League of Legends

A player in League of Legends takes on the role of a Summoner - a gifted spell caster who has the power to bring forth a champion to fight as his or her avatar in Valoran's Fields of Justice. As the Summoner controls the champion in combat, it also influences the outcome of the match through the use of spells, masteries and runes.

Once a match is over, the Summoner gains Influence Points and Riot Points that can be used to assist their champions in future battles. Influence Points will be earned by simply playing the game, while Riot Points will be available for purchase with real money.

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Torchlight

Torchlight is an action role-playing-game for the PC made by the creators of Diablo, Fate, and the never-released Mythos among other games. Set in the mining town of Torchlight, players will adventure to uncover the mysteries of the Ember mines. It offers a fully featured character leveling system, randomized dungeons, hordes of monsters, and gobs of great loot.

Torchlight is a game that shares similarities with a lot of other games of the action/top view/point and click RPG genre. Is this a bad thing? Well, I'd have to say, no, because when a formula works, it works and I can understand why people will use it.
It has all the familiar elements that these sorts of games tend to have. The eponymous town with vendors, weapons and armor with familiar properties and requirements, a leveling system where you can select which properties to add to upon leveling up as well as branches with various abilities that you can put points into to gain and/or boost, and a star gate like teleporting system that allows you to visit other gates you've activated in order to travel around the game world.
The action is what you might expect from this sort of game. You left click to tell your character where to go and left click on an enemy to attack it, holding down for a constant attack. You right click to use whichever special attack or spell you've bound to right clicking.
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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Demons are ravaging the world of Tamriel, and it is up to you so save it in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You can try to restore the rightful ruler to the throne in this next-generation, first-person RPG. Choose from a variety of races and classes to create your own individual character. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion features over 1,000 non-player characters that eat, sleep, and complete their own objectives. You can explore an open-ended environment completing quests and eventually ridding the world of the marauding demons.

It's been a long time coming but the fourth chapter in the legendary Elder Scrolls series has arrived. Following in the footsteps of Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind, Oblivion has a hefty reputation to live up to. Also like its predecessors Oblivion does not disappoint. The game feels just as much part of the series as any of the other games. Throughout the review I will try not to compare the game to previous titles, considering that I could go on until the end of time comparing Morrowind and Oblivion alone. To hear more of what I have to say concerning our latest foray into the land of Tamriel continue reading my review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

First off let's start by talking about the graphics in Oblivion. I believe the word that comes to mind is stunning. Put simply, there really isn't a better looking game out there. Since there is a lot to be said concerning this topic so I have broken it into the following sections: Environments, Characters and Creatures, Lighting and Shadows, and finally a section of other effects that don't truly belong to any of the aforementioned categories.

Environments in Oblivion are among the richest ever witnessed in a game. The lush forests of the game look as though they were ripped from real life. The game can generate trees randomly making every piece of flora slightly unique. The game also features tall grass as well. Grass in Oblivion can blow in the wind, part when walked through, and even have shadows cast on it in real time. Aside from tree and grass textures there is even more to Oblivion environments that is of worthy mention. Another would be the detail in rocks and buildings. If you walk up to a wall you will see an actual brick pattern complete with the cracks and weather marks seen in real life. Likewise rocks actually have the appearance of their real life counterparts, instead of the amorphous grey blobs that other games portray them as. I'm sure that you are probably doubting my sanity right now considering that I am mentioning that rock models are superb, but if you play the game you will know what I mean. All in all environments in Oblivion are eye catching enough that even mundane things like rocks and grass attract attention.

Character and Creature models in Oblivion are also extremely well done. The HD nature of the games graphics allow for realistic facial expressions and decent mouth movement on NPCs. Character movement is very fluid and natural looking. The same is true for combat. Character attacks as well as reactions to being attacked are all done very well. Weapons are swung, or fired, in ways that look and feel realistic. This same attention to detail can be seen on the many different creatures of the game. All of the creatures feel alive in the ways that they move and attack. Even things like muscle movement through skin or fur can be observed when one looks closely.

