Game Previews

If you are fond of action-filled gun shooting, Gun Showdown (PSP) would surely satisfy your trigger-happy appetite. With the macho villages of Wild West as its setting, this new console game offers myriad of different missions and challenges that would not only stimulate your shooting skills but also your mind and wits. The story would move you and the graphics are just so realistic.

Gun certainly has loads of hoopla surrounding when it becomes available in the market. Developed by Neversoft, the minds behind the Tony Hawk phenomenon, it is one of their first non-extreme sports titles in years, so folks are pretty excited to get their mitts on it. The end result isn't earth-shattering, according to those who already previewed the game before its release, but it is still a pretty well-structured game with great story-telling and presentation.

For one thing, the developers have added new side missions and quick play modes, which should increase the replay value of the console. There's also talk of new multi-player modes, which certainly has our interest piqued. Duels at high noon, imagine! Gun Showdown is definitely a huge, epic title, so we are definitely curious to see how well it makes the transition to the portable playstation.

Here is another treat from VU Games that will surely satisfy (or disappoint) all fanatics (including me) of digital computer games and music. This is called 50 Cent: Bulletproof and this is a game which enables me and other players to take the role of this rapper. This is an action and adventure game not suitable for very young players. I have played it once and I am not sure if this is something I would try again.

In this game, I get to help my friend K-Dog who got killed eventually. Later on, 50 Cent also meets the same fate. Then goes the revenge part with the help of the G-Unit. That is why this game sports a theme that is sort of a standard shooter in third person. The guns of 50 Cent have various aims, enabling me to hit all the opponents easily. The guns also come in different forms, sizes, and capabilities. Throughout the course of the game, 50 Cent can actually collaborate with different allies in order to help combat the enemies more easily. I must be the first to admit that this extreme game contains gore and blood, extreme violence, sexual nature, harsh language, and drug use. That is why this should not be played by kids because these themes are not suitable for them.

The Da Vinci Code game seems to be a great disappointment among countless fanatics of the modern computer games. You see, a lot of computer gamers including me felt upset because game developers seemed to have followed strictly the pattern of the original story's twisting plot. It would have been better had the developers of the game did not include anymore some extra features that proved to be just confusing rather than leading the way to unveil the mystery.

Take, for instance, that predicament in a museum in Paris as I was set to unleash a murder case that is considered bizarre. I was not able to uncover the secret because the designer of the game had added unnecessary puzzles and locations with which I needed an unwanted walk through. What is more disappointing about this game is its single or one player game mode. This game is more of a puzzle online that requires moving there and here from one location to another and one character to another. In addition, this game is an endless wandering until such time that one gets tired of the journey leaving the mystery still kept secret. In general, this mystery game, as in any other game, is challenging and a great source of entertainment. For fans and avid gamers, it's quite a disappointment.

There is no turning back now as a great deal of people have gotten hook to addictive computer games. I have been playing computer games for quite sometime now and I must say that I have found a different new form of entertainment at home and the workplace. As a matter of fact, the latest game that I have played online is Battlefield 2. This game is indeed a great sequel to the previous one because it is more action-filled and with other interesting features.

Although it is, but just a sequel, this game is actually not the second on the series. In fact, it is the third one and this an extreme innovation with several added features that make this game truly exciting and challenging. With this new computer game, around 32 players can play and rule each other in an enormous battle ground. I get the option to utilize the most modern of all equipments in order to get that much needed supremacy. The modes or ways of conquest makes this game different from the previous one. I have never get tired of playing this exciting game because it is just full of adventure and challenges. With many game guides, this modern battlefield can easily be won.

On January 18, 2006 the action-packed X-box, PC and PS2 game 25 to Life will be released, bringing in another interactive hit from EIDOS. This game is all about the usual ruckus of gangster-driven youths, of which the lead part is played by Freeze, and his foil being Detective Lester Williams. The story winds into a deadly revenge against Calderon, who double-crossed Freeze until he was forced to fight back and save his son's life. Eventually he was to come face to face with Detective Williams and his sidekick Maria Mendoza.

It can take up to 16 players to get this game rocking. You can role play the Thug lifestyle and experience the urban hood violence--there are excellent character customization as well as realistic set-ups. We can't wait to put our hands on 25 to Life!

