<-180x150 Small Rectangle - left->Here we are, following the adventures of “the Freeman” and Alyx Vance through the “hordes” of striders and “hunters”. There is a reason why I left this game out of the whole Black Box package right at the end - it’s “the cherry on the cake” really – I was very impressed with 3 main features: Alyx is one of the most “human” female characters I have ever seen in the many video games I have played so far; the physics and the dynamic have improved considerably while the enemies got even smarter at dodging bullets; the improvements of the gravitational gun are meant to help you in bringing down much easier the bigger enemies.

Game Trailer

The game story continues in the seven chapters, right from where it ended in the first Episode. This policy of releasing “episodes” has been considered more constructive so that the developers can have more time to tweak and improve the game engine the fans get to enjoy more action much sooner than in the previous releases.

The Freeman starts heads out towards the White Forest, with Alyx, to reach one of the largest human bases. The Combine aliens are working to open a massive portal so that they can bring some reinforcements. A very important part of the story is the burst transmission from the Combine that were trying to send it, and Alyx got a copy of it with the help of Gordon. As it contains very sensitive data about the Combine, their home world and how to control the huge portal, it is essential that it is delivered to the White Forest base so that the human resistance can use it to shut down the portal.

On the way to the base, Alyx is fatally wounded by a hunter-robot. While she still has a very weak thread of life in her body, a Vortigaunt picks her up and shows Gordon the way to an underground area, with lots of tunnels where some nasty bugs are waiting. After clearing the way and reaching the base, Gordon defends the troops from few random attacks of the Antlions (the big green bugs from Episode One).

Gameplay

Next there’s a mission in The Vortal Coil to get some larval extract so that the Vortigaunts’ team can use their powers to bring Alyx back to life. When you bring back the extract, you will meet the G-man again as a vision and he tells Alyx to say to her father the following words “prepare for unforeseen consequences” (this message is a bit silly in my opinion because it does not really make you expect to see funny things on the screen – it’s a marketing strategy from Valve to keep the gamers interested!). It’s like seeing the “Batman, The Beginning” movie – there are connections and references to the second chapter from the first Half Life game, so in a way we go back into the past, to “what was before”.

Alyx comes back to life and she brings back the smile on the gamer’s face first in Freeman Pontifex, where one of the Vortigaunts comes along and helps a lot in getting rid of the nasty bugs. Their priority is to find a vehicle. Be very careful on this level where you need to go to the bridge to get the car - you will have to be really fast and focused. After you manage to take the car to the other side, Alyx comes along in Riding Shotgun with Gordon towards the White Forest. Shall I say who was walking on the bridge when you were just starting the car-recovery mission? Yeah, you can guess – it’s the G-Man again – wow, doesn’t this guy have anything better to do than throw a wave of mystery every time he shows up?

On the way, they meet some hunters that need to be destroyed as fast as possible. There are Combine Advisors roaming around too and one of them almost kills Alyx and Gordon Under The Radar antennae. When they reach the base, they find Dog, Isaac Kleiner, Eli Vance and one of the former Black Mesa doctors, Dr. Arne Magnusson. The base is like a military weapons facility, and this is where the scientists have been building a big rocket meant to destroy the huge alien portal. There are again some references to the first Half Life game, namely the “Decay” chapter.

In the Our Mutual Friend chapter, Alyx delivers the message from Judith Mossman to Eli and then you will find out about a ship, The Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel (remember the video game review of Half Life – Portal?), which is said to have disappeared a long time ago in a second, mysteriously. There are not any other hints about it, but in a later chat, Eli mentions the fact that he knows about the G-Man after Alyx came near him and delivered the message about the consequences. Next you will be given an assignment to defend key areas of the base against striders by using Dr. Magnusson’s explosive devices.

In the last chapter, T-Minus One, “the Freeman” doesn’t have much to do, but to push a few buttons and watch what happens in front of his eyes. He will be the one to press the “red button” that launches the big rocket which shuts down the portal. After the “fireworks”, Gordon goes with them towards the helicopter chamber. They were about to start their search for Judith Mossman, but they walk right into an ambush – Combine Advisors seize them and try to take out information from them. Eli gets killed and the end is how Alyx holds him in her arms, crying. There is no “next game” trailer, nothing, just a blunt and dark ending. However, from what my sources told me, there will be a third Episode of the adventure.

some of the best moments in the game

As a novelty in this game there’s the “car-drive”, the new two types of Antlions, the reworked game-engine that brings new capabilities of rendering intense detailed scenes and surfaces, with advanced pixel-shader effects.

