Classics: Morrowind (RPG, 2002) in widescreen

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a RPG published in 2002 by Bethesda. Since that was not so long ago, I will not write full review, but will instead focus on instructions and files needed for playing Morrowind today.



First of all, you will need the game itself. There are at least two versions, regular, and game of the year edition, which includes two expansions, Tribunal and Bloodomen. If you have regular, first version of the game, please download and apply official patch from Elder Scrolls website.



If you have Core2Duo processor and at least 2 GB of RAM, you should improve looks of the game before you even start playing. Year 2002 was not so long ago to fade from memory, but Gamebryo engine has presented itself in much better appearance in Oblivion, and now will in Fallout 3. So, to get better, so called Hi-Res textures, you should download and install in games directory one of many texture packs that can be found on the Internet. I suggest Mixed Textures.



Also, to get widescreen support, HDR and a lot of fancy DX9 effects, you should install (and run it once before starting the game for the first time, so you can setup options) Morrowind Graphic Extender. You can see screenshots for yourself - made by Fraps software - depicting how Morrowind looks today in 1680x1050 with MGE and Hi-Res textures...


Of course, there are many user created modifications that can improve gameplay. Some add new faces, some will enable usage of various armors and weapons, populate Morrowind with children and put traveling traders on the roads between towns. However, be careful, some mods can spoil the game with overpowered items, fixes that can bee seen as cheats, and similar things that will ruin your gameplay experience. Best is to keep it simple and add only necessary visual improvements.

Mass Effect (RPG, 2008)

This is a great game! You have to get it and play it. Period.



Mass Effect is in every way upgrade of first K.O.T.O.R. game. It has the same character development, combat rules, plot revealing, romantic subplot, squad tactics, spaceship flying - planet visiting - mechanics... Only thing is - there is more of everything, all looks a lot prettier, and characters and dialogs are on higher level now.



Let me make this somewhat more understandable. In Kotor, you had:

1. Intro mission - Spaceship in distress
2. Large mission with a lot of side quests - that planet that gets destroyed later
3. Freedom part - when you can visit planets in any order, do side quests
4. Peripetia - Rakata prime, when there is no back, and you found out new stuff and realise end is near
5. Final mission, on Forge space station

And, in Mass Effect, you also have:

1. Intro mission - Eden prime
2. Large mission with a lot of side quests - Citadela station
3. Freedom part - when you visit planets in any order and do a lot of side quests
4. Peripetia - Planet Ilos, breaking point, there is no back, and... not to spoil game any more...
5. Final mission, on... yes, space station...

The same thing is with characters. Commander Sheppard can have biotics which are replacement for force, can lead up to two comrades with him... New thing is MAKO vehicle which you drive on planet surface... Great fun, after you get used to drive and fire at the same time...



OK, all that is said - it's not bad thing, it's GREAT thing. Kotor was excellent game, and Mass Effect is even better. I had argument with some people about this (they said I am overreacting) but all has settled when they finished the game. Now they claim the same.

What is so great in this game is massive storytelling that immerse you into plot and character. You not only need to decide stupid nerd stuff like "which chick should i lay down" but also matters of greater importance for your party (which friend to sacrifice for greater good) or entire galaxy (I am not to spoil about this, but trust me, if you are sensitive, this one can bring you tears to your eyes)...

Graphics: 9.8/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Freedom: 9/10
Overall: 9.7/10

What's new?

This is one of those boring posts, that has no connection to games at all.

Well, first of all, I've finished Prophecies campaign in Guild Wars some time ago. Now I'm in pursuit for a Trialblazer title, and you get that one if you explore more then 80% of Tyria. I've explored 75.9% for now.

Second, I've made a list of games I tested but have not written a review here: Sins of Solar Empire, Call of Duty 4, PES 2008, Power Rangers Super Legends, ... and a lot more, not in that particular order...

What am I playing now and maybe even thinking about writing about - Star trek Bridge Commander. Great game. A Classic.

At the end - I've got third memory module, so now my test machine has 3 GB of RAM. I believe that will do nicely for GTA IV, Fallout 3 and Fable 2, but who knows... What do U think?

Babe Wars

I feel that you should see GM Ranko's blog Babe Wars - Place where game babes battle it out. It's never ending struggle between hot girls from different games, or game babes versus real girls that they are based on, and that kind of stuff...

