First Person Shooters
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First Person Shooters                           

                                  

This is my favorite type of game, the action is fast and in your face.


Alien Vs Predator 2:

I just got this game, and was really surprised by how good it was. Real edge of your seat excitement. There are three different modes with which to play. Alien, Predator, or a Marine. I finish the Marine part of the game, and really loved the action and story line. Allot of games lack a good story line, but not this one. The graphics were very nice, as was the sound. Loved the weapons in this game, as well as the thinking you are to use to get thru the different levels.

Graphics = 8
Sound  = 8
Gameplay = 9


America's Army;
Well, considering it took over three days to download this game on a 1 MB DSL connection, I think it might be worth the trouble. The graphics are pretty good, tho I have seen better. But not too many games are better. I was running this game at 1600 by 1200 rez, and it looked really nice.The first thing you have to do, is to setup an account for the scores you get while you play. You get forego that, but you will never know how you stack up against other players.

The thing that I did not like about this game, was the fact that you have to unlock everything in it. Plus the fact that you have to listen to the DI tell you what to do. I just wanted to get in there and fire away. Well, that only got me an instant restart of the level.

The sound is pretty good too. And they seems to match the weapon you are firing. The thing that I like about the sound, was that the sound of the gun, was matched up with the muzzle flash

The gameplay, could be a little bit better. I hate games that have you unlock one level before you can play the next. Don't get me wrong, the levels are not that hard to finish off. You are given all sorts of real army training to go thru. And like I said before, you have to finish the first with a good enough score to advance.

So I say if you have a fast ISP, for this is 203 MB big, ago ahead a download it. I think fans of FPS's will like this game, you just have to unlock everything

Graphics = 8
Sound = 8
Gameplay=7.5

I did not see what the requirement are, but they couldn't be that high. I think a P III 500 should play it nicely.

Battlefield 1942;
The first thing I noticed about this game, was the game will mess up the icons setup on your desktop. A real pain to fix after every time you play this game. And I have the 1.1 patch too. The idea behind the game is very good. Recreate the major battles in single player and on-line. You can chose which side you want to fight on, and what weapons you want to use. There are places to get more ammo, and to up your health after you have taken a few rounds. ( I don't mean drinking either ) There are tanks and infantry that will attack you and your sides position. You are to defend the bases at all cost. If you are killed, you will respawn in the game after a set amount of time. Plus you will have to chose where you want to respawn at too. This game is open ended, as to how you want to attack, or defend. In the options, you can set the number of people in the game. Plus, you can adjust the CPU AI usage. You will be hard pressed to get bored with this game, as it will be different every time you play it. That includes the same maps too.

The sound for this game, was dropping out from time to time. When the sound was working, it was good. They could have done better with this. The different sounds for the weapons and tank leave a lot to be desire. There are several different types of soldiers that you can chose from, Much like RTCW. They each have their own advantage and disadvantages. You will have to see what works for you in what level you are playing in. The maps look nice, and have different hills and valleys, so it is a little hard to see the enemy coming. The graphics are pretty nice, but not the best I have seen. I guess, that is to help keep the game playable on mid range systems.

Graphics: 7.5
Sound: 7.5
Gameplay: 9

Battlefield 1942: Road to Rome;
This is the add-on pack for BF 1942, and is every bit as good as the first.

Graphics: 7.5
Sound: 7.5
Gameplay: 9

Black Hawk Down:

This game is loosely based on the events that happened in that conflict. It has both single and multiplayer modes. The object of the game is to complete the missions you are given, and they are something else. I really like the first one in fact. You will have to buy this game to see what I am talking about. Each mission is different from the one before it. You really have to stay on your toes in this game, as the enemy can be anywhere.

The graphics are top notch, and the explosions are something to see. Sound coming from this game is pretty good, but I have heard better. As for the gameplay, It is interesting and fast paced.

Graphics = 9
Sound = 8
Gameplay = 8

BZFlag:

This game is a tank combat game that is played on-line with others in tanks as well. There are different modes of game play, one is Capture the Flag, and the other is free for all. You can play free for all in teams if you want, or you can go it alone as a rouge tank. But be warned, everyone will be after you then.In this game, there are four teams to play on to win the game. There flags that you put up while driving that can give you power ups, or do you harm. You never know what it does till you pick it up. If it is a bad flag, you can always drop it, so it is not that bad.

