I guess you must have seen at least one vampire-movie. For your sake, I hope it was a good one, because a lot of hilarious such movies have been made so far, but let's not get into movies here, because it's not about them. Transylvania, the place were most vampire movies' action is set, can be easily visited, as long as you can afford the trip to Romania. You won't find any real vampires there, anyway, but if your time, money, or both of them won't allow you to get over here, you could easily go an visit an alternative realm involving vampires, namely Castlevania...

<-250x250 Square - left->Anyway, before moving on to our subject today, that being Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, we should talk for a little while about the Castlevania series, because there's quite a history behind this name. Are you ready? :)

Developed by Konami, the series debuted way back in September 1986, with the Demon Castle Dracula game for the Famicom Disk System (FDS), quickly followed by a version for the MSX 2 platform. This MSX 2 port was localized in Europe and Brazil as Vampire Killer, and was followed by a a long list of titles, available for most platforms you can think of, from Game Boy Advance and Playstation Portable to Commodore, MS-DOS and, of course, Microsoft Windows.

The stories of the titles in the series are orbiting around the war between the enchanted Belmondo family and Dracula, which is resurrected almost every hundred years, so that the Belmonts could defeat him once again, and Konami sells one more title. Good strategy for everyone, I guess, including the fans of the series....

Leaving history aside, today I have to tell you a few things about the game released last year for the Playstation Portable, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.

Known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula X Chronicle, which translates to Demon Castle Dracula X Chronicle, the game is basically a remake of the 1993 game in the series, Demon Castle Dracula X Rondo of Blood (Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo).

Although the new game uses the 3D graphics technology of the moment, it still has the 2D gameplay mechanics of the original, but comes with a few interesting additions, like the two new obstacles - a red skeleton barrier and an ice one, as well as a new boss, the Hydra. Other than that, some puzzles have been altered, while new dialogues scenes can be spotted here and there.

Rated by ESRB as "Teen," Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is not one of those games for little kids, because some of the themes are clearly disturbing for them, but if you were a kid back in 1993 and would like live again the thrills of the Demon Castle Dracula X Rondo of Blood, this is a must have! Obviously, nobody says you shouldn't grab this title even if you're new to the series, and if you don't believe me, take a look at what Testfreaks have to say about it!

Second World War is one of the historical events that inspired an impressive amount of video games, especially FPS and RTS, but great turn-based games, such as Panzer General 2, shouldn't be forgotten either! Anyway, today we won't go that far in past, because Call of Duty 3, the 3rd game of the Call of Duty franchise, was released almost a decade after Panzer General 2, and more than one year ahead of its excellent follower, Call of Duty 4, inspired by events that took place in the last 15 years, most of them placed in the Iraq War.



First of all, I have to warn you - just like the other "Call of Duty" games, this one is highly addictive, and you should not start playing it if you are really busy - it may affect your social life, your job, and so on, I guess this is no surprise, since it's available for most good games. Unfortunately, unlike the other games in the series, you won't be able to recommend it to your PC friends, because Call of Duty 3 is only available for Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii. Anyway, I guess they are not into PS3 games reviews, so let's leave them aside and see why should you grab this older title, if you missed it so far, shall we?

The single player campaign in Call of Duty 3 is a very interesting one, allowing you to play as British, Canadian, Polish and American soldiers, as you push your way through Normandy. This time, there's no introductory mission, so you find yourself ending up in France, after the allied forces pushed into Chambois, also known as the Falaise Gap.

As an American, you are going to impersonate Private Nichols, attached to the 29th Infantry Division; during the British campaign, you are going to control Sergeant Doyle, a member of the SAS, the English Special Air Service; the Canadian parts of the single player campaign will find you fighting as various members of the 4th Canadian Division, centered on Pvt. Cole; at last, the Polish campaign allows you to take the place of Cpl. Bohater, a tank driver in the 1st Armored Division. Pretty cool, and no chance to become bored of your character, don't you agree?

At last, you should also be aware that the multiplayer experience can be even more exciting, with each team allowing up to 24 players on the PS3, and a wide range of game modes to choose from.

Now, you know what's the best part? Call of Duty 3 is not old enough to look "dusty," but being given the fact that it appeared almost 2 years ago, you will surely find it for a bargain price, so if you missed it...you know what to do!

Sometimes, seeing is not believeing. You also have to feel, to experience yourself that which can be seen, and leaving aside everything else, computer gaming is one of those areas where this sentence is painfully true. I have seen a lot of Duke Nukem Forever screenshots so far, we all had, but none of us played that game yet, because they keep delaying it. Leaving DNF aside, today I want to tell you a few things about Call of Duty 4, a game that was voted by many publications and sites as game of the year 2007, while in other cases, it finished second, after Crysis...