VTM: Bloodlines 1680x1050 widescreen fix

When I was writing review for a game, I forgot to put this small file and tutorial, so, here it is...

Download 3rd party fix from here, and replace original file with it so you can select 1680x1050 widescreen resolution from options menu. Start game with " -console" parameter, choose new resolution and when able to control your character (Malkavian, I hope) press Tilda (~) and input

r_anamorphic 1

after which you should press enter/return key and input

FOV 69

and press enter/return once more. This should do the trick. If game seems frozen when you exit console, try pressing Tilda again and typing something like "start" or "pause"... Save game after ;)

Jack Keane, Adventure, 2008

What makes the difference between games and art? I believe it's devotion to the details. That love and passion that make one game above all others. If that is true, Jack Keane is definitely not a piece of art, but it is very good game that could be even better only if developers had the strength to decide which path to take - serious or humorous.


First of all, game lacks any kind of pre-rendered animations, and all player can see between chapters are in-game sequences. Even worse, they are with no additional details (practice common since Warcraft 3) or effects. That would not be so bad if characters had a little bit more polygons on them. Oh, and people are even good, in comparison to wardrobes, tables, trees and similar objects. Using full 3D environment viewed with fixed movie like camera is good for making old-school P&C look and feel, but it lacks in details and complexity of scene, which is noticeable mostly on ground in jungle, witch is simply a flat surface with grass texture.

LotR humor - Spoiler!

On the other side, there is humor - a lot of humor, sometimes enforced and somewhat out of the place, but mostly funny. There are several mentions of empire, with notion to compare British empire with "the empire" from Star wars, one really good Lord of the Rings joke, and a lot programming and game making humor, including video sequence in credits about positioning the object in 3D space.


Authors must have realised that we will all compare jack Keane to Monkey island, so they tried to make a distance. Jack often comment on Pirates as out of date, forgotten and not interesting to anyone. But even with that, similarities are great and easily found. First of all, both characters are clumsy sea captains, both in some time want "something" with hot and strong female, and both are trying to escape from strange island.


Game have a lot of scenes and levels to explore, but very little NPC characters, and some locations are repeated when you play with Amanda. Even so, you can finish it in about two days. Inventory is sorted at the top of the screen, and game requires using of both mouse buttons. Double click makes jack or Amanda run. Without that, they are walking so slow it's unbearable.


There are some bugs (object in jungle with programming message instead of name, shadows of invisible objects, and that kind of stuff) but nothing that could stop you from finishing game. There are also some bonus features, including wax figure hall and historical mod, when everything is in sepia.


And with no mention of story (it's an adventure, after all) I will conclude with remark that Jack Keane had a lot of potential, and that a little bit of polishing could make this great game.


It's just very good this way. To bad.

Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Freedom: 4/10
Overall: 6.3/10

New URL and some other news

From now on, you can reach this blog via http://games.walkersblog.info adress. It's not shorter, nor easier to remember, but I'm trying to put all my blogs on one domain. Old adress should be working fine, too.


Second, I'm writing game previews and reviews as freelance author for Gameplay magazine in Serbia since april this year, so I don't have time to write here as often as I want. That does not mean that I will not write at all, just that tempo will be somewhat slower...

Classics: Star Wars - Knights of the old Republic (2003)

Star Wars - Knights of the old Republic (or KOTOR) is a role plаying game developed by Bioware for LucasArts in 2003. The game takes place 4,000 years before the events of 6 movies, in the time of Old Republic, which stands for almost 20.000 years inspite the efforts of Mandalorians, Sith, and all other factions that cause constant struggle.


Player starts as ordinary republic soldier assigned as one of guardians of Bastila, a Jedi paddawan with skill of Battle Meditation, which was once used to defeat Revan, dark lord of the Sith. Revan and his apprentice Malak, now greatest threat to republic, were Jedi Knights set out to defeat Mandalorians, and after war gone missing in uncharted space. They returned 4 years later as Sith lords and conquerers.


Under heavy Sith fire spaceship seems doomed and evacuation is eminent. Character join Captain Carth in a pod and find himself on a Taris, a planet-wide city divided between rich and poor, human and alien, trying to find Bastila as primary goal. Once this is completed, leaving the occupied and blocked Taris becomes primary mission, until reaching Dantooine, where Jedi Academy is.