The sound in the game was pretty much similar to the one in the Episode One, but I really liked the action music, even if it was not present all the time. I like it so much that I bought it! Oh yeah, how could I forget the warm and tender voice of Alyx, always being so enthusiastic around Gordon.

Game Ending

Digitainment mark: 10 out of 10 (the character of Alyx was pretty convincing with the realistic human emotions and reactions)

Developer/Publisher: Valve Software

Buy: $49 - the whole Orange Box package that comes also with Half-Life 2, Half life 2 Episode One, Portal and Team Fortress 2

<-250x250 Square - left->Here's the time for a very new game to be reviewed. I played another game from my Black Box Edition of bundled games of the video card package, namely Portal. To start off, I can say that the people who love the physics lessons will enjoy this game greatly because it's all about accuracy, speed, movement and the gravitational relations between dynamic objects and static portals. The big idea here is that you have to go through one portal to another in order to reach the exit of each level - and it gets dangerous as there are some levels where the character you're playing as a gamer can get "killed" and you will have to replay the level again. If you watched the movie "The Cube", this game will look very “familiar”. This is not exactly a first person shooter game - it’s more like a first person puzzle contest.

The game story starts with Chell, who wakes up in a chamber with see-through walls and she finds a radio playing the “Still Alive” song from the game credits. The character moves along with a pair of heel springs – these allow her to fall from high places without getting hurt. As the levels change, Chell finds out that GLaDOS, the “voice” that gives her instructions, is testing and watching her all the way. First she gains the simple type of the portal gun and then the “upgrade” that allows her to create an “entrance” portal and an “exit” portal. The big “reward” for completing the tests is a big cake, literally, which is a bit silly…

Moving on, we see again various traps and obstacles that Chell needs to go through, and GLaDOS warns her that there are side effects like hallucinations. If the initial stages are relatively friendly in environment, the more you advance through the game, the more difficult and the more skilled you need to become to pass the tests. From GLaDOS’ speech you will soon realize what this whole experiment in the game is getting at, but then again, the artificial intelligence behind the female voice shows signs of human weaknesses and starts acting “immaturely”, and aggressively in some points.

You will get to see a lot of graffiti on the walls left by “probably a former test subject”, containing the text “the cake is a lie” – and it certainly is, you didn’t actually believe that, did you? GLaDOS tells Chell that these inscriptions came from a person who thought that the cube (again, does this sound familiar to the fans of the movie “The Cube”, or what?). First, “the voice” is impressed with Chell’s achievements in the tough levels, but later on it gets uncomfortable and tells her that she is not unique, she can be replaceable and that she will be finally disposed of.

With a bit of luck and some wits you will manage to reach the final test, where Chell finally sees how the “voice” looks like, “up close and personal” – you wouldn’t have it any other way, would you? Now that the enemy is in front of you, there is no time to waste at all as it will start spreading a toxic gas and there won’t be enough time to defeat it. So the best thing to do is to create a portal near the red hole where you can throw each of the “heads” of the GLaDOS artificial intelligence and thus you defeat it. There is also a trick – there is a rocket launcher that can be tricked to fire into the machine.

Game Guide - Levels 1 -13
After you win the final confrontation, you will get a “virtual” cake – what did you actually expect to eat that? There’s a robotic arm that puts out the candle and then you will hear the “voice” gain singing “Still Alive” – watch out for the messages that will be displayed – they convey some very interesting information.

End Song

Digitainment: 8 out of 10

Publisher/Developer : Valve

Buy: $19

Illidan thundered from atop the mountain, high into the Black Temple: “You are not prepared” and we all were mesmerized by the power of his words as The Burning Crusade was just released. It became a ruse between friends, while going out for a beer: “You are not prepared!” Pretty much it was the Bud commercial of WoW and we were all laughing. But ascension to the outer reaches of the Temple proved to be somewhat more difficult than first anticipated. It wasn’t until 4 months ago that Blizzard released patch 2.1 and with it players were granted entrance as high end guilds enjoying the spoils with great expenditure. About 220 guilds in the world reached Illidan and defeated him, on an average of one guild each four realms. I though it would be a good idea to run a guide for the Black Temple, including every boss fight, facing Illidan and many lore insertions on the way, so today I’ll start with the attunement part.

