PlayerzBlog.com » Shooter

Free Online Games For Adults

PlayerzBlog — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:11:16 +0000

The internet is a huge network that is spread all over the world. First it was used just in the United States of America, for military and scientific reasons, but today we can all benefit from the wonders of the internet. Today there are so many things that you can do on the internet…for example you can search for any kind of information, or download music, pictures, movies, or communicate with other people from any part of the world, but you can also have a lot of fun by playing some free online flash games.

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These are really cool games, that are quite simple to play and to understand, and also really addictive. They are made with the flash technology, so they don’t have such an advanced graphic. But they are easy to make by the producers, and that’s why you will find a flash game related to an event that happened just a few days earlier. And this is because there are a lot of flash online games that are inspired by real characters or events. But there are so many more other types of games…some of them are just for the kids, others just for adults, but most of them are to any person no matter their age.

So today we are going to discuss about some free online games for adults. We are not allowed to discuss about porn games, but there are still many other games that are not suited for kids. And these are usually the games that involve a lot of violence, fighting, shooting or blood. One of them is the “Cubi Kill 2”. In this game you play the role of a guy that just got out of jail and now he is at his new job.

But you were caught watching some porn movies, and you are called in the secretary’s office…and she will probably fire you. And that’s why you need to kill her. Using the objects in the room, you can choose to set her on fire using a spray can and a lighter. Now you got really angry, so you can move on the another office and kill some more people. You will also be able to use other weapons, for example you can blow up the head of your boss using a shotgun. And then you can continue walking through the building (in the cafeteria, the toilet and so on) and search for people to kill. This is a cruel and bloody game, so that’s why it is recommended only for adults.

Another bloody game is the “Day traders of the dead”. In this one you must walk from one level to another and kill all the zombies and creatures that are getting in your way. You can use a lot of weapons and you will also get bonuses and upgrades as you advance in the game. The action of the game is seen from above, and after killing some of the monsters there will be a lot of blood on the screen. And let’s discuss about one more game that is suited for adults, and we’ll take the “Madness death wish 2”. Your goal here is…of course…to shoot and kill as many people as possible. The graphic of the game is all in black and white, and the blood is the only thing that is colored. So you will be able to see it even better, and satisfy your thirst for blood.

Battlefield 3 in development

adimoga — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:42:26 +0000

Electronic Arts confirms Battlefield 3 in development as John Pleasants – EA’s chief operating officer announced on June 10, 2009. The Blair Growth Stock Conference that took place in Chicago this week held many surprises one of which is the confirmation of Battlefield 3. This news was released next to the one regarding the Criterion Games at work on a Need For Speed game.
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John Pleasants declared that he had the advantage of looking at Battlefield 3 over at DICE in Sweden and he was impressed by the manner the team is working on the product. He added that the product is not coming out in the fiscal year, but its appearance is quite good.

The customer fans were expecting a Battlefield 3 showing and now with it being made and having some kind of release window can be a relief to them indeed. The Criterion Games, the one in charge with the famed developer behind the Burnout series, will be making the next title for Need for Speed.

Pleasants declared that EA has taken the team from Burnout and combined it with EA’s Need for Speed franchise, the result being satisfactory enough. Everything seems to work on EA’s favor as Burnout team proves to be one of the most online-centric and remarkably high-quality game developers that Criterion owns.

So gamers that were concerned that Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943 were hooked between themselves without an option for a third Battlefield have to stop worrying: Battlefield 3 is on its way to be released on the market!

Terminator – Salvation – a failure?

adimoga — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:36:28 +0000

The Terminator – Salvation is the fourth in the series of the Terminator; the game tells the story of how John Connor becomes the leader of humankind in the battle with the machine.
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The game is displayed into the atmosphere of the future where technological advances have corrupted the world sending it into a post apocalyptic struggle for surviving. It’s a constant jump form location to location helped by vehicular transportation, meeting some metal enemies and everything confers you the feeling that your electronic equipment existing in your house turns against you.

