Warsow (Or War§ow) is a deathmatch FPS which first began development in late 2004 with competitive 1v1 and TDM play in mind. The game is based off an updated Quake2 engine called Qfusion which is capable of rendering graphics greater then that of Quake2’s own sequel, QuakeIIIArena. The game is also noted for, at least in some parts of the world, bridging the gap in the competitive gaming scene that was left by the poorly performing Quake4; for many the current standard for competitive 1v1 play is Warsow. However while I will say it’s better than quite a few fast paced FPS games being played today, it is by no means the most popular… The fact that it’s free does mean it has a fairly big player base though! It’s also notable for it’s interesting graphics style, a mix of bright neon glow cartoon like cel-shading.

Get air sickness? Maybe this game isn’t for you…

For starters, there’s one thing that is easy to say about this game… It’s your standard deathmatch FPS; every weapon that has been considered many stay in a DM game since Quake2 is here and generally speaking most of your maps are tight knit labyrinths with multiple rooms, floors, halls and routs. On that note the actual game play is also the same in a sense depending on your preferred game mode of course; CTF for capture the flag, TDM for team games, FFA for killing whatever moves and… 1v1 for killing whatever moves, . So it is easy to take a look at this game, but pass it off as being just another mindless FPS; well they would be wrong…

Whats special about Warsow is it’s unique movement system which is often referred to as a mixture of Quake and Unreal Tournament. On one side of the spectrum you have Quake’s strafe jumping, the technique used to carry momentum through jumps to constantly increase speed and on the other Unreal Tournaments double jump/wall jump which can be used to get to high, usually unreachable places. These combined can make for some interesting trick jumping and methods of escaping attacks from opponents. As of the newest version, there is also the addition of the style of movement from Painkiller which is referred to as +forward; it’s a good addition for newer players as it means you can jump at a decent speed without having to learn strafe jumping.

Rave kids rejoice!

Let’s face it, the game is not and will never look like Crysis, but that doesn’t mean the team have done a damn good job of taking an engine built in 1997 and made it look damn pretty! The graphics are a blend of cel-shaded (THEY DID IT BEFORE TF2!) cartoon style animation with funkadelic neon lighting and glow effects. The models all suit the games cyberpunk feel, both player and weapon wise which blends well with most if not all of the maps. The only thing I don’t really like about it all is that at times it can feel a little repetitive, as a lot of the maps look the same and do use the same textures. For a new game on an old engine though; it does look pretty sweet!

One could argue that sound isn’t the games strong point, but like most if not all competitive FPS games players aren’t looking for an epic OST to go with there game. So music, for the most part, is a big no; besides the menu the game contains no music at all. The real thing to look for in this case is the in game sound, player jumping, footsteps, directional sound for gunfire… There all spot on to the point were in my opinion there better then Quake3. There’s also your usual line up of DM sounds; explosions for rocket launchers and grenade launchers, odd plasma blippy sounds and a whole array of other weapons.

As a free FPS Warsow stands out above the rest, I would even go as far to say the game is better then Wolf:ET… Which most people will argue is one of the best free games ever made. Were I do draw the line though, is when comparing it to other retail Deathmatch releases such as Quake3 and UT2k4; it’s good, but it just might not be big developer company good. However with that said I think anyone who has never played a good DM FPS or even veterans of the genre who have just never played this before will get a good kick out of it. Fast, fun, free and defiantly addictive.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the third game in the Zelda series and the only game in the series to be released for the Super Nintendo system. It also saw two re-releases recently: The first of which was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords, released in 2003 the game was almost a direct port save for some minor changes and the addition of a multiplayer mode that contained randomly generated dungeons. The second was for the Wii Virtual Console with a January 22nd 2007 release, this was however identical to the SNES version. A Link to the Past also has a direct sequel which was only released in Japan, The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets, however because this game was only playable through BS-X (A peripheral used to download SNES games over satellite only released in Japan) it is no longer avaliable and was only playable for a month.

The story revolves around a character known as Agahnim, a dark wizard who takes the throne of Hyrule by force whom intends on freeing Ganon from his prison in another realm. The only way to defeat him is by collecting three magic pendants obtained by beating the first three boss’s in the first three dungeons. Once he is defeated, you are subsequently sent to the dark realm where you must free the seven descendants of the Seven Sages in order to face Agahnim again in Ganon’s Tower. After defeating him for a second and final time Ganon rises up from Agahnim’s body, turns into a bat, and flies away. He can then be found in the Pyramid of Power, where the games final battle takes place.

Some would have found this difficult in the good old days…

A Link to the Past was the second game in the series to use the overhead style of play after Zelda II’s venture into the realm of side scrolling, the decision to do this came about from the poor reception Zelda II got for this very reason. The game has a very basic combat system in that one button is used to slash your sword and one button can be used for an item; these vary from cross bows and and boomerangs to bombs and wands. You can also hold down your sword button for a charge attack which swings your sword 360 degrees. Item collecting is also an important part of the game in that, without certain objects such as flippers for swimming or the Master Sword you can’t finish the game. On top of Link’s regular gear you can also find stronger versions of most items in the later parts of the game. Link to the past uses the heart health system which has been a main stay of the series, through out the game you are also rewarded (Or will find) pieces of heart which, when four are placed together, adds to your health bar.

Puzzles within dungeons also return from the first Zelda game. They can range from simple things such as pushing a certain brick in a room to unlock a door after defeating one or two enemies; to the more annoying like having two lasers being fired at you every few seconds while you lift up 10 or so pots to find a button. They do add some spice to the game though as I will admit dungeons would get rather boring if it was just hack and slash the whole way through. On top of that secret rooms also play a big part through out the game as they can be a good source of health or arrows/bombs, alot of the time there’s also alot of rupees to be found. These are usually accessed via the use of a bomb to a cracked wall.

It looked good back then, and still does today!

It’s hard to judge a game on graphics this old, with a title like this it’s more about game play then what the game looks like. However in this case the game does look rather presentable and is probably the best example of a top-down perspective RPG game of this style for it’s era. Beyond the fact that it uses cartoon’ish style graphics and well done 2D sprites, there’s not a hell of alot you can say about it besides the fact that it’s a beautiful, albeit, old game.

While this might be a bold claim i’ve said it quite a few times in the past. Alot of people ask or get asked the question, “Which Zelda game do you think is the best?”. Majority of the time the answer is Ocarina of Time, however i’m not so inclined to agree. Going off game play alone and looking past how old the game is, the top-down style and the fairly average graphics; I find Link to the Past to be the best game in the series bar none and easily one of the greatest games of our time.