Game Review: Dead Island

Dead Island is fun! It is actually the most fun I had with a game in a long time. As the title suggest this is a game about zombies. The last few years zombie games seem to be the new WW2 games. Everybody wants to release one to catch up with the zombie gold rush. This game though is not some poor excuse to pay the developers in order to slay undead hordes. This is gaming at its best.

Dead island starts with a crazy party in a luxurious tropic island resort. During the night though all hell breaks loose and the beautiful sunny resort turns into a post apocalyptic zombie infested nightmare. For some reason everyone that has not played Dead Island is under the impression that it is an FPS of the Left4Dead nature. This a wrong impression. Dead Island is an action RPG and has plenty of elements from both genres. You kill zombies and level up in an open sandbox environment. You pick your skills and complete quests from NPCs, while hacking undead with your machete. You craft more powerful items from objects you find in the environment, while you run down zombies with your pickup-truck. You get the picture...there is lots of action  in a open world RPG.

Stop ruining my holidays

When you start the game you choose your character out of possible 4 very unlikable(they are all pricks if you ask me) protagonists. They are not different classes exactly, but each character offers different strengths and weaknesses. You 've got your  tank-ish character and the more agile/ranged one for example. The game starts in the resort where you get your first missions helping out some survivors and learning the ropes of the game. There are story missions and there are the sidequests. I highly recommend doing all of the sideqests. Besides offering many many hours of fun gameplay, each off them offers  money, experience points, unique items and much more. Each chapter opens up a new quest hub  for story missions and side quests but you can freely travel between them.

In Dead island I never got bored. The game is pure entertainment from start to finish. The missions vary in nature. You have missions were people want to find relatives, items, you got to save people, investigate situations, kill certain characters, rescue and escort NPCs. There are many missions and while some might look like your standard fed ex quest it is not and the island makes sure about that. While you are trying to get from point A to point B the game will throw everything at you: more small side quests, interesting places to explore, loot to grab and a horde of zombies and human enemies. The real protagonist is the island. It is alive and wandering around pays off in fun, XP and loot.

The four pricks

The graphics are very good and each hub has its own distinct look and feel. After the lush bright and sunny beach resort you find yourself in the depressing city slams and after that in the deep jungle. My favourite two areas have to be the resort and the Jungle mainly because I preferred the open beautiful environment to the gloomy and doomy shithole that were the slams. Another reason was probably that some missions in chapter 2(the slams) I had to fight in closed space and the game turned into a corridor 'shooter' which was a bit repetitive, but fortunately it did not last long.

Speaking of 'shooter' this game offers many many weapons. It took a considerable amount of time though before I got my hands on a gun. There are machetes, axes, knifes, frying pans, shotguns, rifles, pipes and many others. The game offers many different melee and ranged weapons to use in different situations. For zombies (who will be the most enemies) I preferred melee weapons. For human enemies I mostly used ranged since they were shooting at me from a distance but also because in melee combat were harder to hit.

What a relaxing place to slay zombie hordes

While you kill enemies and complete missions you gain experience points to level up. With each level you earn skill points which you spend to advance your various skill trees. There are various tree builds for your characters depending on your preferred play style. One important game mechanic in Dead Island is crafting. During your adventures you will find and pickup many different items. These items can be used to create mods for your weapons and other various helpful 'tools of the trade' like bombs, molotof cocktails, bullets,etc. Money is also a very important aspect. You use the money you gain from missions, or looting, for various things such as to upgrade or repair your weapons and buy useful items from NPC merchants.  

Dead Island can be played as single player or as multiplayer from the internet or LAN. When you are on a mission the game will try to find players around your game area and range of missions and join the two single player games into a coop. It is a really nice implementation  that seamlessly brings players together for a multiplayer experience.  