In this series of Terminator – Salvation game the moves that you make are simple, you can jog around the places, you can dive to hide in order to get rid of the fires shot at you. There are also AI buddies that can come into your rescue in case you encounter difficult situations. The range of enemy is not that vast; there are only three main foes you fight against and they all have their vulnerable points, one type of ammunition beats the other, and some bossy characters that confers a certain challenge to the game.

The Terminator – Salvation is divided into many cinematic and clips to emphasize the fact that you play a terminator game and that it is not actually a totally independent game, even if it takes 6 hours to complete!

Some features may be taken into account: the good – this game is definitely a cool one, with this boss character that imposes a challenge; the bad – repetitive, too short, graphics not very impressive, one doesn’t get the feeling of a tension induced by drama or excitement, the ugly – in some parts the game seems to be half finished as if they hurried to get faster over it, without paying attention to accurate details.

Summing up: unfortunately the Terminator – Salvation doesn’t raise at the fullest of one’s expectations! Maybe the next one?

Battlefield Heroes Demo Madness

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:04:01 +0000

I don’t know if you like Team Fortress 2, but that one is surely a unique game. Some may consider it a shooter for the kids, but I think it’s more than just that. Its graphics can’t match Crysis Wars, for example, but the tactics you need to employ for winning a Team Fortress match will surely beat most shooters out there!

Why did I bring Team Fortress 2 in the story, when the title is about some Battlefield Heroes demo? Well, to me, Battlefield Heroes is EA’s answer to Team Fortress 2. Hopefully, it’s going to be better than most EA games I’ve seen recently, but that remains to be seen.

The good news is that 100k gamers will be able to experience Battlefield Heroes before anybody else, because GameSpot is giving away no less than 100,000 beta keys…so if you’re feeling lucky and you want to get a taste of the Battlefield Heroes demo, all you need to do is go to GameSpot, sign in(or become a member, if you don’t have an account yet), and subscribe to get a key.
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This started on Monday, when 10k keys were given to anxious gamers, and this will go on unchanged until Friday, when no less than 60,000 beta keys will make a lot of gamers happy, and part of a chosen few.

Just as a reminder, this is a the first “Play 4 Free” game coming from EA, allowing you to create, customize, and level up unique war heroes in a cartoon-style world that’s not missing tanks or paratrooper operations!

These being said, I bid you good luck when enlisting for the Battlefield Heroes beta, while having a secret wish at the same time – maybe you won’t get lucky, and I’ll get in first…>:)

BioShock 2 News

Codrut Nistor — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:19:30 +0000

BioShock was one game dangerously close to being perfect. I don’t know about you, but that’s how I see it. Unfortunately, I started playing it, and I didn’t manage to reach the end. To be honest, I can’t remember why I stopped, but I guess the “T factor” was the main cause. Yup, I am talking about time here. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get back to it until BioShock 2 comes out, but today I have some awesome BioShock 2 news!

According to IGN, this fall we’ll get BioShock 2 right on our gaming machine, no matter if we’re using a PC, a PlayStation 3 or a Xbox 360 to fulfill our gaming needs. This time, we’ll be taken 10 years later, in the same unforgettable city of Rapture, but we’ll play as a whole new character.

Obviously, everything is taken to a whole new level in BioShock 2 – new areas will be accessible, the genetically-enhanced splicers will be slightly different, and on top of it all – you’ll be interacting with Little Sisters from a completely new perspective – that of a Big Daddy!
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That doesn’t mean you’ll only play as a Big Daddy, because your BioShock 2 character belongs to a special breed, more of a prototype that turns Rapture’s order upside down. As a Big Daddy, you’ll be able to get outside the walls of Rapture more than just once, and more than just that…

Overall, BioShock 2 news is looking good. Unfortunately, there’s no word out on the DirectX versions supported by the PC game, but it would be great to get BioShock 2 for DirectX 9, 10, and 11 video cards, that would really be a thing to see!

