Flatout is a rally game on closed circuits but instead of racing a BMW you’re competing against a bunch of no-name junkyard scrap with one of your own. Races are frantic and chaotic thanks to a great combination of narrow roads, physics and fast opponents. And the physics engine is not just for show. Passing through barriers or build boards will slow you down--a lot or a little--depending on your angle and speed. However impressive crashes give you a lot of nitro boost, knocking down a traffic cone a bored audience and little boost. Every bit of it counts though when you’re trying to catch up to your opponents, who don’t make as many mistakes as you’d like. Speed is an important factor when passing through the environment because hitting a wall fast enough will catapult your driver out of the windshield with a nice display of ragdoll physics. The head-through-glass technique is used in the ragdoll arena where you accelerate and dump your driver forward trying to reach height, hit bowling pins, or play darts, as well as various other mini games. Even though you’re given over thirty races in five different environments, the tracks are quite similar. It was all just left and right turns, none truly being unique or having features to remember them by. However, pacing and layout are perfect, with enough variation in structure to provide lap after lap of excitement. Each race has plenty of shortcuts, bumps and jumps to provide a constant challenge. As a tribute to Destruction Derby we’re given the very fun Demolition Arena, enclosed circular tracks of destruction. To complete the tribute BugBear has decided to give us the same depth of customization that Destruction Derby offered – none. Track parameters such as laps or time of day cannot be changed. You can’t personalize your driver. Worst of all, though, Flatout has horrible instant-replay controls: Flatout features fun to watch car crashes and yet they cannot be saved or rewound and the camera cannot be moved.
Long story short, or rather a short story shorter, as the game is about 5-6 hours total, you become trapped in a cave somewhere in rural Mexico, and decide to explore the tunnels while waiting for a rescue. Each level is preceded by a quick introduction, but you're otherwise left to your own devices and those of the creators of the cavernous world. Zombies and mummies eventually make an appearance as well, but thankfully in small, not irritating doses. The Ball is one of those puzzle games where the challenge lies not in figuring out what you need to do but in actually doing it. It’s more skill-based than a game like Crazy Machines, where you spend most of your time thinking and making a plan. The Ball nailed it here, because the puzzles are geared towards people who are not into having their intelligence mocked by a computer program and who most likely skip the puzzle section of the newspaper. The Ball follows the true and tested formula of puzzle gaming, a simple main mechanic with complex situations. So even though the only thing you can do is push and attract the ball, thanks to magnets, low gravity, water, steam, monsters, elevators, trains, and of course buttons, you rarely have to do the same thing twice. Along with the single player mode there's also Survival which takes you away from solving puzzles and into a first person shooter – only without the shooting. Similar to Unreal Tournament 2004's Invasion game mode, you need to stay alive as long as you can while constant waves of enemies try to make you do the opposite. The catch is you don't have any weapons, only your ball and a certain amount of traps you can set off to dispatch the enemy. To be honest pushing a ball around may not seem like such an appealing idea, but when it's neatly packaged along with great puzzles and fun gameplay it quickly turns into a very appealing game.
Game begins at the parking lot next to a big Hollywood Mansion, with two reporters, Liz Allaire and Dan Murray, loafing around after the big ball of William FitzRandolph, the owner of MKO film studios. He specializes in horror films, and his monsters are in fact quite real. You switch back and forth between Liz and Dan during the adventure, though not as often as the back and forth they perform themselves. The main characters are well developed with their own unique personalities which is really important in this genre. Even the descriptions of items you collect, or objects of interest seen around the scenery, are all presented in a way which reflects the person that is Murray or Allaire. Even with all of the dialogue the puzzles themselves are almost entirely item based, and conversations just act as triggers or offer clues. TNBT is one of those games where if you remain focused and read what’s on the screen you shouldn't be in a situation where you'd look for a walkthrough. I'd say the gameplay is in that perfect spot between frustrating and too easy, which is for what all adventure games should strive. Like most adventure games TNBT is structured in chapters, but unlike most, these chapters are made of checkpoints, which are clearly shown to you as a diagram accessible any time from the menu. These would the equivalent of objectives in a first person shooter and work in pretty much the same way. They allow you to proceed in a focused way with a clear goal in mind, rather than aimlessly walk around trying to guess what’s to be done next. TNBT is presented in a very stylish manner, and at times you'd think you're watching an animated movie rather than playing a game. It has that familiar cartoon look to it but at the same time feels realistic. The backgrounds and the interface are of very high quality, and the characters are cel-shaded so they fit perfectly into the scenes.
