Noob Talk Gaming Community » PC Gaming

Dragon Age: Origins

Aviel Yamin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:07:51 +0000

I’ve played the PC version of it, was pretty fun, and I really wanted to share, so…

The tale revolves around your own designed hero (I know, you’ve heard that, and seen it before- many times before, but not like this…), this time you get to design almost everything, comes from clothing, to strategy of combat, and tactics – in real time engine.

This game has six stories to offer, in which you’d get to move your hero around, and while you’d play a hero, the rest of the heroes would still be active, and play as well… you’d get to join or fight against them, and its all depends solely on you, feeling lucky? I’ve got even better news…

Remember how every time you’ve played an RPG game, the NPCs were the same no matter how you talked to them? remember how you could hang around everywhere natural to everything, without any consequences? well this is gonna change too… as soon as you pick your hero’s race, you’d pick a side, and the game would react to your decisions within it.

you can also pick if your character comes from rich or poor environment and the tale would also change to fit it, starter locations would change as well, etc.

The stories are built on stories written by an author called George R. R. Martin, so you should expect a good tale (no, i’m not about to ruin your experience, so I’ve decided to let you find out the story for yourself, just make sure to have a nice cup of coffee around, cause you’re gonna play this for a long time).

Oh and one more thing, this game is rated 18+, cause well… there are too many unexpected combats, and when it comes to dirty fights, you’d never expect it when it comes… hope I’ve got your appetite up.

Borderlands – Stealing main ideas CAN improve games

Aviel Yamin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:39:52 +0000

Once an era you find a company that really knows what motives are worth stealing from other games.

Gearbox (the devs. of brother in arms series) has made a great RPS game – This game was particularly made for the lovers of all Diablo games, with a Sci-Fi storyline, “open tale” (much like Diablo, you get to decide what you want to do next… Kinda fun in a way, but I’ll get to that), in a RPG structure, and it even has a comics side…

The game takes place in a star called Pandora, where the local civilization failed, leaving behind all sort of technology, homeless people (and aliens), and in short – fallout with alot more freaks.

Into the story comes the hero – which you can choose how he may or may not interact with the world, you can pick his type out of four possible types (Berserker, Siren, Soldier and a Sniper), and while each one has its own pros and cons, the story depends on the player alone.

This Pandora world is so huge it took me few good hours to cross it, which makes it difficult for people who are short in time (like myself) to enjoy the game in the small brakes of the week, and in it, the things changes based on your luck as a gamer when you create your character (the main tale’s building stays the same place, but most of the world comes random – kinda freaks me out with all the walkthroughs…)

The game takes alot of other things from Diablo as well, there is a limitless amount of items you can acquire – with a small improvement – you pick the way they combine into your ultimate weapon… (anyone has a deja vu from FF series?)

Within the RPS system of the game there is the level system, not really unique, kinda reminds MMORPGs of sorts – it allows you to choose a skill of your liking, or improve stats, pretty much the basics.

And to add to the stolen idea’s list – there are many buggy like vehicles – of the sort you might encounter in HALO, to assist the player to move around the hugeass map.

Another side of the game is the multiplayer mode – this allows you to help a friend in his missions, to operate as a squad, or just go ruin his game (PvP anyone?), you can hop into his car and blast some aliens away, or steal his car and go amok, its all up to the how you wanna play.

In short, this game is absolutely worth your money, and rated Super in my scale, kinda gonna start playing it till i die after the army period!

Napoleon: Total War

Aviel Yamin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:39:22 +0000

“My enemies are many, my equals are none” so begins another sequel of the grand Total war, this time, we’re playing the armies of the emperor napoleon.

The game, just like every other Total War, offers you the seat of napoleon in both strategic campaign and in game conflict resolving tactical phase (you could of course let the computer do the tactical phases for you, but I find the computer very lame in making decisions).

The game takes place in the 18^th century, and it might even reach to the beginning of the 18^th century (depends on how bad you are in conquering the world).

While playing the game you could either sit on his chair, and follow the imperial path of napoleon, from before conquering the world, through it, and past it (to the great fall of napoleon), or go against it.

It appears total war didn’t have much time to develop this one, so they took the system of total war- empires, and build the new campaigns on it

The combination of missions in game along with accumulated experience is what making this strategy game different from others.

So what’s new?

This time in Total War you’d get to command new forces (guess who’s?), with much more advanced weapons than usually supplied in every version of total war, you’d have fun using swords too, however most of the fights could be dealt with just a handful of defense units, and few good cannons (I know what you think… total war? cannons? Well, yea, they have finally done something right).