Mention the title Gauntlet and you'll probably get one of two reactions: People will recognize it as the title of an old Clint Eastwood flick, or as an old arcade game back when there were still arcade games people looked up to.

Fortunately for gamers, this Gauntlet we're going to cover today doesn't include Dirty Harry, but some other characters who are more prone to violence than good ol' Clint would ever be.

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is the latest sequel to the landmark game series, and this time it opts for a third-person perspective, instead of the usual overhead one we've all grown up with. It's best described as a hack n' slash game mixed with some RPG elements, with the four usual suspects we all know and love. The melee-manic Warrior, the speedy Elf, the well-rounded Valkyrie and the magically inclined Wizard all return to explore more dungeons and possibly slay more dragons, too.

Featuring co-op and online play, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows makes for a lot of multi-player fun for those wanting a friend to chop some limbs off with in some dark dungeon (and I'm not talking about the basement).

Samurai Shodown was once considered to be the ultimate one-on-one fighting game, pitting weapons-based warriors against each other in a grand quest to be the best 2-d fighting game samurai. Slicing your opponents into pixilated sushi was all the rage back then, and with a healthy choice of characters from the game to play as, Samurai Shodown was beloved by many gamers far and wide.

But all that changed with the advent of more powerful machines and consoles. Suddenly, polygons were king, leaving pixels in the dustbin of history. But all is not lost. Fans of the landmark Samurai Shodown series can once again relive their slashing days as the release of the latest sequel to the series, Samurai Shodown 5, nears release.

Far from being a nostalgia trip, this installment boasts a cast of around 24 characters, and quite possibly a few secret ones. But that's not all that's attracting players to this game. There is also the ability to play online against fellow online samurai that attracts many players. Very soon, the screams and blood of the vanquished will flow, and I just can't wait!

In this new Star Wars game, players not only get to control just one character, but entire armies in an all-out battle for the fate of the galaxy! Star Wars: Empire at War is a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game that puts you in the commander's chair, directing Rebel forces or the Galactic Empire's legions.

Like many of the newer RTS games, this game also features hero characters, individual units of superior strength compared to regular units. Each side has their own heroes, ranging from the powerful Darth Vader (with his own style of teleconferencing with his failed officers- force-choking them to death) to the great stater of the obvious, Corporal ("it's a trap!") Ackbar.

Fans will surely enjoy this game, as it is filled with all the action, characters and places that endeared the series to them.

The Soul Calibur series of games has long been hailed as one of the best fighting games out there, and Soul Calibur 2 is one of the best games for those who want to bust some heads and play a decent game at the same time, featuring tons of modes to play with.

With the release of the sequel, Soul Calibur 3, Namco once again has the fighting game world eagerly anticipating the ringing crash of metal upon metal as sword meets sword once again, and this time with more features than you can shake a scythe at.

With a roster of over 30 characters (half of whom are locked), Soul Calibur 3 promises you hours of game play, if only to unlock them all. But another feature is the Chronicles of the Sword, a mode where you can create your own character and build them up to match the game's cast.

Let's face it, dinosaurs are cool. Guns are, to an extent, cool in a movie sense. Beating the crap out of your enemies is also cool. But how about dinosaurs with guns beating the crap out of your enemies? Now that's cool!

And that is the hook that reels you into ParaWorld, Sunflowers and SEK's new RTS set for release sometime next year. In this game, players control the mighty reptiles and other prehistoric beasts, equip them with guns, bombs, mortars and other things that go boom, and unleash them on your enemies. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Taking place in an alternate dimension where man and dinosaur exist at the same time, ParaWorld pits you and your army against three different groups, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. ParaWorld is looking out to be a great game, and certainly fulfills a fantasy of many sci-fi fans.

Any player of Starcraft has to be familiar with the Terran (that's human for you non sci-fi folk out there) unit known as Ghosts. In the RTS game, they function as infiltration units and spies, and have cloaking capabilities and can mark out an area or enemy for targeted destruction from off-screen support units.