A lot of reviews of this game praise the excellent graphics and the high performance of the custom graphics engine used, but I won't get into that now. I simply want to share with you what I remember from my single player campaign (I played this game back in November 2007). Since there are tons of screenshots and game videos available online, I think the image above should be enough(this was one of the few situations when, while I was playing a FPS game, I was glad to die) to show how far they managed to go with Call of Duty 4 in terms of graphics effects.

As it usually happens with "serious" FPS games, your first mission takes place in a location where rookies are trained, but it doesn't get boring even for a single minute, as it happens in some other cases (America's Army is the best example I can give you now). So far, nothing special, but soon you'll get a mission. You'll be dropped with a small team on a boat, in the middle of a stormy sea. This is where my jaw dropped, my eyes suddenly locked on the screen, and I remained speechless for a few seconds, before I had to enter into battle.

During the single player campaign, you also die once (or maybe even twice?), since an atomic device is detonated near your location and you can't do anything about it. That scene is simply amazing, as well as the movie-style that was used to create the mission where you are a simple spectator, seeing the world through the eyes of some Middle-East president that is taken to its execution place, inside an older Mercedes limo...

All in all, the single player campaign can be easily finished in about 8-10 hours, without too much efforts, but playing this game was like those times when, being a kid, I saw Rambo, Terminator and Robocop for the first time. For me, the single player campaign was so intense, that I don't even want to think about playing it online. Why? Well, I also got a (real) life to leave, and best way to resist temptation is to avoid it, at least for me.

If you missed this amazing title so far, and you would also like to play one of the best online multiplayer games available at this time, you can grab Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for your platform for excellent prices, ranging between $20 and $30 in most cases, down from about $60 in late-2007.

These being said, I conclude this PS3 game review and hope you'll enjoy playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at least as much as I did.

<-125x125 Button - left->The night is getting colder, tainted by the screams of the unfortunate. Maybe I should have drowned with them, but fate has other plans in store for my perdition. The horrible noise can only mean that our crashed plane is sinking fast and I feel the urge to put some between us, lest I join it in the watery grave. Eerily gleaming fires stretch over ocean waves so calm, yet light pieces the darkness with unwavering certainty. I’ve reached the lighthouse at the end of the world, one lonely withered thorn to support hope where there is none. My chest hurts, but I’ll live yet; these steps - man made for sure. I must find the others.

“No gods, no kings, only man”

In the land of art, science and industry these symbols are engraved upon the walls, like runes of warding, ironically, the truth which brought the city’s downfall. As I descent with my newfound batysphere, I wonder who would have thought a whole city lies here at the bottom of the ocean. Rapture, as they call it, is a dream for all to men to free themselves of social and moral restrictions, and evolve to something greater. But can man be redeemed from his true destructive nature through technology? The wealthy and idealistic industry man Andrew Ryan seems to think this way, but entering the submerged city my welcoming party is grim. Creatures lurk in the shadows at every corner and they are not human anymore. I don’t even feel like leaving the relative safety of the batysphere after seeing IT rip the entrails off my rescuer. It is still out there, whispering secrets of my death and I don’t even have a crowbar to defend myself.

If you liked System Shock 2, then Bioshock is the game for you. If you love the retro theme Fallout used to push back in the days, Bioshock will also feel strangely familiar. I spent quite a lot of game time sight seeing and delving deeper into the complex social reality of Rapture. We’re talking about a large living city here, thus every location used to be someone’s quarters, bar of health center. Evidence of people’s past thoughts and actions can be found at every corner, usually by means of audio diaries picked up along the way. Rapture was created as a city of promise, a land of the free where everyone gets what he deserves in a seemingly capitalistic offer-and-demand ruled society.

Andrew Ryan sought to build a perfect society comprised out of elite individuals in the fields of art and science. In truth, man covers all the aspects of labor even in such an idealistic endeavor, thus physical work also needed to be employed, by those most fitted to perform it. Ryan was the father of Rapture, yet the rules he enforced lead him to be just one player in the vast game of economics. When rivals finally emerged, with the mindless back-up of the masses, power hungering turned to system corruption in the upper hierarchy.

“Adam is the canvass but plasmids are the paint”

The tool of this muffled civil war was Adam. Extracted through sea shells and developed into a mutagenic agent by a group of Rapture scientists lead by Tanenbaum, Adam enhanced humans with powers beyond their wildest dreams. Through Adam one gains the capacity to store plasmids and use them as they wish. Plasmids resemble spells since they require substantial quantities of Eve to be triggered off. Telekinesis, the control of fire or the power to freeze your foes are just a few; doubled by combat, technological and physical tonics which passively augment the denizens of Rapture, and now, yourself. But in order to gain Adam, a choice is to be made.

