2008

Civilization IV – Colonization

Description

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is both a stand-alone addon for Sid Meier’s Civilization IV and a remake of Sid Meier’s Colonization from 1994. So the basic premise of the game is still that the player becomes the Viceroy of one of the four playable countries (Netherlands, Spain, France and England) in 1500 with the goal to successfully declare independence from the old world and survive the repercussions in form of the Independence War before the year 1800 (although the winning conditions can be changed).

Based on which country and which of the two available Viceroys of that country the player chooses, he gets different bonuses and starts with different units on his lone ship in front of the shores of either a random generated map or a part of real America — but the first goal is always the same: building a settlement at a good location. Based on which resources surround a settlement, it can harvest and produce different kinds of goods by the settlers currently occupying it. If enough food (200 units) is available, an additional settler will be available to work on the fields or in the different shops or be trained to become a master in his business and thus producing even more units per turn. These goods, for example cloth made out of cotton in the weaving mill, can then be traded with the natives or the other countries settling on the continent or sent back with a ship to Europe and sold there. …

Bully Scholarship Edition

Description

Bully is a story of one Jimmy Hopkins, whose academic success hasn’t been anything spectacular as he’s been expelled from various schools. His parents have a grand idea of sending him to Bullworth Academy which — despite its grand name — houses lots of other kids like Jimmy. This is the place where future dictators, murderers, and mad scientists reside. With a help of a few friends, some wits and hard-as-a-rock fists, Jimmy has to survive through one year in Bullworth Academy.

Often described as “GTA in high school”, the game indeed has many similarities with the famous car-hijacking series. It features a “sandbox” environment, which encompasses not only the vast high school grounds, but also the nearby town of Bullworth. As in GTA games, the player can choose to complete missions in different order, or simply roam the game world, interacting with the environment and the characters. …

Alone in the Dark 5

Description

It has been 83 years since Edward Carnby investigated the suicide of Jeremy Hartwood. Now he wakes up in an apartment in New York and is moments away from being shot by a group of bad guys. He doesn’t remember much and as he looks into a mirror, a man looks back at him that isn’t even near the age of 80. But as all hell breaks loose and mysterious forces tear through the building and the city itself, the question about his looks becomes one of many. To make things even worse, an old enemy decides to return in a search for a powerful stone. So for Carnby a race for survival begins and all signs point to Central Park.

Edward’s mysterious journey is divided into eight episodes that can be played in chronological order or can be accessed directly from the main menu. Once in the game, the player controls Edward either in a 1st-person or a 3rd-person manner either by switching manually or depending on the situation and what item he uses. If he picks up a fire extinguisher for example, the player will be able to extinguish fires with it if he is in 1st-person mode. In 3rd-person mode it instead becomes a deadly weapon or a battering ram. …

Lost Planet – Extreme Condition (Colonies Edition)

Description

Mankind left Earth 80 years ago in order to build a life on the planet E.D.N. III. As the colony grew, humanity encountered The Akrids, a bug-like alien race that declared war on the humans for intruding on their territory. The humans didn’t have any effective means to defend themselves and had to retreat from the planet. During the course of the retreat, a young man named Adam had his father killed by a Akrid named “Green Eye”. Scientists soon discovered that the Akrids were a source of precious thermal energy, stored inside their bodies. This needed resource gave humanity an economical reason to fight back. On Earth, the Vital Suit was developed, a heavy weapon mech-like vehicle, Returning to E.D.N. III, Adam is among the many Vital Suit pilots, and seeks to avenge his father’s death.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a 3rd-person shooter. Controlling Adam, the player makes war on the Akrid armies. Adam’s main objective is to destroy Akrid hives, and ultimately defeat “Green Eye” but there will be several goals for him to complete along the way. Adam can hold two weapons and one type of grenade at the same time. In addition, Adam can find different Vital Suit upgrades to give himself new abilities. Since it’s very cold on the planet, thermal energy is needed to survive and restores health energy. In order to get it, Adam can either activate Data Posts or destroy things that have it in them like exploding barrels or enemy Akrids. The thermal energy stored slowly decreases over time and needs constant replenishing. …

Assassin’s Creed

Description

In the year 2012, a seemingly ordinary bartender named Desmond Miles is abducted by a mysterious organization. The captors attach Desmond to a strange device called “Animus”, which allows him to access the memory of his ancestor, an assassin named Altaïr. For some reason, the reconstruction of Altaïr’s memories is vital to the captors.

After accessing Altaïr’s memory, Desmond is able to experience the events that took place in the Holy Land in the year 1191, the time of the Third Crusade. Al Mualim, the leader of the assassins, orders Altaïr to kill nine prominent historical figures, who supposedly let war and corruption take over the Holy Land.

During most of the game, the player controls Altaïr; however, it is clearly indicated that controlling him is a part of Desmond’s experience. The player is also able to control Desmond between his sessions in the “Animus”.

The game’s most innovative feature is the freedom of choice and movement. Every architectural detail like window ledges, carvings in the stone or wooden bars can be used to move on the walls. This allows the player to have intense chase scenes if by any chance you’re hunted by the guard. …

Ford Racing – Off Road

Description

As you might expect, this game takes the Ford Racing series off the road, and into the desert, forest, and ice. Features 12 tracks, (plus reverse versions of all tracks) and 18 Ford and Land Rover vehicles.

Game modes include Quick Race, which drops you right in the action, Career mode, which starts you out with a few thousand credits and a map of the nearest races, Tournament, which is a shorter version of Career mode, Arcade mode, which lets you play a single race with the track, mode, and vehicle you want, and Multiplayer, which lets you race split-screen. Some tracks and vehicles need to be unlocked through career mode before they become available.

Off Road features 12 tracks, and 18 vehicles from Ford and Land Rover. The game features five game modes: Quick Race, Career, Tournament, Arcade, and Multiplayer. Career mode is the game’s main mode, in which the player races to unlock new vehicles, tracks and race types. Tournament mode is a smaller version of Career mode, minus the ability to unlock new vehicles. Quick Race allows the player to begin a race on a limited number of tracks. In Arcade mode, the player can race with vehicles, tracks and race types that have been unlocked. The PC, PS2 and Wii versions include a two-player option. …

The Lost Crown – A Ghost Hunting Adventure

Description

The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure is a 3rd-person point-and-click adventure game from Jonathan Boakes, creator of the Dark Fall games.

The player assumes the role of Nigel Danvers who escapes by train to an eerie seaside town, located on England west-coast, Saxton. Nigel hopes this way he can elude his employers, the Hadden Corporation. In the town, he will be soon in the town’s affairs, slowly discovering forgotten secrets of the dead. As a ghost hunting adventure, the player has many tools at his disposal, such as an EMF meter (Electromagnetic Fluctuations), EVP meter (Electronic Voice Phenomena), a night-vision camcorder, a digital camcorder and more. …

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