COUNTER-STRIKE REVIEW

Gameplay 8

Graphics 6

Sound 7

Value 7

Tilt 7

• Game Details

Counter-Strike isn't just a game, it's a phenomenon. Originally created by a couple of college students as a downloadable mod for Valve's pioneering 1998 PC first-person shooter, Half-Life, Counter-Strike has more than outlived the game on which it was based and remains one of the most widely played online games in the world, despite being based on 5-year-old technology. Why did Counter-Strike take the world by storm? For one thing, it was free and piggybacked a game that had a huge installed base. But, more importantly, it combined realistic kill-or-be-killed gunplay in a highly competitive, team-oriented environment that featured an incredibly fast, perfectly tuned, arcadelike pace. Much like the way Street Fighter II pioneered the fighting game but was never truly surpassed, so will Counter-Strike remain the once and future king of team-based shooters. Now Microsoft, in partnership with Valve, has brought Counter-Strike to the Xbox, where it's no longer free and no longer as responsive, but, in other respects, is largely the same game as the PC version. It's a bare-bones product that's a missed opportunity, offering no compelling reasons to make it recommendable over the PC version, except to someone with an Xbox Live account and a completely outdated PC. On its own merits, it can make for some good fun online, but if you've never experienced Counter-Strike before, this new version may cause you to wonder what, exactly, all the fuss is about.

This venerable, incomparably popular multiplayer PC shooter has finally arrived on the Xbox but with few differences or improvements.

The mechanics and the pace of Counter-Strike are essentially intact here, and some new maps and the option to play with or against computer-controlled bots are the main, new attractions. The rules of the game are the same as ever. You'll participate in a series of brutal rounds, from the perspective of either a counter-terrorist (CT) or a terrorist (T), each attempting to thwart the other. Two types of mission objectives are available: demolition and hostage rescue. In the former, the Ts attempt to drop a bomb at a particular point and then try to defend it for a number of seconds before it goes off; the CTs can win by defusing the bomb and, thus, defeating the Ts. In the latter, the CTs must locate a pack of hostages and lead them to safety, but the Ts don't want that to happen. Either mission type has a popular alternate objective: Kill everyone on the opposing side.

Rounds tend to last only a few minutes--maybe three or four. By killing enemies or winning rounds, you earn money with which you may purchase better weapons, more ammo, armor, and grenades in the next round (all the money in the world won't help you against a better, faster CS player, though). One of Counter-Strike's key features, and one that has been copied by countless other multiplayer shooters, is that when you die during a round, you stay dead for the remainder of that round. This penalty, coupled with the relatively realistic damage modeling in the game (you can only withstand a few shots--if you're lucky and if you're wearing full Kevlar armor), forces you to forget about the sorts of gung ho heroics typical of other first-person shooters, and it, instead, forces you to stick with your team, keep your head down, and aim true.

The buy mode in the Xbox version of Counter-Strike is handled using a convenient radial menu, which gives you near-instant access to the game's variety of real-world equipment, including pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, grenades, and other weapons . You have only a few seconds before the beginning of each round to get the gear you need, but it's enough time. You're able to buy gear during a round if you want, or you can grab a weapon from a dead friend or foe, but, for the most part, what you'll start the round with is what you'll end the round with. Realistically, Counter-Strike lets you carry a pistol, one larger weapon (like a submachine gun or a sniper rifle), a survival knife, maybe some grenades, and that's it.

The mechanics of the PC version have been ported over intact, though the Xbox version is not quite as smooth or as responsive as what you could get from a half-decent PC.

Therefore, your primary weapon will dictate your main role in the round. If you're packing a sniper rifle, you don't want to meet an enemy with a submachine gun when rounding a corner. If you're packing a light machine gun, you don't want to be caught out in the open with it, but you should, instead, anticipate your enemy's advances and take advantage of the weapon's ability to shoot through certain solid materials, like wooden doors. High-explosive grenades and flashbangs, which can temporarily blind groups of foes, can be highly effective. Each weapon has its own unique properties, but none is overwhelmingly powerful. Also, there are some differences between the T and CT arsenals (for example, only the Ts get to use the equivalent of AK-47 rifles), but the two sides play pretty much identically. Counter-Strike for the Xbox offers no weapons that can't be found in the PC version, though it does feature some of the relatively new additions to the arsenal, like the CT riot shield.