On Dantooine, player (male, canonically) becomes a Jedi paddawan, and find out his real task in the game - tracing footsteps of Revan and Malak by using his and Bastilas joined visions of star maps. Bastila and player share a strange force bond, often seen in master and apprentice, but never created so fast (With right dialogue choices Bastila and player fall in love, but after first kiss she run away hating herself... why is that, becomes clear later in game). Using Ebon Hawk spaceship party will travel to Manaan, Kushyyyk, Tatooine, Korriban, Yavin 4 space station and later, Rakata Prime and Star Forge space station.


While game focus is on story of playing character, and Revan and Malak's raise and fall, background story fallows raise and fall of mysterious Builders, who created star maps, Star Forge station, used force, conquered all the galaxy and controlled more then 500 planets even before Republic is created. Player will collect parts of great story while talking to Builder's droid on Dantooine, Sand people historian, Rakata historian and many more. For people who never read SW Encyclopedia, there will be a lot of new facts, such as one about history of sand people, for example.


Beside main character, player leads 2 more at all times, as combat group, while rest of team stays on Ebon Hawk. This system is similar to one already seen in Anachronox, or Final Fantasy, to be more precise. One of most interesting characters is "evil android" HK-47 made to be Assassin while programmed to understand more then 6000 forms of communication and often mistaken for protocol droid. He despise all living forms, naming biological as "Meatbags". This is explained later in the game. It is interesting to listen his comments and ideas while playing as light side Jedi.


In the end, player will find out that, like movies, this game is also based on manipulation behind the scene - Sith had manipulated Mandalorians in invading Republic space while making both opponents weaker, Jedi council manipulates player to defeat Sith, Malak is trying to manipulate all the world, in the same time manipulated by dark side...


Graphic is nice, even if game does not support wide screen resolutions. Levels are small enough not to be tiresome, but designed to seem a lot larger, with special care to details. All planets are different enough, Ebon Hawk is also a playable level where character can interact with NPCs in party and deepen their relations, or get new quests. Also, you can find a little girl aboard, and get infested with strange beings while in Spaceport on Tatooine.


Combat is turn based, but it seems like real time. Player can pause the game in any moment and queue new orders to the team. Weapons range from blasters, ion blasters, Sith and Mandalorian guns, to melee blades, vibroswords and - Lightsabers. Lightsabers are powered by three crystals, one for color and two for attributes. Some of the best are found later in the game, from dead Jedi bodies and in temple on Rakata. Player can enhance the Light saber on any workbench in the game, and also upgrade suits, blasters or melee blades.




There is a sequel developed by Obsidian in 2004, which continues story of Sith and Jedi struggle from the view of Jedi Exile, a female warrior who was under command of Revan in Mandalorian war. But, that is another topic for another time...

Classics: Max Payne (2001)

Hard rain is falling all over the city veiled in darkness, while Michael Madsen narrates his dark thoughts in new film noir where he kills a lot of bad guys...
No, this is even darker then Madsen, this guy is pain in the butt for bad guys, he's Max Payne...

Notice great level of details - game had set new markers on expectations scale... Just like horror-adventure Nocturne two years earlier...

While Take Two is preparing Max Payne 3 in deep secret labs somewhere underground, and while some websites telling us that game is canceled and never to be (2009/2010) I think we could take our time to remember the legend - first game in series, one that made you cry if you did not have 400Mhz processor at the time it went gold. Well, now it's cheaper in retail stores, and it looks fine on wide screen monitors (yes, Max does look somewhat wider, but that's because he's a tough guy). Also, because of great engine, level of details is still acceptable, and with all settings on maximum, game looks better then some of those coming in to the world just this month.

You meet our protagonist for the first time in a closed subway station - classical set-up, but hey... someone got to do it...

Max Payne is a third-person shooter video game developed by the Finnish company Remedy Entertainment, produced by 3D Realms and published by Gathering of Developers in July, 2001. The games' stylish cinematography and choreography is combined with heavy film noir, pulp noir, and pulp fiction influences in characters and dialogue. Rather than employing rendered or digitized cinematic movies for cut scenes, the story is told instead with "graphic novels" which are similar to comics and pulp fiction. Accordingly, Max Payne is rife with artistically orchestrated, often strangely graceful gun play. The game is dark and noir-style, following Max Payne, a troubled cop with internal and external conflicts in a dark, sinister New York City.