The premise is pretty straightforward: you've crashed on an alien planet, and you need to find a way to escape. Besides the standard jumping and shooting that make up the basic elements of a platformer, Capsized sets itself apart with the use of a few enjoyable and well put-together features. The levels are as much vertical as they are horizontal, so the player has been given both a jet-pack and a grappling hook to help him navigate them. By successfully using these, separately or in unison, you can do some great maneuvers and fight the aliens in a creative fashion. Obviously the hook can be also used as a weapon allowing you to either grab objects which then become lethal upon release. As any self-respecting platformer Capsized has a good selection of weapons (all with alternate fire) and power-ups scattered across the levels, as well as secret areas, achievements, and level stats which greatly increase the already high replayability of the game. There are quite a few instances where you're required to plan ahead courtesy of traps and door switches that provide for some light puzzle elements. Even the aliens you encounter require different approaches and tactics, which also depend on what weapons you're carrying and the type of terrain and obstacles you're fighting around. There are both cramped and tight levels where you push your way through tunnels and caves, and there are also wide open areas allowing you to unleash your weapons and go crazy with the hook or the jet-pack. One thing that two-dimensional games do best is allowing the developers to create distinct and detailed visuals, and Capsized is no exception. The thirteen levels are all excellently drawn and are packed full of detail resulting in really crisp and vibrant environments. Along with some subtle special effects such as night time, sun rays, smoke, and debris, they really suck you into the alien world. For ten dollars this is a no-brainer; simple as that.
H&D2 got released at the same time as Call of Duty unfortunately, so it passed under the radar and got largely ignored. It was made by the Illusion, developers of Mafia. Why i like it: 1st or 3rd person view, plus a tactical isometric view for more detailed commands. Amazing atmosphere, sound, graphics and presentation (with so many small details and touches that all add to the above). The levels are so atmospheric and immersively crafted. You control SAS. Not American or Russian or Japanese. And it represents a different war front. Very refreshing. Great level variety. Small and large, all nonlinear and open ended. Deserts and jungles and snow and castles and ships and so on . Diverse mission objectives and how to approach them. Very well done mission briefings. Large selection of authentic weapons and gadgets that feel great. No bullet sponges. Usually you die in one or two hits , same for the enemies. Inventory management and your men all have skills. Co-op single player. Stealth option. Stealing uniforms, have to aware of making noise, being seen. Ragdolls (npcs and items) and motion capture animations. While CoD had soldiers running like ducks and dying like it was Duke3D. Vehicles. Uses the Mafia engine so all vehicles were great to control and felt realistic. You can even blow the tires out affecting handling or the fuel tank. I mean steering your Jeep left or right makes all occupants sway accordingly. Tanks tracks bend according to terrain . Vocal commands to your team mates, either loud or silent, which affects your stealth. Yes actually issuing a stealth move command your character whispers it. 4 running and crouching speeds, with precise and accurate animations. All of that for a 2003 game. I could keep going. It's just the whole game has such attention to detail it's a joy to play . Takes time to get used to the controls and the slower and deliberate gameplay but it's so rewarding.
I know the store page is meant to be funny and all, but come on, Stainless couldnt even COPY their own game from 15 years ago with Reincarnation, while TDR2000, released just a couple years later, surpassed both Carma 1 and 2, and yet Stainless have the nerve to bash it. At least it was ambitious and tried changing things up. Here is why i enjoyed it most: -While the original two were fun, it was impossible to actually race there. The cars were too heavy, too hard to steer, with too much momentum. The tweaked physics in TDR are for the better if you wanted some racing, not just fooling around. -Carma 1 and 2 were way too easy. It was very easy to amass lots of time by going over peds and hitting opponents. And then what? There was no point to race, you just went around wasting opponents. -The reduced bonus times mean that you should actually race in TDR, there is a risk of messing up and having to restart, you have to pay attention to getting the good power ups and avoiding the bad, had to pay attention to your driving, the opponents, the traffic and had to hunt and get the time powerups. And if you wanted to just roam around killing things (like every single 'race' in the orignals ended up), there was free ride. Simple. -It's a challenging game and you need to pay attention to the layout. ex, putting a turn after a big jump. Or putting harmful power ups in tight spaces. Peds attacking you, throwing stuff at you, avoiding you much better, makes the game unpredictable and challenging. -The opponents do come after you, but not as much as before, which again is an improvement. All i had to do before was loiter around somewhere and all the opponents will come to me. Easy to to gain time and easy to waste them. -It feels more like a racing game, has great levels, great powerups and a ton of cars and its fun and re-playable. Carmageddon 1 and 2 are fun to mess around in, with the ridiculous physics and laid back gameplay, but they feel like toys not games. -TDR2000 tweaked the car physics (so now the cars can be controlled and raced), reduced the insane amount of time you got from killing, made the races challenging, added fun missions with a sense of progression, and finally made a game out of the series. -I have Carmageddon 1 currently installed, but i haven't played it much since i started replaying TDR. Because there is no point in racing (not to mention barely feasible because of the sluggish cars and floaty physics), the game can get repetitive. There is no challenge really. Just ram your opponents a few times you've got five minutes of time already. Kill a few peds, and you've got ten. Game over. -It's fun ramming cars and what not, and so is Carmageddon 2 (car deformation is done best in Carma2), but as games they are not as good as TDR.