Overall Dead Island is a very entertaining product that does everything correctly and provides many hours of gameplay. The production values are high, the action is intense and game mechanics are fun. Highly recommended.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim new footage

Some time ago Bethesda announced the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls RPG series. After the enormously successful Oblivion it is time for Skyrim to take its position in the hearts of RPG players everywhere. The genre-defining open world setting is here once more. Skyrim will allow us to venture freely into its enormous world for quests, gold and of course ultimately to save the world.

Bethesda released a new video showing footage of the game. Take a napkin with you 'cause you are going to drool all over your computer. For the Hi Res version of the video you can go to the Elder Scrolls website.

Knights of the Old Republic

The journey to the dark side is very interesting. The journey to the dark side and back even more. I heard the call. The Dark Master was calling me. I've felt the anger and the pain. I saw the infinite power that would allow me one day to rule the galaxy. I resisted and the light was victorious. The force was strong with me. 4.000 years before the time of Darth Vader and the Empire, another Dark Lord of the Sith tried to conquer the galaxy. Knights of the Old Republic unfolds the story of that struggle and what a story it is!

These days I have too much time in my hands and what's better than to indulge myself in a RPG of epic proportions. It is not a secret that I am a big fan of Star Wars. Knights of the old Republic was a natural choice. It is by far the best Star Wars game you would ever play and one of the best RPGs ever made. It is a 2003 release and kicks the ass of most games that were released after it. Its age will not bother you at all.

Ahh the Sith....always looking for trouble..

You are a soldier of the Republic and your ship is being attacked by the Sith. You accompany Bastilla, a very important Jedi Knight. When your ship is destroyed yours and Bastilla's Pods fall on the planet of Taris. Your first job is to find Bastilla and get the hell out of there. The story of the game takes you in a journey across the galaxy. You will visit many planets most of who you 've seen in the movies or other games and some that are new and hide ancient secrets. The story is truly epic and intriguing and will reveal secrets as old as the galaxy. You will visit long forgotten civilizations, tombs of the Sith Lords of old and learn the history of the order and some of the most iconic races on the Star Wars universe. I really cannot say anything more without spoiling it. I will only say that the story lives up to the expectations and that is something rare in epic scale RPGS.

The game is based on 3rd edition D&D rules which ensures deep character customization, strategic combat and exciting gameplay. You start of as a simple soldier of the Republic but soon you will begin to wield a light saber and command the force. As you progress and you advance in level you will become more and more powerful. This advancement though is not only in stats. You see it while you play. The gameplay is affected by your new force powers. You will truly feel the force and revel in its use.

Throughout the game you will be able to choose between the light and the dark side of the force. The balance is affected by multiple ways. Your actions and decisions affect how the rest perceive you. You may choose to save or destroy individuals, help or take advantage of people. Ultimately you can chose to stay in the light and protect the Republic or be absolutely corrupted and claim the galaxy for yourself.

Mysterious exotic planets hide ancient secrets

The game has countless sideqests that are great fun on their own. The side quests range from the absolutely hilarious like finding a sexually abused by its mistress droid or resolving dramatic family disasters and emotional issues. The game has the best written dialog of any game I have ever played. It is very entertaining watching your party members interact with each other. Engaging in conversation with them is a mental trip on its own. Each party member has its own secret and story to tell.

Knights of the old Republic is one of the best RPG ever created. One year before the release of The Old Republic you can do yourself a favor and, if you still have not played this fantastic gaming gem, try it. In Steam it sells for 9 euros which is practically free for a game of its magnitude. May the Force be with you.

Bioshock: So good you will crap your pants!

Every once in a while, a game is released that raises the bar for everyone else. Two years ago Bioshock was released and did just that. Since then very few games have managed to be as immersing as this one. Rarely we see a game of that quality and so high production values. I was late to trying it, but when I did, I did not stop until the credits were rolling. I was so thrilled by it that when I was not playing the game I was thinking about the game. Every aspect was so masterfully done that I simply can not find anything to bitch about.