<-250x250 Square - left->Both Scryers and Aldor will eventually guide you to seek out the Ashtongue Deathsworn and befriend their ranks through a series of works. Seek out your quest giver deep into Shadowmoon Valley, for they are hosted at The Sanctum of the Stars and The Altar of Sha’Tar, depending of your affiliation. The first four quests are similar and you will have to venture into the Ruins of Baa’Ri and recover the three Baa’Ri tablets for either faction. This place used to be a Draenei city before Gul’Dan buried it into ash and flame with a volcanic explosion, giving birth to the nearby mountain: The Hand of Gul’Dan. The tablets are to be found on the ground and workers occasionally drop them, but the area is hell to navigate without a flying mount and consequently below level 70. You will always have to fight at least two creatures, so expect many agro pulls, patrols and hostile Ashtongue spawning on top of you.

Once acquired, the tablets will reveal news of a great artifact called The Medallion of Karabor, a piece worn only by the highest of the old Draenei priests serving in the Temple. It was this medallion that granted them free access through the gates of the revered Temple so you must find more from Akama’s orders. Akama is the leader of the Ashtongue and Oronu the Elder is his lieutenant in Baa’Ri. He is to be found in the only building left standing amongst the Ruins of Baa’Ri and is heavily guarded.

Akama’s Orders will reveal that a medallion has been broken into four pieces and can be found among four Ashtongue Corruptors across Shadowmoon Valley. These decayed shamans will not engage in combat when they see you but whenever you strike down one of their focus crystals, elementals will appear. Each corruptor will engage you once the last stone is broken, and although they don’t do incredible damage, on occasions they can nuke with two instant abilities one after the other. Haalum, Corruptor of Air, waits at Netherwing Pass. Eykenen and Uylaru, Corruptors of Earth and Fire, dwell in the Fel Pits near the Hand of Gul'dan. Lakaan, Corruptor of Water, stays with the tainted water elementals near Coilskar Point.

To much dismay you soon find out that your efforts only recovered half the medallion, and Akama most likely has the other one. Confrontation is unavoidable so a word with the jailor at The Warden’s Cage is in order, none other than the leader of the Ashtongue Deathsworn himself. It’s a place filled with Illidari demons, imps and satyrs, and the actual location we’re looking for is deep underground. In fact you need to swim left and work your way below to reach Akama. I was prepared for the worst, with Akama and two defenders cramped up, so little room to maneuver, but then something happened.

Akama used to be a proud Draenei priest when the Temple of Karabor was filled with the divine light. That all came to and end once the Burning Legion took over Draenor and orcs roamed the land. With the temple overrun by demons and fell orcs, Magtheridon became the new ruler of the land as the remaining Draenei were enslaved. So great was the punishment that their bodies decayed into the form of the broken, the Ashtongue we see now. Akama and his tribe retreated in Zangarmarsh and lived in seclusion until Illidan Stormrage came about. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, thus the Ashtongue came into the service of Illidan. Akama sealed off the portals used by Magtheridon to summon reinforcements and helped Illidan enter the Black Temple to duel and later imprison Magtheridon. But not everything went as planned when in fact Akama just changed one master for another and his people were not closer to redemption. Still, he couldn’t directly oppose Illidan. A fragment of his soul was still bound to the Betrayer's will in the form of the Shade of Akama.

Akama is a shrewd and wise tactician and will not have your blood on his hands. An alliance of convenience is proffered, as we both want to enter the Black Temple and defeat Illidan, moreover as this meeting has been foretold in Akama’s dreams, just like Velen’s Exodus and the fall of the Temple of Karabor. He and his elite guard, the Ashtongue Deathsworn, tried to re-discover the now severed connection to the Light and the Naaru that had aided them in their escape from Argus, thousands of years ago. But first an Illidari spy must be killed for the satyr Zandras is watching you even now. A short fight will dispatch him from his patrolling routes on the Warden’s Cage walls, a suitable Proof of Allegiance.

There is not much choice in the matter either way, so you need to carry out Akama’s will and inform your Aldor or Scryer connection of the new alliance. While departing the scene, you notice someone lurking in the dark cell behind Akama, no other than Maiev Shadowsong herself, trapped in her attempt to face Illidan.