While under influence of drugs, Max has nightmares where player need to guide him trough labyrinths of psychological horrors...

The prime emphasis of the series is on shooting. Almost all of the gameplay involves utilizing bullet-time to gun down foe after foe. Levels are generally straightforward, with almost no key-hunting. However, some levels do incorporate platforming elements and puzzle solving. Ammo is in virtually constant supply, as all enemies drop some ammo when killed.

When you think you've got the big boss, you realise the game is yet to start... Oh, ok, kill 'em all...

The game's A.I. is heavily dependent on pre-scripted commands. Most of the apparently intelligent behavior exhibited by enemies, such as taking cover behind obstacles, retreating from the player, or throwing grenades, is pre-scripted. Thus, when replaying a level, enemies perform exactly the same behaviors each time.

The story is told with graphic novels, dark, but humorous on the moments...

Game has it's own style of dark humor, which is mix of noir film influences and tributes to kung-fu moves, the matrix movie, real life tv series, but also graphic novels and computer games. Story has support in Norse mythology, with some of characters, places and books named by characters and terms from myths. Also, apocalyptic snow falling over the city contains reference to Ragnarok, which appears in form of - night club :)

Dead enemy falling down in slow motion...

While nearing the end, game becomes much harder, with a lot of enemies coming from all sides, but that is nothing comparing to modes that you unlock once you actually finish the game for the first time...

Is it going to fall?

So, what is left to be said in the end? Great game, with great story, graphics, music, small details that make everything interesting, a lot of fun... If you played it back in 2001, go to your game shelf and try it once again, fun is guaranteed, and if you missed it, don't be lazy, go to nearest shop and try one of the classics!

(For the purpose of writing this text some quotes are used from wikipedia article)

Guild Wars - 10 days later

He didn't know how to accept.
Cause he's a n00b
Like U and me
Ah, but he's a stupud n00b
We're newbies. He's a n00b.

Why R U running in circles around me?
I'm having fun XD

OK, stop the party, mission can wait... need to take screen shot...

Just found a great little cave where our guild can meet...
Guild hall is for guild meetings, we need to buy it...
What do we get when we buy guild hall?
We get guild hall :)

OMG, I just paid a lot for 59+20 armor, and this dude is selling 65+20... what should I do now?
Wait for next village, there should be a 70+20...

Guild Wars - (M)MORPG - AAR part one

First, the introduction:
Guild Wars are multiplayer online role-playing game created by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. There are three stand-alone campaigns and one expansion set. Game has been released in 2005, and ever since that time - I wanted to play it... Now I do ;)

Ok, I don't usually give pictures of game box, but since I have purchased "Three million players worldwide" edition, you will forgive me if I show what's inside:


Ascalon City

King Adelbern has asked for all who can hold the weapon to come to Ascalon for counter offensive on Charr. So here I am. A warrior. Not very strong one, yet, but I will be soon. Son of a farmer, with my starter hummer and funny looking outfit. And the city is full of people, fresh as I am, and more experienced. They are shouting, they are talking, merchants are selling goods...

I'm approached by a guard who tells me that one of the lords want to talk with me. he is just outside of the city gate. So i go there and talk with him. He wants everyone to be ready and skillful enough for war, so he give me a quest to fight with some river beasts, and prove myself to be worthy as a fighter.

I killed them and he told me to go and find next instructor. So I said to myself, that can wait, I should go and kill more of these creatures, and get even more experienced. So I did. And then I proceed further to the village, where I sold some loot to merchant, and got more quests from people living there. One farmer asked me to get him an devourer egg, so he can lure out plague worm queen. A girl wanted me to get her a bear pelt, so she can make a cloak for little Tom. Another one gave me hunters horn, so I can baptise it in healing spring, and give it to some ranger. And that kind of stuff.


After doing all that things, I came back to Ascalon, more powerful then ever, and met a girl who is a ranger. She was new to a town, like I am, so we made an arrangement to travel together and fight side by side. We found a dead prize bird in catacombs, went to a ranger master so she can complete her trial, and later saved Ben from other side of the great wall...