When it comes to Lighting and Shadows Oblivion is without rival. Most every object in the game will react to light and cast a shadow. In fact the only things that will not are objects such as forks and the like. Considering that one would have to pay pretty close attention to a game to notice a fork cast a shadow, I don't see it as a problem. All other objects in the game will cast shadows according to their respective light sources. The game has real time soft shadows on nearly everything. The game even goes as far as to support things like self shadows, or characters being able to cast a shadow on themselves. As mentioned before, shadows can even be cast on individual blades of grass. Another shadow effect worth mentioning is Tree canopy shadows. Shadows are cast on NPCs, players, creatures, and even grass according to the configuration of the tree canopy. The inclusion of this added yet another hyper realistic quality to the forests of Oblivion. One of the most revolutionary things about the lighting in Oblivion has to be the inclusion of full High Dynamic Range, or HDR, lighting. HDR allows for insanely realistic sun effects as well as light reflections. When a blade or shield is at the right angle reflection flares that overlay objects can be observed. During a sunrise, or sunset for that matter, buildings and objects can have a sun drenched color to them. HDR is hard to explain but put simply it is the most realistic lighting ever done. If you have a card that supports it HDR can be a treat, if not the game has support for bloom lighting as well. While the bloom may not look as great as the HDR, it still blows everything else away…in fact even when lighting is turned off Oblivion still looks superb.

There are a few more things that are notable about Oblivion's graphics that do not really belong in any one category. The first of these would be the game's weather system. When it storms over Cyrodiil it is a sight to behold. Lightning flashes illuminate anything their light reaches and the rain effects even go so far as to make individual ripples in water on impact. The second of these visual effects has to be the fog and haze effects in the game. Fog will hang realistically near the ground in damp caves as well as in humid swamps. In areas close to water fog is visible in the mornings with volumetric lighting from the sunrise. Fog may seem mundane but in Oblivion it is done well enough to warrant mention.

Sound is another area of Oblivion that is done well. The first great aspect of the sound in Oblivion is the music. Music is Oblivion is done phenomenally well. While adventuring you are treated to an epic fantasy score that fully complements the vast lands you explore. During battle the tone changes to tense and aggressive music that once again perfectly fits what is occurring. Voice overs are done superbly as well. This time around all of the game's dialogue is spoken. Even minor characters carry full voiceovers for all spoken dialogue. Some of the voices are done by well known actors, such as Patrick Stewart supplying the voice of Emperor Uriel Picard…err Septim. While most of the other characters lack big name actors to do their voices they are nonetheless worth listening to, even when voices are regularly reused of different characters. Other elements of sound are also done well. The sound effects for pretty much everything in the game sound as they should. When your sword is sheathed or unsheathed the sound is beautifully accurate. The same holds true for magic sound effects and well about everything else as well.

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Mount & Blade

Calradia is a land at war, a land offering great riches and even greater dangers to the adventurers and mercenaries that flock to shed their blood on its soil. With unerring courage and a strong sword, an unknown stranger can make a name as a warrior. Raise a band of hardened soldiers, become the lord of several towns and castles, and perhaps one day you may wield the power to depose kings and crown new ones at a whim. Free-form sandbox gameplay. You are free to go anywhere and do anything you choose in a world that has more than a hundred unique locations, including villages, castles and towns. Unique horseback combat. You are able to attack your enemies on your horse, whether you-re swinging a sword, holding a lance or unleashing arrows. Highly advanced, sophisticated and intuitive sword-fighting system. Fight on horseback and on foot using an expansive variety of medieval weapons, each with their own unique characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Be anything from a lonesome adventurer to a commander of armies or an owner of villages, castles or towns. Sophisticated AI that will provide a challenge both in combat and in the strategic realm. Freedom to interact with hundreds of characters, including kings, lords, ladies, commoners as well as heroes you can take on as companions, each with their own personality.

Mount and blade has one primary appeal: It promises complexity in an age where too often game publishers demand that their programmers give them only extremely dumbed down games that any five year old would find simple. In an age of Oblivion (which lacked features Ultima 5 had) and Halo 3 (which lacked features the 1992 Red Faction had) - we find ourselves, as PC gamers, playing games designed almost exclusively for the console market; which seems geared less towards depth then what PC gamers often prefer.
This is not a dumbed down game; on the contrary for those willing to put up with its many frustrations, it promises potentially endless gameplay. Therein lies its essential appeal. Created by two people from Poland (or so I read) this 29.99 game (from Best Buy) was designed by real people exclusively for the PC; and so has both the indie charm to it and the sort of complexity many of us crave but can't find in modern games.
Mount & Blade seems at first to be a sort of tactical roleplaying game; you create a character and run around in this fantasy medieval world. You start off with the cloths on your back, a crappy sword (or dagger) and a crappy crossbow - and are then free to do whatever you please, sandbox style. "Whatever you please" mostly means lots and lots of fighting. Its sortof like Medieval: Total War, except imagine your controlling one of the fighters in the army. Yes, this game lets you do that sort of thing - and control the army, too. And run around to castles, be robbed by bandits, mount sieges, do quests, fight in arenas, etc. My first thought when I saw this game was "How the heck did two people do this; the graphics are like Oblivion", and my second thought was "Yes!."