Battlefield 1943 Release Date

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:04:36 +0000

If I had a wish granted for my birthday, coming in mid-June, that would surely be to get a 120-hours day, or to have time stoping for a few months. The reason should be obvious, but if you’re one of the new PlayerzBlog readers, I’ll say it again – I missed a bunch of games so far, and I am talking about that kind of games one shouldn’t miss, so…it all becomes clear – I don’t want hardware, I don’t want any new games, I just want the time required to catch up!

Here’s my greatest obsession of mine when it comes to gaming – World War 2. Should I say it once again that Panzer General 2 is the best game I have ever played? Whoops, I just said it! Well, these being said, let’s leave all these behind and move to another great WW2 themed game, Battlefield. In fact, we’re talking about an entire franchise here, and today the time has come to find out the Battlefield 1943 release date…

According to DICE, its Battlefield 1943 downloadable online multiplayer shooter will arrive on the PlayStation network, as well as on Xbox Live Arcade just in time for my birthday. Oh, yeah, sorry – you have no idea when my birthday is, right? No need to know, it’s enough said that the Battlefield 1943 release date is the 15th of June. The rest of it is history.
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Heh, don’t worry, I won’t live you staring at the sun, because there are only a few points of interest that need to be highlighted: US Marines vs the Imperial Japanese Navy, 24-player battles fought in locations like Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.

There you have it, brave marines! It can all be yours for only $15, or 1200 Microsoft points…and a serious slice of your free time, you can be sure of that!

Oh, yeah – one more thing – while the console versions will arrive right in the middle of June, as I said, PC gamers will have to wait until September. Just don’t ask why…

Crysis Wars – Free Trial

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:10:31 +0000

Crysis Warhead, the latest high-end shooter from EA and Cryotek, is a great game, but it’s simply too short. If you’re one of those who play such games until their eyes bleed, eager to finish the single player campaign, then you surely know that Crysis Warhead’s single player campaign can be easily beaten in one day’s worth of gaming. You can even start another game once you finish it, and get a good night’s rest, after all that!

Crysis Wars is the multiplayer component of Crysis Warhead, and despite the fact it was released about seven months ago, it can still bring good news to gamers all over the world! What kind of news? Well, what about a Crysis Wars free trial week, huh?
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To take advantage of this, you first have to download the Crysis Wars trial and the 1.4 patch. Both of them are available all over the Internet, so just pick your favorite game downloads site. A little warning – the client has about 5.6GB, and the patch has “only” 434MB, so I hope you’re having a fast connection…

Once you downloaded the files and installed the game, run the patch, and go to MyCrysis.com to get your account. Once you do that, you’ll receive the CD key to use to get your week of Crysis War free trial…or what’s left of it, since this started about a day ago. Anyway, this comes just in time for the weekend, don’t you think?

Godfather 2, EA Goodies

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:09:09 +0000

In close combat, having more than just your bare fists can make the difference between kicking some ass or having yours kicked, but I don’t want to think about the outcome of a fight when brass knuckles are being used… Anyway, Godfather 2 is a pretty violent game, and some of the execution styles in it are a bit sick, to put it lightly. Anyway, I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises awaiting in Godfather 2, apart from the brass knuckles part.

What about the brass knuckles? Those who were lucky enough to receive a review copy of the Godfather 2 game also got a set of brass knuckles, as you can see in the image above. So far, so good – everyone needs a bit of help to come up with some kick ass review, right? There’s only a minor problem – one of those who got the review copies ended up with a illegal item in possession!
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Dennis McCauley, writer for Game Politics and the Philadelphia Inquirer, said “In fact, the kit is so cleverly detailed that I almost hate to point out that one other included item—a set of brass knuckles—is illegal in Pennsylvania, where GP is based.”

Even more, the kit also included a wire, apparently for choking people, and a cigar. Damn, that’s cool…illegal. We just invented a new word – coo(i)llegal!