To be continued...
Well, I played 3 hours last night, and 4 hours today, at least. This ranger is actually some dude from London, and we formed a guild later, before going offline. Now I read in manual that I need 1 platinum to make us a cloak to wear, as guild sign. Well, back to killing and looting...

Play Baldur's Gate II in WideScreen

So, you get yourself a brand new PC with 20-24" wide screen monitor, and think of playing all those RPG titles... Yes, the Witcher, and... Well, the Witcher. But, why don't you play some of the classics? Baldur's Gate II Shadows of Amn and Throne of the Bhaal? No way, do you think now, there is no way that can be played in wide screen, even most of the newest 3D games have no support for wide screen...

Well, see for yourself:

Yes baby, that is Baldurs gate II Shadows of Amn in 1680x1050 screen resolution!

And it looks fine...

Only those profile and management screens are locked, but even that way they are fully functional...

So, now you ARE interested, ah? Listen up: You need to have installed BG2 SoA (with or without ToB, this pictures are made with ToB expansion) and to download 3rd party hack from here.

Install it and console installer will ask you what screen size you want - just enter 1280 and 900, or 1680 and 1050... That's it! It works even if you already started playing. Just load saved game and continue. No need to enter setup again!

PES 2008 widescreen resolution fix

Download with instructions 3rd party widescreen resolutions fix for PES 2008 PC - 1.2 MB (RapidShare)

Bioshock, FPS, 2007

What is so great about this game?
Well, everything, really. Where to start? Well, at the beginning...

It is year 1962, and you are on the plane over the Atlantic... It is cold war era, remember? You are sitting in your seat, smoking, unwrapping a gift, when suddenly, everything goes black... You find yourself underwater, struggling to get to surface, trying to avoid plane parts that are sinking below. Once on the surface, you see fire, plane parts, and complete silence of the ocean... or not? There is one single lighthouse, and you, or character by the name of Jack, to be more specific, somehow get there and enter inside.

Yes, I would, in that specific situation, wait on the stairs for someone to come and rescue me, but it is just a game, so I entered inside (and so will you) and the doors closed behind me... creepy...


Once inside, you will find a lot propaganda and strange statues, chain symbols, and in the end - a bathysphere (some kind of submarine) that will lead you to Rapture, a whole underwater city built after WW2, by rich US industrialist Ryan. You hear voices over intercom (or shortwave radio, whatever) and realise someone is to welcome you... But, as you approach, you see that poor soul sliced up by a... something scary... A slicer, you will find out in a moment. Same creature will try ti break in to get you, but that submarine of yours is a tough one, so you are safe...


Then, after the slicer is gone (not really gone... just hiding in the shadows) you hear a voice telling you to pick up a radio. He's name is Atlas, and he will lead you, but you have to trust him... Oh boy, Von Braun all over again :)


So, if you played System Shock 2, you already know the drill - you start with the wrench... But, there is something better - this time your weapon will not stop working - you can use your machine gun as long as you have ammo, and even reload it. And instead of PSY powers, there are plasmids now - tonics that rewrite your DNA and give you special abilities...

So you are guided by this Atlas dude trough the underwater paradise that has become a ruin, with survivors barricaded in sealed areas, with splicers crawling all over the place... Why is that so? Well, you will find out in the game. It is enough to say that Ryan brought people there to be equal and have a chance to prosper, but as always, people ruin everything that is good in theory, and idealists are the worst of all leaders...


You will have more then one moral choice while playing, but there is one that is most important - little sisters - you can kill them and harvest ADAM substance, that is used to buy slots for new plasmids, or save their lives, and get... less ADAM. Atlas, your buddy, will tell you to kill them, that they are not girls any more, but if you listen to that female doctor, you will see that they are... What will you do is up to you... (And there are three different endings - for saving all girls, for killing one to two, and for killing all of them)


Ingame graphic is fantastic. Even in DX9. Yes, you could compare it to Crysis, and say that there are no large, open areas like there, but, this is a game of claustrophobia, screams in the shadows, dark corners and poor lit rooms, ruined corridors, falling apart while you pass them... Town of ghosts, settled under the ocean, below tons and tones of cold, icy water... And atmosphere depicts just that - claustrophobia and tension...