In the PC version of Counter-Strike, the preferred combination of keyboard-and-mouse controls allows for incredibly responsive action, so that some particularly skilled players are able to take out their opponents almost instantly. On the Xbox, some of this precision is inherently lost due to the less accurate nature of having to use the dual-analog sticks for aiming and movement. This control scheme basically works fine and operates on the same principles as the PC version. For instance, your aim will be much better if you shoot while crouching in short, controlled bursts rather than laying on the trigger while running or jumping. However, the split-second reaction times rewarded by Counter-Strike are certainly limited by having to use a gamepad. Fortunately, you can adjust the sensitivity of the analog control (you'll probably want to bump it up at least a notch from the default). There's also a "quick turn" option, allowing you to rotate around much more quickly if you press in on the left analog stick. This quick turn is an essential ability in situations where the enemy manages to flank you. Additionally, you can easily cycle through your weapons by using the Y button.

WARROCK REVIEW

Gameplay 6

Graphics 5

Sound 4

Value 5

Tilt 6

• Difficulty: Medium
• Learning Curve: About 1 hour
• Game Details

The Good

• A couple of different modes to choose from
• Occasionally intense gameplay on a bunch of decent maps.

The Bad

• The core shooting action is underwhelming
• Nonfunctional features, lag, and frequent crashes
• Bizarre real-life economic model rewards cash over skill
• Dated production values.

It's true what they say about getting what you pay for. Well, at least some of the time. You can still download War Rock for free, much as you could when the online first-person shooter was in its official beta stages. As a free game, it's a serviceable Battlefield-series substitute with a surprisingly large community and enough decent qualities to make it worth the download. But in a retail package that costs money, its appeal spirals downward fast, thanks to its broken features, bland shooting action, and weak production values.

In War Rock, you don't purchase new weapons--you lease them. And like that Audi you couldn't afford, the repo man will come for it unless you shell out more cash.

Like most online shooters, there's a shell of a story behind War Rock. In this case, civil war in the fictional country of Derbaran has erupted. The rebels of the National Independence unit have taken up arms against the Derbaran army, and there's apparently some kind of conspiracy involving a meteor driving the action, at least according to the game's official Web site. Not that any of this has any bearing on the game. In War Rock, your goal is to shoot guys in the face.

It's a little more complex than that, actually. There are a couple of different modes of play, depending on whether you like your shooters to be small, medium, or large. Counter-Strike players will take to the close-quarters-combat option, which features the game mode "explosive." On these maps, the Derbaran team plants and protects an explosive in a designated spot, while the NIU team must defuse it. The urban ops and battle-group maps, on the other hand, rip a page right out of the Battlefield 2 template. Here, each team fights over an assortment of flags that function as spawn points. Your goal is to whittle down the opposing team's score by capturing flags and killing enemy players.

Some of the basic elements of the maps and modes are solid in and of themselves. The maps are well made, with a good assortment of open areas and confined spaces. Conturas features a central island connected to the mainland with four bridges and focuses on vehicular transport and combat; Alberon is set in a historical ruin where most of the action rages over a central area of ravaged stone pillars. Like the other maps, they are organized well and keep firefights focused in the right places. The problem with War Rock isn't so much in the setup as it is in the execution, starting with the core shooting mechanics and balancing. There are five professions to choose from: assault, medic, engineer, sniper, and heavy trooper. They all have their ostensible uses, but snipers and assaults drive combat to the extent that medics and engineers are rare commodities, and the woefully underpowered heavy troopers simply can't hold a candle to the armored vehicles they're supposed to defend against.

There's nothing intrinsically satisfying about shooting in War Rock. The sound effects are tinny and ineffective, and whether you're the victim or the victor, there's no real feeling of impact when bullets find their target. The lack of a secondary fire on most weapons is yet another factor that points to the game's low-budget roots and stripped-down nature. The vehicular combat is a bit more balanced, and most of the game's rewarding moments are in the fearsome tank showdowns or in the air. Ultraforgiving controls give helicopters and bombers an arcadelike feel, and all of the vehicles control smoothly with a mouse and keyboard, so you shouldn't feel the need to break out the joystick once you leave the ground.

You aren't stuck with the meager weapon loadout you start with. As you play War Rock, you level up and earn dinar, the in-game currency, which you then use to lease other weapons or items. No, you don't get to purchase them. Instead, you rent them for a week or a month, and when your lease is up, they're removed from your arsenal. The higher your level, the better the weapons you have to choose from. It's an interesting way to encourage player loyalty, since you need to keep playing to earn more currency, but it's also a great way to frustrate new players. Even if you're an experienced online soldier, you'll often fall victim to the overpowering weaponry of higher-level players when you first begin.