Godfather 2, EA’s last creation, is scheduled for release in Europe tomorrow, but I can tell you that this game, despite its obvious drawbacks, like the outdated graphics, will surely draw a lot of attention. In fact, it’s already doin’ it, and the brass knuckles are a good way of doing that. Let’s just hope nobody ends up in jail for receiving the package…

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin PC

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:38:36 +0000

I am getting old, that’s obvious. Not for you, but to myself. No, it’s not the shape I’m in, it’s simply one gamer’s thing – the list of games “to play” is getting longer with each week, and the worst part of it all is that, from time to time, I discover old games that I shouldn’t have missed. That’s exactly what happened this time, when F.E.A.R. 2 made me remember that I should have found some time since 2005 to finish at least the first F.E.A.R game, not to mention the two addons that followed…

Since I mentioned the original and the addons, you may want to take a look at the PlayerzBlog review of F.E.A.R. – Perseus Mandate. I know a review won’t be able to replace the actual gaming experience, but at least that one should get you in the mood for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, although this hot PC game managed to completely “forget” what happened in the two addons of the original, coming up with a storyline that may not bring a lot of happiness to those who really got into the game’s universe.

OK, so let’s say this – I got my F.E.A.R. 2 copy as soon as I was able to grab it, and I so I found myself inside a universe where a good knowledge of the past events should have been useful. Fortunately, it would have been nice to know more about the story in F.E.A.R., but that’s not necessary to finish the game we’re going to talk about today. Pheew!

Before moving on, I have to warn you that, if you have something against gore, you shouldn’t play this game. Really, if you disable the gory parts from the settings, you miss a lot. The good part is that, no matter what you do, those few scary scenes when Alma comes to haunt you won’t go away, but…just remember what I said – be sure to leave all the gory details enabled, all right?

Fortunately, F.E.A.R. 2 is more than just a shooter. If it was only a shooter, I wouldn’t have been really impressed, because the F.E.A.R. 2 shooter game is an average shooter, with highs and lows, but what really makes the game stand out of the crowd, at least for me, is the F.E.A.R. 2 horror movie that comes in the same package…just don’t look for a movie on the DVD, you get inside it once you fire up the game!

Story

Story…damn, the story! Yes, my friends, the story is one of those you can love and hate at the same time, because it could have been awesome. Unfortunately, it’s not quite awesome. Some F.E.A.R. fans claim that, compared to the original, the story in F.E.A.R. 2 really sucks. To me, this is only one of those typical horror movie plots that keeps you in tension for most of the time, but it only gets really high for a few moments, and the ending makes you want to break the TV – or computer monitor, in this case.

I am not going into spoilers’ realm here, so I will only give you a vague description of the story. As I said earlier, the story in F.E.A.R. 2 has nothing to do with what happened in the two addons, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, since it starts exactly where F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon left off, more or less.

That means the creepy psychic entity known as Alma is extremely angry after the gigantic explosion that obviously failed to destroy her at the end of the first game. How could we have a new game, if Alma disappears at the end of the first one, huh?

This time, your character has a name – you’re Michael Becket, a Delta Force military operative assigned to arrest Genevieve Aristide, but we’re talking about more than just a soldier here, since Becket has paranormal abilities like Point Man had in the first game. These abilities can help you from time to time, but they also make Alma develop a special “passion” for you.

Unfortunately, you get no clue on Genevieve Aristide, and the references to Alma’s past are sketchy, if I can put it this way. On the other hand, characters could have been developed nicely during this game, but they’re not. This makes me think about horror movies again, where characters develop relationships just enough for one to feel the unstoppable need to look for the other after he disappears, or go berserk when the companion he met a few hours ago got killed.

Obviously, this is a game to experience with your lights off, speakers with volume pushed to the max, or using your favorite headphones – even better. Here and then, tension gets really high, and surprises like Snake Fist’s beheading don’t come too often, but when they do…they make your time with F.E.A.R. 2 worth the price!

In the end, it doesn’t really matter if you like computer games or not, because the story in F.E.A.R. 2 will surely make you push your way forward through the levels, and since I’ve been able to finish it pretty easy, on average difficulty, I guess most beginners should be able to do the same. Just be sure that your enemies can be pretty smart, so don’t play like you’re immortal – F.E.A.R. 2 may show you this more than just once…

Gameplay

I will never complain about close quarters combat scenes where I am asked to press various keys to defeat my enemy. Really, and you want to know why? Probably the most annoying parts in F.E.A.R. 2 were those two face to face encounters, if I recall it well, when I had to click my way through. How’s that possible?