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RF Online

RF Online is a massively multiplayer online game that combines elements of fantasy and futuristic sci-fi. Create custom characters by choosing one of three races, including the Accretia, a race of technologically advanced cyborgs; the Cora, a spiritual and mystical race that harnesses the power of magic; and the Bellato, who use their engineering skills to operate machines and mech units. Engage in large-scale player-versus-player battles as you fight for control of the Novus galaxy.

I have to say that I'm inherently biased towards most games that have Transformers in them. RF Online (Rising Force Online) does not have actual Transformers in it, but it does have a race called the Accretian Empire that do look a little like Transformers. So of course, when I got the game I decided to play as them. The Transformers are pissed off at everyone because their home planet is out of resources. They've tried to go out and get more, but the compassionless peoples of the Holy Alliance Cora (Elves) and the Bellato Union (Humans) are fighting them. These evil bastards are blocking the Transformers from getting the resources they need for survival because (presumably) they're jealous of their awesome swords, metallic bodies, and skills with the ladies.

So yes, that means that RF Online is another in an endless list of MMORPGs that have been released since EverQuest popularized the genre. Now, as fun as creating a character might sound from my awesome introduction, the actual character creation mode is light on options. For my Transformer, I could only manipulate his eye color, body type, and a few other minor (very minor) cosmetic details. Even worse, all of the starting skill points are allocated for you, so you can't customize your stats in any way when you start (like having more health, less stamina or more stamina, less force power). There are also only five classes to play: warriors, rangers, wizards, specialists, and dual classes. Most of those are pretty self-explanatory, but specialists are good at producing goods and supporting other classes during battles. Personally, I chose to play as a warrior because I don't think Transformers should mess around with making things and the like (sadly, the Accretians do not actually transform until very high levels that I have yet to attain).

After my brief tinkering with the character creator, I was finally dropped into the world and was treated to a slow-but-helpful tutorial on how to move my Transformer around and most importantly how to kill things. Moving is simple and involves you clicking somewhere and your character walking towards that waypoint. It can get a little tricky at long distances because your character has a tendency to get stuck on things, so you have to monitor it constantly, but it works well with the third-person perspective. Killing things in this game is also straightforward. You just click on the things you want to attack and then your character automatically attacks them. To keep things from getting stale, my Transformer had some sweet combat skills and I was instantly glad that I picked him because he swings his sword around with an entertaining finesse and grace that actually makes watching his automated attacks interesting. These skills grow more powerful as the game goes on and are super-strong, but you can't rely on them all the time because you only have a small skill pool.
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Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

Since the beginning of time, the forces of Order and Chaos have been engaged in an eternal struggle to decide the fate of all creation. In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, you'll become part of this struggle as you follow Baal, the last of the Prime Evils, into the Barbarian Highlands of the north. You'll face a series of challenging new quests to prevent the vile minions of the underworld from destroying the world of Sanctuary. This expansion to Diablo II features more weapons, armor, magical items, and character classes--everything you need to fight the new monsters that await you.
Blizzard is perhaps the most well-known and most popular third party developer in all of gaming. They have spawned three popular series, Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft, that are all exemplars of their respective genres, hack ‘n slash role-playing game, real-time strategy, and massively multiplayer role-playing game, respectively. Most of these games, excepting, perhaps, Starcraft, also headline a genre of gaming called “crack” gaming. I'm not the first to coin the term; perhaps you've heard the quips at World of “Warcrack.” Crack gaming is essentially a genre of games that are hyper addictive and, conceivably, endless. Like crack, and other potent drugs, users thrive by achieving their next fix. Also like crack, and other potent drugs, users can never satiate their addiction, but instead need more and more. Alas, unlike crack, and other potent drugs, gamers can't up their dosage. Eventually the game just isn't enough. Eventually it ceases to satisfy and will never satisfy again. But for that moment it does, games like Diablo 2 are bliss.
Perhaps like most people, when I first bought Lord of Destruction, I was still hooked to the original Diablo 2. Not only does the setting immediately grasp a strong hold of you, the unrivaled set of playable characters—skeleton-summoning necromancer, a dual-wielding barbarian, an aura-bearing paladin, and a fire-spewing sorceress—are still jaw-dropping cool. The expansion adds two great classes, the druid and the assassin, each with completely original and fresh skill sets. Not only that, but each character has items specific to their class. The expansion reeled me in even further. The glory would die, eventually, once it felt like I had done everything and squeezed all of the fun out of the game.
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Fallout 3