At some point it became apparent that there is not enough Adam to go around, and Tanenbaum engineered the Little Sisters to collect Adam from the dead. Guarded by massive armored robots called Big Brothers, these fiendish little girls have been transformed to see dead people as angels. Approaching them has since become a crime in rapture as they carry that which everyone here craves for. Big Brothers hit extremely hard and the first time you fight them is one of the most interesting things in Bioshock. Plenty of healing hypos, running around pillars and aiming for the head with armor piercing ammo should eventually do the trick.

And here’s the choice. The best way of getting Adam is to harvest it from the Little Sisters, leading to their impending death. Should you play nice, the little girls can be rescued from their mutagenic curse by a method taught to you by Tanenbaum. It leads to less Adam, but substantial rewards later on because the good doctor feels guilty and wants her children back. If you’re the kind of player that searches for items through every crevice, you’ll do just fine with less Adam. Ignore that completely if you plan to take on the game on the legendary difficulty. Spend Adam to gain more plasmids and increase your characteristics, including the amount of health and Eve you have. Tonics can be picked up on your journeys and basically represent items lying around. However, there is a possibility to gain more from research.

Humans never change

So we have a ‘50s retro themed city swarming with plasmid infested creatures that most of their humanity and spend their time hungering for Adam: splicers. It’s been a genuine pleasure to approach them from the shadow and listen to their rants undisturbed. Beyond the dim lights of Rapture, shadow and reality come together in a ghoulish fest where seeing and believing can never be the same. Complex shadows dance on the wall in front and I can tell a mother is bent over her child’s crib just around the corner. At first she sings a lullaby seemingly happy but then sorrow and madness take over. Wailing, crying out to the men gods of Rapture that took her child away, she lounges towards me with a wild look on her face. At first Adam made super humans out of the elite citizens of Rapture, but their developed Adam addiction lead to the loss of sanity. It’s only one of the main withdrawal symptoms, but the flesh decays as well. Splicers are bloodied and paranoid, their bodies scarred and their wits gone.

The doctor seems to be working late tonight, down at the gene splicing dental lab. I can tell by his shadow movements that he’s quite busy as I approach silently from behind. But then again, the light turn off leaving me defenseless and I must retreat as healing is expensive at this stage. Much of the scare comes from this use of lighting, sound and superb voice acting. I haven’t heard such great monologues since Sanitarium, one decade ago.

Atlas is directing you every move through the radio straight from the beginning, seemingly a true friend in this hour of need. With his help you going to discover the traps of perdition which brought great men and women to despair and madness, and Adam had a role to play in each story. First off we have Dr. Steinman, the surgery’s Picasso, obsessed with plasmid perfection in human beauty. Ryan’s rival in the works of industrial Rapture used to be Fontaine, now presumed dead. The story then arcs to Pete Wilkins, the underground rat living a parasitic life off his former master Fontaine. Land Ford is the biologist which used Adam to grow trees here on the ocean floor, subdued by Andrew Ryan’s strong grip over all things Rapture. Who can forget Sander Cohen, the mad artist who used plasmids to nurture a kind of grotesque art form built on pathos and death. The list goes on as you face Andrew Ryan in the end.

The plot thickens

Often enough you’ll be faced with hacking various turrets, robots, safes and vendor machines through your incursions in the world of Rapture. The mini game is always the same and presents you with a race of wits against time, rebuilding an exit way out of the given puzzle game. You have to arrange the tube pieces in such a way to structure a way for the liquid to reach its destination, while avoiding alarms and broken fuses. It’s refreshing to see that personal wits make a difference in the game, no matter how (un)skilled the in-game character is. Rewards are great should you crack these graphical riddles and range from ammo to cash, health and eve packs. Should you run out of ammo, tipping off an alarm and hacking two or three bots to escort you through the remainder of the level is generally a good idea.

Bioshock isn’t a hard game though and pleasure derives through every aspect of the work presented before your eye and fingertips. I’d like to think that it’s one of the good aspects of the multi format games, since Bioshock has a PC and Xbox versions. For a shooter, the mouse is pretty much involved in aiming the gun faster and that’s pretty much it. The casual style gameplay doesn’t require you go to that much trouble when it comes to strafing, jumping around and dodging bullets behind obstacles. So it’s not a hardcore shooter where you go out of bullets fast, which in turn lets you enjoy the creepy atmosphere more.