The graphics are ok, but nothing to write home about, and the same can be said for the sound as well. But the game play more than makes up for it. You can get this game from the Game Developers section, which can be found Here

Graphics=7
Sound=7
Gameplay=8.5


Enter The Matrix: Reviewed by Sam

I just went out and purchased Enter the Matrix, a 4 disc game that is “Written and Directed” by the Wachowski brothers.  My impression before playing was “its going to be very good” cause of how much stuff had to be loaded onto my computer.  Now, the first thing I did before I played was grabbed the latest patch off of 3dgamers.com, I've heard it fixes up a lot of problems.  Now, the first thing you do is pick between 2 different small characters in the movie.  Each character has intertwined story lines, but there definitely different, I've played to about the 5th level with Ghost and to the 2nd with Niobi and they occasionally have a cumulative effort, but very rarely.  

The things that I liked about this, where the amazing moves, good animations, and the fact that they shot special film just meant for the video game, the hacking feature which is actually pretty fun, although I didn't quite finish yet, it doesn't like me.  The things that need to be fixed ASAP are graphics corruption, sound corruption, and I donut know what's up with this, but whenever I use the “focus power” stuff just pops up on my screen, I donut think its supposed to be there because occasionally it takes up the whole screen.  I really like the amount of guns, the really like the way they move, and the fact that the accuracy and what not is extremely realistic.  The missions are extremely fun, whether beating the crap out of a guy with you're fists or just pummeling away with the variety of weapons.

Graphics: 6 – OK but it needs some major patching; tons of corruption, and the car wheels are squares.

Sound: 7 – Again, patching is definitely needed, you can hardly hear the gunshots on some levels, while on others its way to loud.  Background soundtrack is great, lot of intense music.

Game play: 9 – Talk about fun, diving through the air with bullets whizzing by you?  What's not fun about that?



Half-life;
This is a cool FPS, where you are in a Government plant that goes horribly wrong. You have to fight your way out of it, but you do have help. There are other people in there too. Some will help you, others will harm you. So pick your friends carefully.

Graphics = 9
Sound = 8.5
Game play = 9


Kingpin;
 In here you are a gangster, who must fight his way to the top of the ranks, by any means necessary.
You can build your gang, but watch out, they may turn on you. The game is very gory and has allot of bad
 language. You can tone it down, if you want to.

Graphics = 9
Sound = 8.5
Game play = 9
                                                                          

Line of Sight: Vietnam:
This is a first person shooter that will have you on the edge of your seat while you play it. It gives you a good taste of what it was like in Vietnam. The rain, the jungle, the noise, and the enemy. This is not your usual run and run type of game. You do that, and you are dead, fast too. You sneak, crawl, and try to out smart the enemy. Not an easy it to do either. They will hear you walking, and will run up to where they hear gunfire. The only thing I do not like about this game, is the fact that it is not a real free roaming game. You have a certain area that you are confined too. It would have been nice, if that you could have been able to flank the enemy, and come up behind them. Just be prepared to die a lot with this game.

The graphics are nice, really like the rain FX, and the plant life looks good too. As for the sound, this you have to hear for yourself. I have a 5.1 setup, and everytime I heard a noise, I would turn that way to see if an enemy was sneaking up on me.

Graphics = 8
Sound = 9
Gameplay = 7.5

Medal of Honor Allied Assault,
This game is a lot like Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It is based in World War 2. But, you don't hunt zombies or the like. You are given missions against the Nazis, that you have to finish alive. Some of them are really going to draw you into the game. The level that is almost like a version of the TV show Rat Patrol, is my favorite. The sounds are pretty convincing, as are the model's of the people. The landscape is a little dated in the graphics dept. But all in all it is a very action packed game.