Vault-Tec engineers have worked around the clock on an interactive reproduction of Wasteland life for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own vault. Included is an expansive world, unique combat, shockingly realistic visuals, tons of player choice, and an incredible cast of dynamic characters. Every minute is a fight for survival against the terrors of the outside world - radiation, Super Mutants, and hostile mutated creatures. From Vault-Tec, America's First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation. Vault 101 - Jewel of the Wastes.
I'll admit the main reason I got Fallout 3 was because the creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda, made the game (with Morrowind ranking as one of my favourite games). I've only ever briefly dabbled with the two previous Fallout games, unfortunately when I was much younger (since my dad bought them both) so I couldn't really grasp the two games at the time. This review then, shall pretty much evaluate Fallout 3 as it is, without comparing it to Fallout 1 or 2 (since I'm not a fan I don't really have the need to complain that its not the same), but perhaps with a few comparisons to Oblivion, after all, FO3 is regularly dubbed as an "Oblivion Mod on a larger scale". As with my other reviews I'll start with the story. Fallout 3 is set some 200 years after a nuclear war pretty much destroyed the war. Fortunately Vault-Tec designed and built a few hundred vaults across America for people to seek safety in for when the bombs dropped, and this is where your adventure begins. The game quite literally starts with your birth (including little blood splatters on the screen) and the following is essentially your fairly awful (well, it was for me) child hood, disguised as the character creation process. So far so good, the game introduction was fairly entertaining (especially the GOAT test) and whilst the game did play exactly like Oblivion (complete with frozen NPCs during conversation) I had high hopes. One fateful day, when you're 19 years of age in case you wondered, your father leaves the vault, something unheard of. Since the game would be pretty crap if it took place in the vault for its entirety, you leave rather violently in search of your father. Its almost a special moment when you leave the vault, you exit the door and the sun light hits your character hard, and then you see it all; a wasteland strewn upon you, and its your task to fight for your survival in the grim wastes.
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Final Fantasy XI

Twenty years after the Great Crystal War, an evil threat returns in Final Fantasy XI. A desperate call goes out to adventurers around the globe for help, and you are first in line. Begin your journey into the world of Vana'diel by creating a customized character from a host of physical attributes and jobs. Experience missions, quests, and boss battles by yourself or join up with other party members to form powerful alliances as you explore the vast environments that make up Vana'diel. Through the PlayOnline Viewer, you can connect and communicate with other players whether they are playing on a PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system or a PC.

We never saw it coming. When Square-Enix, then Squaresoft, had announced that they were making an online game, we never expected it to see the light of day, much less have the Final Fantasy moniker attached to it. But the day came when the official announcement was made: Final Fantasy XI was going to be the series' first venture into the world of MMORPGs. Reactions were of course mixed. Fanboys and purists threw fits, skeptics scowled, and online gamer fans rejoiced. But it was Final Fantasy. A series known for state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, a deep, intriguing storylines, and likable, fleshed out characters. Surely we had something to take comfort in? Well, yes and no.
First of all, it needs to be said this is almost nothing like its predecessors. Battles aren't random, monsters don't drop large bags of gil, gaining just one level can take hours, and items can be very expensive. You can't fight many monsters on your own, as you are almost entirely dependent upon other people in this game. Parties become an absolute necessity to level up, and if the people within said party aren't able to get along, then leveling will be a slower, more arduous task than it already is. Not to mention you also may spend hours on end looking for a party to join in the first place, as some jobs are desired more than others.
Once a character reaches level 18 on any job, they can complete the quest to unlock support jobs. This allows the player to take on two jobs at once, with the support job being at half the level of the main. Obviously some combinations work better than others. However the support job does NOT level on its own, so the player must take the time to level the job they wish to be their support job independently. Every time you start a new job you revert to level 1. You do not lose previous levels, so if you leveled Warrior to 30 for example and then wanted to level Thief, but never leveled it before, you would be level 1. But let's say you changed your mind, and you don't want to play Thief just yet. You can change back to Warrior, and you will still be level 30. There is no penalty nor limit to changing your job. One character can play and max out all 20 jobs if desired.
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Final Fantasy VIII

