Released globally last week, EA Games' long-awaited Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is a must-buy for any gamer on the lookout for a fresh, fun and futuristic shooter experience.
The game seamlessly merges all the fun of a first-person shooter with that of a third-person adventure game, boasts a brilliant storyline and features eye-popping graphics.
The action takes place in an imaginary spaghetti-western-like world shared by peace-loving chicken-like people and gruff bulldog-like ornery outlaws.
Players take on the roll of Stranger, a bounty hunter of unknown origins and quite ungainly appearance, as he sets out to rid the town of bands of desperados who have been terrorizing the chicken people and stealing everything that's not nailed down.
Stranger collects the bounty for each outlaw he captures, be it dead or alive, and with his loot is able to purchase items such a binoculars, extra ammo pouches and so on from the general store. Unlike shooters that allow players to acquire bigger and better weaponry as they progress, Stranger totes the same critter-firing crossbow from beginning to end.
The crossbow is just one of the game's many unique features: Instead of firing bullets, Stranger loads his firepower with a wide array of bugs and creatures. Lightening bugs, talking squirrels and spiders, to name but a few of the ammo-creatures, all have their own special characteristics and allow Stranger to snare, slay or trick his enemies depending on the situation.
Players will spend much of their time running, shooting, kicking or punching, but the absorbing storyline, which is played out through cut screens, is never far away. It takes a few levels before players learn that Stranger is not simply a bounty hunter, but it is worth the wait; the more players learn about Stranger and his hidden agenda, the more addictive the game becomes.
Anyone familiar with the Marvel comic book hero will know that Detective Frank Castle's family was viciously murdered by the mob and as a result of this bloodbath, Castle is hellbent on revenge. He has become obsessed with blasting and bagging bad guys wherever and whomever they are.
THQ's The Punisher allows gamers to take on the roll of Castle as he brings down the mob by raiding its crack houses and busting its chop-shops. Of course, this is done by employing as much force and/or firepower as possible. Additional firearms are collected along the way and as the game progresses so does Castle's arsenal. From handguns to flamethrowers and a very useful sniper-rifle, players get to kill hoodlums in many different and innovative ways .
While many aspects of The Punisher's game play are standard issue, the game's interrogation and human shield modes add spice to what is basically a linear first-person shooter. Once he's nabbed a bad guy Castle can set about interrogating him.
This is, of course, a task he revels in and one that he pursues in as violent a manner as console/PC gaming sensors currently allow. As you can no doubt imagine, the human shield mode also leads to the spilling of much blood, very little of which is Castle's.
The Punisher is a fun game for those who enjoy nothing better than spending a few hours engrossed in acts of wanton violence. More forward thinking gamers, for whom the challenge is more important than the graphical content, might find The Punisher less than punishing, however. Once players have mastered single-shot kills the game tends to become a wee bit to one-sided. Enemy bullets don't do much damage and Castle is able to boost his health bar all too easily.
As one of the first generation X-Box Live games, the original third-person shooter MechAssault broke new ground and paved the way for today's far more complex and versatile X-Box Live games, be they the ilk of shooter or sports. Released in early January in Taiwan, Microsoft's futuristic MechAssault 2 is one of the best all-round, on-line, multi-play experiences currently available.
Gamers can play with up to 12 people at a time and multi-play modes include solo and team-death matches, last-man-standing scenarios, capture-the-flag games and base wars.
As a single-player game MechAssault 2 is OK, but is certainly not one of the best. The game's single-player campaign-mode scenarios, in which gamers play as Mech-Warrior, a tough- guy-cum-hero who roams the stars with his two sidekicks, are all too same-same. Yes, believe it or not, overrunning enemy bases and destroying everything in sight does get a bit boring after a while, even with the game's exceptional graphics.
The mode's sole saving grace is the amount of fun players can get from exploring the many facets of the numerous machines with which the game's hero wreaks his mechanized havoc. But then this is true regardless of modes of play.
MechAssault 2 offers gamers the chance to take on more mechanical android armies than ever before and get to grips with a whole heap of new and fantastical weaponry. Much of the weaponry is very big and leaves very, very big holes in the ground, in enemy units and in you whenever you get hit.
Set in an un-named country that bares a disturbingly close resemblance to North Korea, LucasArts' Mercenaries is a third-person mission-based adventure/strategy game that should prove hugely popular with gamers who enjoy "current events"-related games rather than "fictionalized futuristic" shooters.
Gamers play as one of three mercenaries working for a global security company named Executive Operations. Each character has his own special skills -- the Brit is good at stealth, the Swede is good at using his fists and the North American is simply hard as nails.
The squad has to undertake and execute with extreme prejudice various missions, the crux of which entail capturing or killing 52 influential members of the "North Korean" government and military. Although they receive basic missions from the security company, the mercenaries can also choose from optional missions.
This aspect makes Mercenaries pretty unique, as it allows players to move away from the game's linear format. Attention to detail is fantastic and all the environments look as life-like as possible. Along with detail-rich environments, manufacturers have also put great effort into making all the vehicles look real. Here, however, is where a great game with a fantastic concept comes unstuck: While it's very nice to get into a realistic jeep, vehicle handling leaves a lot to be desired. Turning looks stupid and getting a vehicle to drive in a straight line can at times be frustrating.
Nov. 11 to Nov. 17 People may call Taipei a “living hell for pedestrians,” but back in the 1960s and 1970s, citizens were even discouraged from crossing major roads on foot. And there weren’t crosswalks or pedestrian signals at busy intersections. A 1978 editorial in the China Times (中國時報) reflected the government’s car-centric attitude: “Pedestrians too often risk their lives to compete with vehicles over road use instead of using an overpass. If they get hit by a car, who can they blame?” Taipei’s car traffic was growing exponentially during the 1960s, and along with it the frequency of accidents. The policy
Hourglass-shaped sex toys casually glide along a conveyor belt through an airy new store in Tokyo, the latest attempt by Japanese manufacturer Tenga to sell adult products without the shame that is often attached. At first glance it’s not even obvious that the sleek, colorful products on display are Japan’s favorite sex toys for men, but the store has drawn a stream of couples and tourists since opening this year. “Its openness surprised me,” said customer Masafumi Kawasaki, 45, “and made me a bit embarrassed that I’d had a ‘naughty’ image” of the company. I might have thought this was some kind
What first caught my eye when I entered the 921 Earthquake Museum was a yellow band running at an angle across the floor toward a pile of exposed soil. This marks the line where, in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a massive magnitude 7.3 earthquake raised the earth over two meters along one side of the Chelungpu Fault (車籠埔斷層). The museum’s first gallery, named after this fault, takes visitors on a journey along its length, from the spot right in front of them, where the uplift is visible in the exposed soil, all the way to the farthest
The room glows vibrant pink, the floor flooded with hundreds of tiny pink marbles. As I approach the two chairs and a plush baroque sofa of matching fuchsia, what at first appears to be a scene of domestic bliss reveals itself to be anything but as gnarled metal nails and sharp spikes protrude from the cushions. An eerie cutout of a woman recoils into the armrest. This mixed-media installation captures generations of female anguish in Yun Suknam’s native South Korea, reflecting her observations and lived experience of the subjugated and serviceable housewife. The marbles are the mother’s sweat and tears,
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