Now console gamers can now experience the life of a Ghost in Blizzard's new offering for console gamers, Starcraft: Ghost. In the game, players take on the role of a novice Ghost operative, named Nova, and like many games in the third-person stealth action genre, must sneak around and avoid being detected by enemies in order to accomplish a mission. Here, concepts from the original game are incorporated, such as cloaking and psionic powers.

Stealth action gamers and Starcraft fans will surely want to go to war with Starcraft: Ghost.

At first glance, Hellgate: London looks a lot like any other First-Person Shooting game. But delve into the game a bit deeper and you'll realize that it offers a lot more than the typical FPS game.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the makers of Hellgate are the same ones that gave us the monster RPG hit Diablo. Although the game is still in development, from what we can see it is a mix of third and first-person perspectives: Third person for melee attacks with the appropriate weapons, and first person views for shootouts with your enemies. The game also features multiple characters to play as. Alas, the only one playable was the Templar, a body-armor wearing, dual weaponed soldier capable of either hacking or perforating his enemies.

Hellgate: London is still being developed. No word yet as to its final release date.

Square and Disney are at it again! After the runaway success of the first Kingdom Hearts game, the game's programmers are now hard at work on its sequel, which will offer more Disney and Square cameos, like Captain Jack Sparrow, Jack Skellington, and Auron from Final Fantasy X!

Game play, while still similar to the previous installment, has been tweaked and improved a bit, and with your stalwart companions Donald Dick and Goofy still hanging around, it still looks like a lot of fun and even more so, with improved graphics and a promise of more characters to play with, as and against.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is scheduled for a release sometime next year.

Are you tired of Hollywood making idiots out of the viewing public? Do you think that you can make a better movie than the latest "hip" director? Or do you simply just want to know how it goes behind the scenes in the big Hollywood movie studios?

If your answer is "yes" to any of those questions, then I'll bet you just can't wait to get your hands on Lionhead Studios and Activision's newest joint effort, The Movies.

In this studio simulation game, players assume the roles of a big-time movie mogul of the silent film era, and it's up to you to develop stars, produce movies and make your studio the biggest and the best in town. It touches on everything in Hollywood, from scripts to star chemistry.

It's a complex and engrossing game and much like many games Lionhead produces, downright addictive.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's new game, Shadow of the Colossus, promises to immerse players into a vast fantasy world, where you feel part of the action and the universe it's happening in, instead of merely just directing where a character should go.

In this epic adventure, you, as a young hero, must save a young girl from a curse. And the only way to break this curse is by vanquishing the 16 colossi that roam the land. Each of these behemoths has its own way of attack, movement and method of defeat. To know these is the challenge of the game.

There is no narration, no dialogue and no other enemies except the 16 giants in the game. This unique gameplay is what will make Shadow of the Colossus a real standout game.

Last year, game publisher Stormregion released a game that was actually very good but one that nobody seemed to play: Codename: Panzers, Phase One. This game was a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game for the PC that featured tanks (Panzers in German) and a World War Two setting.

Despite the game's excellent strategy game engine and realistic units and theme, it didn't become as famous as other RTS games. Stormregion hopes to change all that with the release of the sequel Codename: Panzers Phase Two for the PC. Aside from a graphics boost, only a few things were changed in the game, which is a good example of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

This is one RTS for those who want a dash of realism to their games of military strategy.

At last! Capcom's Resident Evil 4 is coming home (sorta)!

After first appearing for the Nintendo Gamecube, the ground-breaking Resident Evil 4 returns to the Sony marque. It was on the PlayStation that the Resident Evil series first got noticed, and it's only fair that PS2 owners should get a version of their own.

This installment puts gamers in the shoes of Resident Evil veteran Leon S. Kennedy, hot on the trail of perrenial bad guy company Umbrella. The chase leads him to Europe, where he encounters evils of a whole new kind.

Featuring a new targeting mode, better graphics and gameplay, Resident Evil 4 promises to be a PS2 classic.

Do you have what it takes to survive being stranded on a deserted, uncharted island somewhere out on the big, blue ocean? If you think you're up to it, then take a shot at Konami's upcoming RPG/Simulation game Lost In Blue for the Nintendo DS.