It takes great deal of anticipation for one to fool a powerful being as Illidan, so you won’t feel that bad when you learn that the medallion you are holding is nothing but a fake, a replica. It’s a good thing you and Akama are still friends, thus he reveals to you the location of the next and final piece of the puzzle. Seer Udalo has the missing fragment but Kael’Thas keep him imprisoned in Arcatraz, the most well guarded of the Naaru prisons, a place where beings of great power reside, including remnants of the Qiraji swarms. You need a flying mount to reach any of the Netherstorm Tempest Keep instances and Arcatraz also requires a key, or a very crafty rogue with more than 350 skill to open it up for you. Past the second boss and close to the final chamber you will discover Uldao’s lifeless body. You arrived too late to save a martyr’s life, but the final piece is in your grasp, as you decipher the words Atam’Al on the medallion. Akama must know their meaning.

A fragmented Medallion of Karabor is useless. Surely there is a power source strong enough to light a spark into the centuries old artifact. Lore tells tale of a potent Atam’Al crystal called The Heart of Fury. Fell orcs now inhabit the place and cloud its presence away from the Naaru by dark magic. Since Akama’s Deathsworn must not openly interfere with Illidan’s minions, it’s your job to get Shadowlord Deathwail. Upon reaching the crystal, enemies arrive in three waves so a balanced group of four is suggested. If you are a ranged damage dealer, you can just fly on a nearby pillar and wait until every wave despawns or even kill them outright since they won’t agro unless there is a patch to leading up to you. Killing the mounted fel orc, Shadowlord Deathwail, is a different matter though, but he can be snared and soloed if you’re good enough.

Crystal in hand, Akama performs the last arrangements as you see the Medallion glowing with great power. It is now yours and seeing A’dal now will fulfill Akama’s Promise and grant you six decent blue items to choose from as reward.

I thought this was it, but no, Blizzard chained the quest even further in the 2.1 patch release. It wouldn’t have been fair to let you enter The Black Temple without killing off everything there to kill in The Serpentshire Cavern (SSC) and Tempest Keep (TK). From now on you will require a guild to run these quests as 25-man instance runs are needed. In the end, the natural dungeon progression will enable you to defeat Lady Vashj and Kael’Thas, then after a quick struggle in Hyjal, the way will be made clear.

Seer Olum would like to have a work with you once you dispatch Fathom Lord Karathress in SSC (the caged Ashtongue nearby). If Karathress had Olum in his grasp, then the secret is compromised and will eventually reach Illidan’s ears. There is no time to waste.

Cunning as ever, Akama devises a plan to sow dissent inside Illidan’s powerhouse by turning the ambitious blood elf price against his liege. You are to infiltrate Tempest Keep: The Eye disguised as one of the Ashtongue Illidari servants, then slay Al’Ar, Kael’ Thas most prized phoenix pet. There is no better way to strike an unstable alliance than stirring up blood elf pride. There is a big leap afterwards, as you need to get into The Battle of Mount Hyjal in Caverns of Time and slay the first boss, Rage Winterchill. You'll loot an artifact from the past that will be the final ingredient in restoring the medallion to its full strength.This is the part where you need Kael’Thas and Lady Vashj both dead, in order to enter Hyjal. Most casual guilds are already knee deep into Tempest Keep by now so I would expect more and more players to follow up until this point in the near future. Pretty much what you need to do now is talk to A’dal in Shattrath, then see Xi’Ri at the Black Temple entrance and you will be off, attuned and with The Medallion of Karabor in hand. Remember that you need to carry the item in your inventory whenever going inside the temple, otherwise you will not be permitted to. The story doesn’t end here though, as the real fun is just beginning. Soon I will detail every boss fight into The Black Temple up until Illidan.

<-250x250 Square - left->Multiplayer shooters are getting more and more popular these days and they encourage competition between people living in various countries, fighting on the same battleground, but coming from different backgrounds. The game was originally announced in 1998 as a sequel to the initial Team Fortress Mod for Quake, but it has gone through a lot of changes since then. The evolution over 9 years turned into a militaristic type of game-play and it went even further. The final version of Team Fortress 2 looks very much like the original Team Fortress and Team Fortress Classic versions, and it features a cartoonish-style set of graphics. The official release was on October 10, 2007 and the Steam customers were happy that they could finally play it.

There are already a lot of servers up and running and once you start the game and adjust the settings, you can either make one or select any from the list. The game is bundled in the coupon of the Black Box edition (Steam versions of Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and Day of Defeat as a Bonus) from Valve that comes with each retail box of Radeon HD 2900XT (requirements of the game - CPU about 3.0GHz, 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® Vista/XP/2000, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection). The game is also bundled in the new and official Orange Box that also contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and Episode 2 and Portal.