Bioshock is one of those games/films/books that can create really strong emotions through its story and setting. You start the game as a lone survivor of an airplane crash in the middle of the atlantic ocean. Soon you find yourself in a city(Rapture) built under the sea. NO GODS OR KINGS, ONLY MAN. This is the banner that greets you into Rapture and sets the tone for the mind of the inhabitants of this city. Something though, has gone terribly wrong and all those bright minds; the scientists, the artists, instead of freeing themselves and excel, they where enslaved by greed and power. You soon find yourself in sick situations and witness horror and perversion. This game is not for the faint of heart. You will have to find out your place in the story and try to save yourself.


Even though the game at first appears as your usual FPS, it is not. I mean it is definitely not. The gameplay is so rich and offers so much depth that you simply can not call it an FPS. The game has numerous RPG mechanics built in to it. You acquire a certain resource by killing powerful enemies (the infamous Big daddies) and squeeze it from helpless kids (the little sisters) by force or kindly. You use this essence to advance your skills, and powers. Besides your weapons you can use your powers (plasmids) in various occasions. Your plasmids range from simple attack powers to freeze, burn, control and defensive mechanisms. You can use them in many different ways and the environment is highly interactive to help you with that. For example, if you use your lightning plasmid on an enemy that is in the water, besides stunning him for a few seconds, you will damage him due electrocution as well.

The levels are full of items to gather and there are many machines to interact with. You can use vending machines to buy ammo, health packs and any other items using the money you got from the mad depraved inhabitants of the city you just killed. There are slot machine, health station, turrets, weapon upgrade machines, you name it. All play a very important role in the game and you better use them effectively in order to survive.

The sights and sounds of Rapture are breathtaking. Wandering around the city's corridors haunts you with the destruction that has taken place. The misery of the city is present in every corner and the blood that has covered the walls reminds you not to let your guard down to check out the fantastic job the game designers and artists have done. On the same level are the ambient sounds the music and the voice acting.

This is a unique game, one, I dare say, of the same quality as Half Life 2. It is one of those games that make other developers hide in shame because their games will be laughable before this masterpiece. Bioshock is not a game, it is art in all its interactive glory. Now, that Bioshock 2 is around the corner if you still, like me, had not played this one get it. It will be a revelation. It's so good you will crap your pants.

The rumored Fallout MMO might be something more than just rumors

The post-apocalyptic world of Fallout was rumored for sometime now to being turned in to an MMO setting. Vault published some screenshots claiming to be from this project and that they come from a very reliable source. The screenshots are said to having been used in court.

The graphics on the screenshots look very dated and they might be just long lost screenshots of an old project presented in the court to serve a purpose. I am not entirely convinced that this is evidence of the game being in development.

The vault says:

Thanks to an anonymous, but reliable source, I have managed to acquire the very first screenshots from Project V13, which everyone knows is a Fallout Online MMORPG even though Interplay is not allowed to say it because of its legal struggle with Bethesda.

As you can see, they show a ruined city, some supermutants and a hero with a 13 on his back. These screenshots were actually submitted by Interplay as court evidence to show that the game is in full production already.

Avatar preview

As any good geek out there today we went to see the 15 minute preview of Jame Cameron's new film Project Avatar. After a brief hailing from the big man himself the preview started and took us slowly from a 3d real world to a stereoscopic 3d magical alien jungle world with the most vivid colours imaginable. I was very impressed by the use of technology especially when it comes into sucking you into the world through the creation of the right images and atmosphere.

In the first Jungle scene with the female feline warrior I had a flashback. The flashback took me back to a 1996 excellent RPG called Albion. I am positevely, absolutely sure that the initial idea behind the world of Avatar comes from this RPG. It takes place in an Alien Jungle world where the hero, a human, arrives from a world of technology to find an alien world full of vidid colours and a feline society that is living in harmony with nature and the rest of the creatures.