Graphics=8.5
Sound=9
Game Play=8.5

Postal 2;
Let me started by saying that I have never played the first version of this game before. But this game reminds me a lot like GTA 3, but in this game you have a first person view. Which I like a lot more than the third person view that is in GTA 3. In this game you can be as violent or as passive as you want to be. There are a lot of cool things that you can do to the characters in this game. One of my favorites is pouring gasoline on to people and lighting them on fire. A lot of cool affects have been added into this game. Just like GTA 3, this game is free roaming as well. You do not have to do any of the missions if you choose not to. You can go on a killing spree to your heart's desire. There are several additional maps to unlock in this game. The only way to unlock the additional maps is to complete the previous days missions and move on to the next day's mission.

There are several complaints I have about this game, The biggest one being the fact that the guns in this game takes way too much ammo to drop a person. With the M 16, I had to empty an entire clip of 30 rounds into a person before the person dropped, that is not very realistic. Another complaint of mine about this game is the sound. The same and M 16 that takes an entire clip to kill someone, sounds more like a pop gun then a real weapon.

Graphics=7
Sound=4
Gameplay=7


Quake 3 Arena:
 This game is allot like UT, but the AI is not as good. There are not as many maps for this either.
But the game types are the same. It does not have Assault or Last Man Standing in it thou.

Graphics = 9
Sound = 8.5
Game play =8

Quake 3 Team Arena;
Same as above, but it is more team based. Plus there are new maps and weapons in here as well.

Graphics=9
Sound=8.5
Game play=8.5

Return To Castle Wolfenstein;
This is the best multiplayer game that I have ever played. The single player is not bad, but the multiplayer rocks. There are several demoes out there to try, so download one now. If you are into FPS, this is your game.

Graphics=10
Sound=9.5
Gameplay=9.5
                                                                                                                   

Return To Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory,
This game is an add-on for RTCW so to speak. It does install in it's own folder, and runs all by itself. In other words, you do not need the CD in from the first game to play. Mind you, this is only multi-player, there is no single player in the add-on. But for free, you cannot go wrong.

The game itself is alot like the first version, except for the fact that this time, you are fighting in different locations. Then there are the new weapons to play with, Yes I said new weapons. The mortar is just one of them, and did I mention the new roles people in the game can play as well? There are now six of them I think, instead of the four from before.

I gave this stand alone free downloadable game the same score I gave the first one.If you are interested in downloading this 258 MB freebie, you can get it Here.

Graphics=10
Sound=9.5
Gameplay=9.5

Serious Sam;
This is one seriously fun game to play. But the game requires a very high end system to run it at it's max. Download
the demo first, to see how well it will run on your computer. It is like DOOM in allot of ways too. You fight your way through maps full of all types
of monsters and puzzles. I find it a blast to play.

Graphics=9.5
Sound=9.5
Game play=10

Soldier of Fortune;
 I played the demo, and it is another FPS. But the big difference here is that the damage
modeling is a lot better than anything I have seen to date  You can take an arm off at the shoulder, or elbow.
Same goes for the legs too. When you shoot the bad guys in certain areas, they react differently. The graphics
are pretty good and it is different that the rush in and kill everything in sight kind of games. The reason I gave
them a lower sound rating, is because the game has some bugs in it.

Graphics = 8
Sound = 6
Game play=8

Soldier of Fortune 2;
This review is only based on the Demo that I downloaded from the net. NOTE I have since bought the full version!
This is the game, that I think will really hit it big in multiplayer. The action is nonstop.

This is another first person shooter type game. You are a soldier sent in to do battle with the enemy on their own turf. The enemy AI works very well together, as they put up a well planned out defense. They will do everything they can to defeat you. I have seen them pop smoke, in an effort to hide their movement towards me. The weapons, they use to the fullest. They will hide and wait for you to pass them, before coming up from behind to cap you. You will learn quickly to listen for footsteps, so you know someone is coming for you.

There were only two levels in the demo to play. One is set in Colombian jungles, while the other is on board a ship at sea. So there are two different tactics you have to use to get thru them. You just don't run and gun in the ship level, cause they will sounds the alarm to your presence. Making it that more difficult to finish the level.

The graphics in this game are very nicely rendered. What I liked about the ship ( Seaward Star ) level, is the way they rendered the rain affect. There are thousand of drops of rain exploding into smaller droplets on everything.

