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Review: StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty (PC)

Words by

Alex Seedhouse

Posted on August 9, 2010

Review: StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty (PC)

Released back in 1998, the original StarCraft had been showered with praise which inevitably lead to it not only receiving a number of Game of the Year awards but also allowing it to go on to become one of the best-selling titles for the PC platform to date. Needless to say it set the real-time strategy genre alight with its innovative approach, offering the player three unique and balanced races alongside well implemented multiplayer support through the Battle.net service that allowed up to eight players to battle for dominance online.

It is understandable that it remains to be a bit of a mystery that, following such success, the fact it has taken twelve years for the sequel to arrive on store shelves is more than a little surprising. Perhaps it is the global success of ever popular MMORPG World of Warcraft that is to blame, yet the anticipated arrival of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is now upon us and there are many that are no doubt eager to learn whether it has been worth such a long wait.

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Review: The Sims 3: Ambitions (PC)

Words by

Daniel Lipscombe

Posted on June 9, 2010

When it comes to talking about expansion packs for The Sims, it’s always going to be difficult to come up with a definitive opinion on its quality. After all, playing The Sims 3 is a very personal experience. You create your funny little Sim and guide them through their life. You guide them in your own way, so if you want them to become a world renowned doctor then you will follow that path, or if you’d prefer to create a Sim with a penchant for writing, well, you get the picture.

So along comes Ambitions, the new expansion for The Sims 3. An expansion that revolves predominately around the career for your Sim, bringing a wealth of new professions including tattoo artist, sculptor, private investigator, ghost hunter, firefighter, doctor, interior designer, inventor and stylist. Let me just get it out of the way and say that the expansion itself it’s fantastic. In terms of content it brings a lot more freedom to your Sims and also adjusts the working life to genuinely emulate the real world.

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Review: Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)

Words by

Derek McEwan

Posted on April 13, 2010

Review: Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)

The first thing that struck me about this latest addition to the Command & Conquer franchise is that they seemed to have dumbed it down quite significantly, as if paving the way for a new generation of Command & Conquer fans. Unfortunately in doing so I fear they may have just missed the mark in keeping the returning fan base entertained. The game looks complicated to begin with but to be honest it’s a fairly easy trek even on the harder modes; everything is handed to you on a plate and it makes no attempt to try and challenge you as much as the previous titles in the series have done.

The battles are very samey (that’s not a word apparently but I’m using it) and with frequent playthrough’s can become very predictable. But as I mentioned, it seems to be an attempt to bring in an all new fan base. Gone are the parade of famous faces from the full motion video but a few old friends and enemies have been drafted in for nostalgias sake. Kane is looking as bad ass as ever although this time (apparently) he’s fighting with the GDI in order to help prevent the spread of Tiberium and to halt the impending rise of a sub sect of his Brotherhood of Nod.

The game itself is no longer a collect the resources in order to win the battle type strategy game, instead you have to collect more power nodes than your enemy in order to progress. This seems a little bit odd as the original gameplay style was in a state of if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it but sill I found it moderately enjoyable for a while. It was like playing capture the flag with war machines.

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News: Hermitgames Bring Leave Home To The PC

Words by

Russell Maher

Posted on March 15, 2010

News: Hermitgames Bring Leave Home To The PC

Leave Home, the retro flavoured shooter VideogameUK gave 9/10 when it appeared on the Xbox 360, is now available on the PC!

And with it being a wallet friendly $5 there is really no excuse for the non-360 gamers out there to be without a copy.

Head on over to the hermitgames website now and pick it up.

Review: Bioshock 2 (PC)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on February 23, 2010

Bioshock 2 suffers immediately from one rather obvious flaw: it’s not Bioshock 1. Arguably the first Bioshock didn’t even really need a sequel so is Bioshock 2 a worthy successor to the throne? Almost is the most concise way of putting it.

It’s difficult not to compare the two games and this became apparent as early as the start of the game. Unlike the first game, there’s no dramatic opening as depicted by poor plane crash survivor Jack becoming stranded in Rapture. Instead you play a Big Daddy who is cruelly separated from his Little Sister, Eleanor. It’s an intriguing story but one that’s a slow burner rather than one that immediately hooks the player. There are no hugely surprising plot twists but there are some nicely placed set pieces and unveilings which make for some great moments scattered throughout the game. However I found that it wasn’t really until the second playthrough that I found the story as compelling as the one offered in the original. With hindsight of what was to come, the poignancy of the story really came alight. It’s also worth noting that the final third of the game is vastly superior to the rest of the game so while the game takes a while to get going, it is well worth persevering.

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