When you combine this system with real-world money, it's hard to shake the feeling that you didn't buy a mediocre game as much as you invested in a shady pyramid scheme. The retail version of War Rock includes a nice set of maps, a couple of cheap dog tags, and a few in-game goodies, like the mostly pointless M134 minigun. But you also get a free one-month subscription to the game--which makes you wonder exactly what you are subscribing to. As it turns out, signing up with your credit card earns you XP bonuses, a monthly allotment of dinar, the ability to create password-protected servers, or even another weapon slot, depending on which service you subscribe to. You can even purchase in-game currency with real money. But when you pay, you aren't paying for the game or the privilege of playing: You're paying either to gain an advantage because you get the good weapons, or to access features you'd expect to already be included in an online FPS. And in some cases, you're paying for features that don't work.

Nonfunctional features are a hallmark of the War Rock experience. Paying the monthly fee earns you the ability to register a clan, yet the clan system hasn't actually been coded into the game yet, so all the promises in the manual and on the official Web site of clan tournaments and player rankings are currently empty ones. There's apparently a Battlefield-inspired squad system in there somewhere, too, but it doesn't work, so unless you're playing with friends using a TeamSpeak server or somehow find an orderly team with a strong leader, everything's a disorganized madhouse. Even an entire game mode that's evidently supposed to exist, the free-for-all mode described in the manual, is nowhere to be found. This is all in addition to the frequent and severe lag and numerous crashes that will have you pulling your hair out several times during any given gaming session.

Heavy weapons aren't very effective, but at least you can use the scope to check out this guy's hat.

Until a recent patch, the shader options in the retail release didn't work on multiple test systems. Unfortunately, the game was better off without them. No amount of bloom lighting or star glow can make War Rock look attractive, and turning them on just makes everything look blurry and run poorly. Textures are low resolution and weapon and vehicle models are chunky--more on par with Joint Operations than more modern games. War Rock's not exactly ugly, but it is noticeably dated, although its low system requirements allow it to run on a variety of systems without many performance issues. The limp sound effects don't do the game any favors either, since the audio doesn't scream Saving Private Ryan as much as it says GI Joe. The menu music and voice-over cues that inform you of events like a flag capture are fine, though.

There are some quality gaming moments to be had in War Rock, though that's more due to the proven gameplay that made Counter-Strike and Battlefield successful than anything new that War Rock brings to the table. And thanks to its nonpaying player base, the game's large community isn't apt to diminish anytime soon. But as a retail product, it's too broken and derivative to be worth purchasing over its superior competitors. Just bear in mind that if you buy the retail box, you aren't getting an inherently better game than the free version--you're purchasing the chance to get better weapons and items than the players that didn't spend a nickel.

Quake Review

Gameplay 9

Graphics 9

Sound 10

Value 10

Tilt 9

• Difficulty: Hard
• Learning Curve: About 1 hour
• Game Details

After generating more hype than any unreleased game in history, Quake is finally here. And it makes good on its promise, big time. With no compromises, no excuses, and no bull, Quake delivers an edge-of-the-seat adrenaline rush that begins the moment you set foot in its darkened halls.

If it sounds like I'm gushing about this game, I am. Quake is a masterpiece on every level, with its ominous atmosphere, silky-smooth animation, incredibly well-balanced gameplay and level design, and unparalleled soundtrack. Once again, the team at id Software has created a no-apologies, ultra-violent gorefest sure to be the new battleground of choice for single and multi-player combatants worldwide.

New Gameplay, New Controls

The most important distinction between Quake and the drove of first-person action games currently available is that it's set in a true 3-D world. Compared to other titles, Quake's enemies and objects have an entirely new level of depth to them - you can view any game element from any angle with consistently smooth and realistic results. The architecture of the levels is much more sophisticated than it is in competing titles; so are the real-time animations, which include such effects as explosion particles flying in every direction and enormous, spike-like objects shooting out from hidden compartments. The true 3-D environment also allows totally new attack strategies, like bouncing a grenade off a wall in order to blast an opponent skulking around the corner.

In Quake, you can attack (or be attacked) from almost any angle or altitude. But gone are the days of merely pointing your gun in the general direction of your enemies and blazing away; if you want to hit something, you're going to have to aim your weapon carefully. That's not as easy as it sounds, because the Quake interface breaks rank with the standard control set of previous id software titles. The new system takes some getting used to, but once learned, provides an unmatched level of control.

A three-button mouse is almost a must, since it allows you to simultaneously move, turn, and fire in any direction. Although it's possible to play with the keyboard or a game pad, most players will find that in underwater and Deathmatch situations, only the mouse will ensure mastery over both the environment and unruly opponents.

Killer Weapons, Killer Effects

And speaking of unruly opponents, there's only one way to deal with them: violently. Quake sports a wicked complement of weapons--grenade and rocket launchers, shotguns, lightning guns, and a nailgun that's so fun to fire I ran out of ammo just shooting it at the walls. (Note to beginning players: Don't shoot at the walls and run out of ammo until ALL of the monsters are dead.)

A host of power-ups are also hidden throughout the game, and collecting them can instantly shift the balance of power both in single and multiplayer battles. These items include the Circle of Protection, which gives you 666 hit points, enough to go toe-to-toe with just about anyone; the Ring of Shadows, which makes you invisible (except for the two glowing eyeballs your enemies can spot floating in space); and Quake Power, a true humdinger that dramatically increases the damage levels of all your weaponry (you can open up a family-size can of whoop-ass on anyone once you've collected this icon).

All this is backed by graphics that are awesome in their own right. The creatures that fill the game's four worlds and 28 levels are, as you might expect, sick, twisted, and perverse. The visceral effect of the bloody grimaces and entropic bioforms is intensified by animation that's unusually smooth and utterly convincing. The first time I was attacked by a hook-wielding enemy, I actually dropped the mouse and backed away from the computer. (Second note for beginning players: Don't drop the mouse and back away from the computer until ALL of the monsters are dead...)

The graphics are perfectly complemented by sound effects and ambient tunes from the darker regions of Trent Reznor's musical mind. Simply put, this is the best soundtrack ever created for a computer game. Reznor's eerie sounds and unsettling background music push Quake's already dark and creepy atmosphere into the realm of pure evil.

Deathmatch Deluxe

Yes, "kill, and keep on killing" is clearly the message here, and with Quake's 28 artfully balanced multiplayer maps, it's a hard message to resist. I spent two days playing against Quake's design team in Deathmatch mode (third note for beginning players: Don't EVER play Quake's designers in Deathmatch mode), and the experience was truly unforgettable. Quake's designers have created Deathmatch environments that reward skill rather than luck, and are filled with nooks and crannies and other lovely places to hide while you wait for the unwitting opponent to stroll by. And if merely killing your opponents isn't enough (and for the guys at id, it apparently isn't), Quake includes a set of extremely debasing death messages - "Player 1 sucks down Player 2's rocket," for example - along with an easy-to-use chat system that enables you to add a few custom pokes of your own.

Much more could be said of Quake, but I'll leave the rest for you to discover. The hype surounding this game has been almost unbearable, but in the end, Quake deserves every bit of advance - and until now, unverifiable - praise it has received. If you're into action games, and even if you're not, you should be playing Quake right now - it's as good as PC gaming gets.

Multiplayer Maps for Halo 2

Two new maps for Halo 2 on the Xbox 360 will be released by Microsoft and Bungie , later this month. It has com to our notice that Microsoft has expanded and improved their popular game Halo: Combat Evolved maps—Hang 'Em High and Derelict, and will make them available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace on 17th April. You'll be able to purchase the game and download it through your in-game menu for just USD 4$.

Bungie's website had the following note:

"…to make sure that we didn’t just slap together a port of an old map, but rather, lovingly craft a last salute to Halo 2 multiplayer as we move toward Halo 3 in the fall.

Lots of folks are asking us in direct terms, "why are maps for Halo 2 made, just when Halo 3 is about to release?" Well, because we love Halo 2 and we love our fans. They’ve continued to play Halo 2 solidly for three years, in vast numbers, and we owe them it."

Crysis

It's one of the few AAA shooters out there that’s a PC exclusive (really hard to come by since the 360 and PS3 hit the market), so there’s been a lot of hype around Crysis. I doubt that Crytek really had a choice in this matter – even with the tremendous power of the Xbox 360 or PS3, there’s no way the game could be ported to them without having their visuals and physics toned down a good bit.

