A long, long time ago a bunch of guys announced they were working on a game that would change gaming forever…and it probably would have if it had been released a lot sooner. The name of this game was S.T.A.L.K.E.R …and it’s finally here…thank God.

Even after all these years these game is still very impressive, especially the open world ready for you to explore. In my opinion this is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s strongpoint. I don’t think I’ve ever played that made me feel as free.

<-250x250 Square - left->In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you play as The Marked One a mysterious scavenger suffering from amnesia who is trying to find out who he is and what he was meant to do before the accident that caused his loss of memory. To do this he must reach the center of the exclusion zone, a place surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s fictional world suffered a second explosion in 1989 creating all sorts of weird phenomena and causing mutations to all life in the area. The center of The Zone is Chernobyl itself.

Unlike other survival shooters in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you have to worry about more than shooting your way through hordes of enemies…I mean you’ll do that too but you’ll also have to learn how to master your weapons and scavenge through fallen enemies’ bodies for ammo, med kits and other useful stuff that can help you survive in a world where danger is everywhere. You’ll have access to a large array of weapons(this IS a shooter),mainly shotguns, machineguns and pistols…and learning to use them wisely might just save your ass when it most needs saving. You wont be able to fire all you have at your enemies ‘cause this way it’s going to be a mighty short ride. Enemies adapt to the surroundings hiding behind walls or trees and trying to find a way to pop up behind you and blow you away…and before you know it you’re dead. And the unarmed critters aren’t particularly easy to kill either, some will race toward you with lightning speed and others just die hard(Bruce Willis doesn’t star in this game). So…stay calm, conserve your ammo and try to shoot for the head. The AI is definitely superior to other games of the genre and this adds immensely to the game’s overall value.

The complex world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. offers many types of characters to interact with, from the other stalkers scattered through the zone to all the faction members that you can join to take part in large scale battles that give this game a more realistic feel. And of course all the other mutants, crawling creatures some kind of zombies and ghosts give the game its horror feel.

The multiplayer mode is pretty fun as well, it offers the traditional death-match, team death-match and a capture the flag mode called Artifact Hunt. For every kill, you get some cash that you can use weapons, ammo or equipment.

As far as graphics are concerned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looks extremely good, even though as we all know it’s been in development for a few years now so personally I thought it would look outdated and old. But it holds its own against most of today’s top games and that is to be admired. Especially because it manages to make such a vast and complex world look so real and even enjoyable to look at. Everything changes so naturally…it starts raining, it gets dark…everything seems so real and alive…you just have to see it to believe it.

I’d like to end by saying that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. met my expectations despite the loooong wait and I strongly recommend you at least try it…as long as you’re not one of those Rambo kind of guys who like to mindlessly push the trigger.

Strategy First Inc. and Swedish game developer Frictional Games announced that Penumbra: Overture is now available for digital download online.

Penumbra is a very original first person survival horror/adventure game that uses advanced physics interaction. The game focuses more on puzzles and exploration rather than on combat as the main gameplay. This means you’ll have to use your wits to defeat your opponents instead of brute force.

In Penumbra you’ll play as Phillip a man looking for his presumed dead father who,in his search uncovers a dark and dangerous world. Trapped in an underground complex beneath Greenland’s icy wastelands, Philip struggles to survive and keep his sanity.

Game features:

• Dynamic lighting and shadows
• Next-generation graphical features such as Motion blur and Depth of Field
• Innovative physical interaction system
• Dynamic music handler / mixer
• Advanced AI with an ability to sense its surroundings.
• Environmental sound system using physics to mix realistic sounds.
• Detailed and atmospheric environments.
• State of the art interaction system.
• Thrilling blend of puzzles and action, with various solutions.
• Dark secrets to be discovered.
• Over 8 hours of gameplay

2K Games announced that a second expansion pack for the acclaimed Civilizations IV series will be available in June 2007.

Beyond the sword will focus on late-game time periods, after the invention of gunpowder, it will offer 12 new scenarios created by the Fireaxis Games team as well as by members of the Civilizations Fan Community, it will include ten new civilizations, 16 new leaders, five new wonders as well as a considerable number of new units.