The game offers three new campaigns, so take command and lead your battle in the land and sea through Egypt, Italy and eventually Europe.

This version of the Total War, offers a new, highly designed multi- player, with vocal command options, theme designer and extra bonuses (considering you bought the original copy of the game, and didn’t burn it).

The Saboteur ATI Problems

lazza — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:04:03 +0000

Today I wanted to write a review and preview for the latest EA game – The Saboteur. I bought the game yesterday and installed it and got very exctided to try it out. But the game had some major freezing issues. After experiencing that problem I started to google for some article or forum to find out if any other user had similar problem.

Guess what! So far, there are over 53 pages of people posting on EA forums about why EA released Pandemic Studios’ final game after knowing full well it did not work properly. It is not a small bug! If you are an ATI video card user and either Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you’ll have game crash after the title screen. Since the marketshare for ATI is nearly equal to that of Nvidia, and the ATI logo is adorning the front page of the Saboteur website, it seems like quite a large mistake to release the game in its current state.

Yeah I know this one was more flame then news but here are the news. AMD is now working with Electronic Arts to resolve these issues for AMD/ATI users. Let’s hope they’ll fix this problem.

Modern Warfare 2 review

Oz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:00:32 +0000

I’m not going to pretend that there’s someone out there who DOESN’T know what Infinity Ward’s latest game is. Because there aren’t any people not aware of this, at least not on this site. It has already broken every sales record out there and successfully cured cancer like five time – but I digress…

Modern Warfare 2 is a first person shooter set in the actions that followed those in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. As someone who doesn’t respond to overhype, threats or Activision very well, I was somewhat reluctant to playing this – given the chance that I might actually buy into all of the shit that’s on the Internet right now. Alas, I didn’t listen to myself and the game to be quite entertaining.

Let’s discuss some of the specifics of the game, shall we? This is a review, after all.

Modern Warfare 2 follows the story of multiple characters, ranging from an American infiltrator within a Russian terrorist cell to a highly ranked Scottish ex-SAS. I know that it may sound like a cluster fuck, but it’s all very nicely wrapped up. The story is somewhat up its on ass in messages from time to time, but the scope of it all is very interesting, even though it was probably Infinity Ward’s way of giving the entire world the finger. Don’t get me wrong, even though it’s all very pretentious (especially the middle of the game) the game presents itself in an extremely polished and structured way, switching between characters more frequently than Ron Jeremy changes his underwear.

Basically the story is about the US screwing the pooch in the first game, only to have it thrown back in their faces – like a circus clown getting a pie in their face. If the pie is a Nuke, and the face is their face AND balls. The setup of the story is doing a great job at making the pacing smooth, streamlining everything to near perfection with very few things interrupting the flow.

Now for the gameplay – it’s an FPS. You point the business end at whatever you want to make not breathe anymore and then you pull the trigger. Done deal.

Oh right, I suppose I have to elaborate somewhat… Right, what I really like about the gameplay is the fact that the variation from the last game has been ramped up, as with almost everything else. There are very limited vehicle sections breaking up the otherwise pretty exciting gunplay, small parts where you break out of character only to smear butter in your eyes and pleasure you in ways you didn’t think was possible.

Seeing as the developer, Infinity Ward, are very keen on keeping a solid framerate of 60 FPS up at all times, the gunplay is great. There is always something happening – explosions, flanking enemies and epic video game moments that will be remembered for years to come. Also, the smooth framerate really allows the controls to shine, the quick responsiveness going hand-in-hand with the overall quality of the game. It’s pickup and play at the get-go and I applaud it for that.

The online experience is not as fluid, though. The PC version is, as many of you might know, severely flawed and the peer-to-peer based server hosting is shit – so much for 60 FPS when you’re lagging like Michael J. Fox during an earthquake.

Now for the most important part of the review! The graphics!!!

They’re good.

Right, so there it is. Modern Warfare 2 is a great game, but I have a couple of problems with it…

First of all, the balance is off from time to time – the enemies are ridiculously good shots when playing on Hardened. Like silly good.

Secondly, I don’t know what to feel about the whole deal with breaking up the gameplay only to introduce a scripted event pushing the story forward. It’s good and all, but don’t you also think that it’s a bit frequent? It almost seems like they’re just improving upon the first one by just touching it up and making it happen more often. I don’t see anything groundbreaking about this, but it sure is pretty.