For those who don't like exploring every corner and finding out every complex detail, there is arrow that will guide you trough the levels, and keep you on the fastest route. If you, like me, like to explore, touch everything, search for a treasure, and listen to tapes (remember hacking emails?) then go slowly and look everywhere... And don't mind the fishes swimming on the other side of bulletproof glass... or is it bulletproof?


So, in the end... Is this game better then the Witcher, am I going to say that Bioshock is game of the year for 2007?
I don't see why not. And I don't like FPS games too much, either... Best recommendation would be to buy both games. Looking back, there are no many games in 2007 that deserve to be bought... But Witcher and Bioshock do.

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Freedom: 9/10
Overall: 9.7/10

Civilisation IV + Warlords + Beyond the Sword, Strategy, 2005-2007

We started as a small tribe in woodlands north of the see, and become most powerful nation of the eastern continent... That could be first line of Herodotus great history of the world, in this game. Ah, I remember all the months spent with CIV, CIV II, Call to Power, Call to Power II, and CIV III. Still waiting to put my hands on Alpha Centauri, dough. Some time, soon... let us begin...


CIV4 Beyond the Sword is turn-based tactical simulation, mix of sandbox management and strategy, with cultural and religious aspects. Yes, it is little older, but with both expansions, and official patches, it is brand new and shaped up game you just need to play if you like strategies.


Even before you start, you can change and adjust all that you want - world size and shape (from small to extra large, from Pangaea to archipelago), climate conditions and population, resources,... Then you select your nation type (You can name it "Internet people" if you want, no restrictions) from predefined nations, witch includes France, England, USA, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Germany... Every single one with unique advances and flows. Most of them, if you compare this with CIV III, have more then one leader you can choose, and that selection also has impact on your playing style.


You can also select your competitors, or to say, your enemies. The more, the better. Or set everything to random, and play different game every time. And when you finally start, you will have settler, who is not one person, but three. Yes, strange. But then, they probably wanted to do that more realistic, there is no settlement that was founded by one man. Except if you do believe in story about Romulus and Rem, and that Aeneid did survived fall of Troy... yes...


So, you start with a settler, and, depending of nation type, with worker, or a warrior, or a... hm... another settler? Well, first things first, it is good to settle as soon as possible, and place is usually very good, so don't move, just settle. And as soon as possible, make more towns. Something like, warrior, settler, warrior, settler, ...


Sooner or later, you will have the honor to meet your respected neighbours. Yes, they are smart and dangerous if you are playing on higher level, or stupid and meek on lower. However, in every case they will make demands, and even threats if you don't play smart. Sometimes, you are so near victory, and then, three of them will attack you, destroy your culture and wealth, and then you are doomed.


But let us not speak of CIV in general, let me say something more of this great 3D engine and free camera... It Sucks. yes, 3D is nice and everything, it supports higher screen resolutions, but, what is the point if the best view of situation is paned out so it looks like 2D flat screen?


Good side is religion and corporations. Religion is connected with technology tree, so if you discover one religion, you can make it official state religion, and send missionaries to neighbours, and convert them. Also, you can have problems if they do that to you, except if you have "free religion" proclaimed... Then you have bonuses from all kinds of believers... Something "Call to Power II" had in '99, if I'm not making a mistake, even with TV preachers...


Also, there are "great persons" which you can use as you wish - start a golden age, or let them make great art piece, or scientific discovery...

Beside world wonders, there are now national wonders, and they are helpful in making cultural victory, which is one of new ways of finishing game as victorious - you need to have three cities with legendary culture level... And some old wonders are changed now, there is no more Hoover dam... :)


Level of detail is low. Zoomed in, game looks like bunch of kindergarten toys. But from high above the ground, it looks more like older versions, so it is playable. Technology tree is now made from one scrolling screen, instead of three or more, one for each epoch, and on normal speed game seems a little bit faster then before...



So, in the end, what to say of this game. Every CIV fan is playing it since 2005, or at least after first patch, and all the others are now so in to Crysis, which will be forgotten in 2 years, and be remembered just because of visual breakthrough and necessary hardware...
One and only... Civilisation... a must have...

Graphics: 7.5/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Freedom: 10/10
Overall: 9.1/10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, 2004, RPG

Troika was one of the greatest RPG making studios ever. They were people who worked on first fallout, and then later, made their own company. First game published by Troika label was Arcanum, and it is one of the best rpg games ever, if you have the will to scratch under the surface. But today I write of their second game, Bloodlines.

