For the most part, the graphics are still somewhat the same, there is a slight upgrade, but I still think the original graphics are still good. I know they updated the sound as well, to me it sounds all so much clearer and of course there are the squawking noises some of the characters make when you perform actions, like jumping. If it annoys you so much, there’s always a console command to get rid of it. The only complaint I have is there are no longer any gibs and guts flying all over the place, instead you just get vaporized. I believe this is due to certain countries having something against guts – since this game is international.

The game play is the exact same thing and they haven’t changed a thing, after all, why mess up such a great game? You run, you dodge, you jump, you shoot, you get fragged – all there is to it. To somewhat of my surprise, bunny hopping is in the game as I always thought it was some sort of glitch with the engine but instead it is now encouraged. If you played any another “tactical” shooter before, well you’re going to have a very hard time with this one as it is a completely play style. This game is all about reaction and quick thinking, there’s no time to hide behind corners, it’s time to be constantly on the move and learn how to do split second aiming. There is a bit more skill involved when playing clan arena or duels as then you have to predict what your opponent is going to do next.

Speaking of skill, Quake Live will try to determine the best of your skills when you first start up. Go through a minute obstacle course which consists of jump, rocket jumping, and then bunny hopping to determine your initial placement, and then you have to fight Crash. You know from the first game, the pipsqueak you can frag a million times without breaking a sweat? Yeah well, prepare to get your ass handed to you by her as her difficulty changes on how you play. After all that, you have your skill placement and Quake Live will determine for the most part what games will be best for you. Which is great and all since you won’t be fighting anyone too high or too low for you to handle.

Like I said before, the maps and weapons have been slightly tweaked to better balance them. With the maps, some of the of satanic imagery and such have been replace with giant billboards that say either Quake Live or an advertisement – after the game is free but they still need money. The ads within the game are not inhibiting in anyway so don’t worry; if you are any veteran quake player, you’ll be going way to fast to even notice them.

Since this is a completely multiplayer experience, there’s the online community to look out for. If you read one my of previous articles, you would know I had some sort gripe against the online community in every online game except Quake III and I am so glad the friendliness is still there in Quake Live. Of course there’s the occasional asshole here and there, but the community as a whole is still good – as in good outweighs the bad. Of course, it might different on where you live and since now it is open to the public it might change.

Of course there are some small gripes about one of my favorite games ever, but can’t really pass true judgment since it’s in open beta. For one thing, to actually play, most likely you’re going to have to wait in line to actually do it. Depending on what time of the day it is, it might range from hundreds to ten-thousands of people waiting in line, so it takes anywhere from five minutes to an hour just to get to play. Another thing is, you can’t really start your own server nor have a private one between you and your friends – which I believe is currently being added. Of course, like I said before, there’s just something wrong when I play Quake and there isn’t any flying gibs across my screen. All are really nitpicky stuff and the game is still in beta.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Quake III go play it; if not, go play it anyway – it’s FREE. This game is good, fun, and fast; there is really no need for commitment and there is really nothing to lose besides a measly hour of your time getting it setup. It’s a fun game with a large active community, so I hope I’ll see some of you on the fragging grounds.

Personally I actually really like the soundtrack, not outstanding when compared against other games such as Metal Gear Solid, Bionic Commando Rearmed or even Pheonix Wright, but listening to any track is 100% guaranteed to make you want to solve a puzzle shortly after.

Get it here.

Okay, I discovered this by accident. It’s how to play the full Banjo game from the trial.

Step 1: Get into Spiral Mountain
Step 2: Go to the giant Ape and make him hit all 3 orange tiles. Make sure the one furtherest away from the tree stub with the monkey is hit LAST. DON’T GET THIS JIGGY YET.
Step 3: Get the orange from Ape’s tree, and give it to the monkey on the tree stub. GET THIS JIGGY.
Step 4: Go to the mole hill above the tree stump, learn how to egg attack, and beat the Ape. A Jiggy will fall.
Step 5: If done correctly, the 2 Jiggys will be right next to each other. Jump right in the middle of them. You should collect 2 Jiggys at the same time, extending the trial.