This game has no real story behind it, so I am going to focus on the nine characters you can choose from and play with and on their game style. Just like in the previous versions, players can choose from nine classes of characters and some elements have remained the same: the Heavy class is a bit slow but has a bigger (and an obvious) firepower with 300 health-points and the Scout class is quick but only with 125 health-points.

Team Fortress 2 Teaser

I shall start with Heavy, my favorite player class as it requires more thinking and cunning action – it may not be quick but brings a lot of damage if it catches the enemy in a tight spot and nowhere to run or hide – dodging 10.000 rounds (fired per minute!) is very difficult. However, Heavy’s attacks are effective mostly in medium and short-range combat. He has a strong Russian accent, while he is the strongest physical class and loves to brag about the costs of his weapon. When paired with a medic in a team, he becomes nearly invincible, because of his large body, high health and the big weapon. I always like it when he goes out into the battle and shouts “Run, cowards!”

Meet the Heavy

The Scout has one of the simplest armor and looks like an American teenager, with a baseball cap, thin head-set added, and carries a messenger bag. He is the fastest class and his aim is to capture the objective once the defenses have been disabled. He can double jump and change direction while in mid-air. His weapons are an underlever shotgun, a pistol and an aluminum baseball bat. He can bring much more damage than in the previous games.

Scout Gameplay

Another slow moving class is the soldier, but as compensation there’s the high damage tolerance and the advantage of rocket jumping. His outfit is a typically like the one of World War 2 soldiers and as weapons he carries a rocket launcher, a shotgun and an entrenching tool for close-range attacks.

Meet the Soldier

Burning your enemies is also quite effective and might come as a surprise to the other players, but only if you choose the Pyro class. These masked fire-starters are dressed in a fire-proof suit and are equipped with a short-range but very powerful flame-thrower, a shotgun and a fire axe. The idea behind this class is that they can act only by using surprise attacks and need to be backed up by a Heavy and a Medic to restore the health.

Pyro Gameplay

The Demoman is a “black Scottish Cyclops” (at least it’s how he sees himself) and is apparently jealous of people with two eyes. The class is armed with a time detonation grenade launcher, a remote detonation sticky bomb launcher and makes use of a Scotch bottle for short-range attacks. Obviously, this guy dot not attack on the spot, right in the face or inflict immediate damage – he is cunning and has to attract his opponents in the traps he sets. He can also use these explosions to jump very high over great obstacles but at the cost of a good part of his health-points.

Meet the Demoman

Engineers seem to be very interesting as a class because they will be seen in other games as well performing similar tasks: basically, they can defend bases and passage-ways. The main role is to supply support and transport for the team. Their unique ability is to create sentry-guns that can be a real pain for players from the opposing team. They can also build teleporting devices and ammunition & health dispensers. The Engineer has a typical (American) Texan accent and has a shotgun added to the pistol and the monkey-wrench (melee weapon).

Meet the Engineer

The primary goal of the medic is to team up with the Heavy and the Pyro in order to boost their health so that the team would obtain a fast and guaranteed victory. He has a German accent and doesn’t have serious weapons for himself: only a syringe-gun and a bone-saw for defense as the main gun has only healing purposes for the players in the same team. He can also “űber-charge” the health of the teammates and thus making them invulnerable for 10 seconds (enough time for Heavy to fire his expensive rounds on the enemies).

Medic Class Overview

The (Australian military) Sniper class comes with low tolerance for damage and carries a bolt-action sniper rifle and it is able of 1-hit-kills. The rifle has even a red-laser aiming technique which might come in handy when aiming and can also be dangerous when the enemy sees the red spot on the floor or on the wall. The other weapons are a sub-machine gun and a machete.

Sniper Gameplay

The spy is one of the best classes when it comes to stealth techniques, infiltrating, sabotaging and it is even capable of disguising himself into one of the members of the opposing team and thus thwarting their efforts to win. The spy speaks with a mixed accent of French and Spanish (Latin languages, either way). However the disguise wears off because the team members test themselves by shooting at each other – and only the members of the opposite team take damage – so this means you would have to be very convincing if you wish to infiltrate as a spy otherwise it’s “game over”!