Well, think about this – Colonel Vanek kicks you down, and then you have to right click as fast as possible to rise up. Then, you have to click some more to point the gun to his head, but you may end up down once again, so you will have to click as fast as possible again, rise, and click some more. With this occasion, I discovered that using my index finger on the right mouse button is safest way to success, although it seems pretty lame.

Anyway, these were the most frustrating parts, because if we leave these close encounters aside, you will usually have enough ammo at your disposal to go through the game pretty easy, as long as you don’t simply push forward like Rambo.
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Think about these as my personal hints – try to always have your back to a wall, and as soon as you see some enemies, use the slow-motion capability to fill them with lead faster than they can do that to yourself! Oh, yeah – and don’t forget to reload as soon as you get out of a fight!

Shooting around in slo-mo can be quite fun, especially seeing heads spinning through the air or limbs flying all over, but when you get to enter a Powered Armor Unit, then the real fun begins! Unfortunately, during the single player campaign, you won’t get to do this too often. In fact, there are only two such opportunities, if I recall it well, but they are both great!

The mech riding parts of the game allow you to use the Thermal Vision of the Powered Armor, which is great, but I wasn’t really overwhelmed by the way rockets fly out of your launchers. Anyway, the cannons are pretty accurate, and a skilled player in such a mechanical beast can keep the enemy in chess for entire rounds in a multiplayer game.

OK, so we have slo-mo combat with smart enemies, as well as a lot of interesting encounters in single player mode(oh, yeah, one more thing – once you get the rocket launcher during the campaign, don’t you ever let it down, it may make your life much easier in a few situations!), a bunch of monsters to kill, apart from the usual troops you will stumble upon, and I won’t tell you anything else about that, because I have to say just a bit more about the multiplayer part of the game…

…and this multiplayer part could have been great, but it’s not. The most interesting multiplayer game mode is, for me, Armored Front, where you fight with your team to control some key points, and each team can use one Powered Armor Unit. So far, so good, but there are only three maps available for this mode, and I think the makers of this game should add more to the multiplayer part, especially since I think a Team Deathmatch or simply Deathmatch using mechs would be absolutely awesome!

I think I’ll give my F.E.A.R. 2 copy to some kid and buy Quake 4, especially since I missed it when it came out. There’s always time for some intense multiplayer action, and if there’s no time, we’ll make it!

No, no, that’s not the conclusion, it was just a thought, don’t worry! In case you were wondering about the weapons, it’s enough to say there are enough of them to make your favorite weapon a pretty tough choice, especially in multiplayer games, although the assault rifle seems to be a great one, as long as you don’t have to face a mech, or snipers located pretty far.

These being said, I am sure I missed something, but now all I can add is this: I don’t know about others, but I really didn’t find the time to get bored during those hours that I had to spend to get to the finish of the game(10-12 hours in all, I guess, I didn’t keep track of it). Now, let’s talk a little about sound, graphics, and some technical mumbo-jumbo, shall we?

Sound & Graphics

As I was saying, you have to play the game in darkness, with volume pushed to the max. Nevermind the neighbors, as long as the cops won’t be knocking at your door, everything should be fine. Just be sure not to scare your gramma to death, and also be sure to check your heart before getting into F.E.A.R. 2!

If you’re wondering about the system requirements, I guess it should be enough to say I played the game with everything pushed to the max on my computer, and 2XFSAA/8XAAF – AMD X2 4000+@2.4GHz processor, 2 GB of DDR2 memory, 256 MB DDR3 X1950 Pro video card, and it moved really great, apart from those moments when the automatic saves made it all hang on for a few moments.

Oh, yeah, I played at 1280X1024 resolution, so you may need a pretty powerful computer to play F.E.A.R. 2 maxxed out on a large monitor, but I am sure most mid-range cards of the moment can handle this game well.