The sound is also quite nice too. The shotgun blast, to the machine-gun fire, all sound great and pretty real. The game sounds great on a good sound system for your computer. I have a speaker setup that has a powered sub-woofer, and when something explodes, it rocks the walls.

The game play is something that I cannot review completely. Being that I only have the demo, I could play any other levels. But, I can tell you this. The levels I do have, will get a lot of use out of them.

Here are some of the key features......

- 10 Single Player Missions Spanning 70 Levels
- Random Scenario Generator
- DM, Team DM, CTF, Infiltration and
Elimination Multiplayer modes, featuring the RMG
Random Map Generation technology
- Quake III: Team Arena Engine Enhanced With:
- GHOUL 2 Rendering System
- TORR Terrain System
- LICH AI System
- ICARUS2 Scripting System
- Dynamic Sound and Music System
- 14 Real-World Weapons and 10 Grenades
- Multiple Fire Modes Per Weapon
- Location/Region Specific Weaponry
- Weapons Carry Authentic Military Designations
- Real-World Locations/Environments Including:
- Colombia
- Kamchatka
- Hong Kong
- Prague
- Extremely Detailed Characters and Weapons:
- Motion-Captured Character Animations
- 3000 Polygon Enemy Models
- 1500 Polygon Weapon Models
- Photo-Realistic Textures and Skins
- Professional Voice Acting
- Environmental Effects: Snow, Rain, Fog
- Parental Lockout and Violence Level Controls
- Real-World, Cinematic Quality Action Story

System Requirements

-Internet (TCP/IP) or LAN (TCP/IP and IPX) connection.
-Pentium® III 450 MHz or Athlon® processor or higher
-Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP operating system
-128 MB of RAM
-60 MB of uncompressed free hard drive space (plus 350 MB for the Windows swap file)
-A 100% Windows® 98/ME2000/XP -compatible computer system including:
-DirectX 8.1
-100% DirectX 8.1®-compliant true 16 bit sound card and drivers
-100% DirectX 8.1®/OpenGL 1.1®-compliant 16 MB video card and drivers*
-100% Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP -compatible mouse and drivers
-100% Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP -compatible keyboard
-100% Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP -compatible quad speed
(600 K/sec sustained transfer rate) CD-ROM drive and drivers


Graphics= 9/10
Souns= 9/10
Gameplay= 8/10

Unreal 2: The Awakening  by MaNCe

System Requirements:
Processor: Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon 733 MHz or higher (Pentium or AMD 1.2 GHz or greater Recommended)
Memory: 256MB RAM (384 MB or greater recommended)
Graphics Card: 32 MB NVIDIA Geforce2 MX or better (64 MB NVIDIA Geforce3 / ATi Radeon 8500 or better recommended)
CD-ROM: 8x Speed
Hard Drive Space: 3.0 GB Free
Sound Card: Windows compatible sound card. (NVIDIA nForce or other motherboard/soundcard containing the Dolby Digital Interactive Encoder required for Dolby Digital audio.)
Sound Blaster Audigy series sound cards recommended.
Operating System: Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
DirectX: DirectX version 8.1(included) or higher

Looking at the cover of the box, you will find a beautiful looking game. Looking at the games offerings, however few. Will leave many fans of the first installment; thoroughly angry, and frustrated – some such as I will feel robbed, while others delighted.
Personally, I found the game very frustrating in many areas, so many unnecessary loading screens. The games area, and cut-scenes took so long to load (like 45sec), it wouldn't had been so bad if there had been one loading screen per area, and when you think about it 45 seconds before and after every little cut scene adds up. After and before every level, every little cut scene there was a loading screen waiting to greet you.

This game is a serious resource hog; I had it running at a resolution of 1024X768 at 32 bit with all the video settings maxed out. It ran OK on my system, but it struggled in some areas. So, donut believe the boxes system requirements because it wont run well unless your PC is at least equipped like mine or better.