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Preview

lazza — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:09:30 +0000

I’m sure you have seen Zombieland. Well if you want to survive a zombie outbreak you should rush to steam and download the Left 4 Dead 2 demo. Last night I had the chance to play it a bit and here are my thoughts about the game. The game is currently set to launch on November 17, 2009, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.

New Melee weapons

Holy shit! It’s damn fun to run around with a samurai sword and slice and dice some zombies. Sure, it was fun to shoot zombies in the face but I find this more satisfying. It takes the game to whole new different level. Left 4 dead 2 new melee weapons are the samurai sword, which I mentioned before; an ax; and a chainsaw, which will allow you to kill like everyone and everything around you.

New mobs (zombies)

As far as I saw there are three new zombie mobs.

There’s this Charger zombie that will scare a shit outta you. His special move is charge or surprise attack. He’s pretty easy to take down but once he gets his hands on you it’ll be pretty hard to get away.
The Jockey can jump on the shoulders of survivors and drag them away from the crowd. It is going to be hard to take control over your movement with that zombie on your shoulders.
And there’s a Spitter, which, as the name implies, targets survivors with zombie phlegm. It damages them and leaves a heck of a mess on the ground.

Here are a few screen shots we made for you.

Ans here are some preview videos and I hope you’ll enjoy watching them.

Left 4 Dead 2 Trailer HD

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Gameplay Video HD

Unreal Engine Developer Kit Now Freely Downloadable

lazza — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:00:23 +0000

We are witnessing big changes in the gaming industry and this one is HUGE! The Unreal Developer Kit (UDK) is now available from Nvidia.

Until now it has been very hard to get your hands on the Unreal Engine and the only thing you could get from it was a headache. It required too many licences. But now, just like that, it’s being made freely available to everyone. You can download the kit and start creating your own game immediately – weather for educational or non-commercial purposes. Even if you want to make your own commercial game!

There is no catch!

Students and all of you working quietly on the next BIG THING – REJOICE!
Commercial developers licence will cost you 25% of your royalty on any revenue revenue over $5,000.
And for everyone else stay tuned for a lot more games powered by the Unreal Engine in the future!

World of Warcraft Tier 10

assimilated — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:38:20 +0000

Good… here we go again… mass hysteria… debates and so on regarding World of Warcraft. With the new upcoming patch (3.3) a new dungeon will be added known as Icecrown citadel. In my opinion Blizzard did it again, they disappointed us once more. I mean let’s face it just look at the glorious T10 armors, the rogue has a bag on the head with a green glowing orb in the middle, how imba is that eh? And the hunter seems like he made turned into a tree hugger! I do have to say though that the warlock set does look really neat. Unfortunately no final pictures have been released for the priests, paladins and shamans yet. Let’s hope that those armors will make things a little better for this patch. No release date has been mentioned so far, but the patch is already in use on the test servers.

We don’t have much info on this one but I’m sure there will be more threads and articles about this one. Here are some previews and stay tuned for more info.

Death Knight	Druid	Hunter	Mage
Rogue	Warlock	Warrior	Others still unknown

Diablo 2 – 1.13 patch

assimilated — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:37:52 +0000

Wait wait don’t you mean Diablo 3 ? No, surprisingly as it is, even though most Diablo fans are focused on the 3^rd version of the game, Blizzard has a announced another content update for the good old Diablo 2. Personally, I was really happy to hear this as it shows that even after 9 years there are still people interested in this game. So what’s with this 1.13 version anyway? Well, firstly I’ll begin by saying that the release date is really uncertain, as it has been moved back a forward quite a few times so far. Some say that this update may never come as it the old version of battle-net can not take all the changes. But let’s hope they are wrong and that Blizzard will find a way to add the things that they announced.

This is not a simple patch made to fix minor bugs. It is a content pack, which means that new features will be added (of course that bug fixing won’t be skipped). One important thing that will be added is the possibility to re-spec. That really is good news no? The one thing that I did not like about Diablo was the fact that once you added a skill point somewhere, it stayed there forever. Many times I re-made characters because minor mistakes in adding those points, so a re-spec option would be more than welcome. Another important feature will be the increment of the stash space (again). Also, this feature was demanded years after years by the Diablo community.

Other changes may include:

Synergy Bonus Changes
A possible change to the way grinding is carried out after level 80-90 ( maybe no more Baal runs)
New items

Let’s hope that this pack will be release, the date for that is not of great importance because as Blizzard’s history has shown us, they never managed to deliver a game on time(not even Starcraft or Diablo 1) but they always created masterpieces.

cfs: 10 Favorite Games

cfs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:55:44 +0000

We all have our favorite games. Whatever the criteria, you know that some games just stick with you from the moment you first play them. Fancypants may not agree with my list as an actual universal best ten, but this is what I like. This is not even a place for pants enthusiasts. This is about video games. What are you doing here anyway?