When talking about the graphics, I have to bow to those who worked on the flashback parts and those close encounters with Alma, because most of them look simply astonishing. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about some of the building interiors, where some graphics seem to be really outdated. Fortunately, you get to shoot some enemies there, too, and once you start seeing blood and bullet traces in slo-mo…who cares about anything else? Not me!

Some repetitive elements can be found here and there(the only bug I managed to spot can be seen in the image above), but I wasn’t really bothered by them. As you get closer to the end of the single player story, you’ll experience some great scenes. What’s you favorite? Drop a comment at the end, don’t be shy!

These being said, I guess all there is left to do is listen, and watch carefully. You never know what could be lurking in the darkness…but I know what’s next for us now: the conclusions!

Conclusions

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin works great, and I never had some crash to desktop or any other similar issue. While some reviewers claim it gets boring from time to time, I didn’t manage to get bored. Maybe they shouldn’t try to finish it all in a single gaming session…

All in all, this is a game you shouldn’t miss. It doesn’t matter if you like horror movies or not, and it doesn’t matter if you played the first F.E.A.R. game or not. If you want to know more about the story, just be sure to look for intel items once you’ve taken out all available threats.

I don’t want to get into the story more than just saying that this game’s end is worst I’ve seen since Assassins’ Creed. On the other hand, is a decent ending for a horror movie, leaving a lot of room to develop the next episode, so there’s a hot and a cold side of the story. Some like it hot, some like it cold, so…

…here you have my ratings:

Story: 7/10 (the ending killed the rest of it, and the characters could have been developed much better)
Graphics: 9/10 (some interiors looking pretty old, but great overall graphics)
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Tilt Factor: 9/10 (sometimes you can really fall off your chair!)
Multiplayer: 6/10 (with a well done update, it could get much, much better)
Overall: 8/10

This should be all of it. Just be sure you won’t get this game for some 12 years old… because it has a lot of dirty language, dismembered people, you’ll even get to see Alma naked, and if you take away the gory parts, it becomes really sad. Come on, why remove gore, WHY?

Anyway, I am not going to start a crusade for video game gory details. If you can’t stand gore and flying limbs, go play Solitaire or Chessmaster! At least the last one can give you a serious run for the money…

…but if we get back to F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, you should remember this: blood&gore are not making the game better, they just make it a bit more complete. Unfortunately for perfectionists and hardcore F.E.A.R. fans, it just may miss its target, but it also gets really close to it, in my opinion. I only hope F.E.A.R. 3 will make justice for anyone.

What if…what if F.E.A.R. 3 will allow you to play as Alma’s child? Whatever that child will become, I have no idea. Switching sides could really be an interesting experience. If you have any ideas, drop them below, because this is where we part ways. I hope you enjoyed this review – and don’t fear F.E.A.R., it’s just a game!

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails PC

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:29:16 +0000

A few weeks ago, I managed to find a very interesting Oliver Stone DVD set on eBay, only that I wasn’t exactly on a movie purchasing spree at that time, and when I tried to find it a few days later, it was gone. Yes, I am crazy about war movies, especially when we’re talking about more than just war, and today, we’re going to check a PC game that made me think about a few movies made by this great director named Oliver Sone. The name of the game – Shellshock 2: Blood Trails.

Because I don’t want you to find yourselves in a dark room like the one pictured above(a scene from the early beginning of the game), I think a few words about the first Shellshock game need to be spoken. Why? When I bump into a game that should be related to another, and I know I may not be able to play the sequel/prequel/other games in the series, I think at least some basic info about those could help.

The funny part is that, this time, we only have the name connecting Shellshock: Nam ‘67 and Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, because there’s no epic trail leading from the first one to the second, or the other way around. Oh, yeah, both games have the story set in the Vietnam War period, and all action takes place in the same area as that war. Apart from that, there could also be the fact that both games failed to live up to the marketing hype around them – or at least the first one, since the second is still too fresh, and we can’t claim anything just yet.

Now that we know what we shouldn’t know about the first game(“just another war game”), let’s take a look at Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, shall we?