Paint the cats blue and you have Avatar

Nostalgia: The games we loved (...some of them)

A couple of nights ago we were out for drinks with friends and after the usual alcoholic beverages, while relaxed, we started talking about games that we loved. After some time into the discussion I realized that not one of the games mentioned was not among the ones that you find into today's shelves. We got nostalgic about games that offered pure fun when games was not a multi-billion dollar industry. These games where about atmosphere, gameplay, story and challenge, without requiring a 5-hundred-dollar graphics card and the game boxes were made out of paper and were coming with much more than a 4 pages manual. I will try to mention as many as I can remember from the ones we mentioned without any particular order:

Daggerfall (1996)
The biggest, baddest, hardest RPG ever made. A friend spend two years playing itwithout following the main story and he has still not finished. A gem coming to us from 1996. The second game on the elder scrolls series, before Oblivion, before morrowind. Let me just say that in its world morrowind was but a small island on the map.Yea...that big.


Loom (1990)
One of the first Lucas Arts advenure games. A fairytale were riddles are solved with music and fantasy has no limits. It was rather small compared to games of its age but yet it was extremely enjoyable. Highly recommended.


Gabriel Knight Series(1993,1995,1999)
My personal favorite sierra adventure series. Mystery, supernatural and horror coming from the Jane Jensen's mind. Carefully woven stories mixing historical facts with myths ensure of excellent atmosphere and challenging riddles. Gabriel Knight, the shadow hunter, is solving mysteries keeps the worlds safe from evils. Me favorite is the second one, The Beast Within, were he hunts werewolves in old castles in Germany.


Albion (1995)
This 1995 RPG managed to combine technology with magic to create a unique atmosphere and gameplay. It was played, both, in 3rd and 1st person perspective. It had a big extra terestrial game world full of dungeons and puzzles featuring a deep storyline.


Defender of the crown (1986)
My favourite strategy game on my 8086 computer. When it first came out for the amiga everyone was looking at its gorgeous graphics with the mouth open, drooling. Create your army, save damsels, take part in sword fights and sieges to save England from the evil Normands. I must admit that I still play this game with the same enthusiasm as I did when I was a kid.


Lords of Midnight (1984)
In my opinion the best game Sectrum ZX had to offer. A mix of adventure strategy and RPG in the biggest world 48 Kilobytes of memory could hold. Fantastic atmosphere and challenging game play ensure hours of fun. The original game box included a book containing the manual, a
small story to get you into the game and the map of the world which was essential in order to plan your campaign. If you want to enjoy this you can still can using the fatastic and faithful port Icemark did for Dos using dosbox. I still have not managed to beat the game...but I will some day.

Fallout 3 has sold 4.7 million copies already.

Fallout 3 has generated more than 300 million dollars having sold 4.7 million copies worldwide. The retail copies sold account for all 3 systems that the game was released for(PC, PS3 and XBOX360). After just a few weeks on he shelves this is one of the fastest selling titles ever.

These figures ensure that we are going to see a Fallout 4 in the following years possibly just after the release of the new Elder Scrolls game by Bethesda which is scheduled for 2010. The game beyond the incredible sales has received very good reviews from both the press and the users.

MMORPGs: Not RPGs just boring game mechanics again and again

It is true that I am not a big fan of massive multiplayer online RPGs (MMORPGs). I am a big fan of computer RPG games though. How come, you might ask. It probably has to do with what I love about a good RPG such as Baldur's gate, Fallout, Final Fantasy, or Oblivion that I simply cannot find in an MMO. I like a good story and I like this story to be told in steps and to be firm. I like the character development to affect the gameplay and my part in the story. I like non-repetitive meaningful quests that feel truly epic. I like the character stats to say a little bit more about my character than be just numbers. I like being able to play the game at my own pace. All these are just things I simply cannot find in MMORPGs.