Without further diddle daddle, I present to you: Ten games in no particular order whatsoever that I enjoy playing!

Gothic

Yes, the original Gothic game. It sits high in my favorite game list because it’s one of the most awesome games I have ever put my hands on. The story is excellent and the gameplay seconds this excellency. Great feeling of freedom. Freedom of movement, choice and pantaloons! Played it so many times and I could play it several times more.

Silver

Silver is a RPG game from the ‘90s. Full of adventure, excitement and grocery health power -ups. Lots of humorous moments set along the storyline and for it’s appearance it has a quite interesting combat system. It also has a certail beauty contained within the backgrounds. Although quite linear, you will not find it boring or tedious. It will hold your interest until the very end!

Risen

This is one of the few recent games that I could fully enjoy. It brings back great memories of Gothic I and II . The world is very beautiful and quite vast and there are a multitude of quests to complete for glory and cold hard cash! There are only two factions from which to choose from but the story is long enough for this not to bother anyone. The freedom it provides is more than satisfactory for anyone that may play it. You might as well kill everyone but the ones important for the story if that’s what you want to do. Sometimes you just want to kill everyone, right? Right …? Anyway! The combat system is also very good, albeit difficult at first. Not a bad thing.

Drakan: Order of the Flame

This game was provided to me by my father during the time I was a kid. I had found it fascinating and exciting and whilst replaying it years later I still find it great. I mean, who doesn’t want to ride a dragon and fuck shit up?! Lots of stuff to kill, puzzles and traps. Loads of fun!

Need for Speed Porsche

This NFS game is my all time favorite and I’m pretty sure that a lot of people will agree with me that this is one of the best EA has ever made. I just love the in-car camera and the feel of the car when you turn, accelerate or brake. If they remade the game with better graphics I would drool in front of it for a week until I would need to eat again. Excellent game. Lots of cars, great tracks. Factory mode is a very nice break from the tournament and club races.

Lineage II

I know what you’re thinking… “OMG, an MMO as a favorite game?”. Yes. That’s what I mean. Even though I’ve given up this evil scourge of a beautiful game, I still count it as a graphically beautiful game, a place for friends, a place for war, a place for release and escape from my worldly worries, sometimes for too long.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

This game is in my top 10 because of the immersion I feel when I play it and because I enjoy the humorous characters and the often stupid situations they find themselves in. Furthermore, the hundreds of mods available on the net extend the fun beyond the story. Online modes have been perfected over time and I think some of them are already in the final stage. Be sure to check that out! Make sure you have a good PC and internet connection or else you might not enjoy it, Many of the servers I’ve tried are laggy and crowded.

Fable: The Lost Chapters

The music in this one kind of starts to annoy me after it goes on for the millionth time, but the game makes up for that in story. The idea of being able to chose between good and evil, or not care is quite alluring. Again, an open-world game with some side quests. The game looks a bit cartoonish and I’m not very fond of that but it’s not exaggerated in this sense. I have high hopes for the second installment of Fable (on the PC, of course).

Commandos: Beyond The Call Of Duty

Who wouldn’t want to get up one morning and knife a few dozen Nazi soldiers, blow some shit up then return home to bone some broads and have a drink? Well this game is about all that, except for the hooch and cooch. You have your team, you have your objectives, you have your map and you have your Nazis. Do what you must to complete your mission. I like this game because it makes you think and strategize. It’s often not as easy it first appears to be. Sometimes you are required to be completely undetected with 15 enemies all staring towards you. You will curse each and every time you hear Halt! Blablablastrudel! All worth it though. Great fun if you have patience.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

I admit, I’m only a bit of a Star Wars fan. Not crazy about it but I enjoy watching the series from time to time. As far as games are concerned, Jedi Outcast is the only Star Wars game I enjoy because it starts out as a FPS and later gives you a choice of play style. You can add points to whichever force power you desire dark or light and you have extra missions besides what is necessary to complete the game. There are plenty of puzzles and interesting twists. Some things will take you a while to figure out. If I had to pick another Star Wars game, it would be Jedi Academy, although it’s a long way away from what I consider Jedi Outcast.

So there you have it. These are my ten favorite games (so far). They have entertained me for many hours and after writing this I think they will entertain me once again, if I can find the time for it.

Feel free to post your favorites in a comment below. I hope you find this list useful.