Story

Basically, we have our hero thrown into the horrors of the Vietnam War for the first time, in a quest to find his brother. So far, nothing special, only that his brother is somehow changed. In fact, he’s almost a zombie, and that’s the main catch of the whole story – you’re going to fight through hordes of zombies, except the Vietcong troops, to find your brother. Think about Left 4 Dead in a jungle, with less zombies, just as few weapons as L4D, and a less dull story.

Now, that doesn’t mean the story is good, but I was happy to finish the game before dying of boredom. The end was extremely lame, but that’s not the point, anyway. Here’s a very quick walkthrough…

You’re Nate Walker, sent to some border base to meet your zombified brother, Cal, and as soon as you meet him, the Vietcong troops jump into the story, allowing Cal to escape. Once you start chasing him, you’ll go through the entire Vietnam mumbo-jumbo – jungle scenery with some traps and land mines as bonus, some urban combat here and there, a haunted mansion, the most ugly dead chick I ever saw in a game, some caves… nothing to really make me go “WOW,” although Shellshock 2 has its moments. Oh, yeah, there’s also a very silly ending, but I don’t want to ruin your experience!

If I had to rate this story… well, I’ll do it in the end, because I think now the time has come to tell you a few things about the gameplay.

Gameplay

As you probably know already, I am not one of those who can drink a beer, chew some pizza, and get 90% headshots at the same time. I am just playing shooters from time to time, and when I do, I always choose average difficulty, when there are three options available, as it happens in Shellshock 2. OK, so I managed to finish the game on “Average” difficulty. What about it?

You don’t have to be careful about reloading your weapon all the time, because somewhere after the first part of the game, you’ll end up checking the controls for melee attack(that’s what I did, after playing for about an hour, haha!).

Once you are happy with the default key bindings(“F” for melee is pretty well chosen), just be sure to have a shotgun/assault rifle at hand, and crack some zombie skulls, as long as you’re not attacked by an entire horde of them. That’s a very smart move, especially since I found myself very low on ammo a few times.

In Shellshock 2, close quarters combat is pretty stupid, if you ask me – pressing the directional keys(A-W-S-D, but since these are directional keys in most shooters…) in the right order can’t be fun, but maybe others enjoy it. After all, it was there in Turok, why not do it once again? Well, Turok was a much better game, that’s why, and cutting some dinosaurs was always fun. Having to press 12-15 keys to kill a zombie wasn’t.

Anyway, most of the time you’ll be running around, shooting zombies, so close quarters combat can’t get too annoying…or too fun, depends on how you take it. For me, these close encounters were a nice jump out of the routine, but nothing out of ordinary. Just think about the slow-motion kills in Fallout 3, and then look at Shellshock 2. Not quite close, don’t you think?

Sound & Graphics

I don’t hate Shellshock 2 at all. In fact, its sound and graphics made me want to endure it all. Don’t get me wrong – the graphics are a few years behind most shooters we’re seeing these days, but it’s all about the mood here, and I must confess there are a few gory stops in Shellshock 2 worth checking out.

When talking about system requirements, the fact that this game uses the CS: Source engine should be enough to give you an idea about the topic. I played the game with everything pushed to the max on my computer – AMD X2 4000+@2.4GHz processor, 2 GB of DDR2 memory, 256 MB DDR3 X1950 Pro video card, so virtually any gaming computer built in the last 4-5 years should run this game well, as long as you’re not using a 24″ display and full HD resolution…

Conclusions

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails left me with a bitter taste in the mouth. It could have been better. The story, the plot, the linear level design, and the dirty language… I know war games/movies are supposed to have tough language, that’s normal, but seeing the “F word” used 3 times in the description of a level makes me wonder about a lot of things.

I love Minesweeper, and Shellshock 2 is better than it. That’s a fact. Now, let’s get a bit more serious and see some ratings, shall we?
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Story: 5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Originality: 4/10
Tilt Factor: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

All right, so what else should I say about Shellshock 2: Blood Trails? Not much… only that I wasn’t quite shocked, but if you’re really longing for a shooter and you played all Call of Duty games already, as well as the other competent games in the category released lately, you should give this one a try. After all, it’s not THAT BAD, you know…