Gorgon
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HALF-LIFE 2:
I attended a press demo of Half-Life 2 today, and all I can say is this: anticipation is not the best part. Delays or no delays, this game will be well worth the wait, so pipe down.
A brief cinematic featuring G-Man fades into gameplay of Gordon Freeman stepping off of yet another train and into a processing station in a disturbing, dystopian world. After being led into a sinister interrogation room with a blood-soaked restraint chair, the scene changes to a dune buggy-like vehicle racing along a cliffside road, trying to avoid some sort of spherical attack bots. This is followed by a firefight with the stormtrooper-looking enemy soldiers, an arachnid tank and yet more vehicular combat in a gully.
No surprise: this game is gorgeous. The weapons are varied and allow for a tremendous amount of flexibility in combat. During the firefight, the player lured an enemy to the opposite side of a vehicle and then proceeded to use a repulsing-like weapon to roll to vehicle over the enemy.
The multiplayer was demonstrated with Counterstrike: Aztec on the Half-Life 2 engine. Though short, it was a visual feast and offered some titillating promise where multiplayer is concerned.
The buzz around E3 is that people are frustrated with the lack of solid ‘under the hood’ information available in regards to Half-Life 2, but after seeing the demo, I have faith that this game will be a must-have title. Delays are the rule in this business. Deal with it. After you’re finally immersed in a firefight with some freaky Fast Zombies in a benighted ravine, you’ll forget all about the long wait for Half-Life 2.
SPLINTER-CELL3:
Oh, snap! Splinter Cell 3 (working title) came out of the box right before the E3 onslaught, and made such a splash that the line to catch a glimpse at it grew longer and longer as word got out amongst the hungry conventioneers. Sam Fischer is doing more sneaking about, but this time he’s looking sharper, moving more quietly, and trying not to be seen in some of the most well-realized environments yet.
Much of what gamers have become used to with the series has stayed the same – stealth kills, ceiling-pole grabs, and basic sneaking are all present. Keeping that low profile, as always, is the way to succeed. But the tension’s been upped a bit, largely due to environments that simply shine. Immaculate, reflective surfaces and stark, shadowy courses are certainly a jump from the previous Splinter Cells, despite their own historic ground-breaking quality. Weather effects even get a kick in the rear, with a brilliant usage of lightening as a stealth obstacle, and raindrops that create realtime splashes in puddles.
Along with some new single-player moves, which includes a bevy of different and very innovative uses with a knife, there will be multiplayer available for those wanting to snap the necks of their friends WITH a friend. Voice chat is in effect, and during the demo, we all got to see how effective two spies working together really rely on each other to reach the end of their singular objective. Whether it was a quick boost up a high wall, a repel up the side of a building (with the lateral assist of a spy on the roof), or one spy hanging from the ceiling by a cord length controlled by the other spy, cooperation is key, and certainly an enhancement to the already diverse environmental puzzles.
Level design also looks like several very interesting dimensions have been included, from the rocky river ravine in a jungled area, to the crawlspace under a dojo bench. What’s not to love about so many things so familiar? This next Splinter Cell title will definitely please as much as either of the previous titles, and with a character as naturally placed as Sam is within the stealth action genre, finding it appealing will be a no-brainer.
STALKER:
There are any number of colorful and inventive ways to cover or pay homage to the Chernobyl accident that plagued the Russian countryside in the mid-1980s. The dark struggle to regain some sort of environmental and political composure after the incident was a worldwide topic for many years, and ensured an enduring infamy.
Welcome to 2004, where THQ has devised a vehicle to emulate the very frightening suppositions of the outcome of the Chernobyl fallout from the nuclear mist that covered the land after the power plant meltdown. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. dives into the gritty realm of real-world possibilities with a first person shooter that not only explores the ugliness of what could be, but defies irony in its visual beauty and capture of time and space gone horribly wrong by man’s hand.
Very little play access was attained during the THQ party in which S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was featured – indeed, there was supposed to be a network arena for a four-player experience. But simply watching the prowess exercised in the demo’s lighting and physics models were impressive enough. Lights with their mountings shot from the ceiling would sway and spin in chaotic circles casting realtime shadows of any obstructions in the vicinity. Bullets fired through a wooden supporting structure would strike the ground behind it, many dozens of feet below, in a realistic emulation of substance stopping power (or the lack thereof, in this case). The bodies of the bipedal (human?) forms in the game exhibited a satisfying emulation of the ragdoll physics we’ve all grown to love and expect.
There will also be some alignment politics that come into play, which means that you will have to use some form of discretion when sniping from a dilapidated shack or running-and-gunning into an unexplored room. The world of post-Chernobyl is populated with fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, and they will be willing to trade ammo/replenishments/info for a price, provided you haven’t blasted the hell out of any of their friends en route.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is certainly all about the eye candy, exploiting the latest and hardiest abilities of DirectX in order to create an environment that both draws you in, and creeps the hell out of you. Night and day missions do not vary in the isolated mutants of nature we’re all used to seeing – fleeting creatures of ill design and octopus-faced leech men lurch in the shadows, waiting to put your mettle, and trigger finger, to the test.
Seems as if there’s a time and a place for every major catastrophe or traumatic event to become fair game for the boundless fields of imagination and confabulation. Now is that time for the Chernobyl fallout in the very well-realized FPS, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Source: www.gamershell.com
Have Fun
I attended a press demo of Half-Life 2 today, and all I can say is this: anticipation is not the best part. Delays or no delays, this game will be well worth the wait, so pipe down.
