Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield

Description: Just like the previous Rainbow Six games, Raven Shield lets you lead a group of elite international counterterrorists known as Rainbow. These guys are equipped with high-tech gear and high-powered firearms and are itching for an opportunity to shout, “Tango down!” In Raven Shield, you’ll help the Rainbow operatives on a mission with a rather forgettable plot that involves a James Bond-style madman and Nazi loot from World War II. In fact, as you play the rather short single-player campaign, you’ll find that storytelling isn’t one of Raven Shield’s strong suits. You’ll receive clear text and audio mission briefings and see a few well-directed but brief cutscenes, but these sequences don’t quite create a strong sense of drama or immersion. Rather, the storytelling feels like merely a flimsy framework to hang the tactical combat on.
Also, the mission goals sometimes tend to blur together into a repetitive string of “Kill the terrorists and rescue the hostages.” This sometimes makes the Rainbow team seem like a regular SWAT team instead of a truly elite international organization. And unlike the classic SWAT 3, Raven Shield rarely creates any real emotional connection with the hostages. In many cases, they’ll essentially be a mission goal, similar to the hostages in the extremely popular Counter-Strike–you won’t even see them until the very end of a mission.

Overgrowth Alpha

Language: English Platform: PC
Developer: Wolfire Games
Publisher: Wolfire Game
1.0 GB
Genre: Action / 3D / 3rd Person

Description:
Overgrowth takes place in the savage world of Lugaru where rabbits, wolves and other animals are forced to use paws, claws and medieval weaponry to engage each other in combat. Overgrowth is a seamless integration of brutal close quarters combat and fluid platforming. Powered by Wolfire’s brand new Phoenix Engine, Overgrowth has cutting edge graphics, brutal physics, realistic AI and intuitive combat controls that will immerse players and tap into their primal survival instincts.

Need For Speed: Shift

Description: After a long stint as an arcade racer, Need for Speed is heading into simulation territory with Need for Speed: Shift. Announced in January as part of a three-game announcement that includes Need for Speed: Nitro and Need for Speed World Online, Shift takes a new, more realistic approach to racing and will be going head-to-head against seasoned pros Gran Turismo and Forza for the attention of serious racing fans One of the immediately obvious innovations in Shift is the way it tries to simulate crashes; the development team is trying to re-create the jarring, often fear-filled experience. In addition to motion blur, you’ll experience some violent camera shake–not too dissimilar to an onboard camera during crash replays–and you’ll also experience temporary vision blur after crashes. This is accompanied by the typical audio effects involved in a high-speed collision, but also additional sound effects from your driver, such as a stress-induced spike in heart rate and even a sharp gasp of breath before impact. Lots of other small effects have gone into making Shift feel as realistic as possible, including tunnel vision at high speeds, subtle reflections coming off the windshield, and heat haze emitted from engines.
Shift is all about your experience as a race driver. The action will take place on existing, licensed racetracks, on new racetracks created for Shift, and on street circuits. There is no open-road racing this time around, and we were promised you won’t be pursued by the police or have to take part in old-fashioned street races. Instead, Shift will feature 15 real-world locations in addition to fictitious tracks. We got a chance to see the Brands Hatch Race Circuit in Kent and a new London street circuit. The Brands Hatch course looks to be a faithful re-creation of the ex-Formula One racetrack, with a mix of long straights, sweeping curves, sharp corners, and hairpin turns offering variety throughout. Zipping around it with an Audi RS4 was a great introduction.

Fifa 2011

 

Description:
Just two years ago it seemed as if EA Sports had turned its back completely on the PC. With big franchises like NHL and Madden being stripped altogether, it was only FIFA that was left to stumble onwards.
And stumble it did; whereas on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 FIFA has established itself as the finest football game available, on the PC it’s been less convincing of. There have been a few wayward attempts at innovation – such as FIFA 09′s introduction of mouse and keyboard play – but it’s been lagging behind its console counterparts in almost every regard, the PC version of FIFA 10 a pale imitation of its full-blooded brethren.With the introduction of FIFA Superstars and FIFA Online, it’s tempting to think that, for the core FIFA experience, EA Sports has indeed abandoned the PC – or at the very least wilfully neglected it. It’s an approach that’s acknowledged by the talk surrounding the reveal of FIFA 11 on the PC – in the past, PC has suffered, but this year EA Sports is keen to make amends.
It’s doing that by using, for the very first time, the engine that’s propelled the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions to such success. Confusingly EA insists on calling it the next-generation engine, and while it’s not as good as what we’re expecting from whatever Microsoft and Sony’s hardware divisions have lined up for us in the future it’s certainly impressive.

Left 4 Dead 2

Description: 
Last year Left 4 Dead unleashed a harrowing and entertaining vision of what it’s like to be on both sides of the zombie apocalypse. Whether you were shooting your way through hordes of infected (the preferred nomenclature) en route to possible rescue, or scheming with your fellow superpowered zombies (an acceptable colloquialism) in an effort to choke, eviscerate, and otherwise kill the intrepid survivors, Left 4 Dead was enormously fun. The only real drawback was the shortage of content. Left 4 Dead 2 does not have this problem, offering five new campaign maps that can be enjoyed across five uniquely engaging game modes. These campaigns are more diverse, more atmospheric, and more exciting, thanks largely to the stellar level design. Left 4 Dead 2 also improves on the original in almost every other way, featuring new weapons, new items, new enemies, and new survivors that make the game richer across the board. Though the core action remains largely unchanged, the widespread enhancements make Left 4 Dead 2 even better than its impressive predecessor. This is one zombie apocalypse you do not want to miss. The heart of Left 4 Dead 2 is the five campaign maps that take the survivors through a wide variety of terrain in the Deep South. From murky swamplands to a creepy carnival ground, from flooded suburbs to claustrophobic city streets, every environment is detailed and immersive. Clever design touches abound, some of which are clues that show you which way to progress. It’s deceptively easy to get turned around, especially since you aren’t the only ones who have been leaving piles of bodies around. Left 4 Dead 2′s environments help tell a story, and as you travel through the remains of a massive government-organized evacuation effort, you get a better sense of how it all went down. The campaigns now string together to make one long adventure, and though the oppressive, desperate mood seethes more potently this time around, there is still plenty of levity and high-impact excitement. Well-timed survivor quips make trudging through zombie-infested swamps a bit less nerve-racking, and thunderous rainstorms make a tense final stand (the moments right before your rescue) even more dramatic. The sound design is a standout once again, filling the air with eerie strains and helpful cues, as well as conveying the full range of the survivors’ emotions. This rich atmosphere is enhanced by the wider variety of choke points and final stands, all of which give the campaigns their own unique pace.