Spy Class Developer Commentary

The game can be played on the six maps that come in the package: 2Fort (capture the flag map), Dustbowl (control point map), Granary (control point map), Gravel Pit (control point map), Hydro (territorial control map), and the Well (control point map). While the set-up interface is rather common to the Half-Life fans, there are also introductory movies for each map, with an old film flavor but the objectives are clearly explained. The “toon” graphics effect is achieved by an intense use of the Phong shading technique.

Character Design Interview

The Sound in the game makes you think that you’re in a real combat situation – rockets and bombs blowing up here and there, not to mention the hilarious voices of the player classes make up for a very interactive atmosphere.

Digitainment mark: 8.0 (because of the reduced number of maps – more will come with the updates hopefully)

Developer/Publisher: Valve Software

Buy: $29.95 from Steam Store

Recently, ID Software has released the game Quake Wars which is based on the Quake 4 title. Ever since it was launched, Quake 4 has been used also as a benchmark tool for the evaluation of various powerful computer configurations due to its demanding requirements: 2GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM memory (but in some scenes you will see that not even 2 GB is enough!), 2.8 GB of HDD space, and of course a very good video card, preferably from at least the main stream class of the current generation in order to enjoy the sleek visuals (with all the latest drivers for all devices, of course).

Quake 4 Intro & inside action

<-180x150 Small Rectangle - left->The game story starts in the middle of the 21st century, when a barbaric alien race (the Strogg) launched a massive invasion on Earth. First it was believed that the Strogg were interested in the resources of the planet, but it was later discovered that they were only looking for the human bodies of those killed. They used these bodies for a lot of purposes, starting from “batteries” as energy source and ending with newly built “soldiers”, created from the fusion of metal circuitry with flesh and bones.

For a long period of time the battle continued but the resources on Earth soon started to lower down to such an extent that Earth forces had unwillingly come up with an attack against the Strogg world. Most of the first fleet ships were destroyed by “The Big Gun”, a defense system of the Strogg. The leader of the Strogg, Makron, was defeated in the end by a marine who survived. However, the war did not end here, as a new and more powerful Makron was built and the gamers is given the role of a marine, Matthew Kane who is meant to bring the heavy artillery into action, in a big hero style, as you might have gotten used to in most shooter games. The shocking detail comes when the character is “stroggified” and must keep fighting against the rest of the Strogg monsters.

The levels are divided into five big main levels, each having from 4 to 10 sub-levels, which sum up as 31 areas you will have to “visit” (2 of them even revisit!) and knock off anything that moves in front of you and looks ugly like a monster. The mission starts in the Air Defense Bunker - it is pretty easy to go through, and you will enjoy blasting off nasties in the Interior Hangar and the Landing Site. Next, you’re going to take Advantage over the Canyon and the Perimeter Defense Station. Make sure you aim correctly and keep dodging shots in the Aqueducts and the Aqueducts Annex, and then load up the guns and get ready for another tough ride into the Nexus Hub through the Tunnels.

The "Stroggification" Process

Oh yeah, the Strogg Medical Facilities is where the game becomes very bloody and I’m not talking about the blood of the Strogg: the marine Kane gets dissected a little bit and loses his legs in order to be stroggified – and you start wondering why there’s nothing you can do but watch the screen powerless and frown while in shock… But you don’t run out of luck completely, the Rhino marine squad comes right on time to rescue you from becoming a real Strogg.

Once your fellow marines recover you, in the big space-ship, you will report for a debriefing and then (because of the new abilities you have gained and the Strogg appearance) the next mission (Operation: Last Hope) will be based entirely on your actions and it will be the longest main level in the game as it is extended over 10 quests. These lead to taking you closer to the Nexus Core level where you will have to destroy a lot of cyber-monsters and in the end “the big brain” that leads the entire operation of the Strogg.

But the main problem is not that you just killed the “big beast” and the game is over: not by a long shot! In the cut-scene movie you find out that there might be another new mission right on the spot but that remains to be seen in Quake 5 or whatever the game developers will decide to call it.

Final battle

The sound in game of the weapons was pretty real and the language of the Strogg was very amusing at times. The music wasn’t present very much or at least there wasn’t something special about it. The sight of human bodies without limbs, used as “batteries” is like a “trade mark” of ID Software - we have seen that in Doom 3 as well – the sounds they make give it an even more authentic feel and a scary atmosphere.

Game Trailer

Digitainment Mark: 9.8 out of 10 (especially because of the good story behind it)

Producer/Developer: ID Software, Raven Software

Publisher: Activision

Buy: $33.91