A brief cinematic featuring G-Man fades into gameplay of Gordon Freeman stepping off of yet another train and into a processing station in a disturbing, dystopian world. After being led into a sinister interrogation room with a blood-soaked restraint chair, the scene changes to a dune buggy-like vehicle racing along a cliffside road, trying to avoid some sort of spherical attack bots. This is followed by a firefight with the stormtrooper-looking enemy soldiers, an arachnid tank and yet more vehicular combat in a gully.
No surprise: this game is gorgeous. The weapons are varied and allow for a tremendous amount of flexibility in combat. During the firefight, the player lured an enemy to the opposite side of a vehicle and then proceeded to use a repulsing-like weapon to roll to vehicle over the enemy.
The multiplayer was demonstrated with Counterstrike: Aztec on the Half-Life 2 engine. Though short, it was a visual feast and offered some titillating promise where multiplayer is concerned.
The buzz around E3 is that people are frustrated with the lack of solid ‘under the hood’ information available in regards to Half-Life 2, but after seeing the demo, I have faith that this game will be a must-have title. Delays are the rule in this business. Deal with it. After you’re finally immersed in a firefight with some freaky Fast Zombies in a benighted ravine, you’ll forget all about the long wait for Half-Life 2.
SPLINTER-CELL3:
Oh, snap! Splinter Cell 3 (working title) came out of the box right before the E3 onslaught, and made such a splash that the line to catch a glimpse at it grew longer and longer as word got out amongst the hungry conventioneers. Sam Fischer is doing more sneaking about, but this time he’s looking sharper, moving more quietly, and trying not to be seen in some of the most well-realized environments yet.
Much of what gamers have become used to with the series has stayed the same – stealth kills, ceiling-pole grabs, and basic sneaking are all present. Keeping that low profile, as always, is the way to succeed. But the tension’s been upped a bit, largely due to environments that simply shine. Immaculate, reflective surfaces and stark, shadowy courses are certainly a jump from the previous Splinter Cells, despite their own historic ground-breaking quality. Weather effects even get a kick in the rear, with a brilliant usage of lightening as a stealth obstacle, and raindrops that create realtime splashes in puddles.
Along with some new single-player moves, which includes a bevy of different and very innovative uses with a knife, there will be multiplayer available for those wanting to snap the necks of their friends WITH a friend. Voice chat is in effect, and during the demo, we all got to see how effective two spies working together really rely on each other to reach the end of their singular objective. Whether it was a quick boost up a high wall, a repel up the side of a building (with the lateral assist of a spy on the roof), or one spy hanging from the ceiling by a cord length controlled by the other spy, cooperation is key, and certainly an enhancement to the already diverse environmental puzzles.
Level design also looks like several very interesting dimensions have been included, from the rocky river ravine in a jungled area, to the crawlspace under a dojo bench. What’s not to love about so many things so familiar? This next Splinter Cell title will definitely please as much as either of the previous titles, and with a character as naturally placed as Sam is within the stealth action genre, finding it appealing will be a no-brainer.
STALKER:
There are any number of colorful and inventive ways to cover or pay homage to the Chernobyl accident that plagued the Russian countryside in the mid-1980s. The dark struggle to regain some sort of environmental and political composure after the incident was a worldwide topic for many years, and ensured an enduring infamy.
Welcome to 2004, where THQ has devised a vehicle to emulate the very frightening suppositions of the outcome of the Chernobyl fallout from the nuclear mist that covered the land after the power plant meltdown. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. dives into the gritty realm of real-world possibilities with a first person shooter that not only explores the ugliness of what could be, but defies irony in its visual beauty and capture of time and space gone horribly wrong by man’s hand.
Very little play access was attained during the THQ party in which S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was featured – indeed, there was supposed to be a network arena for a four-player experience. But simply watching the prowess exercised in the demo’s lighting and physics models were impressive enough. Lights with their mountings shot from the ceiling would sway and spin in chaotic circles casting realtime shadows of any obstructions in the vicinity. Bullets fired through a wooden supporting structure would strike the ground behind it, many dozens of feet below, in a realistic emulation of substance stopping power (or the lack thereof, in this case). The bodies of the bipedal (human?) forms in the game exhibited a satisfying emulation of the ragdoll physics we’ve all grown to love and expect.
There will also be some alignment politics that come into play, which means that you will have to use some form of discretion when sniping from a dilapidated shack or running-and-gunning into an unexplored room. The world of post-Chernobyl is populated with fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, and they will be willing to trade ammo/replenishments/info for a price, provided you haven’t blasted the hell out of any of their friends en route.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is certainly all about the eye candy, exploiting the latest and hardiest abilities of DirectX in order to create an environment that both draws you in, and creeps the hell out of you. Night and day missions do not vary in the isolated mutants of nature we’re all used to seeing – fleeting creatures of ill design and octopus-faced leech men lurch in the shadows, waiting to put your mettle, and trigger finger, to the test.
Seems as if there’s a time and a place for every major catastrophe or traumatic event to become fair game for the boundless fields of imagination and confabulation. Now is that time for the Chernobyl fallout in the very well-realized FPS, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Source: www.gamershell.com
Have Fun