TRY IT OUT. The only thing you can’t do is save.

Runes of Magic is an MMORPG that is free to play, and the American open beta was recently opened. There was already a European open beta going on, so most of  the bugs have already been taken care of.

My character in RoM

You start out with one of six classes in the Pioneer’s Colony of Taborea, where you’ll quickly become familiar with Runes of Magic (RoM). After a mini-tutorial, which explains the bare basics of the game, like movement and camera control, you’re thrown into the world. And boy,was I surprised. On my skill bar, I found 4 skills waiting for me! At level 1!

While other games are scarce with giving you skills, RoM is definitely not. A common complaint about MMOs is that you have so little skills to use, that you just end up spamming the same skill over and over again, making the game very boring. But not in RoM. You start out with a couple of skills that have synergy with each other, and every level you get to upgrade them as you wish. You also gain a new skills every level or two. And this makes the combat really enjoyable.

The other thing that really surprised me, is how the game kept throwing quest after quest at me. There are so many, especially with the daily quests that you can repeat, that it’s not odd to still have quests of levels far below yours! So you’ll never be forced to grind on your own, but instead you’ll be questing.

However, these quests don’t have a lot of variety. Most of them are simple “Kill x wolves” or “Collect 10 fangs”, though there’s also some quests that ask you to scavenge for items or kill bosses (that are way too strong for their level, I might add- you definitely need a group of multiple people to kill them).

Aside from the combat there’s also a foraging and crafting system. While the foraging system is straight-forward (though it’s annoying how you cannot chop down certain trees or pick flowers until your skill level is high enough), the crafting system is not. I didn’t find out until level 10 how I could create new items, because you have to initiate the crafting from your skill window. Because of this, I accidentally sold a lot of materials that I could have instead used to create new items.

A unique feature in Runes of Magic is that, like Guild Wars, you can gain a secondary class. At level 10 you can choose one of the remaining classes as your secondary, and you get to use some of its skills. However, unlike Guild Wars, you separately have to level this class. I’m a big fan of the dual class system, as it allows for a lot more variety.

For now, I’m really enjoying Runes of Magic, and I hope this game stays as good as it is in the lower levels. If you’re looking for a free MMO, definitely try this game.

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.

Cave Story is an action adventure/shooter game brought to you by a one man development team – Studio Pixel. Quote, the main character, shoots his way through hordes of blue blobs (and other evildoers) in a battle of truth and justice to save Mimigas (humanoid rabbit type creatures) against an evil doctor! If it sounds epic, that is because the game is simply that – epic on a very large scale.

My vague plot analysis aside, there actually is a plot – and it is decent, if not above average. I don’t usually get swayed by plots or characters in videogames, but I ended up falling in love with the Mimigas and disliking the Doctor.

As for gameplay, overall, it’s quite good. The game is not that difficult, although there are a couple spots where the difficulty spikes a little. The controls are very tight, there are a plethora of different weapons to choose from, and there is more than one ending to the game. What’s even greater is that there happens to be an optional dungeon at the end, aptly called Hell (and believe me, it deserves that title).

The graphics are fitting and well done. It is obvious that Pixel put in a lot of effort to make the game look as polished as it does, and the music is simply remarkable.

What makes the game remarkable is the reception it received upon release. Many magazines and blogs have praised Cave Story, and thus made it one of the most popular free games today. For many, this is the first ‘freeware indie’ game that they play. Cave Story’s impact on the gaming world can be seen today, as more and more gamers are taking it upon themselves to create their own games.

To put it simply, Cave Story might not be the best game ever, but it is still very deserving of a playthrough. If that can’t convince you, it’s free!

Cave Story is available for the PC, and has been ported to Linux, OSX, the PSP, and many other places that I don’t know about. There is also a WiiWare version coming out sometime soon, with improved graphics and music.

You can find anything you need at cavestory.org, a tribute site to the game.