Kane And Lynch 2: Dog Days

Description: The first thing you can’t help but notice about Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is its aesthetic. The entire game is seemingly played from the perspective of an invisible drunk who, armed with the world’s worst camcorder, has decided to follow protagonist Lynch everywhere he goes. The shakiness of the camera is optional, but other effects such as compression artifacts, lens flare, and lights smearing vertically across the screen are mandatory. You might initially find this visual style quite distracting, but because the treatment is always consistent, it doesn’t take long to get used to it. Opting to keep the shaky cam switched on can make the game a little more challenging in spots because it interferes with your aim, but other than a few cut scenes in which the camera sways for no apparent reason, its movement is very much in keeping with your own and with your surroundings. And, invisible cameraman theories aside, it makes sense that your view and your aim would be a little compromised when sprinting as fast as you can or getting knocked to the ground after taking a bullet–both of which you spend a lot of time doing.

Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

• Language: English
• PC
• Developer : Activision
• Publisher : Activision
• 1.23 GB
• Genre : Action (Adventure) / 3D / 3rd Person

Description: 
Yeah, believe it or not there’s a third Ice Age movie in theaters, and that means that there’s yet another film-inspired videogame for you to sit down with. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs lets you play as your favorite fuzzy critters from the movie and provides you with a tale that complements the movie — generally, you’re playing the parts of the film that weren’t shown in theaters.
Is it a Game of the Year contender? No, but Ice Age shouldn’t be written off as movie cash-in, either. Classifying the gameplay can be a bit difficult. In the beginning, it’s pretty much a straight platformer with you taking Sid the Sloth through the paces — baby-proofing the wooly mammoth nursery, battling hedgehog-looking dudes, and collecting fruit to be used as currency. However, the deeper you get, the more there is to do. Later levels have you playing in a shooting gallery where you blast passing dinos with your plant shooter, flying pterodactyls in massive dogfights as Buck, and plowing through side-scrolling levels as Scrat.
This variety is appreciated and a nice change of pace, but in the end it won’t do much for the older players among us because the game’s pretty frickin’ easy. You have a health meter in the upper-left corner that’ll deplete when you get hit or whatever, but there are plenty of strawberries to pick up to refill that meter as well as the ability to purchase upgrades. From there, it’s just hitting bad guys, learning where to roll your egg so you don’t die, and so on.

The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Bright Light Studio
Release Date: Nov 16, 2010
Genre: Action Adventure

DESCRIPTION: The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 videogame is the most challenging yet, packed from start to finish with action and combat.
Playing as Harry, you are on the run from the opening sequence, fighting for survival on a desperate and dangerous quest to locate and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. You must defeat Death Eaters and Snatchers in epic battle sequences at every turn. With only your wand for protection, it’s time to muster your most powerful magic against relentless assaults from all sides.
There are no more lessons, no more training. This time the danger is real. It’s time to fight your life.

Grand Theft Auto IV: GTA IV

• Publisher: Rockstar
• Developer: Rockstar

Description:
Stepping off a boat in the shoes of illegal immigrant Niko Bellic as he arrives in Liberty City at the start of Grand Theft Auto IV, you can tell immediately that Rockstar North’s latest offering is something quite special. Yes, this is another GTA game in which you’ll likely spend the bulk of your time stealing cars and gunning down cops and criminals, but it’s also much more than that. GTAIV is a game with a compelling and nonlinear storyline, a great protagonist who you can’t help but like, and a plethora of online multiplayer features in addition to its lengthy story mode. The PC version adds a customizable radio station and a video editor to the package, and also ups the multiplayer count from 16 to 32 players. It’s not all good news, though; the game suffers from some noticeable performance issues even on rigs that far exceed the unreasonably high recommended system specifications, and you need to be signed in to Windows Live to save your progress in the single-player game. This should have been the best GTA game yet, but it’s inferior to its console counterparts.

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
DEVELOPER : Bright Light Productions
DESCRIPTION : Two years ago, I nearly pooped my pants. See, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix came out on the PC and it didn’t suck — in fact, it was decent. If you’re just joining us, that’s pretty much unheard of when you’re talking about movie-based games. Now, with another H.P. movie bearing down on us, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is coming to your favorite videogame console. Can EA defy movie-to-videogame logic one more time?
The answer is “yes.” And although it isn’t the greatest game in the world, some simplified mouse controls actually make this title a fair bit better than the last outing and makes for a pretty fun game. If you’re interested in this title, chances are that you’ve already read the books and are awaiting the movie. Still, I’ll do my best to summarize what’s up this time around: Harry, Ron, and Hermione are back for their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, everyone’s abuzz about the latest happenings in the world of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and Draco is up to no good. Sure, that sounds like every Harry Potter story, but this time things are really bad.