stroke by stroke, with Robert E. Howard there giving the artist direction in the creation of the masterpiece. The environments are breath-taking and every zone in the game comes complete with a "Oh wow!" moment. For example, as you leave Conarch Village (Cimmeria) to head in to Conall's Valley to begin making your descent towards the Cimmerian outpost, there's a sense of grandeur that you feel as you traverse on the path or walk through the knee-high grass. In front of you, stretching for miles, is the valley, and you can see it all or a good margin of it depending on your GPU and system's capacity. A relatively old machine (AGP motherboard) (xfx 7950GT 512MB) the view distance to a comfortable 1000 metres (and pushed further if You really wanted to) to get a good scope of any zone in the game.

 

The character models in Age of Conan, for me anyway, make me feel like I've just come out of a DarkHorse Conan comic book. There is grit and beauty in every character, but at the same time reminding you there is still some fantasy element in this game. The character creation tool gives players the option to make their character(s) as rugged or pristine as they feel, and yes, when up close and personal, even two characters with the same facial model can be distinguished from each other depending on how each player has manipulated them with the tools provided. The only other character creator that I can think of that matches Age of Conan's in terms of creating a truly unique-looking avatar, is City of Heroes'. If you want a Barbara Streisand "schnozz", you can give yourself one; if you want Arnold Schwarzenegger "pecs", you can give yourself a set; and if you want Angelina Jolie lips, then yes, they can be yours as well!

 

Like I said before the game can be run quite comfortably on a relatively old machine but when I had only one XFX 8800GT with everything on max the game laged in places with much graphic (like in the capital "Old Tarantia") but with 2 x 8800GT everything is just a joy most of the time anyway theres still a few minor graphic bugs but they are minor and are not going to ruin your game

 

Here you can see a few screenshots I made with my Ranger (amoung other one on King Conan´s throne)

 

Conclusion

well as I see it this is the best MMORPG ever made granted it is a pay to play game but its worth every penny (or krone in my case)

the game was released too early (like another game most of us know and still love) and had some SERIOUS bugs but with the awesome work from the dev. guys its really quite good now

 

As for why iam only playing on PVP servers well as I see it its a bigger challenge and therefore more fun (and you get the new PVP equipment added not to long ago)

 

19.79/20

A must buy

 

Heres my Age of Conan thread here on Darkmatters....

 

 

 

_

[Timotheus 416]

Game title: Mercedes CLC Dream Test Drive

Platform(s): PC

Story: none whatsoever

 

Gameplay: Pic a color for your car, choose the rims, a track, press start, accelerate and use the handbrake at the right moment. That's all there is to it.

 

Sound: Vroooom!

 

Graphics: doesn't look half ass bad to be honest, not for a car dealer demo game.

 

[Any other comments]

It's short, it's small, it's basic.

Nice for a quick gaming break during studying!

 

Conclusion

Basic game, don't get your hopes up and you will not be let down. But I like the simplicity

 

[Grade]

6/10

Edited December 21, 2008 by Timotheus