Graphics:  Very nice water and landscape effects, extremely good use of today's pixel shading technology. Characters and NPC’S were very well defined, Aida was a major plus.
Sound: OK, considering what type of game it is, each weapon has its own unique sound. Personally, I could have done without the NPC commentary throughout the game. But I guess it just adds to the experience.
Game play: This game was way too short; it was more of a long demo then a game. You walk around in a big clunky space suit all through the game; so this makes control in the game awkward, many times you will press the run key and realize that the running speed is like walking speed – when compared to other games like Half Life. All in all, this game was awful!

Graphics: 9
Sound: 6.5
Game Play: 2


Unreal Tournament:
 If you are into FPS games, then this is for you. In the main menu, There are several game types in UT.

Capture the Flag, Where you try to take the other teams flag.
Assault, Where your try to invade an enemy base.
Death Match, Every man for himself.
Team Death Match, Your team takes on up to 3 other teams.
 Domination, You have to control set points on the map for the longest time.
 Last Man Standing, You can only respawn a set number of times. After that, you are out of the game.

Maps can be found at any number of sites on the web. There are allot of good user made maps to play, keeping the game play fresh.

Here is a link to a very good free map site; http://www.planetunreal.com/nalicity

Graphics = 9
Sound = 8.5
Game play = 9.5

Unreal Tournament 2K3:

This game is a lot like the first version. In the main menu, you can chose from Instant Action, or Single Player. Which will put you in the Tournament Ladder. The multiplayer is also still in this game. I think that is what made it so popular. It has several game types to play in.

Capture the Flag, Where you try to take the other teams flag.
Death Match, Every man for himself.
Team Death Match, Your team takes on up to 3 other teams.
Double Domination, You have to control both of the set points on the map for 10 seconds to score.
Bombing Run, This is like soccer, but only to the point that there are two goals. You are to take the ball, and shot it, or jump with it into the goal in the enemy base. Sounds easy? Well, If you have the ball, you cannot use any weapons at all.

The requirements are very high for this game.

Operating System: WIN 98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium III or AMD Athlon 733MHz processor (*Pentium® or AMD 1.0 GHz or greater RECOMMENDED)
Memory: 128 MB RAM (256 MB RAM or greater RECOMMENDED)
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB
CD ROM or CD/DVD ROM: 8X
Audio System: Windows® compatible sound card (*Sound Blaster® Audigy(tm) series sound card RECOMMENDED) (NVIDIA® nForce™ or other motherboards/soundcards containing the Dolby® Digital Interactive Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital audio. Also RECOMMENDED)
Video System: 3D Accelerator card with 16 MB VRAM (*32-128 MB VRAM RECOMMENDED) 16 MB TNT2-class DirectX® version 6 compliant video card. (*NVIDIA GeForce 2/ATI Radeon RECOMMENDED) DirectX® version 8.1 (Included on game disc)
Multiplayer: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. *Internet play requires a 33.6 Kbps or faster modem

Once you get a look at the amazing graphics that this game produces, you will know why the requirements are that high. It is really awesome the way the maps, and models look. The "Rag Doll" feature is the best thing to come along in a while. What it does is make the model act like dead weight when it is fragged. The whole body goes limp, like a rag doll, hence the name.

The weapons are basically the same, except for a few new ones. Which include the Ion cannon, and the Shield Gun. The redeemer is still in the game, and you have got to see this nuke blow. Just make sure you are nowhere near where it goes off. I really like the different visual FX each weapon has.

Sounds in this game are very well done too. They work great have the 5.1 surround sound speaker system I have hooked up to my computer.

Gameplay: 8.5
Graphics: 9.5
Sounds: 9

Vietcong:

I have since bought this game, and it is alot like Line of Sight Vietnam. The maps in both games are like cattle chutes. The path you have to take is scripted, and not free roaming. You can never flank the enemy, you always have to walk straight up to him.

What I really like about this game, is the water effect. Best I have seen. And the added effect of birds that fly away when you walk up on them. Other than that, they are both pretty much the same. There is also a ton of on-line cheating in this game as well. One guy I unloaded a whole clip from an AK-47 into him, then used the knife, and he never dead. Seen another guy that was 40 feet in the air, with no trees or anything around him to up him up in the air like that. There are also holes in the maps, where people can get under the map, and shot you without ever being seen.

PcKiller


Graphics = 9
Sound = 8.5
Gameplay = 8.5