Experience A Massive New World On Your PC. A member of an elite military team, Squall is forced into a conflict beyond imagination. To survive, he must contend with a desperate rival, a powerful sorceress, and his own mysterious dreams. Realistic, detailed characters and background graphics enhanced by a breathtaking musical score. An epic story based on the theme of love, set in massive new world. New Junction System allows characters to be customized with magic spells drawn from enemies. Nearly an hour of stunning motion-captured CG cinemas seamlessly integrated into gameplay.

I bought the Playstation version as soon as it came out; I grabbed some provisions and (almost) stopped contacting with anyone until I finished the game. Soon afterwards I realized that I haven't done some things like killing Ultima and Omega Weapons and finding all GFs, so I decided to replay it. But since playing for another 50 hours the same game right away would be very tiring and quite boring I decided to wait for the PC version in order to forget the story (not that it is something that you can forget, but you will not remember everything in after months) but also because I was curious to see the 3DFX rendered graphics since the Playstation's were sooooo great.
You are Squall Leonheart (you can pick whatever name you want followed by Leonheart but Squall is the default. You can write your own names for Squall, Rinoa Heartilly and for all the Guardian Forces) a candidate for SeeD, Garden's (some short of fighting school) Special Forces. He is a ''silent and a bit cold'' person that tries to keep his distance and feelings from everyone in order not to feel bad if they are separated. But that will soon be changed, as he will meet Rinoa Heartilly the ''Forest Owls'' princess, a beautiful young woman that shares her feelings with everyone- especially with Squall.
Squall' s first mission as a SeeD will be to go with Zell and Selphie (who are also new SeeDs) will be to go to Timber and help the Forest Owls in their fight for freeing Timber. They will so on encounter a strange and powerful sorceress that wants to rule the world and alongside with Rinoa and Quistis (the ex-instructor of Squall) they will begin the mighty ''strife'' against her.
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Dragon Age: Origins

Bioware is one of the forerunners of the PC game market enjoying great success from titles such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate II, and KotOR, to name a few. With such quality in their library, how can expectations not be high for this title? I have enjoyed all of Bioware's games in the past, so when I heard about this game all I needed to know were two things: that Bioware was developing it and that they were considering it the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate 2. It had been over a year in wait, but when the game finally dropped I went and picked it up.
Soon after creating your character you are thrust into the world of DA: O in the country of Ferelden to engage in your character's Origin story - 6 in total. You cannot choose just any story, either. Each Origin is exclusive to the race and class you choose; Humans have Human Noble; Elves choose from City and Daelish; while Dwarves get Dwarf Noble and Commoner. The sixth one, Magi, is reserved for the mage class and is inherent to the overstory of the world. During your Origin story you are met by a Grey Warden; one who is charged with fighting the fell Darkspawn. Due to some circumstances during your story, this Grey Warden, Duncan by name, recruits you for candidacy into the Grey Wardens. Soon after this you learn of the Blight that threatens the world and your significance in all of this. You must then overcome dark magics, demons, Darkspawn, and people with cruel hearts to bring people and societies together to combat this horde that threatens to devour all. It's a story you've seen before in other Bioware games, and they retell it faithfully. It doesn't feel like the same old story, though. The voice acting makes it believable and not just someone reading a script on a sound stage, with a lot of effort going into making the characters act as real as possible, down to the minute facial expressions on each character. Some would argue that they pulled the story straight from LotR, and while there are similarities it's impossible to have an RPG of a grand scale not have aspects previously seen in Tolken's works. Bioware decided against making this game on an established world, instead creating the world from the ground up, and it shows. There are a lot of codex entries that detail races, religions, histories, conflicts, notable figures, etc, that will keep you reading for a long while. I believe someone said that there was the equivalent of 6 novels wrapped up in text and cutscenes in DA: O, and I don't doubt that estimation. Bioware put a lot of work into the world of Thedas, and I hope they will use it in the future.

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