Take a picture. It lasts longer

The basics of research lie in accurate observation of your surroundings. Yet taking pictures of splicers wandering around or rushing for your scalp isn’t exactly the first thing that came through my mind when I picked up the camera. Its screenshot time now, because the more you catch on film, the more research points you gain and every time the bar goes to full, you learn something new about the creature. Yes, most splicers are vulnerable to anti personnel ammo, but I bet you’ll want to gain that special (free) tonic from research level two, or maybe that incredibly powerful ability the creature has been using to drop you dead. I was lost when I met Houdini Splicers for the first time. They just teleport around and throw fireballs at me, laughing the mad man’s laughter. Yet after careful observation through the use of my trusty weapon six camera, I found out I can stealth myself and go invisible if standing still with the new camouflage physical tonic. It can’t get any better than that.

Plasmid eye candy

It would have been unfair to start the review talking about graphics, but time has come to praise Bioshock and its wonderful use of the Unreal Engine 3. Movement is all right with the note that jumping is a bit off by default and you need to boost your character with running tonics to get the full feeling of a shooter. Turrets have no problems throwing at you high speed bullets (which can miss), rockets and flames. Flying sentries come in like butterflies, inaccurately hovering up and down in a very realistic movement pattern. I did mention lighting earlier. While 2K Games advertised Bioshock runs on Shader Model 3.0, there is an unofficial patch out there which allows 2.0 shader graphical cards run the game just fine. Even so, darkness is never impenetrable and developers use shadows to great effect, hinting that which you can not see, pushing you further exploring. The Houdini Splicers are some interesting characters and their rendering and invisibility effects left me jaw open and wondering just what the hell that was. World textures are detailed yet have a sense of roughness about them, which only adds to the depth of the retro concept. Taking screenshots of poster ads never gets old.

Where to next?

All in all Bioshock offer very good value for the money and Bioshock main concept man Ken Levine along with the new defunct Irrational Games developers (swallowed up by 2K Games) did a fantastic job at about every aspect of the game. The sense of playing a polished release that won’t disappoint is unmatched, and will undoubtedly weight heavily when looking for the game of the year. The only way to destroy your own gaming experience is by abusing some generous game mechanics like the Vita Chambers which basically spell resurrection safe spots. If you stick with the regular “kill first, ask questions later” modus operandi and save the game often, there won’t be any need to resurrect at the last visited Vita Chamber. Feeling that Big Daddy would go down faster if you hit it with a wrench is wrong; don’t do it. I positively adore the retro atmosphere and if you are a Fallout fan, I’m sure Bioshock will look like a welcomed revival and not a rip off because imagery and dialogues are rebuilt from scratch.

You’ll meet the great bear guardian first, dire Nalorakk. Be sure to lead many players his way if you dream about riding that wicked looking bear sometime in the near future. Akil'zon is the eagle avatar and master of storms. Unlike his Zul Gurub counterpart, the lynx avatar Halazzi does not have three acolytes that resurrect one another. Jan'alai, dragonhawk avatar puts up a good fight protecting the eggs of the flying hunter. Many will find their doom by the hands of Hex Lord Malacrass but none is as powerful as the master himself, Zul’Jin.

A troll with a dark past

<-250x250 Square - left->Zul'jin's ability as a warrior quickly prompted him leader of his tribe and his need drove him to reunite the wandering troll tribes of Zul’Aman under a single ruler. This extraordinary feat echoed back from the Troll Wars, when the tribes reunited last in the face of mortal danger. Such were the times when Zul’Jin took charge, as Humans joined the High Elves in a crusade to drive the forest trolls back into the wilderness and claim their lands. His raiding parties laid waste to the surrounding areas of Quel'thalas in a time when trolls were weak and defensive. In the conjuration of the Second War, Zul’jin’s plans to unite all trolls under one nation came to a halt however, as he has been captured and tortured, losing his right eye. When his wardens were attacked by a small troll war-party, Zul’Jin cut off his own arm with a fallen spear and escaped to Zul’Aman.

In his rage he searched for new ways to vanquish his foes and found the tools of his revenge in Hexlord Malacrass VooDoo. The totemic spirits revered by the forest trolls in their ancestral shamanistic practices were bound to the greatest and most powerful troll fighters, inside Zul’Aman. Thus the bear, eagle, lynx and dragonhawk avatars were born. As the high elves turned blood elves when Quel’Thalas was destroyed by the scourge and now fight alongside the horde. Forest trolls were always notorious for their war habits, feared by enemies and allies alike, so these events did nothing to smother Zul’Jin’s heart. In his rage, Zul’Jin now turns against the horde and everyone entering Zul’Aman hereby is a foe.

The Zul speaks

“Dis was our land. TROLL land. We Amani was here before anyone! Da' elves and dere Alliance came to drive us out. But we never give up. We never forget... Da' elves took my eye. I cut off my own arm to escape 'dem... and now, 'de fight alongside da' HORDE!? I SPIT on da' Horde! I hate you, I hate you all... But I got a surprise for ya' now, so come on in... De' Amani never give up! We never forget. We never die. 'Dis is our land: you wanna stay, you stay here forever! We gonna bury you here.”

Four spirits pour into one

The wooden doors behind Malacrass’ sanctuary lead to an inner garden where the troll chieftain takes residence. You may think the four avatars defeated, but you are wrong. This matter has always been between Zul’Jin and Malacrass, but the totemic avatars are bound to the Zul alone, for he performed the summoning. That is why we can see them hovering atop the terrace in spirit form, inactive as if waiting for a sign.

As you approach Zul’Jin, he rushes along with a dozen troll warriors that die to three AoE blasts. Le the spank and tank begin! Raiders should spread around Zul’Jin evenly to avoid nasty surprises in the later stages of the fight. In the humanoid form he whirls and hits everyone in melee range so keep an eye on the rogue. He also randomly uses grievous throw which impacts for 3k and leaves a debuff like Rokmar the Crackler in Slave Pens does. The bleeding effect ticks for 2.5k every 2s and disappears if the targeted player is at full health. Be warned that Zul’Jin switches phases every 20% and dps needs to give the tank time to establish agro again, due to threat wipes.

At 80% we have Zul’Jin slightly annoyed by our presence as he calls upon the spirit of the Bear spirit for assistance as he turns into a brown hairy beast. Unlike Nalorakk he casts Paralysis on everyone, debuff which stuns for 4s each 5s and deals up to 4.5k damage unless dispelled. The priority lies with the main tank (due to the recent threat reset) and then healers. Again, luck isn’t a factor so play your cards right and down at 60% Zul’Jin call upon the aid of the Eagle spirit as the bear ghost falls to the ground seemingly dead.

From here on casters will have a tough time doing anything so melee DPS will be the main source of damage. He does not attack anyone so melee should go all out. Lightning zaps you for 1250 each time you cast a spell, but this mana feedback can be fooled by using spells with long casting times and then pulling an instant cast spell at the same time. This way you only get zapped every 4 seconds, because WoW interprets your chain as one single spell. The eagle hasn’t yet landed and the storms are getting annoying. Small tornadoes randomly patrol the terrace and deal 1000 damage with an additional pushback effect. Healers have problems here and must avoid getting cornered by tornadoes. DPS casters are advised to deal damage only as long as there is enough healing to pass around.

With proper control, Zul’Jin reaches 40% and starts off the gamble phase. The lynx that enforces his look upon the master troll can fixate and attack a random person in the raid, therefore ignoring all other attempts to gain agro. It’s hard to describe the kind of attacks this lynx can pull off. Suffice it to say that evasion will not help, nor parry or dodge. Just use blessing of protection, vanish, ice block or whatever life savers available. As a mage I died in two hits which landed in exactly one second, so not even a warrior’s intervene is enough on cloth wearers. When the lynx isn’t fixating anyone, it does a blade dance like Kargath in Shattered Halls, leaving a stacking bleeding debuff on people hit. This phase is hands down the hardest in the battle, so expect to lose up to three people.

Only 20% hit points to go and Zul’Jin falls, only to rise again as a dragonhawk. The spirit casts a smite type spell randomly into the raid, but it’s an area effect so you need to move out immediately when you get hit for the first time. The holy fire ranges somewhere into 3500 damage and ticks every second, so three of these will most likely see you dead. After fighting the lynx, melees get punished in return when the dragonhawk twists high into the air, for pushback and damage inflicted on everyone within melee range. It’s a race against time by now as you may have one healer dead and the rest with moderate mana issues. Raiders must be spread out to avoid his flame breath ability, pretty much the way Jan’alai hit. Just burn him down as fast as possible and don’t get smited in the process.

As the last few percents of his life are removed, Zul’jin’s power wanes and the four spirits forever leave his body in a final release. The warlord of Zul’Aman is defeated and you can now loot his blood to complete the end quest. I’m positive you’ll be back for another round once the three day cooldown wears off and the instance resets. It’s a great new area to spark interest in the minds of lore and loot hunters. Sunwell Plateau should come out soon enough, otherwise there will be no incentive for players to complete Hyjal and the Black Temple with such generous items available in Zul’Aman.