Game starts with a strange story plot - you are with a vampire, and he or she embraces you into a kindred world, but just a moment after - you are both paralysed, and brought to vampire court, and your sire is put to death. You however are let to live, but need to prove your self worthy to Camarilla prince. Who is friend, and who's a foe, what side are you on... It's up to you... Jack is waiting for you outside, and he wants to help... Listen to him! After tutorial, you end up in Santa Monica, and the game starts...

This game was severely criticised for its bugs and lack of optimisation, but it was Troika's first and last 3D game, a completely new engine, and Activision was at their heels... But now, 3 years later - there are no bugs, thanks to community patches. You need to get official 1.2 patch, and then True_VTMB_504AT patch, that will solve all the rest, but will not change gameplay. Next good news is that you can play this baby in 1680x1050 with just a little bit of magic (April 2008 - Update: Link added!).

I finished this game for the first time in 2004. I played as male Malkavian then, using melee weapons. Now, for the second time, I wanted some change, so I selected female character, and used questions and answers, so game would give me character based upon them. And guess what, I ended up with malk again! Yey! You see, there is two ways of playing this game - as malk, or as anyone else. Because, Malk can see trough, Malk can get in a fight with a traffic sign, or argue with TV for a long time. And all of that is possible because Malkavians are totally crazy. Not that other clans are bad, but Malks are the best.

Also, its important to notice details - tribute to many TV shows, movies, games... IE, copper that say he met Shipowitz, Ocean House mission that is replica of Shining, Kevin Mitnick a hacker, ... It's like Discworld - you need to know things outside the game to find them funny in game :)


And faces are done perfectly. Even now, 3 years later, there is no game like this one. You can see who is lying by the look of their face. Amazing! And this cutie on the picture has a sister, too!


Every clan has their own skills, but all have some that are the same - melee, dodge, firearms, seduction... A lot to choose when applying new skill points... And to live, you need to feed on blood. You can get it from rats, human, bloodpacks, ... even vampires... and it has flavors and different value, too...

What freedom do you have? Well, game is pretty linear, from beginning to end, but there are choices. Which sister do you like best - it is not just a trick, it does make change. Do you play for Camarilla or Anarchs... Who do you report to and what do you say to them... What side quests do you take... Best way is to take them all... Then, do you preserve Masquerade and humanity, or do you act as a beast... Everything counts...


Also, World of darkness is so powerful, it will suck you in and you will not sleep until you finish the game... And it is an oldie, so it's cheaper now ;)
And one more thing - ingame music is so fine...

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Freedom: 7/10
Overall: 8.6/10

Test Drive Unlimited, Driving, 2007

Test Drive Unlimited is nothing like NFS: Carbon. While in Carbon you practically have no story, no background, and poor acting, with only arcade gameplay, Unlimited is game with a style. It starts at the airport, with few of different characters, both male and female, and while boarding a plane to Hawaii, you can choose what will your avatar look like. There is no customisation, you just select one from all the people standing in line. Then, the plane take off and you are above the ocean, and couple of minutes later, game starts. You leave the airport and need to rent a car. I selected this red beauty, Lotus Elise :)


Then, you drive to estates agent, and choose a house for yourself. yes, completely different from generic Carbon character who just shows up in the town and is in trouble already. After you settle, its time to buy your first car. First disappointment, no Elise for money that you have after buying the house. Interactive map of whole island pops up and there are three dealerships where you can go and buy a car. Several models are available, with different hp, acceleration, look, handling, ...


I went to Audi, and selected this little baby. Not this chick, but that black A3...



So, there it is. First free roam, like in old and forgotten Midtown madness. That was the game. And you know what? You couldn't flip your car in Midtown madness if you accidentally drive over the curb. here you can. Whoa, first minus. It is not simulation, but there is no talk about arcade driving too. Even so, graphic is way better then in Carbon, Most wanted, etc...


First race is easy. I mean, "if you miss a turn and need to go back in reverse you can still win" easy. But driving is strange. I tried to recalibrate the keyboard, but there is no use. The car is turning like it has iron bar trough the center which holds it to the ground, and it rotates around it... And it need some time to start rotating...


And later is even worse. This is not simulation, but you can end up in the bushes, someones back yard, and not just while in free roam, but in the middle of the race.