New features:
• Expanded Epic Game: Firaxis Games delivers a massive increase in new units, buildings, and technologies to the epic game with additional focus on the late-game time periods.
• New Game Scenarios: The expansion will deliver 12 new scenarios, many containing themes never before included in the Civilization series, custom designed by the team at Firaxis and select members of the Civ Fan Community.
• New Civilizations: The expansion pack includes ten new civilizations, such as Portugal, Babylon and Netherlands and their associated unique units and buildings.
• More Civilization Leaders: Sixteen new leaders including leaders for the ten new civilizations, as well as additional leaders for existing civilizations.
• Corporations: A new gameplay feature that allows players to create corporations and spread them throughout the world. Each corporation provides benefits in exchange for certain resources.
• Espionage: Now available much earlier in the game, this expanded feature offers players many new ways to spy on opponents, stir citizen unrest and defend their government's secrets.
• Events: New random events such as natural disasters, pleas for help, or demands from their citizens will challenge players to overcome obstacles in order for their civilizations to prosper.
• New Wonders: Five new wonders await discovery including the Statue of Zeus, Cristo Redentor, Shwedagon Paya, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and the Moai Statues.
• Expanded Space Victory: Winning the race to Alpha Centauri will now require more strategic planning and tactical decision making.
• Apostolic Palace: The United Nations will become available earlier in the game, providing a way for players to win a diplomatic victory earlier. New resolutions will also be added which will expand the available diplomatic options.
• Advanced Starts: A major fan request, this new feature will enable players to "buy" components of a custom-tailored empire and begin play in the later part of the game, allowing them to experience many of the new features of the expansion pack in a shorter amount of time.
• Enhanced AI: The AI has received many enhancements, making it tougher to beat on the higher difficulty levels. The ways in which the AI will attempt to achieve victory have also been expanded.

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<-250x250 Square - left->A few days ago I wrote a piece about how the only game that could dethrone World of Warcraft was the upcoming Warhammer Online…shame on me…I had forgotten one of the most highly anticipated games of the year…a game with as much right to the MMORPG throne as WoW or Warhammer.

LOTR Online : Shadows of Angmar is the first MMORPG based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien and promises to allow players to roam across all of Middle Earth in a quest to defeat the dark forces of the evil Lord Sauron. You’ll meet famous characters like Gandalf and the members of The Fellowship, fight against Uruk-Hai, Nazgul, Trolls and other deadly enemies.

You’ll adventure into Tolkien’s universe as a man, elf, dwarf or…hobbit (powerful warriors these), choose from 7 seven different classes, tamper with your character’s physical appearance and equipment and, as it evolves, customize it even more using traits. The game promises a lot of other interesting features but we’ll just have to wait for the beta version to really get an idea.

But based on what we know WoW is in for some serious competition, Warhammer Online and LOTRO, both franchises have a successful background and a considerable number of fans…this is going to be interesting.

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Almost every RTS ever made has tried to best imitate war and everything that it involves, but if we take a minute to think about it not many of them succeeded, hardly any actually. Is Supreme Commander any different?

Ever since it was announced this game has attracted a lot of attention probably also because Gas Powered Games promised us a strategic experience unlike any other, massive armies clashing on huge battle maps, the possibility to create an unlimited number of units, everything sounded a lot like Total Annihilation a classic of the genre, so everyone got more and more excited. So when it was finally launched everybody was expecting no less than masterpiece. Were they disappointed? Not by a longshot.

Supreme Commander delivered on it’s promise and in my opinion it’s one of the greatest strategy games ever made…it’s practically a war simulator, a very good one.

Aside from the huge scale of the game another great thing about Supreme Commander is that strategy really works here, the ways in which you can approach your opponents are practically infinite, you can attack them head on, take them by surprise by dropping troops off behind enemy lines, you can take out his anti aircraft defenses and then crush him with aerial attacks, pound him continuously with huge artillery cannons, destroy his antimissile defenses and use nuclear missiles or you can…do anything you can think of…the possibilities are endless.


There are 3 factions you can chose from but apart from their physical appearance there are no noticeable differences between them, there’s United Earth Federation, the Cybran and the Aeon Illuminate. They all have the same type of units divided into the three main categories: land, naval and aerial units. There are three campaigns to play in the single player mode ,each with five or six missions. Might not sound like much but trust me the missions are so long and so complex that you’ll find yourself playing one for hours on end.

The only resources you’ll need in Supreme Commander are energy and mass and while energy can be obtained through generators and power plants, mass can only be mined from certain key points throughout the map. This makes things very interesting because this means violent battles to capture and hold this positions.

The only serious weak point of the game, if it can even be called that, is that you need a monster of a computer to play it in decent conditions. The requirements are very steep, and if you don’t have one of the latest graphic cards on the market, at least a 3 Ghz processor and a minimum of 1,5 Gb of RAM don’t even think about Supreme Commander. It’s designed as a strategy game for the next five years so it’s improbable that there’s a PC out there that can handle this game without stuttering even a little

Bottom line is Supreme Commander is one of the best RTS games ever, maybe even the best and if you can afford to play it you should do so without hesitation. There are still a lot of things to be said about this game but it’s better if you discover them on your own.