I must say I was pretty mislead by your review of Brothers in Arms. This game deserves a score in the low-8's (for the PC anyway, xbox sure can be higher). I know I am not alone on this.
What happen to the pc-game staff? Has it been over-run by people who play games on all platforms now, and see the PC as just one of the 4 gaming platforms? Or is still run by true PC-GAMERS who have high standards.
The graphics in BIA are about as poor as Halo2, and just look blah. Nowhere close to Half-Life 2, Far Cry, or the PC version of Chaos Theory on a new graphics card. The game babysits you through (you freeze when people talk), the squad control is better than republic commando but still nowhere what if should be. I simply cannot believe that this game got a higher review than MOH: PA.
What happen to the high PC standards? Games are so watered down nowadays to appeal to the mass who use consoles that they have often times regressed, with the exception of a few titles.
And why do you use the exact same review for consoles as PC games? I don't expect game features and story stuff to be rewritten, but there should be at least a full dedicated page for PC, and the anaylsis should be different for PC. For example, the review on graphics for the xbox may be higher than PC even if the PC has better graphics, since on a PC our standards are higher. Same with gameplay. I expect advanced, complex gameplay on PC.
BIA feels like a console-focused game ported to PC. It does not feel like a 9.1 AAA title like Half-Life 2 or Far Cry.
This is all opinion of course, but what is not opinion is that your reviews or reviewers seem to no longer be true PC gamers or held to PC standards, but have taken a same game/same standards on all platforms approach. Anyone who has been around for PC-gaming knows that Halo2 has got nothing going for it except for split screen gaming on a cheap platform so you can do multi on the coach together. Everything else is sub-standard to PC standards and been done before. Halo2 is solid, but a perfect PC port wouldn't be more than the low 8s. If a PC reviewer doesn't recognize this, they shouldn't be reviewing PC games...
--Dan
Hey Dan,
Since I wrote the review, I'll field this one.
First, I think it's hilarious to complain about our low standards while also praising a game like Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault.
As for not being alone in your opinion, you're right; there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way you do. Then again, there seem to be plenty of people (including lots of reviewers) who feel that this game deserves the 9ish score we gave it. As for your specific criticisms of the game, I disagree; the game looks great and the squad controls are a blast.
I definitely agree with you though about the PC being one of many (read: more than four) gaming platforms. While the individual editors are assigned to cover a specific platform, we do all play games on a variety of systems. To say that someone can't be an objective reviewer of PC games if they also happen to play console games is just ridiculous. That's confusing broad interests with low professional standards.
Finally, saying that we shouldn't be reviewing PC games if we don't acknowledge the crappiness of the Halo 2 port seems to miss the fact that the PC version doesn't even exist. I do agree that a straight port of Halo 2 would suffer from stiffer competition on the PC. Our review of the original Halo takes this into account.
Thanks,
Steve
Was curious as to weather or not there has been any news or rumor that Dungeon Keeper III is going to go into development. Am a big fan and having problems with II.
--Michelle
Nope. No plans about Dungeon Keeper III. I'd be surprised if there ever were plans for it. But then again, I've been surprised before. Like when a clown dropped his pants and urinated on the cake at my friend's 5th birthday party. That was surprising.
--Dan
Hi there great game but there is only one problem with it though, you cannot delete your saved games. My computer will only allow me to save up to 52 saves and then that's it. (level 10). It sucks to be me right now!!!!
--Jeffrey
Just save over the top of one of your old saves. Such as one from your cab driving days. I would assume you don't need those anymore. You could also just go into the actual directory of the game, find the saves, and then delete them manually (making sure not to delete the ones you still need, of course).
--Dan
I have an AMD Atholon @ 3200 w/ 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive, and an nVidia GeForce4 MX integrated GPU. Now, is my computer able to play games like Doom 3 or Half-Life 2? And if not, what cool games can I play?
--Kyle
Well, those games will play, Kyle, but it won't be an optimal experience. Your CPU and amount of RAM is fine for those games, but the video card is a bottleneck. Unfortunately, a vid card is typically the most expensive piece of hardware in a computer, but you can get a GeForce 6600 AGP for a little over $200 these days, and it's a great bang for the buck. If you choose to get that card, Directron is a respectable online reseller who has it for a low price, although I would recommend calling them to make sure the part is in stock.
When you've physically installed the video card, you will need to go into your BIOS and disable the onboard video to avoid errors. Your motherboard manual will instruct you on how to do that. If you no longer have your manual, you should be able to download a PDF version from the manufacturer's website. If you don't know who manufactured the motherboard, this program can take a snapshot of your rig's innards and give the needed info. It's free and, as far as I know, contains no spyware. The result page will open up in a browser window, but it's not actually connecting to the 'Net--it's just an HMTL file generated locally. Hope that helps!
--Tom
I've been hearing things over this last year that have made me curious if there will still be a MechWarrior 5. I saw this post and decided to ask. It would be really awesome to see it come out. I heard that they were still going to bring it out, and it would be so nice for the game. The Xbox version really isn't a true game. I kind of liked it, but the people that have played Mech have, in one sense, made something better out of the PC version. I just started about 2 and half years ago. A lot of people have left, but there's still a lot that are playing the game. I see that the MW5 wasn't going to come out because it demanded a really good video card. Well, if you look, Doom really came out and you need some really good video cards. It would be awesome if you could bring this game back for its fans, or allow some one else to build it. I've heard repeatedly that Microsoft isn't allowing any other companies to build a new Mech game, and to me, that's sad. Well, thanks for your time, and it would be interesting to know if there is another game coming out for sure instead of just hearsay.
--Steve P.
Well, Steve, MechWarrior was going great on the PC side until Microsoft bought it and apparently made it an exclusive Xbox franchise. Hopefully, they'll begrudge us another installment and not nu-metalize it like they have on the console side.
--Tom
Aww Yeah, Dog
So I may have mentioned that I broke down and got a PS2 recently. I returned the defective one, no questions asked, and the new unit has been working beautifully. I started in on God of War, got stuck on a puzzle, and tried out San Andreas, which had been sitting on the counter for a couple months, untouched.
I like the GTA series, and I appear to be one of those few people who remember GTA when it was a 2D, top-down affair on the PC, and San Andreas continues the trend of fine gaming. However, I have to give it a bad mark for dumb AI. I really wish my fellow gang members would do a better job of getting into a vehicle with me, and I wish they weren't so bloodthirsty. There should be an option to toggle their level of aggression, in my opinion. Regardless, their AI is such that they're only good for cannon fodder, when it comes to gaining territory. They don't move around much, don't aim very well, get run over easily, and block my line of fire. I've gotten to the point where I just take over and defend on my own, and it seems to work out pretty well. Second, I wish I could buy ammunition without buying a weapon, which can get expensive. And there's some texture load issues, where building facades don't always appear in time, revealing an ugly texture that's supposed to only be seen from far away. The PS2 GTA games have always had this issue, including the PC ports.
It's still a helluva a lot of fun, and I relish every scene with the overqualified Samuel L. Jackson. I hope the eventual PS3 version ups the visuals, though, because it's not the prettiest PS2 game out there, especially after playing it back-to-back with God of War. Fantastic motion capture barely covers GTASA's blocky character models.
I just wonder where they can go from here with the franchise, now that they've covered the major American cities and three timelines. I think it would be cool if they do one set in the future, which allows them to use previous locales without it feeling like a retread.
In other news, the "retro space game" we requested a name for was Tyrian. Steve Campbell was the first to respond, so he gets a cookie!
--Tom McNamara
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