Gamers take control of a young boy who finds himself washed ashore on an island. The game now concentrates on how you will guide this character as he tries to simply survive his predicament. You will learn how to make a fire out of sticks, find fresh water to drink and even how to hunt using an improvised bow and arrow.

While it may lack the action of a Metal Gear or Resident Evil game, Lost In Blue offers something most gamers never get to experience; a real game with real challenges.

GTA-style games have revolutionized the gaming industry. No longer are the games focused on the old black-and-white, good-vs.-evil plot. Today's games are decidedly full of characters are morally gray, and anti-heros are usually the best kind.

This is never truer than in Vivendi Universal's Scarface: The World is Yours. In this GTA-styled game, you play the role that made Al Pacino a household name. Well, in my household, anyway. Players control crime kingpin Tony Montana as you shoot, pummel and blast your way through the complex crime-ridden world of Scarface. There's also a hinting of vehicular action as well, and crime lord wannabe's can rightly hope that this game will be as massive and sprawling as the last GTA game, GTA: San Andreas.

In this X-Box sequel to the highly successful and profoundly disturbing game "The Suffering", grim anti-hero Torque returns to give those demons what for!

This time, the operative word seems to be more. More enemies, more levels, more weapons and more violence than you can shake a femur at abound in this version of potential hell on earth.

If you played and loved the original, you definitely won't be disappointed here. The story is more involved this time around, as we learn more about tortured hero Torque's past, and its relevance to the current situation he's in.

This time, Torque's inner demons literally take over him: Get enough and cause enough damage, he changes into a more monstrous form and becomes more powerful and grotesque, depending on your moral choices during the game. Yes, you get to choose your path as you move through the game, be it one of light, or one of dark, with corresponding powers, of course.

With better graphics, gameplay and storyline, The Suffering: The Ties that Bind looks to be an intense, visceral romp through the underworld, blasting and hacking all the way through.

Have you ever wished you could still play your old videogames again? Are you tired of realism in your polygon-filled world? If you are, then I'll bet you can't wait to get your hand on the latest bit of nostalgia headed your way: The Capcom Classics Collection.

The Capcom Classics Collection (CCC) collects 21 of game developer Capcom's most famous and well-loved titles. Games like Final Fight, 1942 and its sequels, the iconic Street Fighter series is also represented here, as well as the always fun to play Ghosts 'n Goblins.

The Capcom Classics Collection is a welcome pixilated change of pace from the usual polygons and realism found in the games of today.

I just love monster movies. And I love games. So it should come as no surprise that I love games that let you play as giant monsters. From Rampage to the incredible Citizen Kabuto to the plethora of Godzilla games out there, I've always kept tabs on the "giant monster" game genre.

That's why when I learned about a game that will feature the big simian cheese himself, King Kong, I couldn't wait to see it, much less play it. And when I saw a demo of it, I think I just died and went to heaven.

The demo featured only a few levels, and most of them were played as the human protagonists of the movie. Yawn. That wasn't what I wanted, and I skipped ahead to the part where we could see the titular character in all his digital glory. When I did, the earth shook. The heavens parted. The waters ru...You get the idea.

The graphics, needless to say, were downright incredible. Playing Kong was nothing short of breathtaking. You are the King!

As I walked away from the booth,(actually I was dragged...) I had a child-like sense of longing for the game, like a little girl wanting a pony.

But this time I'll surely get my horse and carriage, too!

When I saw the movie Jaws, I wasn't rooting for Brody, Quint or Cooper. I was rooting for the shark! Go shark go! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Errr...Sorry, got a little carried away there, heheheh. Anyway, I was disappointed when I played the Jaws game on my uncle's beat up old NES (which he still swears by). I wanted to be the shark, dagnabit! Instead, I played a puny human trying to kill good ol' Bruce (which was the nickname the mechanical shark had on the set) with a speargun.

Pfah!

When I heard that there was a new Jaws game coming out, Jaws Unleashed, I was a bit apprehensive. But when I saw how the game will be played, my heart leapt with joy! Now I get to be the shark!

Now I can get to hunt and eat all them annoying humans. And the game features a unique damage system for your human victims. If you target an arm, you can rip it off! The same goes for the other extremities as well.

Now I, for one, can't wait for this game to get out. I'll show that Brody not to swim where he's not wanted.