MMORPGs in their current form all they represent, is leveling and gear hunting. There might be a story but the game does not let you see it. There might be quests but all feel, and essentially are, the same(bring me 10 of x items and kill 5 of y monsters). There might be character development but the whole experience is ruined by talking to a fellow player that disregards your selection of skills or a friend that pushes you to level up to to go grind together. It is all about leveling. Ok, there might be a cooperative aspect that is enjoyable but even that can become frustrating. Your guild will have strict rules about raiding and you will be forced to play at other players' pace. If you just want to get in on your own and go do a group quest or a dungeon you will have to wait for hours only to find out that you do not like the people you play with. This was World of Warcraft for me. I got bored, I got fed up with it. I am not saying that there are no MMORPG that I like. There are and there are some that do not fall into the aforementioned “mistakes”. I guess though that these “mistakes” are simply game mechanics that are used to get players addicted. The majority will go into a frenzy to get one more level or one more epic item.

In less than two weeks WoW's latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is coming out and I simply do not care. I do not care that I will be able to do the same sort of quests in new environments just to get 10 more levels and start the, get better gear, game all over again. Many friends of mine are pretty excited by the expansion coming out but then again they love all the things I hate about this game. I guess it is just a matter of opinion.

Marriage proposal through a game hack

Throughout the history man invented many different ways to ask a woman to marry him. Others jump off planes, others get to their knees, other do it in a sports matches while others find more novel ways. The weirdest and definitely the most skillful and geeky way though took place a few days ago.

A guy hacked the game his girlfriend was playing and added a whole new level. In that level his soon to be wife met a knight who confessed his love to her and proposed (what?). I am sure she did not see this coming! Talk about weird stuff. For the history the proposal was made using Chrono Trigger the old SNES classic rpg game. One thing that puzzles me though is how the hell his girlfriend was playing that game. Anyways, kudos to the man for the novelty the skill and the effort. If you are curious about what actually happened in that specific game level, watch the video.

Fallout 3 is out! Wasteland here we come..

The long awaited sequel to the famous post apocalyptic franchise is out and it is every bit as good as all wanted it to be. Prepare yourselves to wander for one more time into the wasteland. The game surpasses expectations and retains the open ended gameplay nature of its predecessors, Oblivion style. Fortunately the skills are gained in a normal fashion and not like the way Morrowind or Oblivion had as do. Not necessarily a bad way, but most of the gamers bore themselves to death doing one thing over and over again just to gain a new skill level.

The battles can be played at real time but the player can stop the action at any point to issue new commands. Gameplay as it is usual for Bethesda games ensures that anyone can dive into the world and easily stay there for more than a hundred hours without giving much thought to the main quest. Gamespy has posted a detailed fallout 3 review. Now, go get your guns and socialize with mutants.

Quest for glory II remake gets released

AGD Interactive, the guys that brought us the King Quest remakes, finally released the remake for Quest for Glory II: Trial by fire. The game was almost 8 years into development and had many ups and downs, but is finally here. The game gets released for free with the concent of Sierra that developed the original game more 15 years ago. There are differences from the original version that consist of both interface improvments, and puzzle changes.

The game story starts just after the end of the first game Quest for Glory I: So you want to be a hero?. You are now the famous hero that drove away the diabolical witch Baba Yaga (what's with this name?) and her horde of bandits. With your magic carpet you fly to the town of Shaper, a new city looking for a hero..well it figures. For anyone who has not played the original or for all of you, old adventure nostalagic folks out there, I strongly recommened to download it and give it a try. Have fun.

Fallout 3 will be available October 18

Bethesda announced that the long awaited sequel to the excellent post-apocalyptic RPG franchise will be released October 18. Here is the full press release:

August 20, 2008 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that its highly anticipated title, Fallout® 3, will be available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, 2008 and in Europe on October 31, 2008. Developed at Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® – Fallout 3 is slated for release on the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows.

“We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year.”

Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008, a selection voted on by an independent group of journalists from 36 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry.

Fallout® 3 has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Diablo 3- Wizard character announced

Blizzard announced the 3rd chracter of Diablo 3: Wizard. apparently is plays like the sorceress of Diablo 2. I do not know where they take it with this secrecy. It is obviously a publicity stunt since all game characters are bound to conform to the rpg standards like wizard fighter, rogue etc. The new video, by the way, looks like it has a more dark environment than the previously released videos that caused controversy over diablo hardcore players. Here is the video: