I don't know how to explain it right, but I feel the gaming world needs to return to its roots. What do I want to say with that? Ideas, ideas, ideas! First of all, a game needs a good idea, then a good execution, always keeping in mind that graphics and sound are a support for the story, not the other way around. Today, we'll talk about a game that managed to give me a bunch of headaches so far, simply because my feelings about it are extremely mixed up: Left 4 Dead, PC version.

Currently available for PC and Xbox 360, Left 4 Dead is a zombie shooter that made me sometimes feel like in a horror movie, and only after a few seconds I felt like the gunner of a tank hunting ducks, if you know what I mean. Just for the record, I played through the single player campaign on "Normal" difficulty mode and that's exactly how I felt, so serious FPS players won't find any special challenge in this game, as far as I can figure out.

The story of the game... well, that is the problem - we have no story, only four playable human characters without any special skills to make one different from the other - Francis (voiced by Vince Valenzuela), a tattoo-covered biker; Zoey (voiced by Jen Taylor), a college student and horror movie enthusiast; Louis (voiced by Earl Alexander), a Junior Systems Analyst in his company's IT department; and Bill (voiced by Jim French), a former Green Beret and a Vietnam veteran.

One of the good parts is that we have extremely decent Left 4 Dead minimum requirements, and if you consider how good can this game look with all graphics settings pushed to the max, this is one good reason to try it, especially since you like to shoot first, and ask no questions later.

As I was saying earlier, all the characters in the game are, basically, the same - no special skills, no weapon specialization, so it doesn't really matter if you're playing Francis, Zoey, Louis, or Bill, because you'll be able to handle the same weapons - single or dual pistols, a shotgun, a submachine gun, an assault rifle and a rather useless sniper rifle(well, it looks pretty nice when you're blowing some zombie brains and watching it through the scope...although you'll be shooting zombies at point blank most of the time).

If you're still wondering about those system requirements, then let me tell you that I played the game with everything pushed to the max(including 6XMSAA) at 1280X1024 on my AMD X2 4000+@2.4GHz//2GB 800MHz DDR2//ATI X1950 Pro 256MB DDR3 system and I enjoyed optimal performance, and since we're talking about a game based on the latest version of Valve's Source engine, performance is not a problem with Left 4 Dead...

...but the single player campaign is...and it's not a problem, since the campaign could be considered a mini TV series with the same theme - survival. Unlike usual shooters that require you to go through a level and move up, in Left 4 Dead you're moving backwards, since zombies are coming from all corners, and your goal is to escape, not push forward. Anyway, Left 4 Dead deserves to be appreciated for its atmosphere and, above everything, the feeling that you're actually one of the characters in a horror movie.

With a ESRB RATING of M(Mature), this game will stay away from most children, and I think this is a bit unfair - Left 4 Dead is, beyond depressing and scary, fun, fun, and - once again - fun to the max! After all, you're only shooting zombies, you're not solving differential equations!

Before moving on to my ratings, I have to tell you that, despite the fact I was really impressed by the looks of the main characters, I found some really disappointing things in this game. Just think about this - you're facing a team mate, and if you go in his direction, you will pass through him, but if you shoot in that direction, you will harm him. What about this? Come on, guys, this game has been in the making for 3 years!!!

One more annoying thing - why would you be interested in hearing your team mates saying "Reloading" over and over again? Beats me, but I think their calls for help when being overrun would have been enough... and overrun will you be if you're not thinking as a zombie - don't use bullets, just hit them with the butt of your rifle, that's all!<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

I know the above may sound a bit stupid, but that's the reality - as I was saying, Left 4 Dead is like shooting turkeys with a tank, no strategy, just boring zombie killing, and that's all. Now, let's get to my ratings, shall we?

Story: 4/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 4/10
Originality: 8/10
Tilt Factor: 8/10
Overall: 5/10 (not an average of the above)

Why? Why take something that could have been great and turn it into turkey shooting? Left 4 Dead could have been a new Doom 3, but ended up in being "Solitaire with zombies," at least for me. I know, I know - multiplayer can really be addictive, but you'll get bored pretty soon if this is not your first computer game, I can assure you of that!

I know all the above may not be your opinion, so feel free to drop your comments below and curse me. Maybe I'll wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about zombies and I'll change my opinion...

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.