Hell, even the most powerful rigs out there can’t run Crysis smoothly with everything maxed out! It’s not because the game isn’t very well coded though, it’s just 'cos the game’s visually (and physically) intense. We were invited by EA and NVIDIA for a ‘Crysis Pizza Party’, where we had a chance to play the game on one of their most powerful machine – the monster had a 2-way SLI 8800 Ultra, and it still couldn’t handle the game with maxed-out settings!

The rig I used to review the game had a Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM and an 8800 GTS, and I still had to play the game in medium to get a stable framerate. Hey, I’m not complaining; the game looks spectacular even at medium or low settings! It’s just a shame that we cannot play the game at its full potential yet, since they released it a whole hardware generation too early.

Just like the visuals, the gameplay is ahead of its time. Open-ended first person shooters have never honed this type of gameplay: deep, immersive and simple at the same time. Crytek took a simple concept – a suit that allows its wearer to enhance a number of his abilities – and implemented it so beautifully that every encounter can be played out in any way you want.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

With great titles like Halo 3 and BioShock out in the wild, it seemed like this year couldn’t get any better for the First Person Shooter fan. And then comes Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, flinging a stun grenade at us and leaving our jaw hanging in awe! This masterpiece is certainly among the best games out there; here’s why…

First off, Nash’s already reviewed the Xbox 360 version of the game here, so do go check it out since I won’t repeat what he’s already said.

Let me start off by saying that I didn’t expect too much from Call of Duty 4, so finding how awesome the game was was like finding a 500-rupee note in my old pair of jeans. It seemed like the series had already outlived itself and this game couldn’t get any better than the first two... man, was I in for a big surprise!

The game packs more adrenaline than a crate full of Red Bulls, thanks to its non-stop frantic action and the way each action sequence was designed and executed uniquely to keep the experience fresh throughout. That’s right; you won’t find two battles that are similar throughout the single player campaign.

From the sandy terrain of the Middle East to the ruined shrubby landscape of Chernobyl, the game offers a multitude of extremely well designed battle zones, each offering great variety in gameplay. For instance, you play as a sniper in one of the missions – decked up in a heavily camouflaged suit – and are tasked to crawl right past the enemy’s feet without being noticed.

The way the game captures the intensity of battle even in the stealthiest situations is truly worthy of recognition; CoD 4 will draw you in using each and every trick in the FPS textbook and executing them with more finesse than any all-out gung-ho shooter out there.

Need for Speed: ProStreet

If you’ve been in the gaming circuit long enough, chances are there’s at least one iteration of the Need for Speed franchise that hit the sweet spot for you. For me it was NFS 2 and Most Wanted that worked the magic. I loved the fact that they were built on simple but fundamentally strong mechanics – for instance, NFS 2 had its scenic street racing and strong racing dynamics (at least for its time) while Most Wanted used the Black list and those awesome cop chases as a pivot.

The bad news for me is that they took out all those elements from the equation this time; all that’s left in Need for Speed: ProStreet is a somewhat sturdy, but bland racing experience.

The way I see it, the game’s designers took a simple and superficial concept – car damage – and based all the important elements of the game around it. Since they decided that a car’s damage would affect its performance, they couldn’t possibly accommodate such a device in the semi-arcade racer realm the series resides in, right? So they went ahead and pushed the realism level up a few notches, throwing the game midway between a simulation and an arcade racer. This in turns bought about many changes in the franchise – some of which are good, and the rest crap.

The change I hate the most is with the way the cars control. I don’t remember any of the NFS games requiring me to brake this much! The cars feel extremely sluggish where speed and handling are concerned. I’m sure the cars featured in the game aren’t this bad in real life; it almost feels like the cars are possessed by something that tries really hard to go against your will as your turn. It seems as if they’ve tried to make the game somewhat like Forza Motorsport 2, but not quite achieved that – and in the bargain they’ve killed everything in the series that made me tick.

Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer No.3 Live

The most awaited game of the year Grand Theft Auto IV has decided to crash the internet once again with another Grand Theft Auto IV trailer called "Move Up Ladies".

This trailer runs for around two minutes and is till date it is the best GTA 4 trailer released. It also showcases many of the game’s mechanics like dancing, flying, playing pool, the cover system, hand to hand combat, environmental destruction and so much more.

Unfortunately the release date hasn't been announced yet, so we'll have to wait and watch till Rockstar decides to release it.